Kirby Smart takes a jab at Johnny Manziel at coaches clinic

By Chris Marler

The softer side of Kirby Smart is not something fans get to see a lot. One of the most intense and focused coaches in the entire sport. So unless he’s joking with Nick Saban or Pat McAfee on the set of College Gameday, it’s rare we see that from Smart. 

Thanks to a clip gone viral from a recent coaching clinic, everyone got to see the fun and slightly sarcastic side of Smart. 

During a presentation to a room full of coaches, Kirby Smart displayed an image featuring four legendary players—Cam Newton, Joe Burrow, Bryce Young, and Johnny Manziel. He then posed a question to the crowd: “What do these four players have in common?”

From somewhere in the audience, a voice called out, “Champion!”

“Champion of what? Champion of Fireball?” Smart joked, drawing laughter from the room.

The correct answer was not nearly as jovial or fun. It was merely the fact that those four players all gave his defenses fits at some point during his career. However, that didn’t stop social media from running wild with the quote about the former Heisman trophy winner and notorious partier, Manziel. 

Manziel’s Heisman moment during his incredible 2012 campaign came against Kirby Smart and Alabama in Bryant-Denny Stadium. A week after a last minute, game winning drive against rival LSU, Alabama walked into a hornet’s nest against Texas A&M and found themselves down 21-0 in the first quarter to Johnny Football. 

Neither Smart nor Manziel have commented on the quote. However, that didn’t stop social media from running rampant with takeaways to how they perceived the comment. 

In other news, there are 179 days until college football season, so at least we got some fodder from the visor even if it was at Johnny Football’s expense.