Seth Emerson had an article in the Athletic today with a couple of interesting quotes by Arian Smith:
“I don’t know if I can say (the team) was as connected as previous years,” said receiver Arian Smith, a member of the team from 2020 through this past season. “The 2021 team, the 2022 team, we were like brothers. We were very much tighter than this past year. I feel like this past year people were more focused on themselves than their teammates. That’s not my place to judge people for that. My job was to be a leader, and I feel like I was a good leader this year, even though I wasn’t perfect.”
***
Re: Carson Beck
“I’m not going to sit here and lie to you, but it was a distraction for us,” Smith said. “We didn’t know what he was thinking. We didn’t know where he was for a while. Coach told us, and he was honest with us and told us he was doing his own thing. So we wish him the best. Coach told him he was rehabbing somewhere else, so we found out then that he was doing something else about it. We understood it, but we wish we had found out a little sooner because we were practicing, and we were hurting too, and we were dealing with injuries, and we had to be there. But that’s all.”
www.nytimes.com
“I don’t know if I can say (the team) was as connected as previous years,” said receiver Arian Smith, a member of the team from 2020 through this past season. “The 2021 team, the 2022 team, we were like brothers. We were very much tighter than this past year. I feel like this past year people were more focused on themselves than their teammates. That’s not my place to judge people for that. My job was to be a leader, and I feel like I was a good leader this year, even though I wasn’t perfect.”
***
Re: Carson Beck
“I’m not going to sit here and lie to you, but it was a distraction for us,” Smith said. “We didn’t know what he was thinking. We didn’t know where he was for a while. Coach told us, and he was honest with us and told us he was doing his own thing. So we wish him the best. Coach told him he was rehabbing somewhere else, so we found out then that he was doing something else about it. We understood it, but we wish we had found out a little sooner because we were practicing, and we were hurting too, and we were dealing with injuries, and we had to be there. But that’s all.”
What was missing for Georgia football’s leadership in 2024 and what it means for 2025
The angst among some in Georgia’s fan base doesn’t appear to be shared by now-former players from the program.
www.nytimes.com
