Kirby Smart models Georgia’s preseason schedule after Alabama

ATHENS, Ga. (TNS) — Georgia’s first preseason under new football coach Kirby Smart has a very similar format to Alabama, and that’s not by accident.

Smart is implementing many of the same scheduling characteristics he worked with the past nine years as a defensive assistant under Nick Saban, including the past eight as coordinator. There also have been multiple changes to media availability and fan interaction that are new for Georgia but familiar for Smart.

“I didn’t go back and research to see what they did last year here or the year before,” Smart said. “We met as a staff and came up with the best practice organization for us. It’s not an exact footprint of what was done in the last nine years at Alabama, but it’s pretty close.”

Georgia held an open practice and fan day festivities Saturday, which followed the lone scheduled opportunity the media will have during the preseason or regular season with coordinators Jim Chaney (offense) and Mel Tucker (defense). Alabama has employed the identical format for years and did again Sunday, when coordinators Lane Kiffin and Jeremy Pruitt spoke with the media before Crimson Tide players practiced and met the fans.

Bulldogs fans were not allowed to take pictures with the players Saturday, which was a change from the policy under previous coach Mark Richt. That, however, has been the norm in Tuscaloosa.

The next similarity will occur Aug. 20-21, when both programs will take two days off from practicing. Saban has been a proponent of the two-day break for years, claiming that players need time to regroup at that point of the preseason.

Smart already has implemented changes that mirror Alabama once the season starts. He has moved Georgia’s weekly news conference from Tuesday, when it has been held for decades, to Monday, and he has moved his weekly radio show from Monday night to Thursday night.

Saban holds his weekly news conference on Monday and his radio show Thursday.

Given that the Crimson Tide have won four of the past seven national championships, it’s understandable why Smart is following Saban’s scheduling path. There are differences, he insists, especially on the field.

“Each practice has different needs than the teams I was on before,” Smart said. “We’re trying to coordinate to what the offensive coordinator and the defensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator need to get out of practice. We play in a different division against different opponents, and our personnel groupings we face on defense are different here than they were there.”