NIL has completely changed the way college football coaches operate. Recruiting no longer is based solely around building relationships as NIL bidding wars pop up all over the place as incoming recruits are demanding as much money as possible.
The consensus across the country is that teams who want to compete for championships have to have some level of pay-for-play to keep up with everyone else. Kirby Smart however is challenging that status quo, and so far he has found a lot of success in betting on himself and his morals.
Kirby Smart bets on himself in the new NIL era of college football
Smart isn’t afraid to profess his intentions with NIL. Instead of paying for players just to come to Georgia he would rather reward current Bulldogs on his team who have proven to be major contributors.
This is causing him to lose some recruitments for players that are demanding big NIL offers that Georgia maybe could’ve won, but Smart is fine with that. He is choosing to bet on himself and how he develops players and believes that will be good enough to win championships.
So far he has been right because Georgia has won the last two SEC titles. Georgia also won their two National Championships during the first two seasons after NIL was made legal, but that occurred before these massive bidding wars began.
It’s easy for Smart to make the argument that his strategy is working, but on the flip side it could just be a matter of time until this catches up with him and Georgia suffers as a result.
Kirby Smart’s NIL strategy could haunt Georgia for years to come
Georgia has lost a fair number of recruitments the last few years with recruits who made it clear that NIL was a big factor to them. This includes five-star Donte Wright who just recently flipped to Miami as well as Jared Curtis who flipped to Vanderbilt last year.
Tyler Atkinson and Justus Terry are two more names that stand out that seemed like a lock to Georgia only for them to choose another school because of a better NIL offer.
Losing any one of these recruitments really isn’t that bad for Georgia, but losing them all is when things start getting a bit concerning. At some point the lack of elite talent coming in could add up to a point that Georgia just can’t overcome even if Smart continues to develop players at a high level.
At some point talent just wins out, and if Georgia keeps losing these recruitment they might not have enough talent anymore.
Georgia thankfully hasn’t reached this point yet, and until they have a season with a lot of losses there isn’t a reason to be too concerned. But this is something that could eventually catch up to Georgia, so it may be wise for Smart to pivot slightly with his NIL approach before it gets too late.
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