Following Georgia’s Orange Bowl victory over Florida State, head coach Kirby Smart raised some eyebrows when he stated emphatically that college football needs a fix.

Between NIL, the transfer portal, and the early signing period, there are a lot of new issues facing head coaches.

During an interview Thursday morning on Atlanta radio station 92.9, Smart was asked to expound on the comments he made.

“The comments were not toward FSU in general, but the situation that college football is in,” Smart said. “It’s having its effect on coaches as a whole, and indirectly it’s affecting kids.”

Although Georgia did not have any players officially opt out of the Orange Bowl, Florida State had over 20.

However, like most schools, Georgia has not been immune to players putting their names in the portal.

During the recent portal window, 21 Bulldogs placed their names in the portal, with many already finding new homes, including freshman A.J. Harris, who committed to Penn State on Thursday morning.

“A lot of people think it’s good for kids to have so many options. I tend to disagree. What wears on players across college football is 'what else could I be doing?'” Smart said. “For some, it’s where I can go and get immediate success, and where is the best pathway for me where a lot of times the best pathway is right where your feet are.”

Smart said just because you might think the grass is greener somewhere else, that’s not always true.

He said players who constantly think about leaving also open themselves to other concerns.

“If you have the thought in your head that always the grass is greener on the other side, that impacts you,” Smart said. “It impacts you academically, it impacts you emotionally, it impacts your mental health because you’re constantly thinking about the alternative.

“I don’t know that right now we’re in the right place when guys transfer twice, and they can go two times a year. That’s a lot of doubt. As coaches, we just want to know what our roster is going to be for a year.”

Don’t get Smart wrong.

He’s not anti-portal, and he’s not anti-NIL. His concern is the way each is currently being used.

“I don’t think there’s any coach that’s saying kids shouldn’t be able to transfer, shouldn’t make money. That’s out there and it’s a good thing when it’s used the right way,” Smart said. “It’s just unfortunate it’s gone as far as it has, because it’s led to a lot of kids to make, maybe the best decisions for them, but then they look back. Most of the kids that left our program, say, 'Golly Coach, I messed up. I didn’t know any better.'”

Opponents to Smart’s belief will point to coaches’ salaries, and the fact coaches can move freely.

It’s an argument Smart can see. However, there’s also a flipside.

“You have to be careful the way you talk about it, because coaches can also be fired. Coaches can be terminated under contract; coaches have buyouts, of which none of the players have those things,” Smart said. “I would be really comfortable with a kid just checking the box before he came to school and say 'I’m going to be a student-athlete on scholarship, I get to keep my scholarship for four or five years.' But if a kid wants to come in and have NIL, which is really pay-for-play now, I’m going to have this box, but I also can lose that and be terminated.”

So, what is Smart’s solution?

“Most kids would choose the NIL path, but you’d have 15-20 kids per year who would say, you know what, I’ll take the full ride, take my scholarship, and make a commitment to stay two, maybe three years,” Smart said. “Say I can’t transfer for those two or three years, but after you’ve been in a program two or three years, feel free to go play out your eligibility somewhere else.”

Smart said he’d have no problem guaranteeing any player that he’d be kept on scholarship for two or three years to ensure they get a fair shot.

“Absolutely, 100 percent, because that’s what you need to develop a player is two, maybe three years. When kids have been in our program two, maybe three years and they don’t see that they’re going to have playing time, most of the time they’re wanting to go somewhere else,” Smart said. “We’re comfortable with that, because they haven’t blossomed to the point maybe they need to. But most of the ones who make the decision to go quickly, they make it all about immediate gratification. That’s the toughest part; that makes it hard.”