re: 2018 UGA Recruiting Thread (commits, offers, visits, etc.) - Back to that #1 class

Bigger takeaways from that article for me:

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Thomas knows 5-star freshman OT Isaiah Wilson. Wilson is redshirting.

“I know Isaiah personally,” Thomas said. “We talked before I came up there and we talked there. He was letting me know that this was the place to come.”

Wilson wasn’t playing right away, but he still shared a great impression of the program.

That was important.

“Coach told him straight to his face and in front of his parents and everything,” Thomas said. “He told him that his time was coming. He just had to keep working.”

That speaks to the seasons down the road.

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Love hearing this about Wilson. Since we get no media exposure to freshmen, let alone freshmen that aren't starting, it's good to hear that not starting has not been a problem for Wilson this year.

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Thomas was made aware of Ben Cleveland’s first start at Georgia. Pittman told him how Cleveland earned the right to play. He’s already aware of that culture at UGA.

“Ben came in and did an excellent job,” Thomas said. “That starter set a standard. He had to put himself above that standard. As long as I do that, I feel like I can come in ready and I’ll be good.”

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I felt like this could be an important reason to start Cleveland at some point this season before reading this, but more of the "proof is in the pudding" regarding Smart's words about performance in practice earning playing time. We didn't outright bench Kindley, but you can point to Cleveland and say he earned time, he performed well... do work, earn time... it sells for incoming recruits for sure.

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Thomas said that Georgia fixes its roster problems. The appeal of the school and the staff allows them to do that.

“When they didn’t have another quarterback or enough quarterbacks, they went out and got Justin Fields,” he said. “They stack up every position. You see them losing running backs after this year and they have gone out and got the best running backs in the nation. They’ve got two more coming in. Kirby Smart is just bringing the Bama mindset to Georgia. As long as he keeps doing that and takes what he learned from Alabama and brings that to Georgia, then they are going to be on the same level.”

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When recruits start noticing the ability to reload rather than rebuild... you know you've got something going on the recruiting trail.

What? Dammit, that sucks.

Daaaaaamnit

It definitely does suck. Trying to look at the bright side, at least he's an EE so basically all of his rehab will be under our supervision, and if he rehabs well I think it's reasonable that he can be back for at least part of camp and definitely most of the season. I really do hate it for him though.

Terrible news especially considering the fact that his high school coaches have been really intentional about limiting his carries to protect his future.

Just goes to show that sometimes an injury is just going to happen no matter what.

Fortunately ACL has become such a relatively minor injury in the past couple go decades. Worst part is the healing time, otherwise doesn’t take much if anything away from the player. Look at Gurley

Don't forget about James Cook.

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Welp, it looks like Swift and Holyfield will be the thunder and lightening for 2018 along with Herrien

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Welp, you’ve already given up on other RB commit for next year??? I mean, he is only the #2 back in the country.....

I would still say very little to no chance he redshirts. Barring an unforeseen setback, he will be ready by the beginning of the season.

I'm looking forward to seeing Holyfield show out. This will be an interesting topic during the offseason. But you know Zeus's injury has both Holyfied and Herrien anticipating getting major reps.