Kirby Smart speaks at the Macon Touchdown Club’s annual Spring Jamboree
UGA football head coach Kirby Smart served as the guest speaker.
MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) — About five months from the start of the 2022 high school football season, the Macon Touchdown Club met today for the annual Spring Jamboree.
The Spring Jamboree consists of yearly awards and scholarships being given to players and coaches. A list of the winners is below.
This year’s guest speaker was UGA football head coach Kirby Smart.
Coach Smart served on a rules committee this past year, and throughout his time in Indianapolis for the meetings, the one issue that caught his attention was the deficit of football referees.
With COVID-19 affecting life the past few years, safety concerns or pay seem to be the correct reason for the deficit, but after a poll of retired referees was taken, the main reason was shocking.
“The number one thing was lack of sportsmanship,” said Smart. “I personally blame that on myself as a coach and the coaches that coach the game. Because if you don’t demand discipline from your players, what is discipline? Doing what you’re supposed to do, when you’re supposed to do it, how you’re supposed to do it, whether anybody is watching or not. That’s what discipline is. And if we don’t instill that in our teams, in our young men, in our young women, we’re deteriorating.”
Coach Smart is one to speak as he’s known to keep his team’s disciplined. He and the Bulldogs continue their spring practices tomorrow, and the spring G-Day game is scheduled for April 16 at 1 p.m. at Sanford Stadium.
