Kirby Smart does things a little differently when it comes to Georgia's NIL. As of now he is still able to compete against the biggest spenders in college football, but his strategy is completely different as he prefers to pay his current players to keep his roster in tact instead of always looking to buy the best transfer or recruit.
This strategy has worked so far as Georgia has won three conference titles and two national championships during the NIL era, but this strategy might not be sustainable. Every year teams are spending more and more in NIL, and Georgia's pool of money could dry up sooner than other schools because of the drastic difference in their alumni base.
Ohio State: ~600,000 living alumni. Georgia: 372,000. The gap doesn't cost Georgia anything this year. It will matter when it's time to keep pace financially with the schools built for this NIL era. #DawgNationDaily pic.twitter.com/ioEIdMPRDE
— DawgNation (@DawgNation) July 31, 2026
Kirby Smart's NIL strategy may not work forever
Every year in the NIL era college football programs are spending more money. At this point Georgia has still been able to keep up, but if spending continues to increase they might eventually fall too far behind.
Right now Smart can get away with offering recruits less money than other schools. He sells recruits on the ability to turn them into NFL players and being able to win championships as a way to make up for their slightly smaller NIL offers. That so far has been able to work, but at some point NIL offers from other schools will become too big.
Say an average Power Four school eventually offers a player $10 million more than Georgia to come to their school. If that happens there's no chance they would ever say no. $10 million is just a drastic example right now, but that could eventually become reality at the rate college football spending is increasing.
So while Georgia's NIL formula works right now, it might not work forever which means Smart will have to be ready to adjust his stance on NIL. Unfortunately Georgia might not be built for that.
Kirby Smart and Georgia could eventually fall behind in the NIL space
Every school gets the most NIL money from alumni donors. Georgia thankfully has a large alumni base, but as the post above showed it is much less than Ohio State. The Buckeyes are one team Georgia directly competes against, so their much larger alumni base sets them up for more long term NIL success.
Georgia's smaller alumni base doesn't guarantee they will struggle though. Sure they have less alumni to call on for donations, but they still have planty of people to help them keep up with the biggest spenders in college football. But if other schools with larger alumni bases like Ohio State are able to take advantage of this then there really isn't anything Georgia can do.
The good news it that a salary cap similar to professional sports has been floated around. This would ensure that Georgia never falls behind other schools, but if a salary cap is never introduced then it could just be a matter of time until Smart's NIL strategy no longer works.
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