Georgia football coach Kirby Smart has no regrets on how the whole Justin Fields situation played out at Georgia, which resulted in the former No. 1 player in the country leaving Athens for the Ohio State Buckeyes.
“No regrets,” Smart told Dennis Dodd in a piece for CBS. “I would go recruit the best player [again].”
This is on par with Smart’s mentality and past recruitment of multiple elite players at the same position. If there’s a superstar talent out there, Smart wants him, regardless of who the Dawgs already have signed or are on the roster.
The ‘problem’ with that, if you even want to call it a problem (too many star players is rarely a problem), is that it leads to guys transferring due to lack of playing time, or to put it more clear, due to too much competition.
Regarding the transfer portal, Smart has made clear time and time again that he is not a fan of it and that it is hurting the game.
“My biggest problem with the portal is that it gives kids an easy way out,” Smart said. “I know the devil’s advocate of players’ rights and they should be able to go wherever they want to go. But I’m telling you, no normal parent would say, ‘At the first sign of trouble, I want my son to run.'”
Smart went on to to compare the portal to NFL free agency, which it essentially is.
“It would be no different than the NFL saying, ‘We have a scouting department for colleges, but we [also] have a scouting dept for free agents,'” Smart said. “The NFL free agent market means [they] have to evaluate these 20 free agents. We just happen to have a larger pool, which is the portal.”
