ATHENS, Ga. – First-year Georgia football coach Kirby Smart has said since his hiring in December that he would bring some aspects from what he learned under Alabama’s Nick Saban as well as some new wrinkles of his own.
Lacrosse references would fall into the latter category, not that Smart is an expert on the sport.
“I don’t know much about lacrosse, but they whack people with the sticks,” Smart said last month after the G-Day spring game. “What we sold our kids on was if somebody has the ball, we’re going to take a lacrosse stick and whack the guy to try and get the ball. They took pride in that.”
Actual lacrosse sticks were not used during the allotted 15 spring workouts, but sticks were awarded after practices to players who caused turnovers. A 98-yard interception return by redshirt junior cornerback Aaron Davis of a Greyson Lambert pass was the only turnover at G-Day, and Davis was spotted on the sideline proudly waving a lacrosse stick.
The players who held the stick most throughout spring, however, were senior safety Quincy Mauger and junior cornerback Malkom Parrish.