Georgia’s NSD

Some random observations:

• In retrospect, perhaps the most remarkable thing about yesterday was how unremarkable it turned out to be.  As ESPN put it, Georgia started the day with the No. 3 class and only a few spots remaining to finish out the cycle and finished out the day with the No. 3 class.  The consistency of Smart’s recruiting — and when a top three class turns out to be almost a ho hum moment for the program, that’s consistency — should be recognized as astounding.
• It wasn’t really just another top three class, though.  As Seth Emerson pointed out ($$), “the score for Georgia’s class on the 247Sports Composite was 316.72, which is actually better than the score for Georgia’s No. 1-ranked class in 2020, the No. 2 class in 2019, and behind only the No. 1 class it had in 2018.”
• Like that 2019 group, the strength of this one lies on the defensive side, per Seth:  “Eight players in Georgia’s class rank in the top 50 overall nationally. Seven of them are on defense.”
• This is the first class where NIL was a big factor.  Just ask Mr. Smart:  “You used to sell championships and facilities and certainly development, but now development has taken a step back, which it shouldn’t,” Smart said. “Academics and what we can do for you in life after football are on the back burner to the NIL for a lot of people. You explain to kids that we can’t set up NIL deals and can’t promise that, but what people are doing is validating their NIL by showing what their current roster makes.”  When NIL has a bigger impact on recruits than does winning a national championship, you know you’re in a different era.  And yet, it didn’t slow Smart down.  That, too, is impressive.
• One other thing Smart said about NIL stuck with me:  “… I am not of the opinion that kids should be making decisions based on that. You’re probably recruiting the wrong guy if that is all they are making their decision based on. So, I think a lot of colleges are having to look inside out at who they recruit and why they recruit them. Ten percent of these kids we are all going to recruit. It’s the next group that you better be careful who you are recruiting because they are going to make up the majority of your roster.”  When it comes to the level of players just below the elite, he’s not just evaluating talent; he’s judging whether they have the makeup to stick.  That’s more complicated than you might think.  Sure, Smart has the luxury of bringing in a high level of talent with each signing class, but it does add another element to roster management in that he’s no longer just looking at the NFL draft as a financial alternative for his best players.  Now his next level talent may have a financial opportunity to move on that didn’t exist a couple of years ago.
• Finally, there is an outside possibility that the 2022 class isn’t quite finished yet.