Georgia football coach Kirby Smart expects another strong crowd at Saturday afternoon's G-Day spring game.The Georgia Bulldogs have averaged 80,489 fans through their first three G-Day spring football games of the Kirby Smart era.
The coach doesn't see why Saturday afternoon's fourth installment inside Sanford Stadium should be any different.
"I think the University of Georgia fans love this game, and I certainly don't expect anything less," Smart said in a recent news conference. "I'm not going to sit here and proclaim that everybody has to come to the game, but I think we've got a really good football team and I think we have an exciting team."
Georgia is the last Southeastern Conference program to stage its 2019 spring contest.
Spring crowds continue to dwarf those from a generation ago, but this has been an underwhelming go-around compared to recent years. Alabama's A-Day game last weekend had an announced attendance of 62,219, the smallest crowd in the 13 spring extravaganzas under coach Nick Saban.
Alabama has produced three A-Day gatherings in excess of 90,000, but the last three have each been fewer than 75,000.
The lack of a new head coach within the SEC may have something to do with the lesser crowds this year. Tennessee's second spring game under Jeremy Pruitt last Saturday drew 50,967 fans, down from last year's 65,098, while Florida's spring crowds under Dan Mullen went from 53,015 last April to 39,476 last weekend.
Florida announced its crowd at 39,476 to signify that it's been 39 years and 476 games since rival Georgia won its lone Associated Press national title in the 1980 season.
Auburn's attendance of 41,489 last weekend was up from the 28,033 total at last year's game, which was accompanied by more inclement weather. Auburn's latest spring game provided fans a chance to see the quarterback competition featuring Joey Gatewood, Bo Nix, Cord Sandberg and Malik Willis, but the crowd paled to the 83,401 who showed for Gus Malzahn's first A-Day in 2013.
The eight SEC spring games last weekend went up against a Masters tournament won by Tiger Woods, while the Bulldogs will be vying on Easter weekend.
Georgia set the SEC's all-time spring mark at 93,000 for Smart's inaugural G-Day game in 2016. He started challenging Bulldogs fans to pack G-Day that year in late January, when he spoke at halftime of an Arkansas-Georgia men's basketball game at Stegeman Coliseum.
There have been no passionate pleas this time around, but he has reiterated the impression big crowds can make on prospects.
"It's an opportunity to showcase the talents of 14 new freshmen who just got here and who people want to watch," Smart said. "It certainly has impacted our recruiting. We're going to have some of the best players in the country coming by G-Day, because they want to see what the atmosphere is like in Athens.
"It's a free chance to watch a game."
Nebraska has the top spring-game crowd nationally this year at an announced 86,000.
Kimber commits
Georgia landed its sixth commitment for the 2020 signing class Wednesday morning, receiving a nonbinding pledge from four-star cornerback Jalen Kimber of Arlington, Texas. The 6-foot-2, 180-pound Kimber is the No. 16 cornerback and the No. 239 overall prospect nationally in the 247Sports.com composite rankings.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.