ATHENS, Ga. — The emerging knock on Kirby Smart and Georgia had been that they were the program that kept finishing No. 1 in the recruiting rankings but not No. 1 on the field. So the fitting irony would be if Georgia, less than a month after winning that elusive national title, did not win the recruiting title. Or even finish No. 2.
That seems likely, as Georgia enters the week of the Late Signing Period — the unofficial name with the Early Signing Period having taken hold — at No. 3, behind Texas A&M and Alabama. A couple caveats:
• Georgia could still make a push if it’s able to land a couple more big fish.
• Even if it doesn’t, Georgia is all but assured of finishing in the top three, and that’s what got the Bulldogs a national championship: Stacking top-three recruiting classes on top of each other, every year since Smart’s second year in Athens. (With the exception of last year, when it was nudged out for the third spot and finished fourth. But it was close enough that the point remains.)
There should be a third caveat: The transfer portal is now a fundamental part of roster management, but there’s no set time limit on that. The portal is open every day of the year, so potential additions and subtractions will occur for a while, especially after spring practice. But everybody has to begin their career somewhere, so the early and late signing periods are still paramount.
Smart and his staff spent the last few weeks frantically crisscrossing the state, region and occasionally outside the region, but that was mostly for recruits in the 2023 class and beyond. (Such as 2023 quarterback Arch Manning.) But the Bulldogs do still have some key names to watch for the 2022 class.
