Kirby Smart expresses his fears of paying players: ‘Kids are going to struggle the next 10 years’

The final approval hearing for the House V. NCAA settlement is set to begin next Monday. Judge Claudia Wilken is set to hear any objections and possibly approve a $2.8 billion settlement that would be paid out to college athletes.

Should the settlement be approved, it would open the door to revenue sharing, potentially a hard cap to roster limits and other aspects that figure to alter not just college football but all of college sports.

“We don’t know everything that’s going to come out with April 7th, which might be April 7th, might be the settlement date, where we get a lot more information,” Smart said during his Tuesday press conference. “But everybody’s on pins and needles because we don’t know exactly what’s going to come out of this.”

At this point during Tuesday’s press conference, Smart expressed his concerns over the future of the sport in a way the usually tight-lipped coach rarely does.

“I mean, it could be one of the most legendary moments in all of college sports with what’s coming up on this ruling and how people are going to try to manipulate a cap when all we’re trying to do is make for competitive balance,” Smart said. “And it’s really unfortunate that I don’t know if competitive balance is going to come out of it. You know, like I don’t know if the kids win in this model that we currently have if they win long term. Like long term, when we have to cut sports and cut other things, are the kids going to be the winners of this? I don’t know.

“College sports has been around a long time and given many an opportunity. And by all means, I want these kids to make money. But what’s going on right now is not good for anybody.”

Smart shared other revealing details during his Tuesday night press conference, whether it be regarding NIL negotiations with agents over Zoom and players asking if Georgia could match a potential bid, to what kind of conversation he’s had with the team about it.

With little regulation at the moment, Smart shared one particularly slimy part of the business when it comes to college football these days.

“There’s people reaching out to have a Zoom call and present all the players they represent that are on teams, including our teams,” Smart said. “And they want to invite people to the Zoom so they can watch and see who’s going in the portal or shopping who’s in the portal before the portal. “You want to get on the Zoom and look at all these players? I’m like, well, what if some of them are mine?”

With an impending deadline — the transfer portal also reopens on April 16 and closes on April 25 — Smart went into detail about how schools are trying to front-load payments to players as a way to circumvent the cap.

“There’s a lot of people doing, not illegal things,” Smart said. “They’re just manipulative money things to try to move this, move that so I can free up this. And what’s going to happen? There’s probably going to be a bubble or a spike. And then agents are literally trying to take advantage of that every minute they can. They want to get all they can for their client. But at the end of the day, it may backfire because there’s going to be a correction in the market at some point when this cap hits.”

Smart added that at some point, there will be a correction that comes for those who are trying to manipulate the money. And that could leave a large number of players who are upset by playing a rigged game.

While Smart is raising alarm bells over the matter, players have a different approach to it. Linebacker Terrell Foster is keeping close tabs on the hearing, given roster limits could lead to the end of walk-ons like him.

Foster has benefitted from NIL, as it has afforded him the opportunity to have school paid for. But that could change with the passing of the House Settlement.

Then there is offensive lineman Micah Morris, who is on scholarship unlike Foster. The senior offensive lineman shared that players are focused on practice at this point and rather how much of a potential cap they might be getting.

“We’re just worried about getting better as a team on the field,” Morris said. “Obviously off-the-field, it’s going to take care of itself. You do what you need to do on the field, everything else will take care of itself. We’re not too worried about that too much.”

Smart clearly worries not just about the sport of college football, but those who play it. The ability to transfer freely and chase an NIL bag at every turn has really long-term consequences.

And while the Georgia head coach doesn’t know how the House Settlement will potentially impact his team, he feels that those who have passed through the sport in recent years will be worse off because of how things have devolved.

“Kids are going to struggle the next 10 years,” Smart said. “When they look back and somebody says, I’m going to go back and look at this and say, what happened to the kids that went to two and three and four places? I will assure you, we will not be happy with where those kids that jumped for greener grass went to. And I think the portal is a good thing for a lot of kids that are third, fourth, fifth year. But it also gives you a way out that I don’t think is good for kids right now.”

Kirby Smart sounds off on House Settlement, NIL concerns