UGA Football coach Kirby Smart Wants Clarity on the Future of the NCAA Transfer Portal
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ATHENS - UGA Football coach Kirby Smart, like so many of his peers, wants to know if college football can make sensible chances to the NCAA Transfer Portal.
Kirby spoke with ESPN’s Paul Finebaum during his show about the situation last week as the SEC met in Florida for spring meetings. The 10th-year coach said he, and others, want to know the details of the future of the portal now.
“I think the timing of portal right now is really critical,” Kirby said on the program. “It effects so many things. We have become a little more accustomed to the December-January portal. There is also an April portal. Will it be a one-portal window, or a two-portal window?”
College football currently has two transfer portal windows, which has led to a lot of turnover in the sport. Kirby appeared to indicate that he was in favor of having one transfer window in football, and for that to be settled soon.
“If it is one portal when will it fall? That has become a really critical decision because it is going to effect people’s cap space,” he said.
Schools are in the midst of waiting for a landmark case that is expected to provide a pathway for college to pay players. That would provide a so-called cap of around $20 million a year to be paid to athletes at NCAA schools.
Lack of clarity on that front has led to even more challenging roster decisions because of the cap that is expected to be in place as well as lack of certainty surrounding the future of regulation of the portal.
“There is a lot of talk about academic calendars, and how it effects each school differently - we’ve gone through that,” Kirby added. “A lot of us have leaned to navigate. In defense of the players - they want to go to a new school in January if they are leaving. To hold kids until April? I don’t know how well that will be received by the student-athletes.”
Georgia lost 14 players in the portal this offseason. The Bulldogs gained ten. Georgia opens up its season against Marshall on Sanford Stadium at 3:30. The game will be broadcast by ESPN.