Expectations always run higher the second season.
Georgia coach Kirby Smart recognizes that. The Bulldogs are coming off an 8-5 record in 2016 in which they finished third in the SEC East. He noticed a change in the “culture and custom” at spring practice.
"The expectation of the intensity in practice was the biggest adjustment since my arrival," Smart said on the SEC teleconference Monday. "Every day bringing that attention to detail and enthusiasm. There's never a chance to relax. We can talk about sustainable focus. Can you sustain that focus through an entire practice?"
Expectations outside those practices are running even higher heading into 2017. This is Georgia, after all. The Bulldogs haven't finished better than third in the SEC East since 2012. They haven’t won a SEC championship since 2005 and haven't won a national championship since 1980.
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Yet when SEC Media Days roll around from July 10-13, there’s a good chance the Bulldogs could be picked to win the SEC East ahead of two-time defending champion Florida. The Bulldogs are ranked No. 10 in Sporting News' Post-Spring Top 25; the second-highest SEC team behind three-time defending champion Alabama.
Three factors must work in Georgia's favor to get there.
It starts with running back Nick Chubb, who bypassed the NFL Draft in favor of one more season with Georgia. Chubb finished seventh in the SEC with 1,130 yards and eight TDs in 2016, one year removed from a gruesome leg injury that threatened his career. Smart said Chubb is setting the standard as a "workman's kind of guy." Only he’s doing it from an unexpected place.
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"The biggest thing you saw from Nick Chubb, not only did you see he was much more healthy," Smart said. "I saw him on special teams a lot more where he competed, he was able to run and play with more effort. I think when you have a player of that caliber playing special teams it sets a standard for the rest of the team, which is what we encourage."
The second is defense, where Smart’s touch needs to be defined with defensive coordinator Mel Tucker. The Bulldogs allowed just 16.9 points per game in Mark Richt’s final season before allowing 24.0 points per game in 2016. That included 28 points or more in losses to Georgia Tech, Tennessee and Ole Miss.
The Bulldogs need that defense to come through to beat rivals such as the Gators, Volunteers and Yellow Jackets. Those are inherent expectations every single season at Georgia.
The rest falls on quarterback Jacob Eason's development as a sophomore, and he’ll be pushed by incoming freshman Jake Fromm under offensive coordinator Jim Chaney. Will Eason seize the job or will Fromm push this into a two-QB systems? How will that affect recruiting?
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"Any program is kind of ear-marked by how well they recruit quarterbacks and what quarterbacks they have on campus," Smart said. "Obviously, we have only two scholarships on campus this fall, so we have a great need at quarterback."
How can the Bulldogs maintain that sustainability? Keep Chubb healthy, improve the defense and hope a loaded recruiting class adds to that depth in practice. And, of course, one more thing everybody recognizes.
Smart closed that thought with a statement that could ring true for Georgia as it sets out to meet those expectations in 2017.
"The success and fall of most programs is based on quarterbacks," Smart said.
