Donnan, who joined FoxSports.com’s Bruce Feldman on “The Audible” podcast, gave Kirby Smart his start in coaching as a graduate assistant.
“The expectations, obviously, are really high,” Donnan said. “There’s tremendous commitment to the program and there’s a pretty good football team coming back, though not as good as maybe some of these fans think. Kirby’s got a good staff and he knows what to do in terms of competing in the league having been around Nick (Saban) for so long and having coached with Coach (Bobby) Bowden at Florida State. And he kinda got his start with me, so I think he understands what’s ahead of him.