It is a common criticism of the University of Georgia’s football program that they have as much talent as anybody in the country. Why can’t they get it done on Saturdays?
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Let me stop you right there. While Georgia is a talented team and program in general, if we go back to February of 2013, we’ll find one of the most miserable National Signing Days that Dawg fans have endured in some time.
The state of Georgia was absolutely loaded with elite prospects.
According to 247sports rankings, there were four five-star and 21 four-star prospects in the peach state that year. Georgia managed to sign only eight of those players. While that’s not terrible on the surface, just wait, it gets much, much worse. I’ll get to that in a minute.
5-star Misses
Robert Nkemdiche was the number one player in the country from Grayson HS, which is less than an hour away from Athens. He chose Ole Miss on signing day and never seemed to seriously consider the Bulldogs.
As for the other 5-stars, Montravious Adams and Carl Lawson each ended up at Auburn, while Vonn Bell went to Ohio State. It should be noted that Nkemdiche and Bell are both playing on Sundays now.
The state of Florida also saw two major targets escape the Bulldogs’ grasp. Laremy Tunsil, the nation’s third ranked player, was thought to be a Georgia lean, but ended up choosing Ole Miss on signing day. Although many believe there was much more going on behind the scenes with that commitment.
Derrick Henry, who you might remember winning the Heisman Trophy for the Crimson Tide in 2015, was also committed to Georgia before Alabama. While the Dawgs have been unbelievably talented at the running back position, it wouldn’t have been bad having Henry to add to that stable that featured Gurley, Chubb, Michel, and Marshall. Not to mention all the attrition that the backfield saw in the 2013 season.
2013 Commits
While that was all the talent that the Bulldogs missed on in 2013, now lets talk about the guys who actually did sign a letter of intent to play in Athens.
247sports ranked Georgia’s class that year as the number 12 class in the country, which ranked seventh in the SEC. There were 34 commits in that class: zero five-stars, 15 four-stars, and 19 three-stars. Now let’s dig a little deeper into those four-star prospects.
If that class panned out, it was still one of the lowest ranked of Mark Richt’s tenure. Of those 34 commits, only 15 remain on the roster today. Georgia has gotten significant contributions from only seven players in the class.
Leonard Floyd, Brandon Kublanow, Reggie Carter, Davin Bellamy, John Atkins, and Quincy Mauger were the other contributors, and only Floyd was a real game changer.
The class was not very heavy at the top to begin with, but the top four were virtually non-existent.
Tray Matthews and Shaq Wiggins only lasted a year in Athens before transferring to Auburn and Louisville respectively.
Tramel Terry changed positions multiple times and was never really able to crack the rotation.
And Brice Ramsey is a fourth-year junior quarterback who has seen more time as a punter than a quarterback. Enough said.
While there is enough talent on this roster to beat Vanderbilt, Georgia doesn’t have the same type of talent as its SEC counterparts. And in 2016, we’re all seeing the results of that lackluster 2013 class.