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Nolan Smith weighs in on the transfer portal, why he opted to stick it out at Georgia

IMG_0985by:Griffin McVeigh•01/12/22•

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Georgia linebacker Nolan Smith against Vanderbilt. (Brett Carlsen/Getty Images)

Coming out of high school, Georgia Bulldogs linebacker Nolan Smith was the No. 1 overall player on the On3 Consensus and was a Five-Star Plus+ prospect. If he ever wanted a change in scenery, nearly every program in the country would have given him a call.

Instead, Smith decided to stick with his original commitment to Georgia. Before becoming a national champion, he explained why he decided to stay in Athens and expressed his thoughts on the transfer portal.

“I never thought about leaving because I knew this is where my mom wanted me to be,” Smith said. “This is where I wanted to be. I came in just made the best of every day and tried to work and get better.

“I mean, I’m a Georgia boy, I love the state of Georgia. As far as going anywhere else other than being here, I don’t know, I wouldn’t think. But seeing those guys work and how they did things day in, day out and being Georgia kids, it just helped me a lot and it kept me centered to say guys still want to be here and guys still want to do this, why should I think about leaving and be selfish. I just think that’s selfish.”

Nolan Smith sounds off on NIL

Smith went on to say he understood why people leave their programs in order to get more playing time. However, he does not seem to be in favor of players leaving in order to get more money via lucrative NIL deals.

“I understand guys leaving programs to go do bigger and better things and more playing time, but crazy now that guys are considering leaving programs just because the NIL deals,” Smith said. “And that’s just not about football. Football is a team sport. And I say it all the time it’s the ultimate team sport, you’ve just got to sacrifice a lot.

“I get that a lot playing defense, I’m not an offensive player. I don’t want the ball in my hand a lot of times, I just want to do my job for my team.”

Smith did more than just his job for Georgia, being one of the best defensive players in the country this season. He finished with 53 tackles, 8.0 tackles for a loss, and 4.5 sacks. The soon-to-be NFL star was also able to force a few turnovers, causing three fumbles, one of which was in the College Football Playoff semifinal against Michigan.