Georgia Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart worried about college football players getting too much, too fast from NIL

Georgia coach Kirby Smart on Tuesday raised concerns about the «reverse system» of name, image and likeness deals and his frustrations with the recruiting calendar.

In a question-and-answer session with coaches at the Texas High School Coaches Association convention in San Antonio, Smart was asked if he's tired of answering questions about NIL yet.

«Hell yeah, and y'all are tired of hearing about that s--- too,» Smart said to laughs across the room.

But he discussed his concern about players getting too much, too fast.

«It's unfortunate that it slid the way it did because I was one of the biggest advocates that the name, image and likeness [rule] needed to be in place,» Smart said. «Look, it is not for everybody. Everybody's not gonna make the same amount of money off of it.… You're gonna have different pay scales for different guys. I can accept that.

»What I can't accept is some young man getting $10,000 a month for four years or three years of college? That's $120K a year. What do you think he's doing with that? Is that actually gonna make him more successful in life? Because, I promise you, if you handed me $10K a month my freshman year of college, I probably wouldn't be where I am today. I believe that."

Smart said he believed that he had to fight, scratch and claw for opportunities, whether it was not having money to get out of an ATM or not playing much in football. He said that if he had been handed that much money — adding that $10K was just a random figure — he might not have had to work as hard.

«You could say, 'Well, he deserves that,'» Smart said. «Well, he might deserve that if he earns it. If he goes out there and plays, I'm all for taking care of guys that have been part of the program and start and play.