Georgia football: How Kirby Smart can take advantage of Nick Saban’s NIL comments

Here is how Kirby Smart and the Georgia football program can take advantage of Nick Saban’s NIL commentary.

As Nick Saban continues to get overly philosophical when it comes to NIL, here is how Kirby Smart’s Georgia football program can take complete advantage of the situation.

Saban has thrust himself front-and-center into all things NIL in his budding soundbite war with Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher. Now is the time to save up for the PPV boxing match taking place at Bryant-Denny Stadium between the West Virginia boys on Oct. 8. It will be a hoot and a half, alright. In the meantime, look for Smart to be smart and do what’s best: Always be ‘crootin’.

Texas may have all that oil money, but Georgia is home to a thriving economy, a deep recruiting base and the defending College Football Playoff national champions.

Georgia football: How Kirby Smart can take advantage of Nick Saban NIL beef

Unless Georgia Tech gets a clue and hires Deion Sanders away from Jackson State, the Dawgs will forever run the Peach State when it comes to recruitment. While plenty of Power Five teams pick fruit off the trees in the annual Georgia recruiting harvest, now is the time for Smart and his staff to quintuple down and reinvest those dividends into what brought them titles in the first place.

Don’t kid yourself. Winning a national title based largely on the top recruiting class from 2018 is unbelievably massive for Georgia. It proves that you can in fact win a championship at a place like Georgia, no matter how hopelessly snake-bitten you thought this state was in title bouts previously. Look at all those kids who got drafted. Smart should keep quiet and continue to work.

With Fisher and Saban seemingly at each other’s throats, it serves Smart to focus on the only thing that matters, which is recruiting the best players to Georgia. Smart may be allowed to coach at his alma mater for as long as possible, but he will lose one top assistant after another. Dan Lanning has become the latest key assistant to get a big-time job. Oregon faces Georgia Week 1.

But by having more good players than anyone, Georgia can offset losing a Mel Tucker to Colorado, a Sam Pittman to Arkansas or a Dan Lanning to Oregon. One would think offensive coordinator Todd Monken is next and new co-defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann will be that guy in a few years. Maybe The GOAT of tight end recruiters Todd Hartley will get his shot to run a team soon?

Ultimately, Georgia does not need to be all that vocal about NIL. The Dawgs will figure it out because this is a well-run operation, and that is what well-run operations do. They may have The Classic City Collective on their side, but Smart knows that paying 17-year-olds millions of dollars before they have done anything is not how you win championships. You must put in the work first.

Just because Georgia recruits itself does not mean Smart should take his foot off the gas at all.

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