MIRAMAR BEACH, Fla.—When Kirby Smart first came to the SEC spring meetings as a head coach in 2016, there were just five media members who met with him when he arrived at the Emerald Room B at the Sandestin Beach Hilton.
That’s mostly because Smart was delayed getting a rental car at the airport that day which pushed his time up against that of Alabama coach Nick Saban and Smart went to a different room.
Now as probably the most prominent head coach in college football after the retirement in January of Saban, Smart commanded the Theatre room early Tuesday afternoon as the last of five football coaches to stand in the front of the room of reporters and take questions before the coaches’ meetings began.
There’s a lot to talk about.
“It’s probably in the nine years I’ve been apart of this, the most anticipated meetings because there’s so much left to not have us decide, but to have input on because some of it is beyond our decision making process,” Smart said. “There’s a lot there.”
Here’s some of what Smart talked about:
Kirby Smart on capping football rosters
There’s discussion after the NCAA settlement in three antitrust cases that will pay nearly $2.8 billion in damages to current and former athletes and share about 22 percent of a Power Conference school’s revenue a year that roster sizes may be capped.
“That’s what we’re here for to try to figure that out,” Smart said. “I do feel strongly that roster spots are important and walk-ons are important. Where that falls that’s what we’re here to decide.”
In football, the number being bandied about is 85 which would jeopardize walk-on spots.
“I don’t know anybody that wouldn’t defend walk-ons,” Smart said. “We’re talking about something that just makes sense. When you implement that known fact into some form of settlement…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/georgia-footballs-kirby-smart-roster-193154802.html
Author : Athens Banner-Herald
Publish date : 2024-05-28 19:31:54
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