Kirby Smart sounds off on Alabama's proposal to align SEC transfer portal deadline with NCAA

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart has lost multiple players to SEC rivals in the transfer portal, also bringing his fair share back over the past two seasons. However, he questioned the merits of a new rule proposed by Alabama which would extend the window for rival players to leave for another school in the conference.

During a media session at the SEC meetings in Destin, Florida, Kirby Smart provided his thoughts on the potential change in the transfer portal deadline to move within the conference.

“I don’t think the two are relevant to each other,” said Smart. “I prefer the way things currently are with the two windows, as they are. I think that it’s tremendously difficult to go through three, four months of workouts and spring practice and then have your roster change in your conference.

“So it’s one thing to say, ‘Ok, May 1, a guy can go where he needs to go.’ That happens, I think a lot of times that’s for the good of the player. We’ve had some kids that realized in the spring that they might not get the opportunity that they so desire, and they want to go look at other schools. There’s hundreds of schools they can go look at. If you say they can’t go to the SEC, I think it’s a good thing to have a date set earlier, to make a decision coming out of the season if they want to explore their options within the SEC.”

The proposal from Alabama would allow schools in the SEC to recruit players much later into the offseason, after the beginning of spring. Currently the SEC deadline lined up with national signing day, leaving students who wish to transfer out of their schools with very little time if they wish to remain in the SEC.

Lane Kiffin on transfer deadline

Kirby Smart was not the only SEC coach asked about the potential for a new transfer portal deadline on Tuesday, Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin also provided his thoughts on whether the idea could come to fruition.

“Lane Kiffin guesses Alabama’s SEC rule change proposal will not pass that would push the intraconference transfer deadline from Feb 1 to May 1,” stated ALdotcom’s Mike Rodak. “Kiffin: ‘Someone kind of joked, they’re not going to put their spring game on TV’ because they’d be showcasing their players to poach.”

In addition to his comments about the possibility of the deadline being moved, Kiffin provided hints at where his vote might land.

“He seems to be in favor of the old rule sticking, too, and noted his opinion on the rule staying is his alone and doesn’t speak for the rest of the coaches,” explained On3 Sports’ Jesse Simonton.