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Georgia Bulldogs football coach Kirby Smart on the field.
Is there a tie between NIL and major injuries in college football? It doesn’t seem as if the two should be correlated in any way. But Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart thinks there could be something to it.
Smart was asked about the rise in injuries in college football, particularly across the SEC this season, and pointed to NIL as one factor that could cause players to miss games while hurt.
Although he says that doesn’t tell the entire story.
Kirby Smart Links Missed Games For Injuries To NIL
“I don’t know that the players are any different. I think about the teams we had in 2021 and 2022, how physical they were and how they practiced,” Smart told reporters. “We can’t even get close to that now. Is it different culture that guys don’t want to as much? I don’t know.
“They were definitely hungrier, because there was a motivation to make it. A lot of these guys, honestly, they make more than I was making until I was 40. So it’s just a different day and age.”
However, Smart noted that he’s talked to other coaches across the SEC, and they can’t seem to figure out a specific reason for why they’ve seen so many players get hurt.
“It does seem different,” Smart said. “I’ve asked several coaches about it and we all have speculation. I don’t want to get judgement on what it is. I mean, everybody’s practicing less, but everybody’s getting injured more. And it doesn’t make sense, it doesn’t add up because we aren’t at the point of the ninth game yet. Nobody’s played any more than they normally would have right now.”
If he thinks things are bad now, just think how much they’ll be with a 24-team playoff that could see a team play up to 17 games in a season.