Miami’s Mario Cristobal, Georgia’s Kirby Smart Jokingly Troll Each Other on Video Over NIL, More

Georgia’s Kirby Smart and Miami’s Mario Cristobal lived up to the name of the Steve Spurrier Awards dinner as they took some playful shots at one another.

Bulldogs cornerback Ellis Robinson IV was honored as the Defensive Player of the Year. Smart quipped he was watching Cristobal closely, lest the Hurricanes coach poach the redshirt freshman.

“If it had been up to him, he would have paid a lot more NIL money,” Smart said, per The Athletic’s Manny Navarro. “So, I don’t like you being real close to Mario right now. He’s still got another year left. Gotta be careful around Mario. Sometimes he’ll take your players if you know what I mean.”

When it was his turn on the microphone, Cristobal made a cutting remark about a former Georgia player who thrived in South Florida.

“First thing I’ll say, it’s great right there to watch (a video of) what a player like Carson Beck could do with great coaching. You know what I mean?” he said.

Fresh off making a run to the national title game, Cristobal also contrasted Miami’s recent fortunes with those of Georgia.

“I can go on for a little bit now,” he said with a chuckle. “You got to give a guy like Kirby credit. I mean, when you have all that time to sit at home watching us play on TV throughout the playoffs when you don’t take care of business … but congratulations on the SEC championship. That’s awesome. We were 5-0 against the SEC (in the last three seasons). I don’t know what you were.”

Meanwhile, Cristobal wasn’t the only target of Smart’s sharp jokes.

At one point, he referenced Florida’s steady turnover at head coach and tied it into Spurrier’s daughter being a realtor in Gainesville.

“You’re the fourth coach I’ve played since being at Georgia, so she’s getting a lot of money selling houses,” he said to Gators coach Jon Sumrall, per The Athletic’s Chris Vannini.

These kinds of exchanges used to be the norm when Spurrier coached at Florida. The 80-year-old’s wit was as good as his ability to draw up a game plan, and he frequently needled his rivals in the SEC and the Sunshine State.

As one example, Spurrier was once told of a small fire at Auburn that purportedly burned up 20 books.

“The real tragedy was that 15 hadn’t been colored yet,” he responded.

Spurrier left the sport when he abruptly retired six games into the 2015 season, and nobody has truly filled the void in terms of his personality. College football would be even better if more coaches openly roasted one another.