You cannot win them all. While Georgia wins far more often than it loses, every little decision matters when it comes to contending for national championships annually like the Bulldogs do. For over the better part of a decade now, Georgia has emerged as a national power, one that regularly makes the College Football Playoff annually. The standard is the standard, but this program wants another title.
One of the areas that Kirby Smart and his staff need to get better at is navigating the transfer portal. Georgia can normally recruit whoever it wants out of high school. Unfortunately, some of those blue-chip prospects quickly find out that Georgia is not for them, and transfer away. This could be for more playing time, a bigger role on another team, or more NIL compensation. Not everything gold can stay.
So what we are going to do today is identify three players Georgia could have potentially landed in the transfer portal back in the winter, and wonder what all transpired... Had Georgia secured the commitment of any of these players, we might be singing an even louder tune about how good this year's team can be. Instead, they all joined other playoff-viable teams, ones who may be facing UGA.
Let's start with the best book-end there was on the market, and why him going elsewhere matters...
3. OT Jordan Seaton (Colorado -> LSU)
Admittedly, this would have been a bit of a stretch for Georgia to really think it was in the race to land former five-star recruit Jordan Seaton. He spent his first two college seasons with Colorado. While Seaton was looking mostly at Miami, Mississippi State, and Texas A&M before committing to LSU, Georgia was out there on the periphery, hoping he would look the Dawgs' way. To Lane Kiffin he went!
The reason this is significant is Seaton will be tasked with keeping Arizona State transfer Sam Leavitt upright in Baton Rouge this fall. Had he come to Athens, he may have played a bigger role in helping Gunner Stockton push for a Heisman Trophy and a national championship. LSU is more of a borderline playoff team than anything. If UGA were to face LSU in the playoff, they must deal with him.
Landing Seaton would have been a pipe dream, but seeing him end up in the SEC complicates things.
2. EDGE Damon Wilson II (Missouri -> Miami)
Let's be real with ourselves. This was not happening. Damon Wilson II was not going to be coming back to Georgia after spending a year at Missouri. He left the Dawgs after not being thrilled with his role as a standup linebacker. Wilson viewed himself as more of an edge rusher. He had nine sacks in his lone year at Missouri. Now that he has transferred to Miami, Georgia is left searching for answers.
If we were to remove the litigation of it all, Wilson would be exactly what Glenn Schumann needs in his defensive front-seven. Last year's Georgia team was incredibly young, but it had no idea how to disrupt the opposing quarterback. Georgia may be Linebacker U, but Wilson plays the position much differently than CJ Allen did, or what Raylen Wilson is expected to do this fall. Georgia may regret this.
Miami may play in the ACC, but the Hurricanes were last season's natitonal runner-up as an at-large...
1. DL Devan Thompkins (USC -> Alabama)
While landing Seaton would have been great, just like it would have been the case to convince Wilson to come back to The Classic City, the one transfer portal whiff Smart's program is going to come to regret is former USC defensive lineman Devan Thompkins heading over to Alabama. He was on Georgia's shortlist of top-tier transfer portal targets. He leaves Southern California for a bitter rival...
With Georgia having to play the Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa this season, the Bulldogs will have to deal with a fired-up Thompkins in the middle of everything defensively for Kane Wommack. This is a team the Dawgs could conceivably face twice next year: Once in Tuscaloosa, and maybe another time in the postseason. Alabama is vulnerable under Kalen DeBoer, so Georgia cannot give them any hope.
With Auburn transfer Amaris Williams now out for the season, Georgia may wish it had Thompkins...
Add us as a preferred source on Google