A fence with a southern gate (that only opens one way)

PFF:

In lieu of an exhaustive reasoning for every state winner, we’ll pick eight particularly interesting states and break down their recruiting battles.

Georgia Winner: Georgia Bulldogs (6 Recruits)

The Dawgs are building upon their first national championship in over 40 years with a tremendous recruiting class. This is not a terribly surprising result given they just won the national championship and UGA has won the state nearly every year since Kirby Smart took over as head coach. The only exception was in 2020 when LSU got a commitment from five-star recruit and top GA prospect Arik Gilbert, who has since taken a circuitous route to end up with UGA anyway. What’s more noteworthy is the lead UGA has built up over other schools, and how this has reversed a recent trend for them.

After exploding onto the scene with an astounding 10 top recruits in the state during his first cycle in 2017, Smart’s lead within the state gradually diminished until bottoming out at only two in 2020. He reversed this trend in 2021 with a strong in-state showing and has rolled this momentum into the current class. Another encouraging point: They are not reliant entirely on Atlanta, the Southeast’s most centralized and thus competitive pool of talent, for this talent.

Atlanta is one of the most competitive individual cities in America, alongside Los Angeles, Miami and Dallas-Fort Worth, and thus any plurality gained in the city would likely only result in a handful of recruits. In other words, since UGA’s 2021 and 2022 Georgia classes are composed of less than half Atlanta recruits, this may imply that they’re doing a better job forming connections with more rural, harder-to-access high schools. This could be a boon for them as it could help keep a healthy supply of in-state talent into the program even in years when a strong plurality is not struck inside Hotlanta.

I’m waiting for some idiot on Stingtalk to brag this means Smart’s afraid to go toe-to-toe with Coach 404.  In any event, Smart’s getting top kids to Athens from all over the state of Georgia.

Oh, and that gate I mentioned?

Florida Winner: Georgia Bulldogs (4 Recruits)

Florida is one of the three most talent-rich states in the country, along with California and Texas. Every program in the FBS wants “Florida Speed” on its roster, and each of the state’s “big three” programs (Florida, Florida State and Miami) have won multiple championships off the back of in-state talent.

You wind up as top recruiting dog in those two states and you’re gonna have a pretty solid roster to work with.

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