All Eyes on UGA's Biggest Recruiting Weekend Ever

ATHENS - Yes, this is looking like the biggest recruiting weekend in UGA history - and that’s really saying something. 

Very few observers have doubted the recruiting prowess of Kirby Smart since he and his staff got a stranglehold of the UGA’s 2017 class. UGA’s recruiting efforts have been something to be feared in the world of college football since that Signing Day. This weekend UGA recruiting efforts will be on full display as the Bulldogs host what should be considered the biggest recruiting weekend in school history.

Here’s why - this isn’t just about taking the No. 1 spot in the 2020 recruiting rankings, but setting up for 2021 and 2022 as well. The Bulldogs have not played a home night game on broadcast television since a season-opening 20-16 loss to Alabama on ABC in 1985. As great as ESPN is, broadcast television has huge numbers for a number of reasons. Broadcast at night? That’s a real winner. 

This is a regular-season spotlight on broadcast national television the Bulldogs simply don’t get because of the SEC’s relationship with CBS that has been in place since 1996. The fact is that CBS has picked other games as their spotlight prime time national game for all of those years - typically LSU-Alabama.

Sure, UGA has played in the two most-watched games on TV since 2017, but those games were not in Athens spotlighting the University and the football program. This is a four-hour commercial for Georgia - and millions will be watching. 

But the recruits will be there to soak it in. Dawg Post’s Matt DeBary reports that dozens of high-level recruits will be on campus including visits from 5-star prospects Kendall Milton‍, Kelee Ringo‍, Darnell Washington‍ and Noah Sewell. 

All four of those players are from west of the Rockies - that’s the power of Georgia right now under Kirby… and CBS will give that rocket fuel Saturday night. Gone are the days of LSU and Alabama holding the SEC’s biggest game of the year. Georgia has shoved its way into the limelight.

Now the biggest recruiting weekend, possibly in the South this year, is taking place this weekend in Athens. That’s usually reserved for Alabama’s colossal fight with the Tigers, but this year its the Irish and Dawgs. The power of TV has provided this opportunity for Georgia’s program. 

And it appears Kirby and company are taking advantage of it.

A top-ten matchup hasn’t happened in Sanford Stadium since No. 9 UGA won a wild game over Les Miles and No. 6 LSU in 2013 - and that was a major game as well. But it wasn’t at night, and as big as that game was - 7.4 million watched it that day - UGA-Notre Dame should draw more. It is the only real game on Saturday, and certainly doesn’t have much in the way of competition that night on ABC or FOX (who didn’t even bother to schedule a game at night this weekend). 

This is a giant moment for Georgia - in recruiting for now and recruiting for later (isn’t that what recruiting always is anyway?). The stage is set… now Kirby and the Dawgs must deliver.