Georgia Coach Kirby Smart Talks Importance Of In-State Recruiting
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DALLAS - When Kirby Smart was hired at Georgia, he came in with a mission.
To recruit at an elite level, and take pride in their in-state recruiting.
It’s not easy to become an “elite recruiter”, but Kirby Smart has been one for a while now. He gets it. He understands the grind, the effort it takes, and how to win prospects over. It’s hard to find a head coach who does the job better than Kirby Smart.
During Georgia’s session of SEC Media Days, former Bulldog tight end Benjamin Watson asked Smart how he’s able to do what he does on the recruiting trail.
“The home base I get to recruit from helps a lot”, Smart told Watson. “The state of Georgia supplies a lot of good football players. We had great starters when I was at Alabama from Georgia. The geographical footprint makes it easier for a kid who wants to stay home, but you have to find the right fit. The kids that want to stay home and play for Georgia, they take a lot of pride in that. The high school programs in Georgia are incredible, so you get to recruit good, established football players.”
“What’s changed the most is the portal and NIL”, Smart added. “So the importance of a kid staying home, he now has the capacity to travel to Oregon and USC. They’ll pay for that flight. That’s great, but we still have to keep our focus on our footprint. Sometimes I feel like we stepped away from that but it’s a big emphasis for me to sign 50% or greater from our state because those kids care a ton about winning games at Georgia.”
Former Alabama coach Nick Saban, a current analyst with ESPN, added to Smart’s remarks on Tuesday.
“They’re going to be more apt to stay with the program and develop there because it’s in their heart and in their mind because that’s where they always wanted to go. So they’re not going to be influenced by all these external factors like NIL. I think that’s a great philosophy.”
Now Kirby Smart won’t get every in-state target, as we've seen already in the 2025 class, but every position is different. NIL has certainly become a major factor in recruiting, but so has early playing time and the ability to put up big numbers.
While signing elite wide receivers may be a little more difficult, Smart and his staff rarely miss on a tight end, linebacker, defensive lineman, or even a defensive back that they truly want. Again, they don’t land 100% of them, but for the most part, they get their in-state targets.
It’s a philosophy that’s worked and will continue to work for the foreseeable future. Some of Georgia’s best players year after year are home-grown prospects, and that isn’t going to change anytime soon.
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