Kirby Smart still seeking more in changes to Georgia-Florida recruiting
DawgsHQ broke the news this past week that Georgia will have recruits on site in Jacksonville, being able to provide them with tickets for the annual neutral site matchup between the Bulldogs and Florida Gators. Still, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart wants more.
“We’ve always been able to do that. You make an independent decision that each university can decide how they want to do their tickets. For the first time, we are able to allot tickets, which we do on every neutral site game. We do it with Clemson. We do it with Oregon. We do it all the time,” Smart said, clarifying that Georgia has been able to provide tickets for recruits in Jacksonville before but has chosen against it. “Per NCAA rules we are not allowed to see them or talk to them. We can’t do anything with them, so it’s really a moot point. They get to go, but what good does that do in terms of recruiting that you don’t get to spend time with them and host them? It doesn’t change the official visit they are on.”
As suspected, the change is one that is only a step in the right direction and not the final destination for Kirby Smart and his agenda to make this game a home-and-home matchup. Doing so would allow for Georgia to host recruits – not just provide them with tickets – on campus, which they cannot do per NCAA rules at the neutral site. The biggest difference between the two of them? The contact that coaches can have with recruits on campus that they aren’t allowed to have in Jacksonville. NCAA rules would have to change in order for the teams – even just the designated home team that’s allowed to leave tickets for recruits and their families – to be allowed to speak with the prospective student-athletes, and as Smart has said before, he doesn’t see that getting support from others that aren’t affected by the decision.
At SEC Media Days in July, Kirby Smart spoke with former Florida quarterback Tim Tebow on the SEC Network set about what it would mean to have that game played on campus as opposed to the neutral site. His argument centered around recruiting.
Tebow called Georgia-Florida “one of the best environments” in College Football. Smart pushed back by asking the Heisman Trophy winner how many times he got to play in Athens – knowing the answer of course. To him, that would be just as special as playing in a 50-50 split stadium. He also knows that doing so would open doors in recruiting.
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“It’s not an advantage for anybody,” Smart said, dispelling the notion that he was only upset because his team has to make the further trip every year. “Look at the history of it. The team with the better players, the better team usually wins that game and it affects the outcome of the SEC East.”
“It’s more about for me, I’m competing against guys all across the SEC who host kids at their biggest game,” he continued. “When Auburn plays Alabama, guess where the recruits are? They’re at Auburn. And when LSU and Alabama play, that’s where the biggest recruits want to go. So it’s an opportunity for us to bring these kids that fly in from all over the country, what game do they want to come see Georgia play? They’d like to see Georgia play Florida. They can’t do that. It’s very important. Recruiting is very important. I just can’t get a Florida coach to agree with me about it.”
First-year Florida head coach Billy Napier was also asked about the topic at SEC Media Days, saying that he wants to experience the game in Jacksonville before having an opinion on whether it should be played on campus or not. This year’s Georgia-Florida meeting is set for October 29th in its traditional 3:30 p.m. ET time slot on CBS.
