ATHENS — The 2025 recruiting cycle is set to come to a close next Wednesday with National Signing Day.
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Great haul….of the 5 three stars, I predict that 4 will finish as Dawgs, 3 will be drafted and 1 maybe 2 will go in the first round….Daniel Okonkwo and Mason Short are the stars to watch!
The question is, which one will play above his high school rating. Is there a Ladd or a Stetson in this group that Kirby & Company will coach up?
Excellent work Kirby and staff!
The only glaring weakness I see in this year's class is out of all these guys there's only one OT or OG - one area where we really need help.
You're right in only 1 straight-up OT, and he's not a top 5 (or even 10) in the position group, as we usually get. But there are 4 pretty stout OG/IOL. That just provides more incentive for the 5 offensive line recruits, plus the guys already on the roster to show some pride, work their tails off and step up their game beyond the rankings, especially after all the flack the position group got this year. Go Dawgs!
Wide disparity between the ranking services. As an example OL Mason Short is really puzzling. One time Alabama commit (under Nick Saban) was never ranked lower than #86 overall on Rivals in 3 years. Reaching as high as #34 before ending at #62 (current - high 4*). 3* and # 411 on On3.
Questions about OL commits? Based on the size/build of the 5 commits: Uzochukwu is an OT, Glover and Smith (4 yr starter at 7A Parkview at OC) are OC's, and Short (built like an OT) and Gaston (played a lot of OT, must lose weight) may have some OG/OT flexibility.
The ranking's of these 28 recruits shows the shift in UGA recruiting philosophy post NIL. 15 of the 28 player class are ranked outside of the Top 235 on ON3. This shows a shift away from higher ranked and more expensive to recruit players to players with the athletic skill and size to be developed into highly productive UGA players. It will be interesting to watch how these players develop and whether UGA maintains its place in the CFB hierarchy.
IF we want to admit that the UGA program has slightly "slipped" over the last 2 years, after peaking in '22-'23, it can be traced back to development. UGA was well known for developing 3* players into highly productive CFB players and high (1st and 2nd day) NFL draft picks. UGA was also known for recruiting 5* players that produced elite , game changing plays. In the last 2 years we have seen less development and production of lower ranked players and fewer game changing plays from 5* players. This reflects the turnover in coaching being less effective developing players and/or errors in internally generated recruiting rankings.
