Five things from Kirby Smart and Georgia football's turn at SEC Media Days in Atlanta

ATLANTA—There are some perks that come from being the home school this year for SEC Media Days.

Instead of jumping on a plane to get to suburban Birmingham for their Wednesday SEC Media Days appearance, Georgia’s trio of players—quarterback Stetson Bennett, outside linebacker Nolan Smith and center Sedrick Van Pran-Granger—arrived Tuesday night at the Omni Hotel as did coach Kirby Smart who was in Texas for a speaking engagement.

The Texas High School Coaches Association invites the national championship coach, so Smart was there Tuesday instead of his typical Tuesday slot at SEC Media Days.

Some provocative headlines came out of what Smart said that he addressed Wednesday.

Here are five things to know from Georgia’s morning time with the media.

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Clearing the air on stepping down comments

Smart told the Texas high school coaches in a Q&A session that four straight weeks of recruiting visits in June of 2021 after COVID-19 restrictions were lifted wore him down. It included groups arriving at midnight wanting to use the indoor facility before leaving for another school at 7 a.m.

"I was ready to step down," Smart said according to ESPN.com. "I was done.”

The context in which he made the comments didn’t come through for what Smart said Wednesday was a crowd of about 16,000. It was clear from his tone that he wasn’t close to actually cutting the cord from Georgia

“You guys are searching, boy,” he said. “I tell you what any material out there is good material.”

Smart said he made the comments when talking about work/life balance.

“I think a lot of coaches have a sentiment and feel like last June was probably the toughest time we’ve had,” he said Wednesday. “Not this June. That’s a common mistake with that comment because it was very different. Last June was the first time in over 14, 15, 16 months that kids had been to campus. A lot of our coaches and a lot of coaches in the profession, it was just unrealistic because they had things called OCEs. On campus evaluations, which allowed you to work out at any time they wanted to work out. Nobody really talked about it much, but a lot of their Texas coaches knew about it. They asked specifically about that and so when I said it, I said it wore us out. We were all done. So nothing much meant by it. Just frustrated with how it was and happy with the way it was this June because this June I wouldn’t say was much easier, but it was much better. We were much better prepared to handle it because there weren’t as many kids coming.”

About that contract

The thinking given statements made by Georgia president Jere Morehead and athletic director Josh Brooks is that a new deal for Smart after the national title would have been announced by now.

It hasn’t, but Smart said he isn’t worried at all that it will get done.

“I think people think it’s just a number and a year, but there’s so much more that goes into it,” he said. “There’s so much more of a contract that have to be spelled out correctly on both sides and we’re trying to make sure we do that.”

Smart’s agent, Jimmy Sexton, and Georgia are finalizing a deal that will boost his salary up significantly from the more than $7 million he made last season.

“I’m not concerned at all about it,” he said. “They have been tremendous with their communication and I’m completely comfortable with where everything is. Both sides have worked really hard at getting things done and things have been great. I cannot say more with what they’ve been willing to do and the communication that we’ve had. It’s just not as easy as you think it is.”

Smart details Georgia’s NIL experience

Nick Saban dropped a figure on Tuesday for how much his players have cashed in this NIL era. He said that the Crimson Tide players made more than $3 million combined in the first year where players were permitted to monetize their name, image and likeness and donor-funded collectives sprouted up.

Smart told coaches Tuesday that Georgia had 85 players take advantage of NIL opportunities but he said the Classic City Collective, which serves Georgia athletes, informed him the number is actually 95.

Smart didn’t want to divulge the combined money Georgia players have received from NIL.

"I'll be honest with you, I really don't even want to do that because I feel like that'd be copy catting and carrying over,” he said. “Trust me, there's a lot there. …We arguably had the highest paid defensive lineman, highest paid tight end and highest paid cornerback in the NIL market. Because after the national championship, those three guys exploded, one talking about Jordan Davis and the other two are obvious (Brock Bowers and Kelee Ringo). When you look at that, it's pretty substantial that we have depth in our NIL market.”

Injury updates

Tight end Brock Bowers is ready for the start of preseason practices in August. Bowers underwent offseason labrum surgery and missed spring practices.

Smart said all players that had labrum repair—including inside linebacker Smael Mondon, linebacker C.J. Madden and defensive lineman Bear Alexander are ready.

“Anybody that had a labrum issue for spring will be back,” Smart said. “We had several guys who had labrums who were out for spring but there’s nobody that won’t be cleared for fall camp.

Guard Tate Ratledge who was lost for the season in the opener against Clemson after starting is taking summer reps on the practice field

“We don’t have pads on, but he’s taking reps,” Smart said. “You know it’s going to be an adjustment for him. I think people expect him to walk back in there, but that’s not an injury that’s just easy to return from. When you do the study and the history of the injury it’s one of the toughest to recover from, especially for an offensive lineman who’s using his foot on every play.”

Former West Virginia All-American safety Tykee Smith is coming back from a torn ACL sustained last fall.

“I've seen him running, working out, testing, doing a lot of things,” Smart said. “You're never going to be 100 percent. You go back to George (Pickens), you go back to every ACL we've had. He is not 100 percent but you still see the athleticism. When you watch him do DB drills, he's very fluid, he has great ball skills. With the new NCAA rules we're able to have balls out there and see kids get a little bit more individual work. It's been great. A slight change and it's been great to go out there and see him compete. But he's not been cleared to play football just yet.”

Freshman linebacker C.J. Washington who sustained a neck injury in the spring is still being evaluated medically.

“It’s been a tough, slow process,” Smart said. “ It’s not something that you rush. I don’t know the outcome of that yet. We’ve had several specialists look at it. He’s recovering. He has shown improvement. The X-rays have shown improvement. He has complete stability, he’s able to go to class, he’s out of the neck brace, but I don’t know when he’s going to be able to return.”

Marlin Dean exits, Amarius Mims returns

Smart confirmed that Marlin Dean, the former Elbert County product who played his senior season at IMG Academy, is no longer with the Bulldogs.

“Marlin Dean is no longer with us and not a lot more I can say about that,” he said.

The redshirt freshman defensive lineman saw action in just one game last season, making two tackles against Charleston Southern. Dean did not return messages left for him to comment.

The 6-foot-5, 275-pound Dean was a three-star prospect in the 2021 class.

He committed to Georgia in March 2020, backed off the pledge and then re-committed in September.

Another big man, offensive lineman Amarius Mims, returned after spring practices after putting his name in the transfer portal. The Bulldogs welcomed back happily the former five-star recruit.

“He's done a tremendous job,” Smart said. “He's victim to what every kid is. Opportunity vs. grinding it out, fighting it out and working his way up. He was doing really well in the spring and then he had an injury and from practice seven or eight on and that was tough. That missed time affected his ability to go out there and fight for playing time. He's had a tremendous work ethic since returning, he's been really positive since returning. He's still athletically gifted and he seems to have a better grasp of what we're doing offensively. The biggest thing with him is staying healthy.”

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Here are five things gleaned from Georgia football at SEC Media Days