A little over a week ago, five-star linebacker Tyler Atkinson broke the hearts of Georgia fans when he announced his commitment to Texas over Georgia. No one saw this coming and many Georgia fans were left confused wondering how things changed so fast when Georgia was his leader for most of 2025.
The consensus was that Texas had to have offered Atkinson an amount of NIL money that he couldn't say no to, and Friday night that was confirmed to be the case.
"Texas doubled Oregon and Georgia's NIL offer to lock down Atkinson."
Texas offered double the NIL money than #Georgia and Oregon to lock down 5-star LB Tyler Atkinson, per Keegan Pope. 😳
— Dawg Recruiting (@DawggRecruiting) July 26, 2025
Atkinson’s recruitment ultimately came down to Georgia and Texas in the end. pic.twitter.com/ZWV3C96BB9
Texas offered Tyler Atkinson twice the money Georgia did
Atkinson's recruitment reportedly came down to Texas and Georgia. Clemson and Oregon were also named finalists for the No. 1 linebacker in the 2026 recruiting class as well, but everyone knew after Atkinson's official visits that it was down to Texas and UGA.
There are a lot of good reasons why a recruit could commit to Texas, no one can deny that, but when it comes to linebackers Georgia is the best program in the country. During Kirby Smart's nine years as Georgia's head coach, he has had three Butkus Award winners. This award goes to the nation's best linebacker at the end of each season, so it's clear how great Georgia has been at Atkinson's position in recent years.
On top of that, Georgia overall has had far more success recently at getting players to the NFL. Georgia also just beat Texas twice last season and Atkinson is from the state of Georgia as well. Atkinson even visited Georgia 15 times throughout his recruitment, and it was reported that he only visited Texas twice.
No one can argue that Georgia had a lot more going for them in this recruitment than Texas, so it is not surprising to find out that the Longhorns had to offer Atkinson far more money to earn his commitment. And it just so happens that Texas offered him twice as much as Georgia, which unfortunately was enough for Atkinson to not care about all the positives UGA has to offer.