Kirby Smart didn’t just leave for greener pastures. Nick Saban believes his former defensive coordinator of eight years in Tuscaloosa left for a program dripping with potential.

According to CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd, Saban had quite the praise for Smart’s new home when asked how he’d do in Athens.

“You never know how people do, but I think he’ll do fine,” Saban said. “Personally, Georgia, if it’s not the best job in the conference, it certainly should be.”

There’s certainly a lot of buzz surrounding the Bulldogs’ program right now. That’s evidenced by the school setting the SEC spring game attendance record of 93,000 this past Saturday.

Georgia’s fan base seems excited for the Smart era to begin after the one under Mark Richt always brought promise but no prize in his last 10 years at the helm. In that span, UGA posted six 10-win seasons with no SEC crown.

Smart shared a puzzlement with Saban when it came to that, according to Dodd.

“He’s asked from time to time, ‘What’s going on? Why don’t they win more?'” Smart said in reference to Saban questioning Georgia. Smart replied, “I don’t know that. I’ll never know. They won good, they just didn’t win big.”