Disaster strikes Georgia football in the transfer portal

Georgia football still hasn’t earned a commitment in the transfer portal, but Kirby Smart and his staff have been recruiting a few players very hard. One of those players is Kentucky wide receiver transfer Dane Key, who UGA has been after since he entered the portal.

Key took a visit to Georgia and it originally seemed like the Bulldogs were the team to beat. In fact, Georgia received multiple predictions to land Key out of the portal by both 247Sports and On3.

But those predictions ended up not coming true as Key committed to Nebraska on Tuesday.

Tough loss for Georgia

So far this transfer portal cycle, every loss that Georgia has had in the portal hasn't been all that bad. The Bulldogs have seen a lot of recruits they hosted on visits commit elsewhere, but those players either weren't that elite or were not at a position that the Bulldogs desperately needed out of the portal.

Key however is a different story. He is a wide receiver which is a huge need for Georgia this offseason. Key also is a top 10 player in the country in the portal, so he was about the best option available for Georgia in the portal this offseason.

So what went wrong for Georgia? How did they lose this recruitment after it looked like they were going to get it done?

For starters, Key is following his wide receiver coach who is also moving from Kentucky to Nebraska. There also was a new court ruling which allows players who begin at the JUCO level to not lose any of their four years of eligibility. This is impacting Georgia as wide receiver Colbie Young is looking more than likely to return to Georgia next season.

These two reasons make it not seem like such a surprise that Key ditched Georgia for Nebraska instead.

While this is a disastrous loss, there is still one player out there who could make up for this loss. And that is USC transfer wide receiver Zachariah Branch who is the No. 4 player in the portal. Branch has already visited Georgia as well as Arizona State, so as of now the Bulldogs appear to be one of the top programs in his recruitment.

So hopefully Georgia is able to win that recruitment, because then the loss of Key won't matter any longer.