Georgia Loses Out On Five Star Derrek Cooper Who Commits To Rival Texas

Cooper chooses the Longhorns over the Bulldogs

2026 running back prospect Derrek Cooper during a recruiting visit to the University of Georgia / University of Georgia Athletic Association

The Bulldogs have been in recruiting battles with Texas over the last week. The Longhorns beat out the Bulldogs for five-star Tyler Atkinson, and flipped former Georgia commit James Johnson this past week. Texas has once again won a another recruiting battle with the Bulldogs who have the No. 1 recruiting class. On Sunday, the Longhorns landed another georgia target in Derek Cooper. 

Now in no means is it over for the Bulldogs in landing more top guys with it not being official until Decemeber but the Longhorns have had a great couple of weeks. As we turn the page on Cooper the Bullodogs are still in the running for another five star prospect in Savion Hiter. Hiter top four schools include Tennessee, Michigan, Ohio State, and Georgia. 

According to Rivals Industry Ranking, Hiter is a five-star prospect, the No. 1 running back, the No. 1 player in Virginia, and the No. 8 overall prospect. 

You can make the argument that Hiter could potentially even be the better prospect in comparison to Cooper with his elusiveness, vision, balance, ability to get north and south quickly, and ability to break tackles. While the Bulldogs did miss out on Cooper, they still have one of the best running backs committed in Jae Lama,r and the Bulldogs have a chance to land another back that would make a formidable duo in the backfield for the future of Georgia.