Recent Georgia Football recruiting battles against Auburn

Can we count Cam Newton?

Now, this is an interesting place to start. Cam Newton was one of the hottest QBs in high school. An Atlanta boy, Cam was the top dual-threat signal caller in his class and a consensus 5-star. Unfortunatley, it’s pretty fair to say that UGA mishandled his recruitment.

Despite being a local player, the Dawgs seemed to focus on him as a tight end. They thought that his size and athleticism would play best there. They then recruited Logan Gray is their QB that year. Remember him? Nope, there’s a reason for that, he attempted just 11 passed at Georgia.

Now, of course, Newton never got to show his stuff at Florida. A disciplinary problem meant that he was kicked out and ended up at Blinn College. After lighting up the JUCO ranks, Newton ended up at Auburn where he led the Tigers to a National Championship.

His second recruitment was also shrouded in some shady stuff. Mississippi State was apparently prepared to pay Newton $180,000 to play for the Bulldogs. He ended up at Auburn. The Tigers have always professed their innocence and nothing was ever proven, but suspicions has always been around this signing.

Georgia never put itself in the race for Newton the second time, so this wasn’t much of a battle. But anytime your state produces a transcendent QB and he wins a Natty for a rival, that’s a slap in the face. UGA might have beaten themselves when it comes to Cam.