Kirby Smart emphasizes on work ethic of athletes as revenue-sharing model awaits final approval

Kirby Smart made a very interesting offer amidst the recent changes in the college football landscape. The House vs. NCAA settlement will have its final approval hearing on April 7. It was approved preliminarily last year in October. However, if it gets the final season of approval, then NCAA schools under this settlement will have a revenue-sharing model with their student athletes.

During a press conference after practice on Tuesday, Kirby Smart was questioned about his strategy to deal with recruits bringing NIL offers from other schools as a form of negotiation. The Georgia Bulldogs' head coach stated he has not yet faced such a situation.

Kirby Smart also went on to talk about how he would manage this situation given the changing landscape and the potential introduction of the revenue-sharing model. (Comments start from TS-17:18).

"I don't have kids coming in and doing that," Smart said. "If they come in and say that, I'll listen to them and talk to them, but I'm going to scratch them off the list. I'm over that because all that matters, then you need to send out a bid like they do for jobs and say, submit your bid, take your visits and go to the highest bidder."

"I really believe the relationships still does matter, and if the relationship doesn't matter, then, I'm probably not going to have a kid that wants to play hard for Georgia, right? So the relationship matters, work ethic matters, and do you want to be great? Do you have fire, passion, and energy? I'll pay for that. I'll pay a premium for fire, passion and energy because in the market that we're in, there's a lack of that."

Last season, Kirby Smart led the Bulldogs to an SEC title and a spot in the 12-team playoffs. Unfortunately, they were eliminated by Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl quarterfinal showdown.

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Kirby Smart shares concerns about the House vs. NCAA settlement

The Georgia head coach is not against the idea of players getting paid. However, Kirby Smart expressed his concerns about the potential manipulation of the market to take advantage.

He believes that this could affect the competitiveness in college football. He stated that there is no guaranteed fair competitive balance in the current NCAA landscape.

"There's a lot of people doing, not illegal things. 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 crying to take advantage of that every minute they can....All we're trying to do is make for competitive balance. It's really unfortunate, I don't know if competitive balance is going to come out of it."

Despite the changes, Kirby Smart will continue his ways of recruiting players committed to the goal of achieving success. The Bulldogs begin their 2025 campaign with a season opener against Marshall in August.