ATHENS — On Saturday afternoon, Kirby Smart and his coaching staff will celebrate Georgia’s 2022 national championship like everybody else, with a parade down Lumpkin Street and a trophy-presentation ceremony inside Sanford Stadium.
On Friday, though, Smart and his staff celebrated with a recruiting blitz.
The objective was to visit 100 Georgia high schools Friday. So, 10 UGA coaches – the maximum allowed on the road – visited 10 schools each. As evidenced by those coaches’ social-media feeds, that goal was reached. They were 100 for 100.
That included Smart himself. But the head coaches’ trek was less burdensome than of his assistants. He was chauffeured around metro Atlanta and northeast and Middle Georgia in a helicopter. It was pretty windy Friday, though, so there was that. It looked like the same canary-yellow chopper Smart has utilized many times in the past.
Eight assistant coaches and offensive analyst Mike Bobo fanned out across other areas of the state. It was a strategic sweep that saw them meet with the high school coaches of some of the top prospects in the coming recruiting cycles. There remains a Feb. 1 signing day for adding to the 2023 class, but the majority of their efforts seemed to focus on the 2024 cycles and beyond.
In the meantime, the Bulldogs were busy adding to their roster in other ways. They added a third player to the 2023 roster from the transfer portal. Georgia recruiting buffs will be well-acquainted with the latest addition – it’s Deyon “Smoke” Bouie.
“Back in the crib!” Bouie announced on his Instagram page below a portrait of him in a Georgia uniform.
Bouie graduated last year from Bainbridge High -- Smart’s alma mater -- and was a longtime commitment to the Bulldogs. But the 4-star defensive back flipped to Texas A&M late in the recruiting cycle and signed with the Aggies. The 5-foot-11, 180-pound athlete played in only three games, recording four tackles and one pass break-up, as Jimbo Fisher’s team limped in with a 5-7 record.
Bouie is the third SEC transfer the Bulldogs have added for 2023. He joins receivers Rara Thomas of Mississippi State and Dominic Lovett of Missouri.
Georgia famously did not bring in any transfers for the 2022 season. However, it lost 13 players via the portal last year.
This year, the Bulldogs have had eight players from the 2022 championship team enter the portal, including three former 5-star prospects. Meanwhile, four underclassmen have declared for the NFL draft.
