re: 2026 Transfer Portal Thread (Daniel Harris to the portal)

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How do we know Georgia doesn't have a top 10 payroll, or is it just a fun narrative to roll with?

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The fun narrative is rival fans speculating that Georgia's recruiting has dipped because Kirby can't outspend everyone now that paying players is legal. I've seen that from from fans of some of the dirtiest programs in college football, as if their programs weren't leading the pack in under the table money for decades. It's true that Georgia can't outspend everyone else, but we never did anyway. What's changed is that those erstwhile prolific cheaters can pay large sums to everyone now, apparently even big bucks to kids still in HS, without fear of getting slammed with penalties. When the incentives straight out of HS become life-changing, rivalling even some NFL rookie contracts, and agents/handlers/relatives are openly managing financial negotiations, money plays a larger role in the decision making process. The downside for the big spenders is that they end up with more mercenaries and that presents its own set of problems.

Plenty of numbers have been thrown around and the media consensus has been that Georgia is not one of the big spenders. Recruits have said they took a lower amount to sign with Georgia. I haven't seen any stories about Georgia recruits signing exorbitant deals, or about players getting (relatively) huge salaries. Recruiting service analysts have insinuated that Georgia's payroll is limited compared to the top tier of programs and that Georgia depends more on reputation and development to keep up. And, UGA has no obvious billionaire donors willing to blow massive sums on college football.

I think Georgia can afford to pay up for a few individuals they really want to keep, or for a player they really need from the transfer portal, but even then I don't believe they can outbid teams like Texas, TAMU, Miami, Michigan, USC, Ohio State for a player those teams really want. Even programs like Auburn, Tennessee, Alabama, Missouri, Ole Miss, FSU, stand a good chance of winning if money is the deciding factor, which is why we lose players like Damon Wilson, who was very likely to be a starter. Kirby has made a lot of hard choices about how to allocate money while keeping players from becoming disenchanted because their teammate is getting much bigger paychecks.

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Like Roderick who we already have?

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I really like Roderick, but I would be shocked if he doesn't portal out. With all of his injuries he is pretty much buried in the depth chart.

I am hoping Phillips sticks with us. I think he can develop into a really good back along the lines of James Cook.

I don’t know about that. He really looked off this year. Like a step slow.

Murmurs are that Jadan Baugh could end up in Athens:

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Last portal RB we got from Florida did all right.