re: Non-LSU related, Georgia is having a very strange recruiting year

Let’s face it- stars about athletic traits more than anything else. There will always be bias put into any ranking though. I will just say that Smart and co have reached their success by understanding which guys can fit into a niche on the team. Despite having a ton of guys that are stars, they managed to get the team to buy into the collective greatness rather than individual accolades. It is why so many high profile WRs decide to go elsewhere. They want the numbers to get them into the First Rd conversation. Which is understandable. However, UGA’s willingness and ability to go to any possible receiver ( be they non-starter WR, TE, or RB) is what makes the GA offense such a bitch to stop.

No offense, but you can't argue that Georgia players succeed because they are playing around a bunch of studs and highly ranked players and then also argue that the rankings are not accurate.

Are the rankings 100% correct? No.

But what a lot of people forget is the highest ranked teams in college football typically have the highest ranked classes. I do believe that there are some ranking that are missed for various reasons. Maybe a kid comes from a small school and is overlooked. Maybe a kid does not go to a bunch of camps and is overlooked. Maybe a kid is just a slow developer.

But that is where coach evaluations come in. It's also important that the coaches have a good relationship with many smaller schools so that a High School coach will want to reach out and let them know they should take a look at a kid on their team. (That benefits everybody because colleges find low ranked studs, a kid that might get passed over is noticed, and the HS coach gets attention for developing and helping his kids) That's where Harsin at Auburn seemed to struggle according to Auburn fans. He alienated many HS coaches and did not like to recruit.

Another aspect is coaches can't get drawn in to the stars hype and find good fits for the team. Is a player selfish? Lazy? Character issues? Bad student?
Can the player be a leader? Hard worker? Somebody who encourages teammates? Helps teach other teammates? Accepts instruction? Accepts criticism? Is a self motivator?

It's tricky when you get 5* kids that might have some negative traits. Are they worth the trouble thy might create on the team?

This is something Saban has done so well over the years. It's probably the biggest takeaway Kirby took from working with Saban is my guess. Work ethic and how to identify good and bad traits.

I think you will see more years like this. Georgia is a top 4 state for talent, in the group with Florida, Texas and California. No one school dominates those states. It’s not practical. The top 20 teams in the country are pouring resources into GA. It’s a national battleground. Uga will get 2 or 3 of the top 10 in GA, but that’s what they aim to do in Florida, and Texas, and California…
I think LSU and their relationship with Louisiana is more interesting. Louisiana still produces amazing talent, but not close to the numbers of GA or Texas. 25 years ago, before saban, LSUs problem was not keeping the best players in state. Going forward I think it’ll be more about how well LSU can recruit nationally. I’m slightly worried that Brian Kelly thinks just because he’s in Louisiana he doesn’t have to get on a plane to recruit.