'Mature' Georgia ready for another national championship run

There has only been one official three-peat in college football, but the 2023 Georgia Bulldogs are looking to make that distant memory history for good.

The Minnesota Golden Gophers, who won three straight national championships from 1934 through 1936, are the only team to do it, but there is a chance Kirby Smart's UGA team can pull it off this season.

The Bulldogs, of course, have to replace two-time national champion quarterback Stetson Bennett as well as a slew of other elite prospects who left for the NFL this past offseason. With that said, when speaking with the media lately, Smart relayed that he feels his current team has a maturity factor that will help it this season.

“What excites me about this team is the maturity level, the approach they’ve taken to their work,” Smart said (h/t On3). “So we had an offseason workout program, we had a spring practice which I was very pleased with, we had summer workouts which I was very pleased with, we had camp that wasn’t our very best camp but we also had a lot tougher circumstances than we’ve ever had at camp. I can say that we’ve had better practices, but we’ve never had 110 degree heat either.”

With summer heat impacting much of SEC territory this offseason, it will be interesting to see if any of the expected contenders get off to slow starts. As Smart mentioned, it certainly could have impacted preparation. 

There's also the fact that Georgia's offseason was shorter than most because of the championship run. While that's a good problem to have, the Bulldogs also suffered tragedy and criticism with the death of offensive lineman Devin Willock as well as the slew of reckless driving charges the program endured.

Still, Smart seems primed and ready to go to work with this current squad.

"Every day you go to work with this group they’re fun to be around because they actually listen to what you say and they try to do it like you say it. That’s important, I mean who you are intangibly is really important and they’ve done a great job with that,” Smart said. “Now, still gotta transition to the field and to games."