ATHENS — NIL was on everybody’s minds Monday, or so it seemed.
In Athens and in Lexington, Kentucky, this week, the subject of name, image and likeness compensation came up organically in media events that saw the respective football coaches discussing what happened in the No. 1-ranked Bulldogs’ dismantling of the Wildcats on Saturday.
Georgia won 51-13, and Kentucky coach Mark Stoops assured his live audience for his weekly show that was in large part because of the Bulldogs’ effective use of NIL.
“I can promise you, Georgia, they bought some pretty good players,” Stoops said in his Facebook-streamed show Monday night. “You’re allowed to these days. We could use some help. That’s what they look like, you know what I mean, when you have 85 of them. I encourage anybody that’s disgruntled to pony-up.”
In the summer of 2021, the Supreme Court ruled that the NCAA allow college athletes to earn money off their names. Since then, most Division I schools have formed “collectives” for raising money for that purpose.
By “85 of them,” Stoops is assumed to have meant that’s the number of Georgia football players who are receiving compensation via NIL arrangements. Smart doesn’t deny that. In 2022, Smart bragged at SEC Media Days that UGA not only provides all scholarship recipients with some level of NIL compensation through Classic City Collective (CCC), but also walk-ons who make up the balance of 105-player roster.
As for the role NIL disbursements have played in building Georgia’s roster, Smart couldn’t say.
“I just don’t concern myself with that,” he said during Georgia’s press conference Monday. “I don’t think about that. I’m not even, like, worried about that. It may be a story for you guys, but for me, it’s about the men that are in that team meeting room that are going to practice today and that are trying to beat Vanderbilt.”
The Bulldogs (6-0, 3-0 SEC) travel to Nashville to face the Commodores (2-5, 0-3) for a game at noon Saturday. Kentucky (5-1, 2-1) plays host to Missouri (5-1, 1-1) in Lexington.
Which Georgia player earns what through NIL compensation is something the Bulldogs work very hard to keep secret. Every deal that UGA athletes make through CCC or other outside sources is supposed to be reported to the athletic association’s compliance department, per NCAA rule. However, the school admits that it is impossible to determine if all do.
While that information is on file and apparently available for SEC and NCAA scrutiny, UGA makes the legal claim that individual incomes are protected by federal privacy laws. The athletic association will, via public-records requests, periodically release broad information such as the overall numbers of athletes receiving compensation, but without naming the individuals or citing sources or amounts of income.
Last March, in figures first released to the Athens Banner-Herald, which sued to receive them, UGA athletes had 22 NIL deals that netted athletes $50,000 or more since the fall of 2021. The athletic association reported 400 deals between $1,000-$49,999 and 335 of less than $1,000 each.
More recent figures aren’t yet available. However, All-American tight end Brock Bowers, who has deals with Associated Credit Union and several other corporations, is thought to be Georgia’s highest earner at close to $700,000 annually. On3.com reports similar figures for quarterback Carson Beck, who recently announced a new NIL arrangement through the marketing agency ESM. And All-American Malaki Starks reportedly is closing in on the $500,000 mark in endorsement income.
In recruiting circles, support-club settings and donor meetings, it has been alleged that Georgia utilizes a rigid compensation scale determined by Smart that distributes money to football players according to their status on the team (ie: starter, regular or non-playing participant). Again, no one involved on either side will discuss the arrangement.
Smart is reticent to discuss his program’s NIL structure outside donor circles. While he acknowledges that Georgia works hard to assist its players in obtaining compensation as allowed by NCAA rules, he downplays the role it plays in the Bulldogs’ ability to land good players. That, Smart argues, remains a function of scouting, recruiting and development once the players arrive on UGA’s campus.
Georgia’s biggest selling points, Smart has said, are the quality of the school’s education and the football program’s ability to develop players into NFL prospects. The Bulldogs have had 25 players drafted during their current run to back-to-back national championships. Eight of those players were first-round picks, which means guaranteed, multi-million dollar compensation.
“You’re going to sell the next Jordan Davis on Jordan Davis; you’re going to sell the next George Pickens on George Pickens,” Smart said at Georgia’s Pro Day last March.
Where NIL gets particularly controversial is in the area of transfers. Several football programs stand accused of luring good players away from other schools through the promise of NIL compensation. That is alleged to have been the case with sophomore defensive tackle Bear Alexander, who abandoned a projected starter’s role at Georgia to transfer to Southern Cal. That decision reportedly resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars for Alexander, who is playing starring role for the Trojans this season.
Georgia roster has been the source of a lot of talent-mining nationwide. After last season, 14 Bulldogs with eligibility remaining landed at new destinations. Conversely, Georgia brought in only four players via the portal, two of whom are playing major roles and one of whom is no longer there. Receivers Dominic Lovett (Missouri) and Rara Thomas (Mississippi State) are regulars in the Bulldogs’ rotation and played significant parts in defeating Kentucky.
Most UGA departees have made significant impacts for their new teams. Just Saturday, Jermaine Burton led Alabama’s offense with 197 yards receiving and two touchdowns in a win over Texas A&M and LSU defensive back Major Burns had an interception-return touchdown to clinch a win over Missouri. The previous week, Texas wideout Adonai “A.D.” Mitchell had career high 10 catches for 141 yards and a TD in a win over Kansas and now projects as a first-round NFL pick in April’s draft.
Asked if Georgia was “outspent” in losing such top-shelf talent to the portal, Smart said, “I wouldn’t say that.”
“We saw something in them to bring them here, but they chose to leave,” Smart said, referring to Burns and Mitchell. “Neither one of those kids was encouraged to leave. Why they left would be up to them, not for me to define or say. But I don’t think it’s about NIL in either of those cases. … It would probably be proximity to home in both those two cases.”
But, Smart added: “Do I think it’s about NIL in some cases? Absolutely.”
Whatever the Bulldogs are doing, apparently Stoops is aware of it. He felt strong enough about it Monday to use the occasion of Saturday’s drubbing at the hands of Georgia to encourage his constituency to donate to NIL in kind.
“I just encourage them to donate more because that’s what those teams are doing,” Stoops said.
Georgia being one of those teams.
