Georgia football coach Kirby Smart reveals where most tampering issues get started

Georgia coach Kirby Smart indicates players, not coaches, initiate tampering.

Smart explained how he would know that first-hand during an appearance on the Paul Finebaum Show on the SEC Network.

Smart suggest the biggest issue with the one-time transfer is how it affects players’ attitudes, more so than how it’s influenced by NIL deals or tampering.

“I think there are kids thinking who grow up thinking that if it doesn’t work out here, I should go somewhere else,” Smart said. “I don’t worry as much about tampering as much as I do about, are we doing the right thing for kids?

“When they have adversity, to be able to walk away.”

Smart has said there were times he wanted to go home during his playing career at Georgia before he grew into a team captain and All-SEC safety.

More recently, Georgia first-round NFL Draft pick Quay Walker said he contemplated entering the transfer portal, only to be talked out of it by Smart and co-defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann.

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“We had a group of 15 draft picks … if they’d have left, they’d have missed out on a national championship, they would have missed out on getting drafted, they would have missed out on graduating.

“I think those things are critical to success.”

Indeed, the Bulldogs have had such former 5-star recruits as Cade Mays (Tennessee), Brenton Cox (Florida) and Justin Fields (Ohio State) transfer away and miss out on winning the national title.