Kirby Smart addresses Georgia’s NIL strategy, idea of ‘hometown discount’ in recruiting

Georgia coach Kirmby Smart (Wesley Hale / Imagn Images)

When Georgia made its run to back-to-back national championships, NIL was in its early stages in college athletics. At the time, Kirby Smart recalled a “hometown discount” of sorts given the Bulldogs’ success both on the field and in the NFL Draft.

Of course, recruiting continues to change along with the NIL and, now, rev-share eras. When it comes to that “discount,” Smart said it comes down to finding value, but he acknowledged Georgia isn’t afraid of spending when necessary.

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During a conversation with Josh Pate, Smart said he hears the chatter about Georgia getting players to commit without necessarily offering the top dollar. But there’s also a balance during the recruiting process to make sure UGA spends its money in the right places.

“I would like to believe that. And I hear people say that,” Smart said. “We used to, our coaches after the first two national championships and NIL was just in its infancy, I would say there was this ‘hometown discount’ or this, UGA-I’m-going-to-get-NFL-status discount. I think people take offense to that when you’re talking to the to the agent or the recruiting world. They want a value for their son, they want a value for their representative … and they’re not looking for that. Well, we spend money. People come all the time – we’re probably fourth or fifth in the SEC in spending money.

“We want to find the best value, along with the best kid. Sometimes, in our state, there’s a player that’s ‘X’ and the player over here is demanding ‘X,’ and the players aren’t that far apart. But they’re that far apart in money that we choose to say, ‘You know what? He knows who he is. He knows what he wants and he’s going to develop well.’ And we think he’s an undervalued player because he’s been on our campus four times. He’s from Atlanta, Georgia, and we’re going to bring him over here and I’m not going to go out and play some crazy premium on a risk. Because at the end of the day, every player we bring in here is a risk. It’s an investment. We’re putting a lot of money, a lot of the university’s money, into these kids. I want a more solid investment.”