Athens Dawg Report
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Recruiting
The 2026 class is already on campus and several of them will play. The 2027 class is still being built. Here's where both stand and how to read the rankings without being fooled by them.
Class of 2026 · signed
Roughly 30 signees against nine portal additions — deliberately. Kirby Smart said it plainly this winter: you are either a high school development program or a portal team, and Georgia has chosen.
The headliners
Depending on which service you read, the top of the class is either tight end Kaiden Prothro (Bowdon, Ga. — a 6-foot-6 matchup problem who won a state title as a senior) or offensive tackle Ekene Ogboko. Both landed inside the national top 40; they were the only two top-50 players Georgia signed, the fewest of the Smart era.
The number
Georgia's first class outside the top three in most of a decade — and still only Notre Dame and Texas A&M signed more combined four- and five-star players. Depth over trophies.
The one that got away
The five-star quarterback flipped during the early signing period. It cost Georgia the headline it expected and is the main reason the class ranking slipped.
Craig Dandridge, WR (Alpharetta) — top-100, already making plays in camp.
Caden Harris, CB (Brownsville, Tenn.) — top-100.
Justice Fitzpatrick, CB (Fort Lauderdale) — top-100, rehabbing a December ACL tear.
Jordan Smith, S (Warner Robins) — top-100.
Tyriq Green, S (Buford) — won a state title as a senior; buzz says future starter.
Valdin Sone, DL — five-star interior lineman.
Zykie Helton, OL — a three-star ranked outside the top 450 nationally who has
taken first-team reps at right guard all camp. The best argument against reading too
much into recruiting rankings.
"They better be ready to play, because they're not your threes anymore," Smart said after signing day. "They're your twos. And in some places they're your ones."
He has the receipts. Dontrell Glover started 12 games on the offensive line as a true freshman last year. Elijah Griffin earned Freshman All-America honors. Juan Gaston won a starting job. Roughly two dozen of this class enrolled early in January, and nine of them practiced with the team before the playoff game in December.
Class of 2027 · in progress
Recruiting numbers move weekly. Figures below reflect late-July reporting and should be re-checked before you quote them.
Five-star, the No. 1 running back in the country. Backed off a Penn State commitment and chose Georgia in February after a visit to Athens. Projects as an immediate contributor.
Five-star out of East Lincoln in Denver, N.C. Six-three and a half, 230 pounds. Todd Hartley keeps stocking the best tight end room in the sport.
Four-star safety who picked Georgia over Clemson after a long summer battle.
Eight of Georgia's first twelve 2027 commitments were three-star prospects — a departure from a program that has averaged a top-three class every year under Smart. Read it as cost control in the revenue-sharing era, and as a staff that trusts its own evaluations over the services. The class started slow, sat at No. 33 nationally on Memorial Day, and climbed steadily through the summer. Expect it to keep climbing until the December signing period.
For newcomers
Five-star means roughly the top 30 players nationally, four-star the top 350ish. Different services rank differently, which is why one outlet will call a player a five-star and another a high four-star. Neither is wrong.
Most team rankings reward volume as well as quality, so a program with 23 commits in June outranks one with seven — until July, when the second program signs everybody it was quietly waiting on.
Georgia's argument is that keeping players matters more than signing them. Its 2021 class finished fourth and produced Brock Bowers, Kamari Lassiter and Javon Bullard — none of them top-100 recruits.