Discrepancy in Georgia’s recruiting spending gives them advantage over the field

It’s no secret how important NIL and spending money is to college football recruiting nowadays. One of the reasons Georgia football has continued to recruit at the highest level is because they have one of the best NIL departments in the country.

But recent data shows that Georgia is finding all of their recruiting success without being one of the biggest spenders in all of college football.

Georgia’s decreased spending will help their team in the long run

The above chart shows the top 10 spenders in college football during the 2026 recruiting cycle. One would expect Georgia to be somewhere on this list considering they currently have the No. 2 recruiting class in the country, but the Bulldogs are nowhere to be found. This puts into perspective just how good Kirby Smart and his staff are at recruiting because they can get the best players in the country without having to spend the most money.

It’s worth noting that USC, who has the No. 1 recruiting class in the country, is only at No. 7 on the spending list. So the Trojans appear to be finding a lot of success with a similar recruiting process as Georgia.

The above post however makes a great comparison with what to expect from Georgia and Texas based on their spending habits on the recruiting trail. Texas leads the nation in spending which has given them one of the best recruiting classes in the country as well. But it’s impossible to not think how this could cause Texas to be a team full of players who care more about themselves and the money they’re making while Georgia is more of a team.

This is the exact mindset Kirby Smart has when it comes to his NIL strategy. So far it has led Georgia to win multiple SEC and National Championships in the NIL era, and it doesn’t look like UGA’s on field success is going to slow down anytime soon.