SEC football coaches from Georgia, Florida speak on tampering

SEC football coaches like Florida football's Billy Napier, and Georgia football's Kirby Smart, exposed tampering in their conference.

The NCAA and SEC football are clear with their tampering guidelines. Rules stipulate that players cannot be in contact with any team or personnel until their names are in the transfer portal. Apparently, the reality in the SEC exists contrary to these rules as it happens more than the rules would make it seem. Florida football's Billy Napier is the most vocal about this along with Georgia football's Kirby Smart.

No person is more opposed to tampering than Billy Napier, head coach for Florida.

“There's no doubt tampering is real. And I think that until there's something done about it, I think that you'll continue to see it,” said the Gators coach with certainty that these instances run rampant in their conference, per Alex Scarborough of ESPN.

SEC Football and Tampering

The transfer portal's birth five seasons ago changed how coaches interacted with players from opposing teams. It remains uncertain if the SEC's football wing will do anything to police it. Billy Napier did assure that Florida football is doing its best to control tampering internally.

“So ultimately, I think, to each his own, we all got an approach that we've chosen to take. We're going to control what we control at the University of Florida. That's our player experience, that's our evaluation process, our recruitment process to try to position our team in the best position,” Napier stated as tampering rumors grow in the SEC.

Georgia football's Kirby Smart argues that it is hard for the NCAA and SEC to regulate these incidents.

“So, it's disturbing, it's upsetting, but I really don't know [what can be done]. People want to blame the coaches for tampering. But a lot of the time it is the player who is negotiating or is looking for greener pastures and when they do that, sometimes they create tampering. It goes both ways,” Smart said to steer the onus away from SEC football coaches.

There is no clarity on SEC Football Commissioner Greg Sankey's plans to deploy measures to stop tampering. However, coaches doing their job internally may reassure fans.