There’s plenty of uncertainty at the moment in college football. But Georgia head coach Kirby Smart is very clear-headed at this point in time.

In speaking with Paul Finebaum viewpoint, Smart made his thoughts on the state of the game clear. He doesn’t believe Congress getting involved will help all that much.

“People have talked about Congress,” Smart said. “That’s not easy. Not a lot gets done quickly there.”

He added that most coaches are aware of what needs to be changed. The Georgia head coach once again stated he believes schools are in a good place when it comes to paying players and that they should be paid.

What Smart wants to happen though is for the current system to feel sustainable. Because in his viewpoint, it does not feel that way at the moment.

“I just want it to be able to have a freshman come in and not make more than a senior,” Smart said. “And I’d like for other sports to be able to still survive. We’re on the brink of probably one to two years away from a lot of schools cutting sports. What’s the pushback going to be then when you start cutting non-revenue sports? I don’t want that to happen.”

Smart’s comments come just after 5-star offensive tackle Jackson Cantwell committed to Miami. According to Pete Nakos of On3, Cantwell is expected to make around $2.5 million in his first season with the Hurricanes. Cantwell told DawgNation’s Jeff Sentell on Tuesday that Georgia finished as the No. 2 team in his recruitment.

Relief in some way could be coming for Smart and his fellow coaches with regard to the House settlement. Should Judge Claudia Wilken approve the settlement — the plaintiff’s latest brief was filed on Wednesday — schools could begin paying players directly on July 1.

Each school will be permitted roughly $20.5 million to pay athletes. Georgia has long been prepared for this reality. Of that pool of money, about $13.8 million would go to football players.

But as the settlement has still not yet been passed — the NCAA recently had to make changes as it pertains to grand-fathering in players who are already on rosters which are set to be shrunk down to 105 — there has been some uncertainty on that front.

Smart hasn’t enjoyed that uncertainty, especially as recruiting for the 2026 cycle ramps up.

“It’s one of those challenging times for everybody,” Smart said. “Our coaches and assistants are the ones on the road having to deal with it, and the head coaches are out trying to raise money and playing golf tournaments.”

Smart doesn’t seem too concerned when it comes to how making money might impact players. In some ways, he’s been dealing with that aspect for years, with name, image and likeness deals first being legalized back in 2021. Georgia won a national championship that season and did so again the following year.

Georgia continues to recruit at an elite level as well, as the Bulldogs have signed a top 4 recruiting class in every cycle dating back to 2017. For the 2026 recruiting cycle, Georgia has the No. 6 overall class and is led by 5-star quarterback Jared Curtis.

Smart will continue to recruit elite players. He wants Georgia to continue to succeed at the highest level. But he does worry about the long-term cost all of this has on not just college football but other collegiate sports.

“It’s not the fact they’re making money,” Smart said. “It’s not that. It’s not an issue. The issue is the inability to pinpoint what the rules are and what we can do. Nobody’s upset about it. We’re all very thankful. SEC players are the most marketable players. They get the most coverage. They get seen on TV. I am so comfortable with that. We’re past that point. We just want to know the parameters with which we’re playing by and be able to sustain a budget and have other sports survive.”

Smart doesn’t believe the money has impacted players too much. The Georgia head coach has consistently been able to find players who want to buy into the Georgia program. It helps that Georgia has had 55 players taken in the previous five NFL drafts, the most of any school in the country.

He has also learned not to fret if a player will stay at Georgia or transfer during every offseason. Smart repeatedly said this spring he wants players who want to play for Georgia. Given how successful the program has been in recent years, that hasn’t proven so difficult to this point.

“For me, we’re not going to change how we coach, how we develop, and how we grow things,” Smart said. “And most kids and parents appreciate that. Now parents always tell me I really want my son to come play there because I know you’re still going to coach him the right way. You’re going to push him. You’re going to demand excellence. You’re not going to run from the fact that they could leave. That is inevitable. They could leave.”

Change has been a constant in college football since Smart took over as the program’s head coach. Back in 2016, Georgia had to fight to get Maurice Smith as a graduate transfer from Alabama, as graduates at that time could not transfer within the conference without losing a year of eligibility.

Now, Georgia is bringing in 10 players via the transfer portal, while seeing 16 exit the program.

Smart, and many of his fellow coaches, just want stability in an era that feels caught in the middle. He’d like to keep going with how he’s done things in the past, but, because of all the change swirling in the sport, it is not that simple.

“It’s in the middle of it,” Smart said. “It’s trying times, because not everybody knows kind of what we’re playing by, you know, in terms of the rules and everything.”