'I love him, love his family.' Brock Vandagriff on that midfield embrace with Kirby Smart

‘I love him, love his family.’ Brock Vandagriff on that midfield embrace with Kirby Smart

Posted by author February 1, 2025 Football

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Georgia football coach Kirby Smart found Kentucky quarterback Brock Vandagriff in the middle of the field after the top-ranked Bulldogs squeaked out a 13-12 win in Lexington in September.

Smart had his hands around Vandagriff’s shoulders and the two had deep conversation for a couple minutes. Smart praised Vandagriff’s toughness, competitive edge and told him that he loved him.

Vandagriff spent three years in Smart’s program at UGA but never made his way to starter. After three years, and when starter Carson Beck chose to come back for another season, Vandagriff entered the transfer portal and landed at Kentucky.

“It was more of a public display of our relationship that had already been for three to four years,” Vandagriff said. “Probably even longer than that, just with recruiting. That’s how coach Smart is. I think he’s one of the best, if not the best, coaches in the country.”

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Vandagriff admitted that it was a hard decision to leave Georgia’s program. He liked the structure, the competitive nature and he liked UGA, where he got a degree in communications in just over three years.

Smart, shortly after the win at Kentucky, alluded to how hard it was for Vandagriff to transfer out of the program.

“The guy cried in my office when he told me he had to leave,” Smart said. “It ate away at him, and I’m really happy for him.”

Smart tried to talk Vandagriff into staying. That’s where the crying came in. Vandagriff knew he loved it at Georgia, but the opportunity to play wasn’t there.

As a competitor, he said, it was time to move on to Kentucky.

“I said, you know, coach, there’s nothing about Georgia that’s making me go away,” Vandagriff said. “I love everything about it, I love every aspect. I love the people, how you run the program, the facilities and everything.”

As a former safety at Georgia, Smart couldn’t fault Vandagriff’s decision.

“That was something that he understood,” Vandagriff said. “Coach Smart is a competitor. As a competitor you can understand that you want to go out there and play and see what you’ve got. See if you’ve got what it takes.”

Vandagriff struggled during his one year at Kentucky, being benched at halftime of two games while not playing in the season finale against Louisville. With one year of eligibility remaining, he decided to retire from football.

“It was different the way Kentucky and Georgia ran their programs,” he said.

He recently told the Athens Banner-Herald that he was working in medical device sales for Zimmer Biomet, selling products to hospitals and surgeons. Coaching could be in his future, he said, but he’s currently thrilled with where he’s at in life.

Smart still checks in on Vandagriff with texts and the occasional phone call. That’s one of the sides of Smart that the former five-star from Prince Avenue said can’t be seen from outside of the program.

“I love him, love his family,” Vandagriff said of Smart, “and I believe that relationship is one that I’ll carry on for the rest of my life.”

Ryne Dennis is the Deep South Connect Team Editor for Gannett/USA Today. Find him on X @RyneDennis and email at rdennis@onlineathens.com.