Georgia Bulldogs bring in another top-5 recruiting class

ATHENS -- Georgia is going to have a barbershop in its fancy new football facility, scheduled to be completed next year. And now the Bulldogs have a barber to go in it.

Xavian Sorey, a 5-star outside linebacker from Florida whose nickname is “The Barber,” signed with the Bulldogs on Wednesday, the first day of the early signing period for football. Sorey was the second of four consensus 5-star prospects to sign with Georgia in a class that currently ranks No. 3 in the nation in the 247Sports Composite rankings. This would be Georgia’s fifth consecutive class to finish No. 3 or better, should it remain that high after the February signees join the class.

Sorey made his announcement during a ceremony Wednesday afternoon at his school that was nationally televised on ESPN2. Highlighted before his announcement was a video that Georgia football sent to Sorey as a recruiting pitch. It featured coach Kirby Smart and defensive assistants Dan Lanning and Glenn Schumann wondering where they might find a barber for their new facility. Smart sends a text message to assistant coach Scott Cochran.

“I know just the guy,” responds Cochran, who was Sorey’s lead recruiter for the Bulldogs.

Got the barbershop. Need a barber. Y’all know anybody? pic.twitter.com/5OkobmUfyD
— Coach Kirby Smart (@KirbySmartUGA) December 11, 2020

Sorey, who has a head full of hair, by the way, said the video was “great.” But he also said that wasn’t the main reason he chose Georgia.

“I just felt at home there,” he said. “The whole staff was recruiting me, and they recruited me through the whole process.”

The other consensus 5-star prospects the Bulldogs landed Wednesday were quarterback Brock Vandagriff of Bogart, offensive tackle Amarius Mims of Cochran and linebacker Smael Mondon of Dallas, Ga. In all, Georgia secured the signed letters-of-intent of 20 players, as many as 16 of whom will enter UGA as early enrollees Jan. 10. A select few of that group will be allowed to practice with the No. 8-ranked Bulldogs later this month as they prepare for their bowl game.

“This will be the largest mid-year class that we’ve ever signed at Georgia,” Smart said during a late-afternoon video conference call. “We expect anywhere from 14 to 16; it will be somewhere around that number. … I don’t know that I’ve ever seen that. Maybe somebody in the country has done that, but it’s certainly the new trend, and I think it will continue to be that way.”

Several Georgia signees were ranked right on that borderline just below 5-stars, including Nyland Green of Covington, who the 247Sports Composite rates as the No. 2 cornerback in the nation, and offensive lineman Micah Morris of Kingsland, who is ranked the No. 10 offensive tackle in the country, won’t turn 18 until August and is graduating from Camden County High with a 4.3 GPA that balloons up over 5.0 when his AP and dual-enrollment courses are factored in.

Morris is one of 10 players from Georgia high schools in the class, plus two IMG Academy players who hail from Peach State cities. Six of those players were rated among the top 10 prospects in the state. The Bulldogs also got the top player from South Carolina in Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins of Gaffney, S.C.

“I feel like the Georgia Class of 2021 is probably going to go down as one of the best if not the best classes ever just because of all high-quality players we’ve got coming from in state and out of state,” the 6-foot-5, 330-pound Morris said.

“Six out of the top 10 in-state recruits is great and points out what a good job Georgia is doing keeping some of the top players in the nation at home when they could literally go anywhere.”

ExploreA look at the new Bulldogs

As always is the case in recruiting, the Bulldogs didn’t get everybody they wanted. Cornerback De’Jahn Warren of Landover, Md. – who was considered the nation’s No. 1 junior college prospect after playing at Lackawanna Community College in Scranton, Pa. – shocked recruiting observers by reneging on his longtime commitment to Georgia and signing with Jackson State and its new coach Deion Sanders.

The Bulldogs also weren’t able to land 4-star running back Donovan Edwards of West Bloomfield, Mich., who chose to remain in-state with Michigan, and defensive tackle Maason Smith, of Houma, La., who chose to do the same at LSU.

Otherwise, it was being lauded as one of the nation’s best recruiting classes, bettered this year only by the likes of Alabama and Ohio State, per 247Sports Composite’s team rankings. And that’s just for now.

Five-star edge rushers Korey Foreman of Corona, Calif., and Elijah Jeudy of Philadelphia (who was committed to Georgia for a few months earlier this year) each signed scholarships Wednesday and had Georgia among their finalists. But they aren’t going to reveal their choices until Jan. 2, when they will do so on a nationally televised special. But Smart sounded as though he is not expecting any more additions.

“We have what we expect to have today,” he said.

Meanwhile, Terrion Arnold of Tallahassee, the 247Sports Composite′s No. 2 safety and one of Georgia’s main targets, won’t sign until the next period, which isn’t until Feb. 3. Smart hopes to have a better handle on the Bulldogs’ numbers by then, as a large number of underclassmen are considering entering the NFL draft.

“Unfortunately, we have to get the groceries before we know what we need,” Smart quipped.

Credit: AJC

In the meantime, here’s the breakdown of what Georgia got in the 2021 class:

Positions: four linebackers, four offensive linemen, four defensive backs, three defensive linemen, two wide receivers, one tight end, one running back and one quarterback;
Rankings: four 5-stars, 11 4-stars and five 3-stars.
Locations: 12 players from Georgia, two from Alabama, and one each from California, Florida, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas.

As for that whole barbershop thing with Sorey, Smart blushed a little when asked about how that bit came to be.

“That was us trying to find a way to highlight the features of our new facility,” he said. “That was the purpose of that. We’ve got a lot of features in that facility that we’re proud of and that was one of our selling points. That $80 million facility is right outside my (office) window every day, and it’s going to be unbelievable.”

Smart added that he would absolutely let Sorey cut his hair in it.

“I could care less about my hair, so he can have at it,” Smart said.

Of course, anything goes in recruiting.