Georgia Spring ball is officially here. The message on social media was clear. While other teams took the time to post guys going through drills or coaches getting after it, Georgia had a black silhouette of Kirby Smart. Smart is in his iconic visor with one finger in the air. (Not that finger, the #1 sign). The message was clear. Smart will help set the standard that we will hold Georgia to in 2026. Smart laid down the hammer on both his offense and defense. He doesn’t care about all the wins, the back-to-back SEC Championships. Smart wants more.
“We do have to be more explosive, and we do have to be more disruptive on defense. Those two things are going to always be there. They don’t go away.” Sure, the offense was better last year, especially at running the damn ball. But Smart was not satisfied with the results in 2025. “It’s much clearer that last year in terms we didn’t achieve those things. We did achieve much better this past year at running it and stopping the run, but we weren’t effective enough in some other areas: being explosive, our downs, and creating havoc in sacks. Disruption on defense has to be better.”
G-Day is five weeks away. Georgia has 14 practices left to improve. There will be plenty more to break down, but we will get started with the expectations on offense and defense.
Georgia Spring Ball Notes: Bring on the Explosive and Havoc Plays
Explosive Plays
Georgia’s rushing attack showed significant improvement in 2025, rising to 182.1 rushing yards per game from 124.4 in 2024. Georgia rushed more than 170 rushing yards just once in 2024; the Bulldogs eclipsed that number nine times in 2025. Smart wasn’t interested in talking about the progress. Sure, Georgia has leading rusher Nate Frazier and Chauncey Bowens returning, but he wants more. Georgia averaged 5.6 yards per play in 2025, which ranked 52nd nationally. Smart wants his offense to be more explosive.
“We’ve got to be more explosive offensively. We have to be able to be more explosive in the run game, which some of that is blocking downfield or making people miss.” Smart said. “Same thing in the pass game. We ran the ball better last year, so if we run the ball better, our play actions should be more explosive and more effective than they were.”
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Georgia Spring Ball Homework: Offense
To be more explosive, Smart said it falls on returning quarterback Gunner Stockton. Georgia’s QB1 had flashes of explosive potential. We all remember the dagger in Neyland to ice out the Vols. Stockton posted one of the highest single-game grades of the season (90.9) in Georgia’s October win over Ole Miss, highlighted by three “Big-Time Throws” (PFF’s metric for high-difficulty explosive passes). The Dawgs could have used a few more of those in the Sugar Bowl rematch. Stockton and the staff have been hard at work, trying to find out where they can be more explosive.
“All the studies we did, a lot of our explosives came on unscheduled downs, unscheduled play; plays that maybe broke down, or something happened. Then, he (Stockton) was able to scramble and make a play down the field.” Smart said. “We’ve got to simulate those more for him and allow him to grow to make those plays. I think the number one step for him is to take what the defense gives you, use the skill set of the players around you, and be more explosive.”
Havoc
Havoc is a “chaos metric” that measures how often a defense disrupts the offense’s script. It is defined as the percentage of total plays that result in a negative or disruptive outcome. On the surface, the 2025 Georgia defense was good. But havoc was not a word best used to describe them. They were ranked #10 in scoring and rushing defense. PFF loved the 2025 linebackers (#4) and defensive line (#7). While all of that looks good, the defense did not do a great job of causing havoc.
The Georgia defense was more bend-don’t-break than chaos in the opponent’s backfield. They were a respectable top-30 team in yards allowed per play (4.9). After that, it was cover your eyes U.G.L.Y. Despite the high PFF rankings, they Dawgs were #124 in Sack % and #105 in takeaways/game. Smart highlighted a couple of names on the defense, and a new staff member who can help create more havoc.
Georgia Spring Ball Homework: Defense
Georgia made one big addition to the defensive staff this offseason. Smart brought in Larry Knight as the new outside linebackers coach and pass rush specialist from West Virginia. Knight’s resume shows that he could be just what Dr. Smart ordered.
- As the defensive ends coach at Arkansas State, Knight led a unit that recorded 39 sacks (up from 19 the year prior) and finished the season ranked #9 in the nation.
- At Temple, Knight was part of a staff that ranked #1 nationally in defensive touchdowns and #3 in forced turnovers in 2018.
- Knight’s resume also includes helping develop Derek Barnett (Tennessee), Keion White (Georgia Tech), and Kyle Kennerd (Georgia Tech).
Two names that might be on Knight’s Spring list are defensive tackle Amaris Williams and linebacker Raylen Wilson. Williams is a transfer from Auburn, whom Smart called out in the press conference. “We know a lot about him [Amaris Williams]. He’s got to be able to play within our system, understand our system, but also add value.” Six of Williams’ 16 tackles in 2025 were for a loss, which could help add to the havoc.
Wilson returns as the leader of the Georgia defense. With the departure of CJ Allen to the NFL, it will be Wilson’s turn to step up. ” There were times last year, CJ couldn’t practice, CJ couldn’t play, but Raylen took over. He did a lot of great things along with CJ, and I think he’s going to shoulder more of that load along with Justin [Williams] and Chris [Cole].” Wilson finished the season third on the team with 74 tackles. Knight will look to use Wilson’s speed to help create more havoc for the Georgia defense.
Main Photo: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
