Kirby Smart reacts to Georgia signing executive order on NIL payments

Kirby Smart was very appreciative of the new executive order signed in the state of Georgia, as it relates to NIL.

The Georgia head coach is on board with Governor Brian Kemp, who signed an order prohibiting the NCAA from enforcing NIL rules. On3’s Pete Nakos had more HERE.

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Smart had a logical reaction to it, since it only helps Georgia in the NIL competitive space.

“Appreciative,” Smart said. “Want to be competitive as we can be in our field of endeavor, this world we live in. And it’s not just us, apparently, it’s the whole state of Georgia. Very appreciative of Governor Kemp and his staff for allowing us to be competitive in putting us on a level playing field, and continues to support our student athletes. This is going to benefit the student athletes and very appreciative of them supporting them.”

The order is immediately effective and will remain in effect until a federal law is enacted regulating the rights of athletes or the effective date of the House v. NCAA settlement, per Nakos. If approved, the settlement will allow schools to share $20 to $23 million annually in revenue to athletes, and the NCAA and its conferences have also agreed to pay $2.8 billion in back damages to former athletes.

“Student-athletes in the State of Georgia should compete on a level playing field and not forgo compensation available to student-athletes in other states while the settlement is pending,” Georgia’s executive order states.

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Kirby Smart reacts to Georgia executive order on NIL

Smart didn’t limit himself to the state’s new executive order. Asked if he had missed out on players in the portal or recruiting due to existing NIL rules, Smart was said he has. 

But the coach also added that he’s seen cases where a university promises a certain dollar amount to recruits that they ultimately can’t fulfill.

“It’s all about what you have available,” Smart said in a Tuesday press conference. “Some people are willing to spend beyond their ability to raise it. Unfulfilled promises. We’re not gonna have unfulfilled promises where guys reach back out and say, ‘They said they could do this and they didn’t. They said they would do that and they didn’t.’

“So we’ve lost some in those regards, but I don’t know that it was an inability to do it. It was a not gonna step over our skis or our body and put too much out there and say, ‘OK, we’ve committed to this’ and you can’t do it. It’s a hard world out there because you don’t really know what you can and can’t do. People make promises and nobody has a bounty sitting out there that big where they can pay everybody that.”