NIL changed everything in college football. Recruiting was once built around a school's reputation and their coaching staff's ability to create meaningful relationships, and no one was better at that than Kirby Smart and Georgia.
But NIL came into the fold and forced everyone to change how they run their programs. Some programs have adapted to NIL better than others, and those are the programs who have found the most success since NIL became legal. Georgia however was the one outlier as they have refused to buy players like other programs and have still found loads of success both on the field and in recruiting.
Georgia's 2027 recruiting class however is not even close to what anyone expects. They are currently ranked No. 18 in the country and that is unacceptable. And if Smart wants to save the program he's built over the last 10 years he may have no choice but to drastically change his stance on NIL.
Kirby Smart may need to rethink his NIL strategy
Smart has made it very clear that he will not buy players out of high school. He also isn't a big fan of doing that with transfers out of the Transfer Portal either. So far this hasn't really impacted Georgia's level of recruiting, that is until the 2027 class took center stage.
Georgia now hasn't been able to land the same number of high level recruits they are used to. The biggest (and potentially only) reason why is because they aren't willing to offer the amount of NIL these recruits are demanding. Some Georgia fans are fine losing these recruitments so UGA can keep their culture in tact, but why can't Georgia pay recruits while retaining their culture?
Georgia doesn't have to sacrifice their culture if they pay recruits to come to Athens. For some reason everyone thinks that is what will happen, but as long as they keep winning then the players in the locker room won't care if some of their teammates are making more than them.
But if Georgia continues to sign recruiting classes outside of the top 15 it may just be a matter of time until they start losing more games. And if that happens then Georgia's culture will suffer even if they keep refusing to pay recruits.
Georgia's 2027 recruiting class is every fan's worst nightmare
Georgia has signed a top 10 recruiting class every year under Smart. Most of those recruiting classes have even been inside the top five. But getting inside the top 10 in the 2027 recruiting class rankings feels impossible at this point.
As of today there are only 32 players that are uncommitted that are ranked inside the top 400. This means that Georgia is close to running out of time to sign a really good recruiting class unless they are able to flip a few high profile recruits from other schools.
The good news for Georgia is that Smart is one of the best developers of talent in the country. He has always been able to turn low level recruits into NFL players, so that should continue as long as he is Georgia’s head coach. But he's always done that while recruiting a lot of elite recruits as well, and the 2027 class is the first sign of that no longer occurring.
Only time will tell how all of this shakes out. Will Georgia be able to continue to win championships with lower ranked recruiting classes? Or will they become an average team in the SEC?
Those questions will be answered over the next few years, but Smart may hve no choice but to increase his NIL spending if he wants Georgia to stay at the top of the college football world.
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