Georgia football: The simple way Kirby Smart improved recruiting

Georgia football signed the no. 1 recruiting class for 2018 and the 2019 class just reached the no. 1 spot Thursday night.

Kirby Smart has done it again. The week of July 29 to August 4 will go down as another historically great week for Georgia football recruiting. Smart and his staff managed to seal pledges from four of the top prospects in the nation. 5-star running back John Emery and no. 1 JUCO star Jermaine Johnson headline the group.

How does Smart do it? How has he improved recruiting at Georgia this much? What does he do that Mark Richt didn’t do in Athens? Truth be told, he’s not drastically different from Richt on the recruiting trail. In fact, there’s really only one area where Smart beats Richt decisivley; signing offensive linemen.

Since the 2011 Dream Team recruiting class, Georgia hasn’t had an issue signing great skill players. That class included Malcolm Mitchell, Chris Conley, Amarlo Herrera, Damian Swann, and Jay Rome. Defensive linemen Ray Drew and John Jenkins were also in that class. Pretty solid.

A year later, the 2012 Ring Team class brought in Todd Gurley, Keith Marshall, Josh Harvey-Clemons, Jordan Jenkins. And the final three classes signed by Richt featured stars such as:

• Nick Chubb
• Sony Michel
• Lorenzo Carter
• Malkom Parrish
• Jeb Blazevich
• Terry Godwin
• Trenton Thompson
• Roquan Smith
• Jonathan Ledbetter

And so on. The 2016 class signed by Smart included many talented skill players that committed to Georgia when Richt was still the head coach. Looking at the last two classes, Georgia hasn’t gotten that much better at signing skill players because there wasn’t much room for improvement to begin with.

So, how have the Dawgs jumped from hanging around the top-10 in recruiting, to competing for no. 1 each year? Easy. Smart and his offensive staff emphasizes recruiting offensive linemen  much more than Richt ever did. Here are the offensive linemen currently committed to the Dawgs for 2019:

• Xavier Truss: 4-Star offensive tackle. Ranked no. 104.
• Warren McClendon: 4-star offensive tackle. Ranked no. 241.

Take a look at the 4-star and 5-star offensive linemen signed in the 2018 and 2017 recruiting classes:

• Jamaree Salyer: 5-star offensive guard. Ranked no. 10 in 2018.
• Cade Mays: 5-star offensive tackle. ranked no. 22 in 2018.
• Trey Hill: 4-star offensive guard. Ranked no. 62 in 2018.
• Warren Ericson: 4-star center. No. 263 in 2018.
• Isaiah Wilson: 5-star offensive tackle. No. 16 in 2017.
• Andrew Thomas: 4-star offensive tackle. No. 45 in 2017.
• Netori Johnson: 4-star offensive guard. No. 87 in 2017.
• D’Marcus Hayes: 4-star offensive tackle. No. 14 in JUCO 2017.

From 2011-to-2016, Georgia signed a total of 25 offensive linemen. But only seven of those players were 4-star recruits and just one was a 5-star (John Theus). Smart, with just two signed class, and working on a third, has 10 top-notch offensive linemen either signed or committed. Richt could only sign eight such players in six years.

This collection of elite offensive linemen, coupled with the great skill players that Georgia football always signs, boosted Georgia’s recruiting profile from a program that expects to sign top-10 class to one that expects to sign a top-three class every year. With just two linemen on the 2019 class so far, Smart and the Dawgs aren’t done recruiting that position just yet.

Ohio State is about to fire head coach Urban Meyer. There just so happens to be a 4-star lineman ranked no. 48 in the nation out of Buford High School by the name of Harry Miller who’s currently committed to the Buckeyes. Don’t be surprised if Smart can convince Miller to change his mind and stay home to become a Georgia Bulldog.