Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart acknowledged that some NFL talent evaluators now view Georgia as the premier program for developing college football stars, possibly surpassing the Alabama Crimson Tide. During his Monday morning press conference, Smart discussed the impact of the transfer portal and suggested that players at Georgia have an advantage based on the feedback he’s received from the NFL.
“The transfer portal is an option for some guys to think about going somewhere else,” Smart stated. “But it’s unfortunate because the feedback we get from the NFL is that there’s nowhere they’d rather have players developing than here.”
Given that Georgia is playing Kentucky this weekend, where the Bulldogs will take on Brock Vandagriff—a former four-star quarterback who was a major component of UGA’s 2021 recruiting class but transferred to UK during the offseason—Smart’s remarks were quite spot-on.
Due to Carson Beck’s blocking of Vandagriff’s playing time—who is reportedly a top-10 choice in the 2025 NFL Draft—Vandalegriff left Athens. Even if Vandagriff wasn’t UGA’s starting quarterback, Smart seems to believe that sticking with the club would have improved his draft status more than starting for a different school.
“The kids that graduate from your program are so much better off and developed for having stayed, even over playing, because of what kind of practice they get and who they get to go against in practice,” Smart continued. “Countless general managers have told me this.”
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