Kirby Smart has never hidden his preference. Georgia recruits high school players, develops them internally, and expects patience to be rewarded with championships. However, as college football moves deeper into the portal-and-NIL era, the cost of that choice is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. One prominent Georgia voice is no longer soft-pedaling it.

“Out of this team, the unspoken subtext to that is based on the fact that we were so young,” Brandon Adams said on DawgNation Daily. “But here’s the thing you gotta understand. In the current age of college ball we live in, formerly 2025, now 2026, if your team is young, then that was your choice. That if you wanted an older team, you could have just brought in older players.”

That statement reframed Georgia’s 2025 season as a roster decision, not a developmental phase. The numbers back him up.

According to data circulated by The Athletic, roughly 90 percent of Georgia’s starters were signed out of high school. Only 10 percent came from the transfer portal.

Compare that to Ole Miss, Indiana, Miami, and Oregon, where roughly 40 percent of starts came from transfers. Those programs made a logical decision to prioritize experience. Georgia made the opposite bet, which ultimately lowered their ceiling this season. 

When games tightened, Kirby Smart’s program lacked older players who had already lived through college football’s attrition and chaos. Youth brought upside, but it also brought inconsistency, fatigue, and in key moments, hesitation. That reality became inevitable once the roster churned from the program’s most talent-rich era.

Georgia’s 2023 recruiting class arrived at the peak of the dynasty. Those players played high school football during the back-to-back national titles. They walked into a roster stacked with future NFL players from the 2020 and 2021 classes. Opportunity was limited, and many chose not to wait.

18 of the 26 signees from that 2023 class have now left the program. Only eight players are projected to stay for their senior year, resulting in a 31% retention rate. Nine of the top 15 signees are no longer with the team, and 14 of the top 20 have been eliminated. Moreover, 13 players didn’t even reach the 2025 season.

The impact showed up when it mattered. Against Ole Miss, only five players from that class played meaningful snaps in the Sugar Bowl. Injuries to Joenel Aguero, Gabe Harris, Jordan Hall, and Kyren Jones exposed just how thin the experienced layer of the roster had become. Aguero, a former 5-star, is now in the portal, and Bo Hughley followed.

While Georgia leaned young, others leaned towards old age. Indiana’s average roster age sits around 23. Vanderbilt fielded the oldest team in the SEC and won 10 games for the first time in school history. Indiana is the No. 1 seed in the playoffs. These teams are not more talented than Georgia, but they are simply older.

That reality does not mean Kirby Smart is wrong. It means the sport has changed faster than Georgia’s comfort level. He still views high school recruiting as the foundation, and he is correct. But the portal has become roster insurance.

Kirby Smart has admitted as much, calling his 2025 team “very young” and openly discussing how younger players struggled to sustain practice reps. That acknowledgment leads directly to the present moment.

Kirby Smart makes a targeted pivot

Georgia’s portal activity shows adjustment, not panic. Clemson safety Khalil Barnes brings one year of experience and immediate familiarity. Georgia Tech WR Isiah Canion fills a need left by graduating veterans and brings proven production.

East Carolina safety Ja’Marley Riddle, Auburn edge rusher Amaris Williams, and USC corner Braylon Conley all add experience to a defense that lost Malaki Starks and Dan Jackson to the NFL.

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The message from inside the program is consistent, as retention comes first. The 2025 roster was 54 percent freshmen and sophomores. 12 of the top 21 defensive snap-takers were underclassmen. That core is being protected aggressively, and Georgia has just 11 portal exits so far, its lowest number since 2021.

This is still Kirby Smart’s program, but Brandon Adams’ rant landed because it named the trade-off Georgia has been making. The Bulldogs chose youth. Now the responsibility lies with that youth to grow up quickly, or for Georgia to continue borrowing adulthood from the portal until it does.