Sports

Kirby Smart Slammed Mario Cristobal For Poaching Georgia Players Then Got Fried

#College Football
by

iStockphoto / © Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / © Ayrton Breckenridge/Clarion Ledger / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images


The Steve Spurrier Awards were held this week in Gainesville, Florida. Honored were a number of first-year players and coaches.

Included in that group were Offensive Freshman of the Year Malachi Toney and Defensive Freshman of the Year Ellis Robinson. Their head coaches, Mario Cristobal and Kirby Smart were also in attendance.

Each traded jabs as they took to the stage to honor their players. Smart ribbed Cristobal about poaching Georgia players with NIL overspending.

Cristobal responded with a joke about Smart’s coaching prowess.

Kirby Smart slammed Mario Cristobal.

Smart took the mic to speak on his superstar first-year player, Ellis Robinson. The cornerback was once rated the No. 2 overall recruit in high school football. His success has continued at the college level.

The redshirt freshman tied for the SEC lead with four interceptions last season. He’s looking to build on that momentum in 2026.

Kirby Smart wants to make sure that happens in Athens.

“If it would’ve been up to (Mario Cristobal), they would’ve paid (Robinson) a lot more NIL money,” he joked after seeing Robinson sitting in the head coach’s vicinity.

“It came down to us two, so I don’t like you being too close to Mario… He’s still got another year left. You’ve got to be careful around Mario, because sometimes he’ll take your players.”

That, of course, was a reference to Carson Beck, who transferred from Georgia to Miami to lead the Hurricanes to a national championship appearance.

The school reportedly paid him $4 million for the move.

Robinson’s recruitment came down to Georgia and Miami. Smart noted that fact while ribbing Cristobal. It didn’t take long for his counterpart to bite back while honoring Malachi Toney.

Cristobal fried Smart.

“It’s great to see what a player like Carson Beck can do with great coaching,” he said after stepping on stage. “And let’s give it up for Kirby Smart. If it wasn’t for his years of pre-NIL, we wouldn’t have NIL.”

Cristobal wasn’t quite done, though. He later took aim at the school, calling the Bulldogs poor in a light-hearted pitch to Ellis Robinson.

“Robinson family, great seeing you,” he said. “We leave at 9:30 on the real jet. We have more than one restaurant in Miami as opposed to Athens…

“And you’ve got to give a guy like Kirby Smart credit when you have all that time to sit at home watching us play on TV throughout the playoffs… But congrats on the SEC Championship. We went 5-0 vs. the SEC, I don’t know what you were.”

The banter made for great entertainment. It couldn’t have come at a better event given Steve Spurrier’s history of trolling.

Both Kirby Smart and Mario Cristobal will look to return to the College Football Playoff in 2026-27. Their two freshman stars should make major impacts in those pursuits.