Recent Georgia Football recruiting battles against Auburn

Auburn poaches plenty of peach state talent in 2016:

Ah, the 2016 class. Kirby Smart’s first for Georgia and by the looks of it, probably his worst. That’s not because it was a bad class, in fact, it was ranked number 6 in the nation. Rather it was somewhat hurriedly put together and so because of that, there were a few misses.

Of course, it was hard for Smart to build a class in just over 2 months. But that class could have been a lot better if he had been able to hold some local talent who ended up in Auburn. The most conspicuous of these misses was Derrick Brown, a big-time defensive tackle who Smart wanted badly.

Brown was the top-rated player in Georgia that year and UGA was seen as favorites to land him. Smart’s takeover seemed to put UGA in a better spot with Brown. There are plenty of rumors out there that Brown told the Georgia coaches that he was going to be a Dawg. He also told several reporters that he would be going to Athens the day before his commitment.

But on the day, he shocked everyone by putting on an Auburn hat. That upset a lot of Georgia fans and people in the team. He wasn’t the only highly ranked Georgia player who went to Auburn that year. Antwuan Jackson was another top DT who went to the Tigers as did Kyle Davis. Both were high on Kirby Smart’s want list.

Ironically, both Jackson and Davis are no longer with the Auburn program and that class isn’t looking so good for the Tigers right now. But Brown is having a really good year and has been a coup for Gus Malzahn. It gave him the nod again over Georgia.