Kirby Smart pays homage to former Bulldog Isaiah Wynn

Video: Georgia coach wore a t-shirt as a favor for a former player Saturday. Video by Chip Towers.

Kirby Smart doesn’t normally wear T-shirts in public. But he did Saturday as he wanted to draw attention to the cause of one of his former players.

The Georgia Bulldogs’ head football coach showed up to his post-scrimmage news briefing wearing a collar-less shirt that read “Win for Wynn” in big red letters on the front. It’s the name of a camp run by Isaiah Wynn, a former All-SEC offensive tackle for the Bulldogs who became a first-round choice of the New England Patriots last year.

Smart was asked if he had to work Wynn’s camp to earn the T-shirt.

“I did, man,” he said.

He didn’t really. But Smart said after finding out what Wynn had done back in his hometown, which was to donate back-to-school supplies to kids in the Lakewood area of St. Petersburg, he asked him to send him one of the shirts.

“I told him I’d wear it at one of my press conferences,” Smart said. “I saw his video of what he did for kids before school started. … He just did an unbelievable job. It's so indicative of him, what he did, so I asked him for one of those shirts.”

Smart’s homage to Wynn hasn’t stopped with the T-shirt. He also informed reporters that the Bulldogs have designated a time every Wednesday in which they read some of the sayings they’ve collected from Wynn. Even while he was playing for Georgia, Wynn was known for coming up with great witticisms and phrases.

“We call it Wynn for Wednesday and read his quotes to the team,” Smart said.

Things are decidedly looking up for Wynn, who was the 23rd pick of the first round by the Patriots following the Bulldogs' magical 2017 season. Wynn suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon in preseason camp last year and missed the entire season. But he has recovered and been cleared for this season and reportedly is playing well.

Wynn played left guard most of his career at Georgia before starring after moving to left tackle before the 2017 season. The Bulldogs won the SEC championship and played Alabama for the national championship.