Georgia’s Kirby Smart Makes Cryptic NIL Comment After Jackson Cantwell Joins Miami

It may have been a surprise to some when highly regarded offensive lineman Jackson Cantwell committed to Miami instead of Georgia on Tuesday, and Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart offered some pointed comments on the current name, image and likeness situation in college football.

“I just want it to be able to have a freshman come in and not make more than a senior,” Smart said on the Paul Finebaum Show (h/t Kipp Adams of 247Sports).

Smart made sure to explain he is in favor of players being able to make money but worries about the slippery slope that massive contracts could lead to in college sports.

“And where we are right now, I think every coach agrees, we’re in a good place with being able to compensate players,” he said. “Call it pay-for-play, call it NIL, I don’t care what you call it. We’re all in a good place with that. We just want it to be in a way that’s sustainable.

“I’d like for other sports to be able to still survive. We’re on the brink of probably one to two years away from a lot of schools cutting sports. What’s the pushback going to be then when you start cutting non-revenue sports? I don’t want that to happen.”

Adams noted that “word emerged that the Hurricanes’ NIL offer was well and beyond that of any other program” when it came to Cantwell’s recruitment.

It reached a point where the prospect himself had to address it and called it a “false narrative” he chose the Hurricanes over Bulldogs solely because of NIL, per John Talty of CBS Sports.

Talty noted Cantwell hired agent Drew Rosenhaus to handle all his NIL negotiations and still chose Miami even though he hadn’t visited the ACC program since March.

At this point, there aren’t many restrictions in place when it comes to NIL and recruiting in college football. Perhaps there will be more stability down the line when the House settlement that opens the door for collective bargaining and direct pay to athletes does pass, but the sport is still waiting for that to happen.

Regardless of how it landed Cantwell, this was a major win for Miami.

He is the No. 1 overall prospect in the 2026 recruiting class, per 247Sports’ composite rankings, and gives the Hurricanes quite the building block as they look to put together an impressive class and compete for future College Football Playoff spots.

Georgia will surely still be fine, though, as a national powerhouse that always performs well on the recruiting trail. In fact, it has the No. 12 class in the country in the 2026 recruiting cycle as of Thursday, per 247Sports’ composite rankings.