"Although 24 and 5 the last two seasons is good, it's not good enough. It's not where we expect to be at the University of Georgia," he said. Three loss in particular gnaw at him -- two losses to Alabama and the Sugar Bowl flop against Texas.

"It is the performance against Texas which we're not proud of. We have to grow and get better," he said.

There's not much wiggle room for the Bulldogs to get better. But after putting together two powerful recruiting classes to add to the talent already on campus, Smart has Georgia firmly in the mix for a national title. While Georgia has talent across the board, their best player may be their quarterback, Jake Fromm.

"I'm extremely excited he's our quarterback. He is the leader of our program, the face of our organization, a guy that has given so much to Georg and Georgia means so much to," Smart said of Fromm. "I think Jake's got tremendous ability. He's a leader. That's the first quality you look for. We had a guy come speak the other day to our team talking about characteristics that scouts look for. He checks every single box on that list. He's won a lot of football games. He's thrown touchdowns and hasn't thrown interceptions."

Fromm will be helped by pre-season All-SEC running back D'Andre Swift and a stout offensive line, led All-SEC left tackle Andrew Thomas. If there are any questions about Georgia's offense, it's who will be catching passes from Fromm when the season starts next month. The most productive wideouts from 2018 are gone, including Jeremiah Holloman, who was kicked off the team in June. Still, Smart isn't fretting about that group.

"There's some other guys training and developing that whole time, and they're ready to jump into the forefront," he said.

Defensively, the Bulldogs have a few holes to fill, especially at corner. But as a whole, the unit has plenty of depth. Senior safety J.R. Reed returns, and Georgia has a lot of depth up front and at linebacker.

Well, the next step for us, and I don't mean this to be trite, but it's Vanderbilt. You have to get to that point because we don't have Alabama on our schedule. We know Alabama has been very powerful in this conference for a long time. We respect the job they do. I got a lot of respect for Coach Saban and his program. I probably wouldn't be here today if it weren't for him.

What they don't have is that final win against Alabama -- something Smart is painfully aware of. At SEC Media Days, he was clearly tired of hearing about it.

"Well, the next step for us, and I don't mean this to be trite, but it's Vanderbilt. You have to get to that point because we don't have Alabama on our schedule," he said. "We know Alabama has been very powerful in this conference for a long time. We respect the job they do. I got a lot of respect for Coach Saban and his program. I probably wouldn't be here today if it weren't for him."

In a lighter moment, though, Smart joked to a gaggle of reporters that he'd figured out how to beat the Crimson Tide.

"Get their backup to leave town," he cracked.

2018 record: 11-3, 7-1 SEC

Key players returning: QB Jake Fromm; RB D'Andre Swift; OL Andrew Thomas and Solomon Kindley and Isaiah Wilson; TE Charlie Woerner; S J.R. Reed; PK Rodrigo Blankenship

Important new arrivals: LB Nakobe Dean, DE Jermaine Johnson, WR George Pickens, OL Clay Webb

Returning statistical leaders:

Passing -- Fromm, 206-306, 2,749 yards, 30 TD, 6 INT

Rushing -- Swift, 163 carries for 1,049 yards and 10 TD

Receiving -- Swift, 32 catches for 297 yards and 3 TD

Tackles -- DB Richard Lecounte, 74

Sacks -- LB Channing Tindall, 2

Interceptions -- Reed and LB Tae Crowder, 2

Aug. 31: @Vanderbilt

Sept. 7: Murray State

Sept. 14: Arkansas State

Sept. 21: Notre Dame

Oct. 5: @Tennessee

Oct. 12: South Carolina

Oct. 19: Kentucky

Nov. 2: Florida (in Jacksonville, Fla.)

Nov. 9: Missouri

Nov. 16: @Auburn

Nov. 23: Texas A&M

Nov. 30: @Georgia Tech