Kirby Smart has his own ways of sharing his opinions on collegiate football issues, and he isn’t shy about giving examples.

Smart, appearing on Birmingham’s Rick Burgess show while at the Regions Tradition golf tournament last month, provided insight into his thoughts on how student-athletes could be managed amid a landscape of NIL deals open transfer portals amounting to unrestricted free agency.

“I want to be clear, the first thing I hear from people is ‘Coach Smart can go anywhere he wants, anytime he goes,’ “ Smart said, noting the point many make that coaches, like collegiate players, have the freedom to leave one school for another.

“No,,I can’t — not without a huge buyout.”

Hence, the direction Georgia and many other schools are leaning with signing players to contracts when negotiating to dole out millions of NIL dollars.

“If we had contracts, I think all the coaches would be really happy,” Smart said, “if it was a binding contract, with what they call liquidated damages and things like that.”

Smart pointed out how binding contracts are in place for coaches and have a desired effect of making coaches and those involved think through the decisions carefully.

“It I go hire a receivers’ coach from Shane Beamer - James Coley -- we have to pay what he owes (buyout) to get him; there’s got to be a compensation balance there in terms of being able to do that.

“I know that’s pointing toward making (student athletes) employees, but it would make everybody think twice about diving in the portal to say, ‘You know what, I carry this tag, I have a little more structure, gotta have a little more (money) in the (proposed salary) cap.”

Smart has said more than once he believes older, more established players who are contributing more to the team should make more than the incoming freshmen.

“And, only want the cap so that the freshmen don’t make more than the older guys,” Smart explained. “Older guys are the ones on TV, getting the true revenue, the true NIL values — the kids that are older, they should make more than the kids coming in.”

Smart noted how the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement is set up so the veteran players make more, by and large, than the incoming rookies in the NFL draft.

“Are they (college players) employees? Are they student athletes?” Smart said. “I think people want to argue one side when it favors this side, right, and argue the other side when it favors that side.

“And the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle, because it is a business.”