2020 Georgia Recruiting: Closing Time for Smart and Staff

We are less than 48 hours away from the final fireworks for the 2020 recruiting cycle sounding, and even though 91 of the top 100 players according to the 247sports.com rankings have already signed during the early signing period, some of the nation's top talent has yet to put a bow on their recruitment.

Of those 9 players within the top-100, almost all of them have been connected, or even committed to, The University of Georgia.

With Wednesday approaching fast and the recent commitments from Daijun Edwards and Ladd McConkey, it's closing time for Smart and his staff, so who will they finish with?

Close with the Committed

Broderick Jones

Kirby Smart and his staff got a bit of good news this past weekend as Broderick Jones canceled his scheduled official visit to Auburn, just a week after spending the weekend in Athens and re-affirming his commitment to Georgia on Twitter.

Thanks UGA for a great weekend! #stillcommitted @Dawgs247 @DawgNation #GoDawgs
— Broderick Jones (@millionairemov3) January 27, 2020

We are led to believe that Matt Luke has made a strong impression on the 5-star from Lithonia High and that despite how strong Jones' relationship was with former offensive line coach Sam Pittman, the athletic tackle has grown rather fond of Luke as well.

Sedrick Van Pran

Sure, SVP took a visit to Gainesville this weekend. Sure, the nation's number one center entertained the coaches that continuously pursued him from some of the country's top programs despite being a Georgia commit since August of this year. But we've never had any reason to believe that the Warren Easton product is anything but a Dawg.

Top Names Likely Going Elsewhere

Jordan Burch: The South Carolina commit has been linked to LSU as of late, just like he was during the early signing period, but we believe the home roots still play a major role in the decision for the 5-star defensive end. We think he sticks with the Gamecocks.

McKinnley Jackson: This young man is a collegiate conditioning program away from being an elite talent along the defensive line. We don't believe Georgia to be in the running here. The 4-star will likely end up in Tuscaloosa.

Zach Evans: What a recruitment process this has been for the nation's top-ranked running back from North Shore High out in Texas. He will not end up at Georgia, as we have alluded to previously here on Bulldog Maven. In fact, I don't even know if Wednesday will bring us any clarity in this situation, but rather only make things that much more confusing. I doubt he signs anywhere, but he could make a "commitment."

Avantae Williams: The nation's second-ranked safety was at one point connected to Georgia but will ultimately end up elsewhere. All indications are that he will sign with Florida on signing day, though nothing is guaranteed.

Kirby Smart has become notorious for flipping commits.

Flip Watch:

Since 2017, Kirby Smart's first full class as the head coach at Georgia, he's flipped at least two of the nation's top recruits.

2017: Jake Fromm & Monty Rice
2018: Quay Walker & Otis Reese
2019: George Pickens & D'wan Mathis

He's already flipped one top recruit in 2020. Jermaine Burton was an LSU commit before signing with Georgia a mere 5 days after an official visit to Athens. So, will Smart make good on the seemingly annual tradition of a pair of flips?

A name to keep an eye on has to be Daran Branch. The Ole Miss commit was heavily recruited by Matt Luke during his time at Ole Miss and originally committed to play for Luke in November before he was relieved of his duties. It took just two weeks for Luke to convince the Georgia staff to offer Branch. The 3-star corner was in Athens for a visit on January 24th.

We are not saying it's going to happen after all Branch was on another visit to Ole Miss this past weekend. Just saying, keep on eye on it.

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