By: JJ Lanier

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

It’s been a good start to the Kirby Smart regime. I’d be lying if I said I saw his early success coming this soon, but I have a feeling Georgia fans won’t mind me being a little off with my prediction.

While I understand the excitement, and if you’re a UGA fan you have every right to be, I would caution getting too overzealous. If you’re experiencing a bit of Deja vu, it’s because you’ve seen this movie before.

Kirby Smart and Mark Richt will be forever linked for the obvious reason that Smart succeeded Richt, after the latter was relieved of his head coaching duties. However, it’s some of the similarities concerning each coaches’ first couple years in Athens that I want to talk about; their records in particular.

For one, they both arrived as first-time head coaches. Sure, that’s not necessarily life changing or anything, but neither had any other head coaching experience prior to UGA, which does play a part when assessing their early years.

And going by the first two years for each at Georgia, those seasons are almost identical.

Smart finished his inaugural season 8-5, ending up just outside the Top 25. Richt finished 8-4, ranked 25th at season’s end.

Kirby then followed that up with a second season consisting of a 13-2 record, the school’s first conference championship in over a decade, a berth in the playoffs, and a number two ranking in the final polls. That’s a sophomore slump anyone would sign up for.

What about Mark Rich’s second season? How about a 13-1 record, a conference championship for the first time in 20 years, a third-place finish in the season ending polls, and a Sugar Bowl win. Had the college playoffs actually existed during the 2002 season, Georgia would have been one of those four teams, without a doubt.

I know it’s purely coincidental, but to have two first time head coaches with almost identical seasons to start their career at the same school, is still pretty interesting.

I do have to say that Smart has done a better job on the recruiting trail, specifically with local talent. Richt did a good job with Top 10 recruiting classes those first few years, but I don’t remember him ever having a number one class, like Smart has for this upcoming season.

I know this may come across as me antagonizing the UGA fan base- like I’ve been sitting around all day, drinking beer with Skip Bayless and Danny Kanell, scheming of ways to get under your skin- but I promise it’s not like that at all. Even though it’s been 12 years since I lived in Georgia, I was a resident there long enough and remain friends with enough people, to know expectations are at an all-time high.

I’m not trying to knock Smart, or anything he has accomplished; bringing him in was obviously the right call. Bulldog fans have every reason to be excited and should be. This is the greatest amount of promise their team has had since, well, Mark Richt’s first two years.

I will say this though; if you’re a Georgia fan, finishing this upcoming season at 11-3, with a SEC East Division title, to go along with a loss in the SEC Championship game, may not be the outcome you’re looking for, for one particular reason.

As different as Smart and Richt may be in certain areas, so far, they’ve been pretty similar in the one area that counts.