Nick Saban received a lot of comparisons during 50-plus years in football. But Darth Vader certainly wasn’t one of the more common ones (not in a positive way, at least).
Yet that’s exactly the image that was invoked in Georgia head coach Kirby Smart’s mind during a recent sitdown with the seven-time national champion-turned-analyst.
Speaking to reporters this week, Smart admitted that he was nervous during a media call that included Saban as one of the people asking questions. He said that he was reluctant to answer questions about his own team to his former longtime rival and joked that it felt like he was “giving answers to Darth Vader.”
“I was nervous,” Smart said, via Zach Klein of WSB-TV. “I was like, ‘For 15 minutes, I’m gonna share with him? About my team?’ I’m like, ‘I feel like I’m giving answers to Darth Vader or something.’ It’s very different.”
Georgia Bulldogs HC Kirby Smart on Nick Saban now being apart of the media and sharing UGA info with him:
“I feel like I’m giving answers to Darth Vader” pic.twitter.com/GZigSxBbcu
— Zach Klein (@ZachKleinWSB) July 16, 2024
Over the last few years, Smart has probably spared no expense in making sure that all of his gameplans and roster updates were kept more guarded from Nick Saban than the gold of Fort Knox.
Smart was only able to beat Saban once out of six meetings and three of those losses cost the Bulldogs a shot at a national championship.
Seeing Saban as a curious interviewer rather than a threat to his program might take some getting used to.
Related: Georgia’s Kirby Smart Reacts To Nick Saban Deciding To Retire