Georgia football: Three recruits who could be stars as freshmen
National Signing Day has passed and for the first time ever, Georgia football has the no. 1 class in the nation. The 2018 Georgia recruiting class may even be the best of all time.
What a day Georgia fans. We already had a great recruiting class going into National Signing Day. There was no way Georgia football could top the early signing period. But somehow, they exceeded expectations by adding even more players to the recruiting class.
Now that the signing period has ended, Georgia sits at the top of the recruiting rankings with seven 5-star and 15 4-star recruits according to 247 Sports. If your blood truly bleeds red and black, I know you cannot wait until G-Day to get a look at the early enrollees.
We just saw Jake Fromm and DeAndre Swift emerge as true freshman this past season. In 2016, Jacob Eason, Isaac Nauta and Tyler Clark shinned in their first year’s in Athens. Many more Bulldogs in the past had big seasons as true freshman. But what about the freshmen of the 2018 class. Here are three players I think have the best chances of being stars in 2018.
Jake Camarda
We’ll start with the most obvious player, punter Jake Camarda. He originally committed to Georgia last spring, just a day after the G-Day Game. 247 Sports listed him as a kicker back then but he is now listed as punter. Which means he is in line to take over for the departing Cameron Nizialek.
There are other punters on the roster, including Marshall Long who was the starting punter in 2016. But Camarda stands out because he’s the no. 2 punter in the nation according to 247. If he lives up to that ranking, Georgia won’t have to worry about punting in 2018.
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James Cook
With Nick Chubb and Sony Michel leaving, and offensive coördinator Jim Cheney showing that he likes using a multitude of running backs, it’s easy to see that one of Georgia’s newest tail backs will have a good season in 2018.
The 2018 class has two stud running backs who are sure to have great college careers. But given Zamir White’s ACL injury, James Cook is more likely to shine in 2018. 247 Sports ranks Cook as the no. 3 all-purpose back and no. 5 running back overall. Don’t expect to wait to see Cook either. Georgia put Swift on the field early, so they’ll definitely do the same with Cook.
He’s also the younger brother of former Florida State star running back Dalvin Cook, and he’s built like him to. It isn’t a stretch to say that James Cook will be one of the top backs in the nation like his older brother as well.
Tyson Campbell
Tyson Campbell’s signing might end up being the most important of Georgia’s 2018 recruiting class. With the loss of senior Malkom Parrish, and Deangelo Gibbs’ uncertain status with the team at this time, corner back was a position of major concern. Georgia needed to sign a kid who can come in and possibly play immediately.
They may have found their guy in Campbell, the no. 2 corner back and no. 12 player overall in the nation. Campbell also signifies the complete overhaul of the corner back position at Georgia. A few years ago, with Todd Grantham, Georgia recruited smaller corners.
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6’0-plus corners with the speed and the physicality to match with any receiver in the nation, are what Smart and the defensive coaching staff want. Campbell is one of the bigger corners in the nation. He’s billed at 6’2.5 and 180 pounds. With his skills, you’d be hard pressed to find a receiver who is too big or too fast to over-match Campbell.