We’ve long talked about the smoking crater where Georgia’s 2013 recruiting class once stood. Now take a look at the breakdown in hindsight of Richt’s last class ($$):
25. Georgia
Adjusted average: 2.63
Hit rate: 58 percent
Class rank in 2015: 6th
Four-year record: 42-13
Top signees: LB Roquan Smith, CB Deandre Baker, DE Jonathan Ledbetter, WR Terry Godwin, LB Natrez PatrickThe star power of this class is impressive. Smith and Baker were All-Americans, and Baker should join Smith in becoming a first-round pick this spring. D’Andre Walker was the Bulldogs’ sack leader in 2018. Godwin, Ledbetter, Patrick and Rodrigo Blankenship have been very productive multiyear starters. Transfers Jake Ganus and Greyson Lambert count in this class, too, and were good takes.
The misses are the only reason this class is ranked where it is. They had 14 signees who did not pan out and left the program. Four of those were injury-related and just bad luck. The rest transferred or quit playing. This was Mark Richt’s last class at Georgia, so attrition is expected after a coaching change. Kirby Smart and his staff have effectively recruited over any misses in the 2015 group, and the Bulldogs’ 2014 and 2016 classes were particularly loaded to make up for this one.
Pretty wild split there, eh? It’s a good thing Kirby’s recruited like a sumbitch, because otherwise we’d be freaking out about now. Actually, the freak out would have started last season…