If they handed out national championship trophies for finishing first in recruiting, Georgia’s Kirby Smart would have two now.
They don’t.
Of that, the Bulldogs’ fifth-year head coach is acutely aware. But as Georgia closed Wednesday on its second top-ranked recruiting class in the past three years, Smart wasn’t apologizing for leaving the recruiting trail ablaze again.
Landing great players and winning championships, he said, aren’t mutually exclusive.
“Do I think this has something to do with it? Absolutely it has something to do with it,” Smart said during a midday news conference Wednesday as letters-of-intent were still coming in. “But what that ranking is, or when that happens, or how it plays out, I don’t think that necessarily correlates.”
It hasn’t so far.
During Smart’s tenure, the Bulldogs have finished sixth, third, first, second and now first again in the 247Sports Composite, which combine the rankings of the four most prominent recruiting services. In the same span, Georgia has finished unranked, second, eighth and fourth in those seasons’ final polls.
But the Bulldogs have won an SEC championship, played for two other conference title games and lost to Alabama in overtime of the 2017 national championship game. So, they’re getting close.
It’s thought that another top-ranked class will get Georgia closer.
“Georgia’s become a national brand now,” said Chad Simmons, an Atlanta-based recruiting analyst for Rivals. “They’re a team that players believe they can go to and develop for the NFL and have a chance to win a championship. Georgia’s got to take that next step now and win that national championship to keep this thing going. But right now, Georgia’s a place that’s almost recruiting itself.”
What makes the 2020 class particularly impressive is all the changes the Bulldogs had to recruit through. Georgia lost offensive line coach and ace recruiter Sam Pittman in December, when he became Arkansas’ head coach. In January, Smart changed offensive coordinators and lost his special-teams coordinator, and he still has an opening on his staff.
Nevertheless, the Bulldogs were able to hit the mark on their two biggest priorities – offensive line and wide receiver.
Georgia signed seven offensive linemen, including 5-star tackle Broderick Jones of Lithonia, and five wideouts. Including the 19 players who signed in the early period, the Bulldogs signed five 5-star-rated prospects.
Georgia even reserved a couple of surprises for Wednesday's “old school” signing day. The Bulldogs signed Cameron Kinnie, a 3-star defensive tackle out of Collins Hill High, who will play offensive line at UGA. They also flipped cornerback Daran Branch of Amite, La., a longtime commitment to Ole Miss.
Smart lauded new offensive line coach Matt Luke for helping keep Georgia’s class together.
“Getting him on staff fast was probably one of the critical roles to that transition,” Smart said of Luke, who was fired as the Ole Miss head coach in December. “It wasn’t a long process where they had to sit on the unknown. Two days, three days after coach Pittman left, these kids had somebody new to meet before the dead period. It was critical so that he could communicate with them throughout that period and keep a relationship. He’s got a lot of energy. He’s been a blessing for us.”
Georgia’s offensive line will be almost completely remade in 2020. Junior starters Andrew Thomas, Solomon Kindley and Isaiah Wilson all left for the NFL, and starting guard Cade Mays transferred to Tennessee.
Smart said the Bulldogs probably won’t be as dependent on these just-signed freshmen making over as some of the ones they signed last year, such as Warren McClendon and Xavier Truss. But opportunity was a big part of Georgia’s pitch.
“Those guys will provide us great depth,” he said. “I certainly think a lot of these guys we just signed are talented enough to come in and help us.”
With the recruiting success, mounting expectations will continue to come Georgia’s way. Smart was asked what now might get the Bulldogs over the hump.
“I think having a complete staff, keeping your staff together, and also being able to do it year after year,” Smart said. “There is a level of consistency and a level of support that you’re getting internally to make sure we can do the things we can do. It’s hard to go out and recruit at a high level, year in and year out, because so many people recruit against you. … You better have a good product to sell, which we do. (But) there’s not going to be a separation between 1 through 10 in these recruiting rankings.”
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