How Kamari Lassiter surprised Kirby Smart. What UGA football underclassmen said about 2024

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Talk about a hat trick.

The Georgia football senior class topped off its 50-4 record by downing an unbeaten team in a bowl game for the third time in four seasons — Cincinnati in 2020 in the Peach, Michigan in 2021 in the Orange and Florida State Saturday in the Orange again.

Georgia hammered previously unbeaten Florida State which was missing players all over its lineup, 63-3.

“Hats off to Florida State, but selfishly getting to add a loss to their schedule means everything to us,” senior offensive lineman Xavier Truss said. “I’m glad we got to end the season how we wanted to and finish strong like how we started the season."

More: Why winning mattered to Georgia football on a non-playoff stage in an era of opt-outs

More: Did any part of Georgia football not get a high grade in Orange Bowl romp over Seminoles?

Here are three questions after the stomping:

How did Georgia Bulldog Kamari Lassiter surprise Kirby Smart?

By deciding to play in the Orange Bowl after Smart told him he should turn pro.

Smart saw the junior cornerback’s NFL draft grade by an advisory panel — a first or second rounder — and offered him an assessment that was in Lassiter's best interest but probably not Georgia’s.

“I told him, Kamari, you should come out for the draft,” he said. “That's my opinion. You're one of the top corners in the draft. You've got to make that decision.”

Smart said he expected Lassister not to play in the bowl and told him he wouldn’t be disappointed with any decision he made. Smart met with Lassiter and his parents.

“He called me two days later and said, 'Coach, I can't do it,'” Smart said. “I can't do it. I'm sitting down, I'm over there coaching. I can't do it. I want to be out there. I want to play with my guys. I think he did it against his mother's will to be honest."

How many Georgia players announced their plans for 2024 after the game?

Not one. At least in the postgame locker room.

Unlike last year when Kelee Ringo revealed he was turning pro after crushing TCU for the national title, nobody wanted to overshadow what they just did on the field.

“I’m enjoying this now, we’ll figure it out tomorrow,” wide receiver Ladd McConkey said.

An educated prediction for decisions: tight end Brock Bowers, offensive tackle Amarius Mims and Lassiter go and probably McConkey too. Safety Javon Bullard could as well.

Bowers and McConkey hugged in the locker room and took a photo together.

Bowers, who is still bothered by an ankle injury, arrived after the team to Miami.

“I just wanted to be here,” he said. “Started this year, and I just wanted to be here to finish.”

Told he was a projected top-10 overall pick, Bowers was asked if he’s ready to say he’s going.

“We’ll see,” he said.

Wide receiver Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint, who could have taken advantage of a COVID year, told Emily Gagnon of CBS Atlanta that it was his last game.

Cornerback Daniel Harris walked back his social media post saying he was going in the transfer portal by posting the Leonardo DiCaprio “I’m not leaving,” clip from Wolf of Wall Street.

Does Georgia football winning by the biggest bowl margin ever mean if it made playoff, it would have won it all?

Uh, not exactly. That was essentially a question Kendall Milton and Lassiter were asked in the postgame press conference.

Here’s what Milton said: “To be honest, in any fight, in any war, I'm taking my guys against anybody. That's just the belief that I have. I have faith in my team that everybody is going to go out and lay it all on the line. I take my guys over everybody.”

And Lassiter put it this way: “Yeah, for me, I'm not really into speculation, but anytime I get to go out there with those guys, I'm going to take my guys 100 out of 100 times because of the things I've seen these guys do day in and day out.”

Speculation is a good word with this one. Georgia went up against a Florida State team with a decimated roster due to opt outs and injuries. They weren’t the same Florida State team and they weren’t Michigan, Washington, Texas or Alabama.

Florida State in the playoff wouldn’t look the same either because many of those opt outs would have been playing.

Smart said depleted rosters in non-playoff games “needs to be fixed.”

Here’s an idea. Make it like the NIT in basketball.

Schools should have the option of passing on going to a bowl game if it looks like players may not be all in for it. Penn State, USC and UCLA did just that after the 2020 COVID season.

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Here's what Kirby Smart told Kamari Lassiter about NFL draft decision