A Look Back at the 2022 Georgia Football Recruiting Class

A look back at how Georgia's 2022 recruiting class has panned out thus far after three seasons.

There's no questioning that Georgia is one of the best in the country when it comes to recruiting. Since Kirby Smart took over as head coach back in 2016, the Bulldogs have perennially recruited at a top-three level and that has turned into results on the field and in the NFL draft. One of the latest classes that can now be evaluated at an extensive level is the 2022 class. So how did Georgia fare in that cycle?

The players from this class became draft-eligible this season. Names like Malaki Starks, Mykel Williams and Jalon Walker will all be testing their luck in the draft this season. And from the looks of things, all three of those names will be first-round picks this year. So right off the bat, three massive hits for Georgia from the 2022 recruiting class.

Other notable names from that group are Gunner Stockton, Christen Miller, Daylen Everette, Drew Bobo, Oscar Delp, Earnest Greene, Dillon Bell and Brett Thorson. What do these names have in common? They all have at least one start under their belt since arriving on campus as a freshman. Most of them have a good number of starts to their name outside of Stockton who started his first game against Notre Dame in the playoffs this past season.

So that's 11 players that Georgia has already reaped the benefits of from recruiting them. Now, with that said, Stockton has only played two full college football games. That being the second half of the Orange Bowl in 2023, the 2nd half of the 2024 SEC Championship game and the Sugar Bowl. Bobo also saw some playing time this year in the absence of Jared Wilson, but not a lengthy amount of playing time in his career just yet. So the jury might still be out on those names, but regardless, two names that Georgia has benefited from having on the roster and two players that have been good enough to earn starts.

Now let's look at the not-so-good from the class. Just like any other college team, a good number of names from this group have since transferred out of the program. Those names are: Bear Alexander, Marvin Jones Jr., Jaheim Singletary, Julian Humphrey, CJ Washington, Aliou Bah, Darris Smith, Marcus Washington, CJ Madden, De'Nylon Morrissette, EJ Lightsey, CJ Smith, Shone Washington, Jacob Hood, Andrew Paul and Griffin Scroggs. That's a total of 16 players and a little over half of the entire class that has transferred out of the program.

The silver lining to that is Georgia did get some production out of a couple of those names before they departed. Julian Humphrey started for Georgia this season before hitting the portal this offseason. Marvin Jones Jr., Bear Alexander and Darris Smith all also saw the field before they decided to seek opportunities elsewhere.

The next tier of names are players who still have time left on the clock to create opportunities for themselves on the field. A notable name on this list is Branson Robinson, who flashed as a true freshman but has unfortunately battled injuries ever since. Two others on this list are wide receiver Cole Speer and safety JaCorey Thomas. Thomas is perhaps one to circle as the loss of Starks creates a need for a new starting safety for the Bulldogs next season, and Thomas might be a guy who earns that role.

So to recap everything, from Georgia's 2022 recruiting class they found three potential first-round picks, eight starters, 16 players that eventually entered the portal and three players that the jury is still out on. Overall a really solid class for Georgia that at the time was rated as the third-best class in the country. However, unfortunately over half of the class did not even finish their careers in Athens.

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