May is upon us. Georgia is done with spring practice, former Dawgs have once again been drafted at a record clip, and the portal window has closed. Now time for the Georgia staff to put full focus on placing the finishing touches on the Class of 2024.
Mike Bobo is expected to head out to Arizona today to watch the biggest target remaining in the class in 2024 QB and No. 1 overall prospect Dylan Raiola. UGASports reported that on Friday. Georgia has had pole position in this recruitment for quite a while. The relationship with Kirby Smart, even very shortly after the December 17 decommittment of Raiola from Ohio State, has been the biggest boost to Georgia’s momentum. Even a few months before that, Bobo’s involvement in this recruitment has helped Georgia tremendously as well. Nothing is ever over in the world of college football recruiting today, but I do feel confident in saying the relationships that Raiola has forged with Georgia’s coaches and support staff are viewed as very genuine ones. With a massive official visit weekend loaded with talent looming June 2-4, it will be interesting to see if Georgia’s relationships with and it’s belief in Raiola pay out in a commitment before he were to arrive in the Classic City.
Sources involved refer to Raiola as a prospect that “would change the perception of quarterbacks at the University of Georgia forever.”
There has been lots of negative recruiting against Georgia at QB and WR. Coaches at other schools say if a prospect goes to Georgia at those positions, they’ll be misused or underutilized. Smart and company counter with the fact that they’ve won back-to-back championships with a former two-star walk-on and the best receiver of the Kirby era being hurt for most of the first one. There is a growing feeling that is still so much to accomplish at Georgia offensively that hasn’t been before.
Speaking of that massive official weekend mentioned before, the talent set to attend is off the charts.
GEORGIA COMMITS
GEORGIA TARGETS CONFIRMED FOR 6/2-6/4
EXPECTED IN TOWN
As things stand right now, based on how UGASports sources are feeling about those targets listed above, I feel confident that as many as six of those prospects not currently committed to the Dawgs could end up signing with Georgia. Four, maybe five, of them are locks.
GEORGIA’S MESSAGING & CULTURE
Having spoken to a lot of the prospects on that list, their families, and also other sources involved in their recruitment, there is an overarching theme.
Georgia’s biggest priority is to not mess with the culture that has been built to allow its team to win back-to-back national championships. Now, am I saying that Georgia wants or has a bunch of choir boys on it’s roster? No. That’s like asking if Georgia runs counters on offense. As Kirby responded then in hysterical disbelief, “Do we run counters?! (laughing) Yeah, we run counters.”
In the same vein, Kirby would likely respond to the culture issue narrative that continues to be battered about on social media and then spun into clickbait headlines by certain media outlets by saying something like Georgia’s players aren’t perfect but there is a common theme among them that Georgia is searching for.
Passion for the game and a love for UGA.
It’s what has come up time and time again in my discussions with sources involved in the recruitment of Georgia top 2024 targets. “There is nobody that works harder than Kirby Smart,” multiple sources have said. To a prospect the big difference is that Smart and to a certain extent the other Georgia coaches are crystal clear with them that Georgia is not going to change who it is and how it goes about it’s business, not for any one recruit. Sure all coaches try to fit scheme to the personnel on the roster, but Kirby’s main concern is what kind of person they are, how much they love ball, and selling them on Georgia as a place that can feel like home (because for him it is). Hour long talks about what prospects want to do in their life after football, ways they want to give back to the community, and things that make up their ‘why’ are not uncommon.
I was told recently by a member of the Georgia brass, if you will (Dusty Rhodes voice), that Georgia’s facilities and definitely it’s NIL structure aren’t just head shoulders above everyone else’s out there that is recruiting these top prospects. In fact, the NIL is still lagging a bit. This person told me, “Kirby Smart is the difference. Nobody can sell the love for his school like Kirby can, because it’s real. He’s relentless. 18 and 19 hour days. The man is a machine.”
It’s a good thing for Georgia faithful that Smart is that way and that the philosophy on maintaining a culture while accumulating and developing talent is what it is. Thusly that leads me to Bear Alexander and NIL tampering. The tampering is rampant and other members of Georgia’s roster, key members have been approached with similar deals that Alexander ended up leaving for. UGASports has been able to confirm from multiple sources that while the defensive tackle is immensely talented, he will not be missed inside the Georgia program/culture.
This also goes with assistant coaches. Think back over the years to assistants who have left for lateral moves. These are an indication that they did not fit in Georgia’s culture. There is a game coming up in September that will prominently feature one in fact.
PROSPECTS GEORGIA IS TRENDING UPWARD WITH OR IN HEAD-TO-HEAD BATTLE FOR:
Dylan Raiola, Ryan Wingo, Daniel Calhoun, Sammy Brown, KJ Bolden, Branden Baker, Jaden Redell, Justin Scott, Nate Frazier, Christian Clark, Colton Heinrich, Eddrick Houston, Marques Easley, Aydin Breland, Parker Westphal, Justin Scott, Dylan Stewart.
Georgia will land its fare share of those.
EDIT: Forgot to mention that the annual Scavenger Hunt recruiting event should be taking place on May 20. Going to be names across multiple classes in town
Mike Bobo is expected to head out to Arizona today to watch the biggest target remaining in the class in 2024 QB and No. 1 overall prospect Dylan Raiola. UGASports reported that on Friday. Georgia has had pole position in this recruitment for quite a while. The relationship with Kirby Smart, even very shortly after the December 17 decommittment of Raiola from Ohio State, has been the biggest boost to Georgia’s momentum. Even a few months before that, Bobo’s involvement in this recruitment has helped Georgia tremendously as well. Nothing is ever over in the world of college football recruiting today, but I do feel confident in saying the relationships that Raiola has forged with Georgia’s coaches and support staff are viewed as very genuine ones. With a massive official visit weekend loaded with talent looming June 2-4, it will be interesting to see if Georgia’s relationships with and it’s belief in Raiola pay out in a commitment before he were to arrive in the Classic City.
Sources involved refer to Raiola as a prospect that “would change the perception of quarterbacks at the University of Georgia forever.”
There has been lots of negative recruiting against Georgia at QB and WR. Coaches at other schools say if a prospect goes to Georgia at those positions, they’ll be misused or underutilized. Smart and company counter with the fact that they’ve won back-to-back championships with a former two-star walk-on and the best receiver of the Kirby era being hurt for most of the first one. There is a growing feeling that is still so much to accomplish at Georgia offensively that hasn’t been before.
Speaking of that massive official weekend mentioned before, the talent set to attend is off the charts.
GEORGIA COMMITS
GEORGIA TARGETS CONFIRMED FOR 6/2-6/4
EXPECTED IN TOWN
As things stand right now, based on how UGASports sources are feeling about those targets listed above, I feel confident that as many as six of those prospects not currently committed to the Dawgs could end up signing with Georgia. Four, maybe five, of them are locks.
GEORGIA’S MESSAGING & CULTURE
Having spoken to a lot of the prospects on that list, their families, and also other sources involved in their recruitment, there is an overarching theme.
Georgia’s biggest priority is to not mess with the culture that has been built to allow its team to win back-to-back national championships. Now, am I saying that Georgia wants or has a bunch of choir boys on it’s roster? No. That’s like asking if Georgia runs counters on offense. As Kirby responded then in hysterical disbelief, “Do we run counters?! (laughing) Yeah, we run counters.”
In the same vein, Kirby would likely respond to the culture issue narrative that continues to be battered about on social media and then spun into clickbait headlines by certain media outlets by saying something like Georgia’s players aren’t perfect but there is a common theme among them that Georgia is searching for.
Passion for the game and a love for UGA.
It’s what has come up time and time again in my discussions with sources involved in the recruitment of Georgia top 2024 targets. “There is nobody that works harder than Kirby Smart,” multiple sources have said. To a prospect the big difference is that Smart and to a certain extent the other Georgia coaches are crystal clear with them that Georgia is not going to change who it is and how it goes about it’s business, not for any one recruit. Sure all coaches try to fit scheme to the personnel on the roster, but Kirby’s main concern is what kind of person they are, how much they love ball, and selling them on Georgia as a place that can feel like home (because for him it is). Hour long talks about what prospects want to do in their life after football, ways they want to give back to the community, and things that make up their ‘why’ are not uncommon.
I was told recently by a member of the Georgia brass, if you will (Dusty Rhodes voice), that Georgia’s facilities and definitely it’s NIL structure aren’t just head shoulders above everyone else’s out there that is recruiting these top prospects. In fact, the NIL is still lagging a bit. This person told me, “Kirby Smart is the difference. Nobody can sell the love for his school like Kirby can, because it’s real. He’s relentless. 18 and 19 hour days. The man is a machine.”
It’s a good thing for Georgia faithful that Smart is that way and that the philosophy on maintaining a culture while accumulating and developing talent is what it is. Thusly that leads me to Bear Alexander and NIL tampering. The tampering is rampant and other members of Georgia’s roster, key members have been approached with similar deals that Alexander ended up leaving for. UGASports has been able to confirm from multiple sources that while the defensive tackle is immensely talented, he will not be missed inside the Georgia program/culture.
This also goes with assistant coaches. Think back over the years to assistants who have left for lateral moves. These are an indication that they did not fit in Georgia’s culture. There is a game coming up in September that will prominently feature one in fact.
PROSPECTS GEORGIA IS TRENDING UPWARD WITH OR IN HEAD-TO-HEAD BATTLE FOR:
Dylan Raiola, Ryan Wingo, Daniel Calhoun, Sammy Brown, KJ Bolden, Branden Baker, Jaden Redell, Justin Scott, Nate Frazier, Christian Clark, Colton Heinrich, Eddrick Houston, Marques Easley, Aydin Breland, Parker Westphal, Justin Scott, Dylan Stewart.
Georgia will land its fare share of those.
EDIT: Forgot to mention that the annual Scavenger Hunt recruiting event should be taking place on May 20. Going to be names across multiple classes in town
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