Though the Georgia Bulldogs normally do well on the college football recruiting trail, nobody dominated the early signing period quite like the Dawgs.
College football decided to do something different during this recruiting cycle. For the first time, college football allowed an early signing period. Normally, top collegiate prospects would sign their national letters of intent in early February. Now, we’re seeing some of the best high school talents put pen to paper and fax those LOI’s shortly before Christmas.
It was going to be interesting to see how this first early signing period would shake out. Time will tell if it is here to stay or not, but one thing is for certain coming out of Wednesday: The Georgia Bulldogs absolutely leveled the competition in the first day of the early signing. Georgia landed SIX five-star recruits.
To be fair, it’s not really a shocker to see a blue-blood program like Georgia dominate on the recruiting trail. Even in a down cycle for the program, Georgia is regularly a fixture in the top 10. However, to land this many blue-chip prospects before Christmas has to make head coach Kirby Smart very happy.
Smart is in only his second year as his alma mater’s head coach but has already taken the program to greater heights than his predecessor Mark Richt ever did. Georgia won the SEC for the first time since 2005 and will make its first-ever trip to the College Football Playoff. The Dawgs are the No. 3 seed and will play the No. 2 Oklahoma Sooners in the Rose Bowl New Year’s Day.
Headlining Georgia’s 2018 recruiting class is five-star quarterback Justin Fields from Kennesaw. He is the No. 2 player nationally and the No. 1 dual-threat quarterback prospect in the country.
Keep in mind that he is joining a program with another former five-star in Jacob Eason and a freshman phenom in former four-star Jake Fromm in the Georgia quarterbacking room. Eason is almost certain to transfer, but it’s not like Fromm is going anywhere anytime soon. He’s quarterbacking a playoff team, for crying out loud!
Georgia’s five other five-stars include running back Zamir White (Laurinburg, NC), offensive guard Jamaree Salyer (Atlanta), offensive tackle Cade Mays (Knoxville, TN), outside linebacker Adam Anderson (Rome) and defensive end Brenton Cox (Stockbridge).
Of the 18 players that signed national letters of intent to play for Georgia, 11 are from the Peach State. Odds are that many of them grew up wanting to play for the Red and Black, and seeing the Dawgs return to national prominence under Smart only amplifies their Commitment to the G.
This is what happens when you get the right coach in the right school at the right time. Georgia recruits itself normally. However, Smart is a brilliant recruiter himself, his team is in the playoff and his school is in one of the most football talent-rich states in the country.
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Not to say that Smart has taken the SEC throne from his mentor Nick Saban, but the pure domination of the first early signing period is another great step in that direction. Of course, not all these kids are going to live up to their lofty recruiting accolades. However, Georgia beat the tar out of the competition on Wednesday, especially in the trenches and at quarterback. Wednesday was a great day to be a Dawg.