ATHENS, Ga. – Georgia first-year football coach Kirby Smart is appreciative of Bulldogs fans, especially after 93,000 of them turned out to see the G-Day game in April.
Smart will not, however, let fans decide the starting quarterback among fifth-year senior Greyson Lambert, redshirt junior Brice Ramsey and true freshman Jacob Eason, a five-star signee offering the most intrigue. The Bulldogs held their first preseason workout Monday afternoon and will hold a two-hour practice Saturday afternoon that will be open to the public at Sanford Stadium.
“Will the fans impact my decision? Absolutely not,” Smart said Monday. “I’ve got to make the best decision for this team, and ultimately the fan favorite is going to be the one who wins the games. If Eason loses a game, they won’t like him, either, and they won’t like me, either.
“They can have people up there putting a tick mark by every rep that every guy gets with the ones and twos like you guys do, and that will be fine, but that’s not what I’m looking for.”
The Bulldogs are scheduled to hold 28 or 29 practices before the Sept. 3 opener against North Carolina in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Classic in Atlanta. Smart is stressing to players the importance of focusing on camp and not what’s down the road, and he was not lacking for eager competitors ready to get going.