Georgia finally has an explanation for last summer’s recruiting nightmare

Georgia ultimately signed one of the top 2026 recruiting classes in the country, but getting there was not easy. In typical Georgia fashion, Kirby Smart was going after many of the top prospects in the country. He was able to win some of those battles, but it is impossible to win every single recruitment Georgia prioritizes.

That is especially the case with the highest ranked recruits in the country.

There were three recruits in particular that are ranked at the top of the 2026 recruiting class that Georgia just narrowly missed out on. Those players are Jared Curtis (Vanderbilt), Jackson Cantwell (Miami) and Mark Bowman (USC). Georgia was thought to be the leader in all three recruitments at one point, but UGA eventually lost each battle.

So how did that happen? On3 shared some inside information about what led all three recruits to chose another school over Georgia.

Insane NIL offers led to three Georgia losses on the recruiting trail

According to On3, Curtis, Cantwell and Bowman are three of the highest paid recruits from the 2026 recruiting class. In fact, On3 shared that each player will make north of $1.5 million this season.

That is a figure that Georgia could afford for any one player, but it would've been impossible for them to pay all three recruits that much. But Smart isn't interested in paying any unproven recrut that much money. There is no guarantee that they pan out in college in the first place, so why would he overspend for a player when he could use that money on current college players that have already proven themselves?

This is the strategy that Georgia has used since the NIL era began, and so far it has worked out very well. So while it is unfortunate that Georgia lost these recruitments, UGA will continue to be just fine as they have proven they can be extremely successful in the NIL era.