MIRAMAR BEACH, Fla.—When Kirby Smart first came to the SEC spring meetings as a head coach in 2016, there were just five media members who met with him when he arrived at the Emerald Room B at the Sandestin Beach Hilton.

That’s mostly because Smart was delayed getting a rental car at the airport that day which pushed his time up against that of Alabama coach Nick Saban and Smart went to a different room.

Now as probably the most prominent head coach in college football after the retirement in January of Saban, Smart commanded the Theatre room early Tuesday afternoon as the last of five football coaches to stand in the front of the room of reporters and take questions before the coaches' meetings began.

There’s a lot to talk about.

“It’s probably in the nine years I’ve been apart of this, the most anticipated meetings because there’s so much left to not have us decide, but to have input on because some of it is beyond our decision-making process,” Smart said. “There’s a lot there.”

Here's some of what Smart talked about:

Kirby Smart on capping football rosters

There’s discussion after the NCAA settlement in three antitrust cases that will pay nearly $2.8 billion in damages to current and former athletes and share about 22 percent of a Power Conference school’s revenue a year that roster sizes may be capped.

“That’s what we’re here for to try to figure that out,” Smart said. “I do feel strongly that roster spots are important and walk-ons are important. Where that falls that’s what we’re here to decide.”

In football, the number being bandied about is 85 which would jeopardize walk-on spots.

“I don’t know anybody that wouldn’t defend walk-ons,” Smart said. “We’re talking about something that just makes sense. When you implement that known fact into some form of settlement that I don’t completely understand, I don’t know where that factors in.”

He mentioned Dabo Swinney, Will Muschamp, and Ladd McConkey “as guys that have come to schools as walk-ons and then gone to be successful football players, successful coaches, successful at everything they do.”

McConkey signed with Georgia, but received mostly smaller school offers.

How expanded playoff may impact UGA football making 12-team field

Smart has taken Georgia to the College Football Playoff in three of his eight seasons and has come close in other seasons including last year where Georgia was 12-1 after an SEC Championship game loss to Alabama

“There are probably three times that we were one of the best four teams but we didn’t earn it on the field,” said Smart who won national titles in 2021 and 2022.

Now the playoff is expanding from four to 12 teams., but there will still be debate about those left out.

Just like with college baseball bracket Monday and the college basketball March Madness bracket.

“The same opportunity is going to present itself, it’s just going to be 13, 14, 15,” Smart said. “You guys are going to debate a lot about it. I’m going to try to make my team better so they’re not 13, 14, 15.”

Eight game schedule for next two seasons. What about 2026?

The SEC is sticking with an eight game schedule for 2024 and 2025 with the same opponents just flipping locations.

There will be discussion this week about 2026 and beyond but no decisions are expected.

“It’s a hot button topic,” Smart said. “It’s on y’all’s little memo, it says ask the question about eight or nine games. I’m completely cool with that question. I don’t care about eight or nine. I don’t care one bit. If you tell me we’re going to get more teams in by playing nine, I vote for that. If we’re going to have a strength of schedule factor that says these teams that play really hard teams, they should be allowed to have two or three losses and get in then I’m for it. It doesn’t help us, then you can say why do it? The fan, the guy’s that pays the ticket price wants those games.”

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Georgia football coach Kirby Smart on roster caps and 2026 schedule