Kirby Smart on differing NIL state laws: 'I just want a fair playing ground'

The NIL has a lot of areas that still need to be worked out, and Georgia coach Kirby Smart knows that. One of the most pressing concerns of late is that different states have passed laws that protect their schools from enforcement from both the NCAA and their respective conferences.

Smart joined the Paul Finebaum Show on Tuesday from the SEC Spring Meeting in Destin and went in-depth on how he has seen that play out in recruiting. The coach explained how keeping up with the different laws in each state to make sure he is playing by the rules can be difficult, using an interesting comparison

“It really complicates it because you’re going to those states yourself to recruit,” the coach said. “I’ve heard the analogy used that the railroad tracks would be a different size in those states than yours, and they’re meant to be even. You’re supposed to go from state-to-state and go recruit kids. There’s some inherent want, I guess, out of those states to keep their kids in state and allow them to get revenue as high school athletes or not have to have the same rules as some of the teams have with collectives and be able to communicate with them.

“I just like a fair playing ground. I like for everybody to be balanced and not have to go and try to manipulate the rules and laws in your state to give you a better chance of signing a football player. I don’t think that’s fair to kids. I think they should be able to go where they want to go.”

Kirby Smart on the possibility of uniform NIL policy for SEC

Finebaum then asked Smart whether he believes that could create pressure for other states to keep up. The coach said he hopes it doesn’t get to that point, suggesting that the SEC could come together to create a uniform law that all schools agree upon.

Once Oklahoma joins the conference, there will be 12 states represented in the SEC. It would certainly be a difficult task to get them all to come together, and Smart added that federal NIL legislation would also solve the issue.

Regardless of how it gets done, he just hopes that a day will come where everyone has to abide by the same rules.

“It’s certainly a possibility, Smart said. “I would hate for that to be the case. The SEC leadership we have is really good. We have people in positions in the SEC to put rules in place and lead however many states we cover. I don’t know what it is, but we’ve got 16 teams coming in. Let’s all play on a level playing field and not have to go state-to-state and try to gain that competitive advantage.

“Or let’s get the federal government involved and have them help us put some parameters around this thing that we can all build by and it’s sustainable and benefits the student-athlete in the long term. It’d be much better for them to have a steady income and not be competing with other teams just based on a value.”