Georgia Football Coach Kirby Smart Gets Honest About Recruiting

ATHENS - The world of recruiting has completely changes over the years. Nobody knows that better than Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs.

In today's era of college football, between the transfer portal and NIL, college football recruiting just isn't the same. The days of stacking five-star talent year in and year out is more difficult in today's game, even for an elite recruiter like Kirby Smart. A commitment from a top target used to be a big deal. A reason to celebrate. Now it means absolutely nothing.

On Saturday the Bulldogs will face an opposing quarterback that committed to the Bulldogs twice. Then he stayed committed until the very last minute. Of course that's former five-star prospect and current Commodore starting quarterback, Jared Curtis.

After taking countless visits to Athens during his recruitment, and verbally committing to Mike Bobo two different times, the elite passer from Nashville decided to stay home and commit to Lea Clark and the home-town Commodores.

It was a major blow to Georgia's 2026 recruiting class, but it just reiterrates the reality of today's recruiting landscape. No prospect is truly committed until they sign on the dotted line.

“No one's committed until they're signed, so I don't see it as a challenge. I see it as they're not committed because at the end of the day, they’re not bound until they sign something or they enroll, and that's just kind of the way it is. I don't really look at it as ‘What's the challenge of keeping them?’ They're not yours. They have an option to go to other places. You also have an option to not keep them.”

Smart has made it clear over the years that he still wants to build his program through high school recruiting. His goal is to identify talent, develop relationships, and sell the elite Georgia football program. After that it's to keep the players he signed on campus for as long as possible. Once they've developed enough to make an impact of the field, the NFL will take notice. Every young prospect's dream.

It's worked out for countless Bulldogs throughout the Kirby Smart era and there are several more future proffesionals on Georgia's current roster. Guys that Smart and his staff recruited, developed, and have kept in the program from the day stepped on campus. Now, it looks like a lot of those players have a chance to help bring another championship trophy to Athens.

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