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What Kirby Smart was really complaining about when discussing ‘the deterioration of football’
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What Kirby Smart was really complaining about when discussing ‘the deterioration of football’
ATHENS — When you use the phrase “deterioration of football” you’ll raise some eyebrows.
Comments
It's hard to stack layers of depth these days. If you look at our three deep, there are a shocking number of true freshmen. Whether they're truly ready to play or not, they're going to be in our rotation. Some, of course, will be far more ready than others.
Kirby is pointing out the obvious unintended consequence.
Go, Dawgs!
THe elephant in the room is with the transfer portal kids don't want to wait for their junior an senior years to have the opportunity to play. I can remember around 2013 driving through the state of Alabama and listening to a sports call in radio show and 1 caller called in in reference to the Tide and said excitedly, "We're stacked 4 deep at every position." The old model of an assembly line where you replace a graduating senior with anadvancing junior and replace the Junior with a former Sophmore and replace him with a former freshman doesn't apply so much any longer.
Every player that accept NIL money has signed a contract. Why can't these contracts include a time frame. The only way to break the contract is to leave football for a specified time or be drafted by NFL, where you'd pay back the time remaining on your contract. Why not require NIL players to use that income to reimburse the school for their scholarship thus freeing the school to offer it to another player……much rather see players spend their money on their education rather than a mode of transportation, tickets and sadly death.
Roster management is Kirby's biggest coaching challenge and will continue to be for all head coaches and programs. NIL contracts should include player accountability and have stipulations around the number of years they are required to stay with the program. Otherwise, the player forfeits remaining monies and might be on the hook for reimbursement. That's the only way the coaches have to try and control the chaos. I also think that (1) transfer should be all that's allowed. But, having said all this none of these requirements would hold up in court, especially if players are officially labeled as "employees". And, whether that's actually stated or not, that's where we are heading. Heck, we may already be there.
Exactly. It wouldn't surprise me to see the high-caliber players coming out of high school to start actually choosing a less competitive program for their freshman year in order to get immediate playing time (and experience). With basically no restrictions on the TP, they can transfer to their preferred program for their sophomore or junior season and compete to be a starter if they develop as anticipated. For so many of these 18- and 19-year-old players they would rather see playing time in a less competitive program (Nebraska) than be on the scout team for a season at a powerhouse program (UGA, Alabama, tOSU, etc.). Dylan Raiola is likely to finish his college career somewhere other than Nebraska, but being at Nebraska for his freshman season means he's not going to spend his Saturday afternoons standing on the sideline holding a clipboard (or more likely a Ipad, but you know what I mean). With the transfer portal option, the less competitive D1 programs can now serve the same purpose that the Junior College programs served just a few short years ago.
GO DAWGS!
"Goergia head coach Kirby Smart"
FFS people. Bring on a UGA Journalism or English major as an intern proofreader.
That's pretty close to a professional soccer(football) model. If you move from a lower team to a bigger team, the bigger team not only gives the player a better contract, they pay their former team a buy out.
The next step would be moving to relegation.
I think the real issue that Kirby is starting to see is a waning interest in football at the youth level. More kids are either choosing different sports or they are choosing video games and social media.
Also, in addition to more choices in youth sports, I can understand why fewer parents are willing to put their kid on a football field with all the injury/concussion risks.
When a player has been to 3 or 4 high schools, and then 3 or 4 colleges, how can he develop? It takes time for a player to become the best version of himself and the short-sighted thinking of many players and the adults around them prevent this from taking place. It is difficult to do this when you are essentially starting over every year. This process is even more problematic with the expanded playoffs and longer seasons. Teams will be relying more on depth because an increase in injuries is almost certain.
Might not apply in terms of the future, but in terms of the here and now. One must look through the lens of Kirby Smart’s standards. When he says “quality depth” to other schools that would be Premier depth !!
So I think it’s wise ( for the here and now) to temper our thinking with the Elite standards that Kirby demands. So compared to previous Dawgs teams maybe and I say maybe This team is a bit under the bar. BUT in reality I bet it’s a very, very good team and can stand toe to toe vs. any other team in CFB.
At This point in time Kirby Wants his team to think their under the bar, Especially the younger guys. He wants to put that chip on their shoulders. Now these things said if the current trend continues and it doesn’t seem to be changing any time soon, then Yes absolutely future Dawgs teams as well as all CFB will indeed deterioate. What year will that become glaringly obvious to Us as fans ?? I have no clue.
But to the casual Dawgs fan I bet it would be Very difficult to distinguish this current team from previous teams as the season goes on. Those of you who have played at high levels or coached HS or beyond level of football might be able to see an obvious difference but the rest of Dawgs fandom probably not.
ALL of us expert or casual fan should temper our expectations by the grueling and daunting schedule This team faces. So it’d be wise to keep that in mind when making constructive criticisms of This particular team. The summary of my novel here is, I’m not that worried about this year’s team, I think they will be just fine.
Kirby is Always hyper critical at this time of year, On Purpose. Next year and the years going forward, who knows ? Go Dawgs !!
@GoodOlDawg
I think you are onto something. The kid we just lost to( presumably GT) I think is an example of that. Rumors are that Justice Terry and the other 5 star are going to sign with UGA and he caught wind of that maybe and figured he wasn't going to beat who we had and the new guys for playing time anytime soon, so he decommitted. Go to Tech or wherever, start 2 years then offer your services to the highest bidder.
Other teams will be in the same boat, at least the ones that have $$$.