Really, there’s no need to elaborate. The facts speak for themselves.
Georgia locked up the nation’s No. 2 recruiting class on Wednesday and filled its class with two commitments. The Bulldogs flipped five-star wide receiver George Pickens (Hoover; Hoover, Ala.) and beat out Alabama and TCU for three-star tight end Brett Seither (Clearwater Central Catholic; Clearwater, Fla.), giving them 308.98 points.
Only Alabama finished ahead of UGA and it’s the third straight year that Kirby Smart and his staff have signed a top-three class that amassed 300 points or more. There’s a lot to be excited about when you look at the haul as a whole. A total of five prospects with a five-star rating inked with Georgia. That group includes the nation’s No. 1 prospect per the industry-generated 247Sports Composite, the top two players in the state of Alabama, the top player from Mississippi, and the top defensive tackle, a major position of need for the Bulldogs in this class, in Georgia.
UGA also reeled in 15 four-star prospects including the No. 1 and No. 6 junior college prospects in the country. All needs were met, especially on Wednesday when Georgia signed Pickens and Seither and during the early period when a pair of quarterbacks inked with the program and enrolled early.
To begin with, Smart sits on the largest pool of talent ever accumulated in the history of the program. Think about that for a minute. Sure, you’ve still got to coach them up and develop, but it’s a helluva lot easier to succeed with studs than without.
Next, what makes yesterday’s finish particularly impressive is how effortlessly Smart identified a remaining area of weakness after the early signing date and moved to address it. You can’t address every need completely in a single class, of course, but, given Georgia’s recent classes, it’s not like Smart was faced with that kind of problem. This time, it was the receiving corps that was in need of shoring up after the departure of several key players and Haselwood bailing for Oklahoma; shoring up is just what happened with the signings of Pickens and Seither.
Kirby’s roster management skills are peerless (okay, except for Saban, of course) and the biggest difference between him and Mark Richt. It’s why the program is where it’s at today and the most likely reason Georgia will eventually break through on the national title front. The scary thing is that it’s like we don’t even see him break a sweat doing it.
Get The Picture 
How things are changed… UF is excited about cracking the Top 10, UT is excited about getting near the Top 10 and Georgia is ‘expected’ to have a Top 3 class…
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Rivals ranked us number 1, by the way. If alabama can claim all those NCs, we can legitimately claim to be 1 here. Mostly because it will annoy Bammers to the point of insanity.
Also, however one rates the class, I hope Gusand the Barners like apples. 😁
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I step up and do it! In the method Alabama uses to claim some of those titles, I announce the first Gaskilldawg Recruiting Ranking.
The University of Georgia.
Alabama.
Another number 1 class, Paul!
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Concur…..a great class. Just guessing here, but if Emery would have signed, thinks all 3 services would have had us #1. Still gonna say that we had the #1 class, fock Bama.
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I get the fun of adding Pickens at Auburn’s expense, but is the kid going to qualify? Seems like a wasted scholarship offer.
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I’d be surprised if Pickens got significant playing time in ’19. If he qualifies, he’ll join the team this summer. If not, he may come in December – like Wyatt or Walthour.
I have no doubt Kirby has a plan for the roster spot if Pickens can’t qualify. There’s likely a grad transfer or two Kirby can pull from his back pocket.
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This is my concern because it seems it’s questionable that he’ll graduate high school on time. I don’t think we’ll ever see him in red and black if he goes JUCO. How many guys have we have ever had go JUCO and come back? I can’t remember the last. They always seem to go elsewhere or fall off the map.
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I think Wyatt recently, but your point is fair. Afraid Pickens is the type personality that will likely dump you if you don’t get him on campus the first shot. Talent difference maker it seems, but a diva for sure…similar to Haselwood.
Senator made a great point, Kirby adjusting to a position of need so quickly and seamlessly was impressive. Neither WR or TE were problem areas until the January NFL stampede. We are pretty solid at WR even if Pickens doesn’t get in, but it becomes a position of strength if he makes campus in the summer. TE is a different story, we will see a step back, and Seither doesn’t erase that, but it was a “best available” at that point and he may develop into someone special over time; at least provides some depth at a very thin position.
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Mac, with regard to your second paragraph, I imagine the staff is paying close attention to a few names in the transfer portal right now.
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On the current roster, I’d say Devonte Wyatt and Stetson Bennett
Previously, All-SEC players Odell Thurman, Leonard Pope, and Kendrell Bell initially come to mind.
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My thinking on Pickens and whether he is or isn’t eligible is that it’s more important we got him and Barn didn’t. He’s be playing there from Day 1 for sure…grades or no grades.
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Auburn is reaching out to their peer institutions in the Ivy League who have gone to a Pass/Fail grading model.
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“peer institutions”, Barn and the Ivy League. That’s rich. I hear the issue with Pickens is a clearinghouse issue which is beyond the control of any school. Neither UGA or AU can manipulate that.
As stated above, we need to get him over that hurdle or we risk ever seeing him in Red and Black. Still a good defensive move by KS, and he could pay immediate dividends with a passer like Fromm operating behind a potentially elite OL.
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What amazes me on recruiting is that Saban pulled in the #1 class without any assistant coaches! Kirby’s doing a hell of a job, but I don’t know if he’s at that level … yet.
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and he doesn’t text message.
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Agreed. Pretty impressive to do that consistently with the coaching turnover he does through. Bama pulled ahead with 3 more recruits this year. With the even number of recruits, we’re neck and neck.
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Watched the tape on Seither and he seems like a steal. Only started playing football his junior year. I think he will turn out to be a major player for us.
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I said this here yesterday in another post. It came down to one recruit for the composite number one class- Trey Sanders. If we had signed him in December, then we trade places with Bama. And from all reports it came down to the wire with him. We just may have been able to close with him if he hadn’t signed early, with all the super bowl RBU hype. It’s a shame all that publicity came when there were no top RB’s left on the board.
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Ole Miss got some 5* RB yesterday, but I never heard him mentioned here.
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Ealy. Major League Baseball wants him badly. Given the NFL life span/position value of running backs, I wonder if he sticks with football.
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Now, can he motivate them to perform at The Standard every week?
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By the way, we signed two five star receivers. Blalock is still a five star in my book. I’m not going along with this arbitrary star reduction bullshit.
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You can add Walthour to the list of JUCOs who made it back to UGA. If Holyfield had let UGA know earlier that he was leaving we would have gotten Sanders.
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If we got Saunders the. We would’ve gotten Neal also.
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