Georgia Bulldogs open spring practice with high expectations

ATHENS — The faces change. The expectations do not.

Georgia opened spring practice Tuesday with something Kirby Smart doesn’t often have to confront — a roster short on returning starters and long on questions. But if that sounds like concern, it isn’t.

Not here.

“We have the least number of starters coming back we’ve ever had,” Smart said. “There’s some good players leaving the program with a lot of experience.”

At Georgia, that’s not a warning sign. It’s a cycle.

The fifth- and sixth-year players who defined recent teams are gone, many bound for the NFL. What remains is younger, less proven — and, in Smart’s mind, no less capable of meeting the standard that has turned Georgia into one of college football’s measuring sticks.

“The goal is simple,” Smart said. “Grow the bottom of the roster to the top, and get the top of the roster better.”

Simple doesn’t mean easy.

The Bulldogs attacked the offseason with urgency, grinding through six-day weeks at 6 a.m., building what Smart called competition and culture before a single spring snap.

Now comes the part that matters — finding out who’s ready.

Quarterback Gunner Stockton sits at the center of that conversation. He’s no longer just a piece of the future. He’s part of the present, and with that comes responsibility for an offense that must evolve.

“We’ve got to be more explosive offensively,” Smart said. “That does not fall solely on Gunner, but that does fall partially with him.”

Georgia ran the ball better last season. It controlled games in stretches. But the game-breaking plays — the ones that tilt Saturdays in Athens — didn’t come often enough.

Too many of the Bulldogs’ biggest gains came when plays broke down.

That’s not a formula. That’s a fallback.

“Take what the defense gives you,” Smart said. “Use the skill set of the players around you, and be more explosive.”

Help is arriving, and not by accident.

Receiver Isiah Canion is a familiar name inside Georgia’s building — a player the Bulldogs once recruited and later had to defend. Running back Dante Dowdell brings size, toughness and SEC experience.

“Having a back that was big, physical, played in our league — that matters,” Smart said.

It always has.

“We have to run the ball and stop the run,” Smart said. “That’s not ever going to change.”

That foundation remains non-negotiable. But Georgia knows what it must add to it — more explosive plays, more disruption, more havoc when games hang in the balance.

Defensively, that search begins up front.

Transfer edge rusher Amaris Williams joins a young outside linebacker group that will get every opportunity this spring, especially with injuries creating openings. In the secondary, the usual churn of the transfer portal has left competition wide open.

That’s by design.

“Practices are hard here for everybody,” Smart said. “They’re meant to be tough because the game is supposed to be easier.”

Leadership, meanwhile, is expected to carry over.

With CJ Allen gone, linebacker Raylen Wilson steps forward — not as a newcomer to the role, but as someone who has already handled it when needed.

“There were times last year CJ couldn’t play, and Raylen took over,” Smart said. “I have no concerns about Raylen’s leadership ability.”

So here Georgia stands — younger, less certain, but no less demanding of itself.

Spring practice isn’t about proving what the Bulldogs are.

It’s about determining who’s ready to become what they’re expected to be.

At Georgia, that expectation doesn’t dip.

It reloads.