After a magical 14-1 season and the program’s first national championship in 40 years, Georgia football decided to reward head coach Kirby Smart with a massive new contract. Smart was slated to make $7.1 million this season, which the Bulldogs rectified by giving him the highest annual average salary in the nation at $11.25 million. His total $112.5 million salary is the most money ever committed to a college football coach, per ESPN.

The Georgia football coach is certainly deserving of the payday, though it doesn’t mean he and the Bulldogs can rest on their laurels. They’ll now be “the hunted” in the 2022 season, with complacency now an added opponent on the schedule every weekend.

As the nation’s highest paid coach, Smart will be expected to perform and keep this Georgia team atop the SEC. That said, here are three things Kirby Smart must do to fulfill his massive contract with the Georgia football program.

3 Things Kirby Smart Must Do To Fulfill Georgia Football Contract 

3. Keep Georgia football atop the recruiting ranks 

One of the reasons the Bulldogs felt so emboldened to make Kirby Smart the highest-paid coach is for his recruiting prowess. Since being named the head coach in 2016, Georgia football has ranked inside 247 Sports’ top-10 recruiting ranks every single year, with two finishes atop the rankings during that span.