Kirby Smart: "Our Best players Are Not Our Most Highly Rated Players”

Real Georgia Fans Don’t Miss the Dawg Post Newsletter - Sign up now!

ATHENS -  Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs are just one day away from playing for a second-straight national championship.

The biggest reason why?

Recruiting.

Coaching and development is great. Getting the right type of kids is important. But at the end of the day, you have to have great players, and that starts on the recruiting trail.

Smart and his staff are relentless on the recruiting trail and consistently sign one of the top recruiting classes in the country.

Bringing in talent is important, but identifying the right talent is key as well. You have to sign the five-stars, but the development of the lower-ranked players is something Georgia does as well as anyone.

According to the rankings, Chris Smith was towards the bottom of Georgia’s 2018 class. Ladd McConkey was a late-offer towards the end of the 2020 cycle. Xavier Truss was one of the lower-ranked signees in the 2019 class.

If you dig deep, it’s easy to see how many players that have developed the right way who are now making a big impact.

Kirby Smart spoke about his recruiting footprint during media day this weekend.

“Well, nobody new who AD Mitchell was, what AD Mitchell had to an offer” Smart said. “AD Mitchell was more of a workout tape that he kept sending us. He's a unique situation. He's very different than Brock (Bowers) who was recruited nationally. But every situation is different.”

“Our footprint is really good”, Smart added. “When you look at the MVPs of our last game, Stetson Bennett and Javon Bullard, neither were very highly recruited. They're in-state players, really good high school players. Look at Ladd McConkey, he was an in-state kid. Wasn't highly recruited. Our footprint is what our footprint is. We go after the players we think fit our culture. And that's more important than where they're from.  I tell our players about it all the time. Our best players on our team are not our most highly rated players.”

Exclusive offer for followers of Dawg Post! Limited quantities remaining ~ offer good while supplies last. Enter this special code: DAWGPOST23 to get 30% off this item:

“Our footprint is what our footprint is”. It’s that simple. 

If the Georgia staff wants a kid from California more than a kid from Georgia, they’re going after the kid from California.

If there’s a linebacker from Texas the staff likes more than a kid from Atlanta, they’re going to go get that kid from Texas. That’s how it goes.

Of course, in-state recruiting is important. Especially in a place like Georgia. But to build a championship-caliber team, you have to get good players from everywhere. Guys who fit Georgia’s scheme and culture. Guys who want to win and be developed.

But still, there’s always a Javon Bullard or Ladd McConkey out there. A lower-ranked kid that the Georgia staff identifies and targets that other programs overlook. 

It’s important to have that type of balance. Get the elite five-stars, but also find players that will work hard and will come into Athens with a chip on their shoulder.

In the end, it doesn’t matter where you’re from. The Georgia brand is as big as it’s ever been, and the Bulldogs can go anywhere in the country to recruit. That’s what winning does for a program. That’s also what happens when a coaching staff commits to dominating on the recruiting trail.

It’s a winning formula, and Georgia’s efforts on the trail might lead them to another championship on Monday night.