Will NIL landscape open 'can of worms' for SEC's recruiting future?

Surely a first national championship in 41 football seasons would result in a whole new world on the recruiting trail.

Not as much as one might think, according to Georgia coach Kirby Smart, who wrapped up the 2022 cycle with Wednesday's traditional national signing day and is already down the road with the 2023 and 2024 prospects. Georgia's 33-18 downing of Alabama in last month's championship game in Indianapolis resulted in the program's first national crown since its magical run in 1980.

"Certainly in the time we've spent on the road, there have been a lot of congratulations and pats on the backs and all those things," Smart said Wednesday afternoon on a Zoom call. "I think it gets you in the conversation maybe with more national kids, but we were already in the conversation with most national kids. It may validate some of the things you work towards, but I don't think it's going to close the deal.

"I don't think winning the national championship moves the needle in terms of one kid's decision. Kids today are worried about other things outside of just winning the national championship. Ten years ago, it was probably a bigger deal than it is today. They put their weight in other categories."

Such as name, image and likeness.

This cycle was the first since NIL deals became available to student-athletes, who discovered power like never before and earning potential based off their prior production or by simply having built a personal brand through social media. These NIL opportunities have been accompanied by little regulation to none at all, leaving the sport facing worries that only a handful of schools with the deepest of pockets will vie for future championships.

This past December, the nonprofit Horns With Heart in Austin, Texas, announced a sponsorship program for 2022 called "The Pancake Factory" that will extend $50,000 for every Texas offensive lineman on scholarship for participating in charitable endeavors. The entity is willing to spend up to $800,000 on 16 linemen.

Yet $800,000 pales in comparison to accusations that Texas A&M boosters have a $30 million fund for NIL deals once their signees enroll. Jimbo Fisher signed the nation's No. 1 class, with the Aggies snagging 17 players ranked among the top 100 in the 247Sports.com composite rankings, but Fisher was defiant Wednesday that his 29 newest additions aren't coming to College Station because of a financial jackpot.

"There is no $30 million fund," Fisher said in a news conference. "There is no $5 million fund. It's garbage, and it's insulting to the guys we recruited. There isn't a better university in this country, and it's insulting. It's funny, because when Nick Saban said his quarterback got an $800,000 NIL deal, it was wonderful, but now it ain't wonderful no more.

"We don't have that. We don't have all these big deals going on at our place that we know of, but it's funny when you do it. The hypocrisy is a joke. It's an absolute joke."

AP photo by Sam Craft / Alabama football coach Nick Saban, left, and Texas A&M counterpart Jimbo Fisher shake hands before their teams met in a showdown of SEC West foes on Oct. 9 in College Station, Texas.

Texas A&M, which added five-star defensive lineman Shemar Stewart out of Opa Locka, Florida, on Wednesday, ended an 11-year run of either Alabama or Georgia finishing with the No. 1 signing class. Saban's Crimson Tide and Smart's Bulldogs did finish second and third in this year's cycle, and Saban was asked Wednesday about the NIL's impact.

"I would hope we would come up with some system in the future where - I'm not accusing anybody of anything, but I don't think the players should make decisions about where they go to school relative to how much money they're going to make in name, image and likeness," he said. "I hope it doesn't get to the point where name, image and likeness deals are created for high school players to get them to go to a particular institution.

"Then you would open up a whole new can of worms when it comes to recruiting."

Alabama's only addition Wednesday was Danny Lewis, a three-star tight end out of New Iberia, Louisiana. The big claim to fame for Lewis on the recruiting trail was a video of him dancing with new LSU coach Brian Kelly that has been viewed nearly nine million times.

Georgia did lose Murfreesboro Oakland running back Jordan James, who did the expected and flipped and signed with Oregon, but the Bulldogs added receiver Dillon Bell of Houston, inside linebacker E.J. Lightsey of Fitzgerald, Georgia, defensive lineman Christen Miller of Ellenwood, Georgia, running back Andrew Paul of Dallas and outside linebacker Darris Smith of Baxley, Georgia.

The Bulldogs have finished with six straight top-four classes and were No. 1 during the 2018 and 2020 cycles, but Smart admits it's a very different world he's having to navigate.

"You used to sell championships and facilities and certainly development, but now development has taken a step back, which it shouldn't," Smart said. "Academics and what we can do for you in life after football are on the back burner to the NIL for a lot of people. You explain to kids that we can't set up NIL deals and can't promise that, but what people are doing is validating their NIL by showing what their current roster makes.

"When you're selling the development of a Jordan Davis and what he became, that's much more enjoyable to sell than what he made in NIL."

A traditional signing day that lacked fanfare due to most of the decisions by elite prospects having been made in December was unique in that coaches are unsure of where the NIL landscape will be a year from now. What is quite certain is that Fisher no longer wants to live in a recruiting world where only Alabama and Georgia are dominant.

"If you don't like that we're coming on, get used to it," Fisher said. "We ain't going nowhere."

Crimson Tide changes

Saban announced three staff changes Wednesday: Coleman Hutzler as outside linebackers coach and special teams coordinator, Travaris Robinson as cornerbacks coach and Eric Wolford as offensive line coach.

Sal Sunseri, who coached the defensive line this past season, will become a special assistant to Saban.

Jenkins joins Vols

Tennessee's only addition Wednesday was three-star defensive lineman Jayson Jenkins of Bordentown, New Jersey. The 6-foot-6, 260-pounder amassed 32 tackles, 5.5 sacks, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery as a Notre Dame High School senior.

Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524. Follow him on Twitter @DavidSPaschall.