The Georgia Bulldogs are headed into the regular season trying to get back on top of the sport, and despite the way the last three seasons have ended, they are in tremendous shape.

Once again, the Bulldogs were predicted by the press at SEC Media Days earlier this month in Tampa, Florida to win the conference even though several other teams have gotten some serious hype headed into the year. Georgia is still the gold standard in this conference, and the rest of the country knows it.

As long as Kirby Smart is at the helm, this will always be a top tier program, but it was an answer from Smart at media days on how he has had to change the way he does things in this era of college athletics that really shows what the Bulldogs have.

"You have to be willing to grow," Smart told reporters in Tampa. "You have to be willing to experiment, try new things. You can't sit back and just be the same old team and do the same old things and expect to get the same return.

"My job as the leader of this organization is to challenge our staff and make sure we're thinking outside the box, make sure we're exploring other alternatives."

Changing with the times rather than letting the times change and then trying to adjust is why the program has been able to mostly avoid the pitfalls of the last half decade. Despite not being as young as some of his rival coaches, Smart is still always on the cutting edge of things and feels one step ahead of his competition constantly.

The next couple of years are going to be telling, but that mindset alone is why Georgia still has the best coach in the country and a great chance to win a national title year in and year out. Smart continues to grow and change the way not only the program does things, but the way he goes about his day to day responsibilities.

And that is what any great leader does and is willing to do. Even if the Bulldogs don't get it done this year, there's never been more certainty that they have the right guy at the helm. It likely is not gonna be very long before he finds a way to win it all once again.