- 2 days ago
Dukes & Bell are joined by Connor Riley as they discuss the latest on the Georgia Bulldogs and whether or not Kirby Smart needs to make a change in his recruiting philosophy to land more top recruits.
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00:00Connor Riley is here. Mike and I were just talking about Georgia and Florida State playing in 2028.
00:07And Connor, I guess the question is where? What do you know about this?
00:11Yeah, so Florida State's athletic director Mike Albert has recently talked about there is going to be a Georgia-Florida
00:17State game.
00:18We have not heard anything official from the Georgia side of this yet, but it sounds like that 2028 date
00:23is what has been circled there.
00:25There are seven cities that they are considering. Atlanta is one of them.
00:29The others, Miami, Charlotte, Orlando, Tampa, Nashville, and there's one more. New Orleans is the last one there.
00:39So Jacksonville Stadium won't be ready?
00:43It's not that Jacksonville Stadium won't be ready, but it is worth pointing out that Georgia will already have a
00:47game there that year.
00:49So I don't think that there is a lot of appetite to have two games in Jacksonville that season because
00:54that is when the season is set to be open.
00:55I would also note, I believe the Nashville Stadium is set to be done by then, so that could possibly
01:01maybe tilt that game in that favor there as well.
01:03But it's all very early, very premature to assume that anyone is going to go, that any one of these
01:07seven is standing out right now.
01:10You know, we talked a lot about this Georgia offseason, and, you know, recruiting is still the lifeblood of the
01:14program before you get into the transfer portal at NIL.
01:17Carl and I brought this up yesterday.
01:18Is it surprised you about Chase Johnson, again, and to talk about what his game is and how big a
01:23recruit he is and maybe slipping off the hook with Georgia?
01:26You know, I think with Georgia in recruiting right now, specifically this time of year, like if it's July and
01:32they're still having some of the issues that they've had in terms of holding on to recruits in terms of
01:36not being able to land top guys,
01:39I think then you maybe raise your alarm bells a little bit.
01:42But Georgia still evaluates really well.
01:45They know what they're doing.
01:45It is going to look a little different.
01:47I think the days of Georgia signing a top three recruiting class every year, which is something they did for
01:52almost a decade.
01:53I think those days are kind of done as currently stands because we just don't see Georgia want to pay
01:59top dollar for those elite recruits at the top.
02:02And then we saw Dante Wright this past weekend, a five-star cornerback from Miami, flip from Georgia to Miami.
02:08He's from Los Angeles.
02:09But I think just about everybody understands that money was a big reason that Wright ended up making that switch
02:15there.
02:15So, you know, look, I was pretty down this spring on the recruiting class that Georgia had signed compared to
02:21where it had been in years past.
02:22And it looks like they've got a lot of guys that can play at a really high level and possibly
02:26contribute in the first year here in Athens.
02:28And so I think right now with Georgia recruiting, while, yes, it is going to look different from the recruiting
02:34classes that Georgia has signed in recent years, I think Kirby Stomar, at least right now, still has the benefit
02:39of doubt in terms of being able to identify guys that can help Georgia and play at an elite level
02:44in the SEC.
02:46So, and I'm asking, I do not know this, but as far as how they go about divvying up the
02:53funds and, you know, how their approach is, and maybe this is something you've asked, Connor, does it need to
03:00change?
03:00Because from the outside looking in, and even though we know Georgia has a strong program, it feels like they're
03:06missing out on these kids and people are going, all right, what's going on at Georgia?
03:09Even though you know that they're still stacked, the perception is Kirby's missing out.
03:13Is there something there?
03:15Yeah, so the way that Kirby wants to do things, and he recently, he used the word discount in a
03:22sit-down interview he did with Josh Pate.
03:24He has made it, I think, very clear, if you're a high school recruit and you want top dollar, you
03:30want to be making seven figures in your first year at the University of Georgia.
03:33The University of Georgia is probably not the place for you.
03:36But if you want to be someone who wants to develop and potentially get on the field early and prove
03:42yourself as a player, and then, you know, year two, year three, especially when you're established at a place that
03:48is one like Georgia, that's when the pay comes.
03:51You know, I think that, I believe Kirby Smart when he says, you know, they're juniors, you're Gunnar Stockton, you're
03:57Chris Cole, you're Ellis Robinson.
03:58I believe those guys are paid top of market at their respective positions.
04:02Maybe not Gunnar Stockton at quarterback, but Gunnar's, I think, always been content to take a little bit less there.
04:08I think the other thing that's worth keeping in mind, too, here, you know, you look last year, Juan Gaston,
04:13Dontrell Glover, those guys weren't elite recruits, so to speak.
04:16I know one outlet had Juan Gaston as a five-star, but when he committed, he was not viewed in
04:20that sort of way.
04:21Those guys got on the field early.
04:23And when that happened, Georgia came back to them like, okay, you guys have outplayed what you were signing for
04:29when you came into Georgia, and we'll rework your deal in a more favorable term.
04:33Now that you guys have gotten on the field and proven that, hey, you guys can hang and can contribute
04:38at an SEC level.
04:39So Kirby's philosophy has been to pay guys later on in their careers and let them develop into that.
04:45But the problem you potentially run into is if you're not getting those high-end guys that develop to be
04:49all-American, all-SEC-type players early in their career, you know, they may not develop at that same rate.
04:55So I think this 2026 season is going to go a very long way in either validating or proving that
05:02Kirby Smart needs to change the way he goes about NIL.
05:04Because if Georgia wins this year and they win a national championship with a make-a-deep playoff run, I
05:09think that proves that Kirby Smart's way can still work.
05:12But if it ends the way the last couple seasons have for Georgia, you do sort of start to wonder,
05:17okay, is that something in the way that they go about recruiting top talent?
05:20Is that something that they look really hard at and consider making changes?
05:23It's Conor Riley, guys, from Dog Nation here on the Sweet James Accident Attorney Hotline.
05:27That was going to be my follow-up.
05:28I don't think Kirby's ever going to be remotely close enough to getting full Dabo, where Dabo's like, you'll kick
05:33me around, you'll miss me when I'm gone.
05:35You know, and the way that Dabo kind of had his head in the sand over the portal.
05:38But do you ever think that's a point where Kirby does, you know, he's much younger than Nick Saban,
05:42but he does throw up his hands and say, I'll go get paid some money to go coach in the
05:45NFL?
05:46I don't think Kirby ever really wants to deal with the NFL.
05:48I think he still likes the aspect of dealing with high school kids and building relationships, and he's been pretty
05:54open about that.
05:55But he's also admitted, like, that has changed.
05:58And so I think Kirby wants to stay at Georgia.
06:00I think he knows he's got it great at Georgia.
06:02Even if he hasn't gotten a contract extension yet.
06:05And if I had to guess, I would say that probably comes later this summer, just given that they do
06:09it every other year here at the University of Georgia for Kirby.
06:13He's still making $13 million a year.
06:15I think that's, like, tied for a second nationally.
06:17So he still has a very good job here that I know he loves.
06:20And for all the awards that currently come with it, I think he's still really fired up.
06:25I think he's energized.
06:26I think it means a lot to him that, you know, even as much as, you know, it's changed and
06:31we talk about maybe Georgia losing its grip on the top of college football,
06:34they've still been the best team in the SEC in each of the last two years.
06:37Now, that hasn't meant as much as it has in the past two decades, where if that were the case,
06:41you would have won a national championship.
06:43But I still think that fire is there for Kirby to go out there and compete and to develop young
06:48men every single year.
06:50So the SEC commish, Greg Sankey, says he's staying firm on 16 teams.
06:56Why?
06:57I think that, you know, look, maybe this is, you know, rose-colored glasses looking at it.
07:03I do think Greg Sankey is aware that a 2014 model would be wildly unpopular with the fans.
07:09And I don't think that there's a high percentage of the fan base, not just Georgia or the SEC schools,
07:14but I think nationally that really want this.
07:17I think that while, yes, you could theoretically get more money, buy more TV deals and more games in that
07:22sense,
07:23you do kind of dilute your product a little bit.
07:26And, like, you know, even the 12-team playoff this year, was anybody really tuning in to watch James Madison,
07:32Oregon, or Texas Tech, Ole Miss?
07:35Exactly.
07:35The answer to that is no.
07:36And you're only, I think, going to further dilute those games in that manner.
07:41Now, you know, those were G6 schools, sure.
07:44But I think you dilute it there a little bit.
07:46I think there's also a part of it that, you know, look, the Big Ten wants to try and run
07:49things and Tony Petiti wants to push things around.
07:52I think maybe on principle, Kirby Smart, or not Kirby Smart, excuse me, Greg Sankey is saying,
07:56no, we're not going to let the Big Ten sort of dictate things and dictate this 2014 conference or these
08:002014 playoffs to let them do that.
08:02We believe 16 is the way to go.
08:04We think that that can still sort of merge things in the way that they are to where, you know,
08:08again,
08:0916 teams is probably a more fair number than 24 is.
08:12Where I think 24, like, nobody wants to see, you know, Vanderbilt and Iowa last year in the college football
08:18playoff.
08:18I think, and I, you know, look, as controversial as it is, I think it's a good thing that, like,
08:24Notre Dame got left out because I think, you know,
08:27and I understand the argument of if you, you know, if a team capable of winning the national championship gets
08:33left out, you know,
08:33maybe your playoff isn't big enough.
08:35I think that there are still some stakes with that and that there are, you know, 12 teams competing for
08:40a national title.
08:40And to double that again to get to 24, I just think dilutes the product to such a degree that
08:45I don't think that's something Greg Finke has an appetite for.
08:48All right.
08:49So if you are a fan of Georgia, if Georgia's in the SEC championship, if this, is this basically, this
08:53is it, December,
08:54this will be our last SEC championship game at Mercedes-Benz?
08:58I don't think it's going to be the last one this year because I'm curious to know sort of what
09:03the contractual status is with ESPN and the SEC championship game.
09:08We are in the process of trying to get our hands on that and sort of see what it looks
09:12like.
09:12But the way it is going, I do see, you know, maybe not next year, but by 2032, five years
09:19from now or something like that,
09:20that is when I think the SEC championship goes its way.
09:23I think when you have Alabama's athletic director, Greg Byrne, when you have Kirby Smart saying, like, hey,
09:27if we're spanning this playoff and the season is going longer and longer, we're like,
09:31I think this year's national championship game is scheduled to be in Las Vegas on January 27th.
09:37And while I'm like excited to potentially go to Las Vegas for that weekend, like January 27th,
09:42I think really anything after that second week in January is just too long.
09:45And we've seen sort of a waning of interest there.
09:48And so look in Kirby, this has been Kirby's point.
09:51If getting rid of the SEC championship game is something that helps end the season sooner and gets it over
09:57by early January,
09:58I think that's something that he would be in favor of.
10:00And if Kirby Smart is even acknowledging that, like, hey, for the betterment of the sport,
10:04we need to do away with these conference championship games,
10:07I think that's pretty clearly the writing on the wall there.
10:10All right.
10:11It feels like there's a lot going on.
10:12I mean, every week we're like, oh, it's slow.
10:14It's not slow, is it?
10:15I mean, it feels like there's a lot going on.
10:17Yeah.
10:18And, you know, like Greg Senge talked yesterday,
10:20they got SEC spring meetings in a couple weeks,
10:22which based on some of the quotes from Lane Kiffin and Steve Sarkeesian and directed at Ole Miss,
10:28I'm going to be very interested in seeing what the tone and tenor is coming out of those meetings in
10:32a couple weeks.
10:33All right.
10:33Great stuff.
10:34Tell the people where they can find you and the things that you write about.
10:38Yeah.
10:38If you guys can follow me on Twitter, at KConnor Riley, we've still got a ton of stuff.
10:41You know, today we had the Florida State news come down.
10:43So college football is a 365-day-a-year sport.
10:46It is.
10:47Connor, thanks so much, man.
10:49Yep.
10:49Thanks, guys.
10:50So figure Mercedes-Benz, right?
10:52Yeah.
10:52Maybe Tampa.
10:53Yeah, because...
10:54But he mentioned the Nashville Stadium.
10:55Yeah.
10:56Once they get that, Mike, they're going to be in the hunt for a lot here.
10:58I can tell you, I mean, Florida State fans and Georgia fans on Broadway, giddy up.
11:04Yes, please.
11:04I agree.
11:05Do you think there is something to worry about with the 3D commits in two weeks for Georgia?
11:103D commits.
11:11I'm coming.
11:12Well, no, I'm going somewhere else.
11:13And not to say that Connor's in the same opinion pool as Mike Griffith, but, you know,
11:19a thousand cuts, you know, chip, chip, chip, and away.
11:21Hey, this class better lead to something special this year, getting to at least the semifinal,
11:26right?
11:26Yeah.
11:27Championship.
11:27Maybe.
11:28Championship.
11:29It's just the world of college football has changed.
11:31That's why somebody said, don't even say that.
11:33Look, I'm not trying to project.
11:35I'm just saying at some point, does Kirby ever get fed up with where things are?
11:38You know, the way his predecessor did.
11:39It's...
11:40At Alabama.
11:41I should say his mentor, Nick Saban.
11:42No, Mike, I think it's a fair point.
11:44Only he knows the tolerance level, where that's going to go.
11:47But I don't think you can continue to lose out on top five-star guys and everybody just
11:53turn their head the other way and you ignore it.
11:55I just don't.
11:56I mean, that's...
11:56It's a big deal.
11:57The kid they lost to Miami, right?
11:59It's a big deal.
12:00Mario Cristobal just won a big-time player.
12:03That's how you win these championships.
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