The national media clearly think Kirby Smart is a pretty good coach. But they also think there’s a good bit of room for improvement from the leader of the Georgia Bulldogs.

Three national media members — Stewart Mandel and Bruce Feldman of the Athletic and Ralph Russo of the AP — put out their lists of the top 25 college football coaches in the spot. Smart landed in the top-10 in all three lists. But only Mandel had Smart in the top 5, and that was at the No. 5 spot.

But if Georgia is going to win a national championship, which is why he was brought to Georgia, Smart is going to need to answer some of the looming questions that surround him. Obviously he’s an immaculate recruiter, but questions linger about his game management and offensive philosophy.

Smart addressed the latter issue by drastically making over his offense this offseason by bringing in Jamie Newman and Todd Monken. Unfortunately, Smart has not yet gotten a chance to really install those new principles, due to the outbreak of the coronavirus.

And the virus will have an impact on teams not just in the spring but in the fall as well. The teams with superior coaches will get off to better starts this coming fall. A better coach will have his team ready to go, even amid the current set of circumstances.

With Georgia opening against Virginia and then taking on Alabama in Week 3, the Bulldogs are going to have to get off to a fast start. Wins in both those games would be huge for the Georgia program and huge for Smart as an individual because it would include wins over the likes of Bronco Mendenhall and Nick Saban.

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