Kirby Smart Reveals How NIL Collectives Handle Decommitments

The amount of “illegal activity” involving NIL money in college football is not a secret so the latest revelation from Kirby Smart does actually not come as a surprise but it does raise one big question. How are these “unaffiliated” collectives enforcing their back-end financial recuperation?

I am curious to know if there is a contractual agreement or if it is based entirely on the honor system.

Smart is set to begin his 10th season as the college football coach at Georgia in just a few months. Needless to say, the entire landscape of the sport looks completely different today than it did a decade ago. The transfer portal is one thing. Name, Image and Likeness is another.

Lets focus on the latter. As I already said, it is not a secret that D-I programs — through their collectives — are using NIL money as a direct inducement for a high schooler’s commitment. Although that is considered to be an illegal practice by rule, there is no one to enforce it because the NCAA is incompetent. The amount of loopholes and lack of regulation involved with NIL also makes it very hard to punish without the threat of a lawsuit. We are living in a lawless era of collegiate athletics.

Collectives are doing whatever they can to get a high school recruit to commit. According to Smart, that includes a lucrative retainer. He revealed what he knows is happening to Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports.

Collectives are striking deals with high school recruits to keep and gain their commitments – paying them as much as $20,000 a month in this unregulated market. If they de-commit, they are being asked to return the compensation, he says.

— Kirby Smart

First and foremost, if Kirby Smart is saying this, I would find it hard to believe that Georgia’s NIL collective is not doing the same thing. If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.

Secondly, I am very intrigued by the last part of his not-so-classified admission. How are these collectives getting their money back if a recruit decommits? Are they signing these high school kids to a legally-binding contract? Are they sending the goon squad after them if they don’t pay it back?

I can’t imagine a world where there is not a contractual obligation. And yet, it is technically illegal to lure a recruit to a specific school with money. So if the contracts do exist, they are directly against the rules. If the contracts don’t exist, I cannot see why a recruit would return the money paid to them. What are the collectives going to do about it? A report to what is left of the NCAA might cause more harm than good.