Kirby Smart knows exactly how he wants to handle NIL at Georgia. Instead of overspending for the “next best thing,” he would rather use a majority of his NIL resources to keep his current roster in tact as much as possible.
This shows that he believes in his players he recruits out of high school and won’t just ditch them for a new transfer. That is something Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian can’t say.
Sarkisian spoke about the massive overhaul that took place at Texas this offseason at SEC Media Days, and he said that he convinced some of his players to leave to make room for new transfers. This is a shocking admission because it proves that he isn’t loyal to the guys in his program. He is willing to kick them to the curb instead of believing in them, and that is the exact opposite of how Smart runs his program at Georgia.
Smart has no choice but to take advantage of this on the recruiting trail because what recruit would want to play for Sarkisian after he proudly admitted he isn’t loyal to them?
NEW: Steve Sarkisian says Texas had to let players go to create "cap space"💰
— On3 (@On3) July 23, 2026
“To make the moves we make, to bring in a Cam Coleman, to bring in a Hollywood Smothers, to bring in a Raleek Brown, to bring in a Mike Masunas at tight end; we had to let DeAndre Moore go. We had to… pic.twitter.com/hdD7D7Y1FN
Kirby Smart wouldn’t dream of running his program like Steve Sarkisian
Smart’s NIK and recruiting strategy is clearly working at Georgia. Working hard to keep his roster in tact instead of buying as many new players and recruits as he can has led to Georgia winning three SEC titles and two National Championships in the NIL era.
So there’s no wonder he won’t conform to what everyone else is doing and spend more NIL to add new players. Why would he ever do that when his strategy has led to more championships than any other school in the country?
Sarkisian however is doing things completely differently. He thinks the best way for Texas to compete with Georgia is by pushing players out and running his program like a professional sports team. So far that hasn’t worked out as he is 0-3 against Georgia while the Bulldogs have won the SEC both years they’ve been in the conference.
This strategy however does give Texas one thing. All of these offseason moves is what leads to Texas being the favorite in the SEC every year, but Smart likely is just fine with that because he prefers to operate in the shadows and be the team that ultimately wins on the field when it matters most.
Texas is doing whatever they can to try and finally beat Georgia
Texas is doing whatever they can to try and compete with Georgia. On top of pushing some of their players out to make room for newcomers, one of their former starting offensive lineman is trying to win a fifth year of eligibility in court.
Cole Hutson has played at Texas for four years. He appeared in 48 games which funny enough is four complete regular seasons, but he is somehow trying to get another year of eligibility in court.
Texas also just got big news from five-star defensive back commit John Meredith who just reclassified to the 2026 recruiting class. This means he will head to Austin right now and play for Texas this season.
It’s clear that Texas is doing whatever it takes to finally beat Georgia and win the SEC. It will be interesting to see if this year plays out any different, but the most likely outcome is probably the one that’s occurred the last two years which is Georgia winning the SEC and beating Texas along the way.
But Sarkisian needs to be careful because his admission at SEC Media Days paints a terrible picture of how he runs his program and could be what ultimately sinks the Longhorns in the long run.
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