2018 recruiting misses
after being loaded at the position for a few years, the southeast was lacking defensive tackles in 2018. In each of the previous 3 years, the state of Georgia had a highly regarded 5-star prospect. In 2015 it was Trenton Thompson, 2016 had Derick Brow an 2017 had Aubrey Solomon. Rocker signed only the first of those prospects which cost him his job.
Unfortunately for Scott, in 2018, Georgia was lacking in these players. Robert Cooper, a nose tackle out of South Gwinnett was the only 4-star DT in the state last year. Still, the Dawgs missed on Cooper who committed to FSU before Scott joined the staff and stayed true to that commitment.
That left Scott fighting for some out of state players and there were some swings and misses there. Some of the names that were linked to UGA during last season were Trevor Trout, TK Chimedza and Darnell Jefferies, all of whom ended up elsewhere. He also couldn’t quite close with Rick Sandidge who chose South Carolina over UGA.
That being said, UGA did end up signing Jordan Davis, who physically, might just be the biggest DT in the 2018 class. He’ll need to be, because with Tramel Walthour going to JUCO, Davis is the only DT in Georgia’s 2018 class.
I don’t know how much of this was Scott’s fault. 2018 was a historically bad year for defensive tackle recruits, especially in Georgia. Sandidge was a prized recruit at the end, but he and Cooper were probably the only ‘takes’ of this entire group. There’s no way I could see the Dawgs giving up a highly talented player in another position for one of those other players.