When last season, Kirby Smart took the $130 million extension, he did land in the hot seat. However, he could immediately shut the haters by making two big moves. The Georgia HC landed the No.1 and No.2 defensive tackles, Elijah Griffin and Justus Terry. But did it do any good in the end? Sadly, not. Even though Georgia Bulldogs gifted fans a winning spree, beating Tennessee, Georgia Tech, and Texas Longhorns back-to-back, they had a nose dive on the D-Day. Smart’s boys were crushed by the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

That’s how their final dreams got crushed. But Smart refused to pester over the loss. Instead, he seeks a path of redemption. And what better way to seek revenge than turning heads with recruitment hits? More than others, Smart will have to prove himself to Paul Finebaum. 

Kirby Smart’s relentless pursuit of excellence

Now we must be very clear about one fact. From the beginning, Smart has adhered to a “no dollar flex” blueprint. Now what does that mean? The Bulldogs HC crafts champions and not just cash them in. Smart shared his 2024 motto, “Just like we do every year. Attention to detail. Not letting anything slack. We are going to go attack our camp the same way we always have. We are going to be really physical…We are going to create some adversity in camp and make it hard on them so we have a resilient team.” As a recruiter, Smart has proved his powers running strong with three Butkus winners. Yet the Bulldogs HC refuses to hit the settle button. 

His search for another player who would bring him the Butkus award continues. On January 18, Smart took a helicopter to visit 2026 5-star LB Tyler Atkinson. The Grayson five-star LB then posted a tweet, where he is spotted sitting beside Smart. The caption read, “Great time with Coach Kirby & my parents today💯.” The tweet was then re-shared by Georgia insider Graham Coffey, who wrote, “Georgia has 3 Butkus winners under Kirby Smart… This guy has the tools to be the 4th.”

Now who are the players who brought home the Butkus award for Smart? It’s Roquan Smith who now plays for Baltimore Ravens, Philadelphia Eagles LB Nakobe Dean, and Georgia LB Jalon Walker who declared for the 2025 NFL Draft. Now what makes Smart count on Atkinson to carry forward the legacy? The young chap’s phenomenal season included leading Grayson to a 14-1 record followed by an AAAAAA state championship. Standing tall at 6’2” weighing 205 pounds, Atkinson averaged 12.8 tackles per game posting 166 tackles. Sadly, the CFB world is not quite bothered about Smart’s recruiting wins. 

The GOAT’s legacy casts a long shadow over Kirby Smart

Okay, so the college football world is stripping off the Georgia Bulldogs HC. After all, he failed to guide his boys to the finale. With this, he has stooped low in the college football fans’ eyes. However, the ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum thought of spreading some salt on Smart’s wounds.  No matter how Smart is trying to whitewash his image differently, the critic won’t accept him as a head coach until he reaches a particular standard.

Now what’s that standard? Well, it turns out that Finebaum is one of the biggest worshippers of the former Alabama HC and GOAT Nick Saban. On the Matt Barrie Show, the host along with the ESPN analyst delved into some in-depth discussion on the present SEC scenario. Till the 2024 season, the fans had nothing to worry about. After all, the 7x National Championship winner, Saban, was the flag bearer. 

On that note, the host hinted at Kirby Smart, “Everyone in the SEC knew that if they wanted to win a National Championship or h- -l even an SEC Championship they had to do what they could to catch Nick Saban and try to be up to his standard.” The Bulldogs HC won the National Championship title twice in his eight-year-long stint with Georgia. That’s when Paul Finebaum too joined the fray. Letting out a heavy sigh, Paul Finebaum stated, “So he’s[Nick Saban} gone Kirby was supposed to take the sport over. He didn’t…we probably won’t see dominance like that again the Nick Saban era in college football.” So, Tyler Atkinson’s mission isn’t just another Butkus Award—it’s bringing Kirby Smart the SEC supremacy Nick Saban once owned.