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re: 2026 Recruiting Thread (4* LB Elijah Littlejohn is a Dawg!)
Posted on 7/15/25 at 7:00 pm to Kneehigh
Posted on 7/15/25 at 7:00 pm to Kneehigh
Don't get it twisted; UGA does pay, and pay handsomely.
What we do NOT do is overpay for a player. Atkinson's offer at UTa is approximately 50% higher than what we offered, which was not insignificant. JJ is a guy some folks felt was shopping us all the way until his original commitment on 6/28 and those same folks did not believe he would ever actually sign with UGA in December. And, if he miraculously did sign with UGA in December, he was a prime candidate to Keithan us after one year if he wasn't seeing significant PT. Would it have been worth overpaying what we offered for that?
Keep this in mind as well; Prothro turned down a major offer from Texas to commit to UGA. We walked into Houston and stole Chase Calicut out from under their noses. This whole process works both ways. As Kirby said today, "We sell relationships over transactions. We don't believe in just being transactional. When you're transactional, you can not reach your ultimate goal without relationships." They chose transactions over relationships today. Let's see how it turns out for them.
What we do NOT do is overpay for a player. Atkinson's offer at UTa is approximately 50% higher than what we offered, which was not insignificant. JJ is a guy some folks felt was shopping us all the way until his original commitment on 6/28 and those same folks did not believe he would ever actually sign with UGA in December. And, if he miraculously did sign with UGA in December, he was a prime candidate to Keithan us after one year if he wasn't seeing significant PT. Would it have been worth overpaying what we offered for that?
Keep this in mind as well; Prothro turned down a major offer from Texas to commit to UGA. We walked into Houston and stole Chase Calicut out from under their noses. This whole process works both ways. As Kirby said today, "We sell relationships over transactions. We don't believe in just being transactional. When you're transactional, you can not reach your ultimate goal without relationships." They chose transactions over relationships today. Let's see how it turns out for them.
2
Posted on 7/15/25 at 7:34 pm to Floyd Dawg
quote:
What we do NOT do is overpay for a player.
Who is defining overpayment? Because if other schools consistently “overpay” Georgia’s top targets, then UGA will just be riding their high horse all the way to 8-4.
Posted on 7/15/25 at 9:04 pm to Crowknowsbest
Kirby and staff define it within the team concept. They felt Atkinson wasn’t worth $1.5 or 2 million (numbers I have heard but cannot verify). I would guess JJ is in a similar bracket.
ETA: Florida On3 mod said Texas offered JJ $850K right before he committed to UGA on 6/28 so I’d guess his number is above 1 million now.
ETA: Florida On3 mod said Texas offered JJ $850K right before he committed to UGA on 6/28 so I’d guess his number is above 1 million now.
This post was edited on 7/15/25 at 9:07 pm
Posted on 7/15/25 at 9:30 pm to Crowknowsbest
quote:
if other schools consistently “overpay” Georgia’s top targets, then UGA will just be riding their high horse all the way to 8-4
You negaDawgs need to calm down.
This post was edited on 7/15/25 at 9:31 pm
Posted on 7/15/25 at 10:03 pm to Lexis Dad
quote:
You negaDawgs need to calm down.
frick you… it’s a trend and needs to be addressed. 2 years in a row now. But all is good in Athens.
Posted on 7/16/25 at 5:31 am to Lexis Dad
I’m very calm. It’s just rational to expect a downgrade in recruiting to lead to worse results.
This post was edited on 7/16/25 at 5:32 am
Posted on 7/16/25 at 5:33 am to Floyd Dawg
quote:
Kirby and staff define it within the team concept.
This is fine, but the actual competitive issue is if other schools have a significantly higher budget. If so, they can offer way more while still maintaining the team concept.
Posted on 7/16/25 at 6:04 am to Crowknowsbest
Calling it a downgrade is an overreaction. This class is still sitting at #2 in the country. Every recruiting class under Kirby has finished top 3 except his first.
Posted on 7/16/25 at 6:29 am to Crowknowsbest
quote:
I’m very calm. It’s just rational to expect a downgrade in recruiting to lead to worse results.
Is it a downgrade if we still have a top 2 class?
Posted on 7/16/25 at 6:37 am to Kneehigh
quote:
it’s a trend and needs to be addressed. 2 years in a row now. But all is good in Athens.
Two years in a row? You realize that other teams have been doing this for years. Bama, Auburn, Clemson and others. Yet somehow we still end up with great classes.
Posted on 7/16/25 at 9:19 am to Porter Osborne Jr
quote:
Is it a downgrade if we still have a top 2 class?
Yes. Top 2 with two five stars is not as good as top 2 with six five stars. NIL is leading to more distribution of top players. UGA was a major beneficiary of the higher concentration of top prospects pre-NIL and transfer portal.
This class currently does not have difference makers in the trenches in the same number that we saw from 2017-2022.
ETA: the bar is high, to be fair. It’s fair to say that anything less than 6-8 top 200ish DL and OL (combined) will result in degraded talent level from prior years, and there also need to be a few first rounders in that mix.
This post was edited on 7/16/25 at 9:27 am
Posted on 7/16/25 at 11:34 am to FirstCityDawg
It’s 100% a downgrade
Posted on 7/16/25 at 3:35 pm to AllDawgCK
Posted on 7/16/25 at 4:45 pm to Dawg4Life
Texas upping the anty
Posted on 7/16/25 at 4:46 pm to NytroBud
Nick Abrams is a Dawg!
Posted on 7/16/25 at 4:59 pm to Dawg4Life
I suspected Miami anyways so I don’t see it as much of a “loss”.
Posted on 7/16/25 at 7:49 pm to FirstCityDawg
Abrams commitment video was very refreshing. Sitting with family and friends in a high school gym type setting. He doesn’t do hat tosses or jokes or anything. The guy asks and he just says for the next 3-4 year I’ll be playing under the lights at Sanford stadium for the University of Georgia. Does the shirt reveal and has the biggest smile on his face. Seems like a kid that really wants to be here and after yesterday, I extra appreciate that.
Posted on 7/16/25 at 8:30 pm to FirstCityDawg
6'2 220 LB out of Maryland
ON3 NATL 293 #19 LB
LINK
247 NATL 296 #19 LB
LINK
Brooks Austin said a couple weeks ago this guy will be a 100 recruit. Giving me Channing Tindall vibes.
ON3 NATL 293 #19 LB
LINK
247 NATL 296 #19 LB
LINK
Brooks Austin said a couple weeks ago this guy will be a 100 recruit. Giving me Channing Tindall vibes.
This post was edited on 7/16/25 at 8:34 pm
Posted on 7/16/25 at 11:03 pm to Porter Osborne Jr
quote:
Two years in a row? You realize that other teams have been doing this for years. Bama, Auburn, Clemson and others. Yet somehow we still end up with great classes.
Our recruiting feels different now. That would be hard to argue. The offensive line recruiting alone is just way different than it was 5 years ago. Also, somebody like Derek Cooper and Atkinson are 2 guys we never would have missed on 5 years ago - players that Kirby personally recruits and goes all in on from the time they're in 9th or 10th grade.
Posted on 7/17/25 at 6:32 am to Violent Hip Swivel
Y'all do this literally every frickn year around this time. Then after the recruiting bumps and flips you stfu.
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