Where There's Smoke There's Fire With Georgia Recruiting
We've laid out here on Dawgs Daily that Georgia has been impacted a bit more than others during the restrictions of visits to campus. Smart and his staff are known for their infectious personalities, energy, and ability to relate to young men and their families when they get on campus. But where there's smoke there's fire when it comes to the 2021 recruiting cycle, and it just might be time to panic and go running out of the building.
During his time in Athens and even dating back to his days at Alabama, when Kirby Smart wanted a recruit, by hell or high water, he landed that recruit. Even if Reuben Foster had an Auburn logo tattooed on his left forearm, Smart found a way to flip and land him.
But in this 2021 recruiting class? You'd have to be blind to not see the misses:
- James Williams, committed to Miami
- Barrett Carter, committed to Clemson
- Jordan Hancock, committed to Ohio State
- Romello Brinson, committed to Miami
- Marcus Burke, committed to Florida
- Tony Grimes, committed to UNC
- Terrence Ferguson, committed to Alabama
- Dallas Turner, committed to Alabama
That's eight prospects, three of which are in his own backyard in Carter, Hancock, and Ferguson that Georgia missed on. So, if you can't use the "well, during times of COVID, it's hard to recruit out of state kids." Then what is it?
Kirby Smart and his staff should be able to convey that personality and persona through the cell phone right?
Losing James Coley certainly was a strike against the Georgia staff when it comes to recruiting South Florida, but it shouldn't be this bad. Williams and Brinson wanting to stay home aren't the only ones, they didn't make the cut for Leonard Taylor, and after telling SI All-American UGA would likely make his next cut, Corey Collier is down to three schools — Miami, Florida, and LSU.
And there are several in-state prospects that Georgia is in a serious battle for right now, and there's certainly some work left to do.
Smael Mondon
If you haven't noticed the way Georgia's pumped up Glenn Schumann lately you aren't paying attention. They are clearly in a dog fight to land Mondon with schools like Florida, Auburn, LSU, and even Tennessee. He loves Travis Williams at Auburn and if he committed today, that's where I think he'd land. He loves Christian Robinson at Florida as well. And then there's everything LSU has to offer. So, it's not anywhere near a guarantee that they keep Mondon in-state.
Deion Colzie
There are mixed feelings on both ends it appears here. Colzie was formerly committed to Notre Dame which in an interview recently with Dawgs Daily he told us that Notre Dame was his dream school growing up, but he felt as if he rushed his decision the first time. So, this time he will be playing it out for a while even though he's expected to narrow down his list before the season starts and we expect Georgia to make that cut.
Nyland Green
Auburn, Clemson, and Tennessee. That's who Georgia appears to be competing with here based on the latest conversation I've had with the Newton High School prospect and they want this one BAD. According to sources, Warren wants him to stick at corner despite some in the industry thinking he's a safety. They've even sent Eric Stokes on a social media recruiting bend to land Green.
There's still hope
We've felt great about Brock Bowers for some time here on Dawgs Daily, so there's that. We've also felt really good about Amarius Mims who's the absolute star of a class like this one in 2021.
There's still considerable hope. So much so, we labeled it with percentages.
- Amarius Mims - 95%
- Brock Bowers - 95%
- Xavian Sorey - 70%
- Terion Arnold - 70%
- Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins - 65%
- Smael Mondon - 55%
- Nyland Green - 50%
- De'Jahn Warren - 50%
- Donavan Edwards - 40%
- Korey Foreman - 35%
And no one flips recruits quite like Kirby Smart. Oh, and it's only JULY. Things didn't look like Georgia was going to take home a recruiting title in July of last year either. So, hold off on bailing out of the burning building just yet, there's still some good news on the horizon.
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