DogNation Staff
@kconnorriley
Another year, another elite signing class for the Georgia football program. The Bulldogs have already signed 25 prospects in the 2023 recruiting cycle. Eleven of them rank among the top 100 overall prospects and give Georgia the No. 1. 2 overall recruiting class.
The Bulldogs traveled all over the country to land prospects, while Georgia traveled to California, Massachusetts and Florida to add to their roster. Georgia has actually signed more Florida prospects in this class than Georgia State.
The group also has a number of players who arrive early to make an impact. Nine players are already training with Georgia this week and another handful are expected to join the Georgia program after the new year to go through spring drills.
Understandably, Kirby Smart is optimistic about the future of the class.
“I’m really excited about this group. They have a lot of character,” Smart said. “The one thing about the coaching industry that you value better now more than ever is the high character, tough and uncompromising football players who come here with the understanding that they are committed to excellence in terms of class, competitiveness, tenacity, love football, and these guys get it.
Smart took his signature class a step further, breaking down a number of post groups. The only two Smarts who weren’t questioned were the defensive line and the kicker position, as Georgia had to wait for some of its signatories to formally submit their letters of intent by the time of Smart’s press conference on Wednesday.
Kirby Smart at quarterback
“I think it’s irrelevant these days. The portal is full of them. There will be several guys every year. You want to do the best you can to get the best quarterback possible.
When you have three quarterbacks, sometimes you don’t. And when you have a quarterback, that’s when you have a quarterback. We are very happy with what we have in our quarterback room. We think we have three quarterbacks that are going to be really good, so the concern wasn’t about one quarterback.
And none of the talented players have managed to do that because they know what we’ve signed for the last three or four years. They know what we have the potential to sign in 24.
So it’s one of those deals that the quarterback job sort of sells depending on who your offensive coordinator is and how your offense is doing, and we’ve been good at it.
Kirby Smart on running back Roderick Robinson
“Size, speed, tenacity. Really soft hands. He’s your SEC-type fullback who can get tough yards, but is athletic enough to do some things in space.
Really, to be honest, I like the guy’s character. I like the background it has. He has family in South Carolina. He has family in Georgia. He has family in Birmingham. He is attached to the state. It has a very good tenacity. It is difficult to approach.
You know, football is still a game where you have to put people on the pitch, and it’s hard to get there. He likes the game. He is very intelligent. So he got us excited on tape, but even won us over more in person.
Kirby Smart on Georgia football 2023 wide receiver signers
“Yeah, excited about these guys. Speed, athletics. I practiced here with us. Everyone is different. They probably all need — they’re going to have to go to the weight room and get stronger so they can really do the things that we want them to do, but you want to get a guy who has natural speed, the sleight of hand ability, making you miss the ability, chasing after the hold, vertical threats. We think we get that from these three guys.
Kirby Smart on Georgia Football Signers
Well, I don’t know. I think we will see that. We know what the pundits are saying and what the stars are saying, but I don’t think you really know what you technically have other than what they did at camp.
Both of these guys have been competitive. They went out and competed every chance they got. Pearce was able to return towards the end of the year and play a few after shoulder surgery. And then Lawson had a good year playing in a very tough division of Georgia High School football.
I’m excited about these two guys. They enter an extremely competitive room, but they both meet these criteria. So I can’t wait to see what they can do for us.
Kirby Smart is an offensive line signing in Georgian football
I think when you look at us over the last three or four years, I think we’ve had the second or third most draft picks from the O line, especially first-round picks like we’ve been able to get with early tackles and, you know, Ben Cleveland and a lot of guys.
Thus, the program sells itself in terms of development. You can face some of the best defensive linemen, three first-round defensive linemen. You can go against these guys.
We recruit as a staff, not as a position. I think Stacy has done a terrific job this year. I think we have really talented and flexible guys who can go inside and outside. That’s always what you’re looking for is to be long at tackle, but guys that can come in and play guard, and I think we’ve been able to do that in this class, and really excited about class O -line we have to come .
On Monroe Freeling and Bo Hughley…
Length. They both have the top ten wing spans of kids we’ve signed here, and we’ve got some pretty long guys who’ve played here for the last seven, eight years.
These two guys would be near the top ten in terms of keeping people’s hands off them. Both are very good basketball players. I have good feet, athleticism.
You know, it’s one of the hardest positions to play right away, so it’s not like they’re going to come in here and just take over, but they have the kind of mold you want in terms of length and athleticism and some of the guys who can go play with them.
Kirby Smart on Georgia Football Inside Linebacker Signers
Well, a really talented group in terms of speed and athleticism. The times we’re in right now where guys are fast, athletic, have to play in space, have to be able to hit and play tough, but also have high character.
These three guys bonded, became good friends, connected. I think Schumann and the defensive staff did a tremendous job selling the brand, but those three guys all came out and did it. Look what these two guys are up to right now. Look at what guys we signed last year who are here playing special teams roles.
You will evolve here. You will get better and have fun doing it. This group is tight. I think it recruits when we talk about Nakobe, Quay and Channing, what they did. These guys, they want to emulate guys like that. They really are children of character. Really impressed with everything about these three guys.
Kirby Smart is on Georgia football outside of linebacker signers
Yeah, excited about the group we have there. I think we have good depth. We are trying to put this piece back where it was in the past.
You know, there was a time when there were three or four really high draft picks in this room. That’s what you want in this skill set. It helps you on the third try. These body types help you on special teams.
The 6′2″-plus, the 240-plus is a position that can cover kicks, can cover kickbacks in terms of holding people up. So much value in this play, forfeits you can do on defense.
So when we were at our best, we had a lot of speed and athleticism in this room, and we’re trying to get back to that. We hope these guys can do that and provide defensive help as well when it comes to going 4-3 and having two guys there.
On Sam M’Pemba:
He is one of those outside backers who have great length, great tenacity. He was a very good athlete growing up. Play competitive soccer. I have traveled everywhere.
Until two years ago, he played tight end. So he’s very raw, has a high ceiling, but he has a lot to learn about the job. But he has an immense talent when it comes to athletics. He’s going to have to learn how to play in that position as well because he kind of played everywhere as a football player.
On Gabe Harris:
He’s an athletic outside backer. He and Sam performed on IMG together. I think these two children have a great relationship with each other, a great rapport.
We’re deep in this room with Nolan and Beal leaving, so this is one of those deals where we need to add depth, and we need to have guys who can play early for us at those positions.
Kirby Smart is one of Georgia football’s defensive backs
Football is a game of confrontation. There is more emptiness than we have ever seen before. More prevalent than we’ve ever seen before. You must have split corners. You must have outside corners. You have to have guys who can come in and play. You have to have guys who can be gunners, guys who can tackle.
There are so many defensive back roles that it’s not three corners. Is this guy can play early? How can he help us? And you can’t get enough.
I mean, they come very rarely and just jump straight in and play freshman. They play. They may simply not play the starting role. It is therefore a position that must be developed, developed. It is one that we have missed in this room. I mean, probably the last five years, four years, we’ve been very short in our defensive back rooms. We try to manage these numbers. There and the receiver are probably the two hardest places to hit your quota on your 85.
It is a position that rotates a lot. This is a position that often comes out early. This is a position that goes a lot in the portal. We hope to gain in depth.
On AJ Harris:
competitiveness. I mean, he loves football. The first trait you are looking for now is how much do you love football, how well can you process information, because after measuring your height, weight, jumping, testing everyone, it becomes what knowledge can- you manage between your ears? I think he’s going to excel in that. He takes notes. He is very bright and he wants it. He is hungry. That’s a part I can’t teach him.
0 Comments