Kirby Smart has a problem with one of his Georgia players. It is not a bad one, either. WR London Humphreys keeps finding ways to get on the field, and the head coach keeps finding ways to try to get him off it. The reason is buried in one of the stranger NIL incentives you will hear about in college football.

After Georgia’s 45-17 win over Arkansas on Saturday, Kirby Smart was asked what makes London Humphreys such a valuable piece of the Bulldogs. His answer was not really about receiving.

“He’s got a deal in his NIL incentive,” he said, via DawgNation. “The more special teams he plays, the more money he gets. So he wants to be on special teams. He wants to play every snap of special teams, and I keep trying to take him off to save money, and it’s not working.”

There it is. Georgia has a player whose contract effectively encourages him to chase work that his coach would sometimes rather limit. Kirby Smart was asked if that sort of clause was common.

“I don’t know,” he said. “We just put it in for him because he’s worth it.”

And on Saturday, London Humphreys gave Georgia another reason to keep paying. The senior WR got his hand on an Arkansas punt in the third quarter, blocking the kick and giving the Bulldogs another short field. It was not a spectacular receiving performance but rather the less glamorous stuff that’s becoming his calling card in Athens.

London Humphreys is listed at 6’2 and 200 pounds and came to Georgia after starting his college career at Vanderbilt. As a freshman there in 2023, he played all 12 games, caught 439 yards worth of passes, and scored four touchdowns. Last season at Georgia, he played all 14 games, starting once, and finished with 18 catches for 276 yards and three touchdowns. So far this season, he has caught two passes for 11 yards and a touchdown. 

London Humphreys has not needed a giant target share to remain useful. Blocking, coverage units, and special teams have given him another route onto the field. Apparently, he would prefer to take all of them. That attitude fits what Kirby Smart said about him. 

“He cares so much,” he said of Humphreys. “He’s the highest character kid on the team. He’ll do whatever he can to help the team. He never complains about anything. He’s one of the best blockers.”

The Arkansas game supplied the latest example. Georgia controlled the afternoon with its running game, piling up more than 250 rushing yards and four touchdowns on the ground. Chauncey Bowens scored three of those touchdowns. The defense added three sacks, with Raylen Wilson getting two. Then there was London Humphreys, wrecking an Arkansas punt.

Georgia did not need him to become the star of the SEC opener. It needed players willing to handle the dirty work. London Humphreys seems unusually eager to do that. There is an amusing wrinkle to all of it, though. Kirby Smart is trying to save money by limiting those special-teams snaps. But the WR’s incentive is telling him to collect every one he can. 

For Kirby Smart, that creates a funny kind of roster-management headache. A player whose incentive is pushing him toward more work, while the coach would sometimes rather save the snaps and the money. So far, the coach is losing that battle.

Georgia is 3-0 and heads back to Sanford Stadium next weekend for its first SEC home game against Oklahoma. If London Humphreys has his way, he will be chasing punts again.