Kirby Smart lives and breathes recruiting. The Georgia coach will adjust to any changes in the recruiting calendar, but he raised a major concern about adding a preseason signing period.

Last month, it was revealed that NCAA football officials are considering creating a June signing period. The summer signing period would allow players to be done with college recruiting before their senior year of high school. There would still be signing periods immediately following the regular season and on National Signing Day in February of the following year.

Smart was asked to weigh in on the proposal during a Tuesday press conference. According to Smart, some high school coaches are concerned about their players opting to skip their senior seasons once signed with college.

If a recruit chooses to opt out of his senior year, it’s safe to say he won’t be a Bulldog.

“There’s high school coaches that say, ‘They won’t want to play their senior year.’ Well, if a kid doesn’t play his senior year because he signed, I don’t really want him on my team,” Smart told reporters. “If he’s going to opt-out for his senior year, will he do the same to me? I don’t really know if that’s a viable option.

“… I don’t like the idea of someone signing before their senior year because I think the senior year matters. I think in the state of Georgia and the Southeastern Conference footprint, the high school season of your senior year matters. I want to watch a kid play.”

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If June signing period is added, commitment will truly be a two-way street

The possibilities of senior opt-outs would make for a new dynamic in college football recruiting. While it’s ultimately up to the player where he signs, college football coaches can still dictate whether or not a prospect has the opportunity to sign with the school of their choice.

Verbal commitments have been part of the college football news cycle for decades. As much is made of a player’s decision in the media and on message boards, a commitment is only an unbinding pledge until he signs a National Letter of Intent. A verbal pledge does not guarantee a player receives an NLI in December/February.

If the June signing period is adopted, Smart and other coaches could tell their recruiting targets, “We’ll take your verbal commitment before December, but we won’t send you an NLI until we’ve reviewed your senior tape.”

This opens the possibility of other coaches being willing to sign senior opt-outs in June if it means landing a recruit who would otherwise play elsewhere, like Georgia.

For now, the June signing period is just a proposal, but it looks like coaches and prospects would have some difficult decisions to make about ending recruitments before senior year.