Georgia football has new competition for No. 1 linebacker

Georgia football has made it very clear over the last week who one of their top targets in the 2026 recruiting class is. And that is none other than five-star linebacker Tyler Atkinson.

Atkinson is one of the top players in the country, coming in at No. 7 in the 247Sports composite rankings. He also is the top ranked linebacker and the No. 1 player from Georgia as well.

Atkinson is someone Kirby Smart and his staff have been very high on for quite some time now. However, Georgia's recruitment of Atkinson hit an all time high last week when Smart pulled out all the stops for him. Not only did Smart fly in on a helicopter to visit Atkinson at his school, but Georgia also hosted Atkinson the very next day in Athens during Georgia's first Junior Day of 2025.

So it's very clear that the Bulldogs want Atkinson bad, but it's not a surprise to hear that many other schools are interested in him as well. However, there is a new team getting involved in this recruitment as Chad Simmons with On3 reported that Atkinson will be visiting Oregon this weekend.

Oregon will be a major player in this recruitment

Oregon has quickly become one of the biggest players on the recruiting trail. A lot of that is due to how big of a player they are in the NIL landscape, but they also have recent on field results to back up their recruiting pitch as well. So whenever Oregon gets involved in a recruitment, there is reason for Georgia fans to be concerned.

However, Georgia easily is above Oregon in this recruitment as of now. Reason being that this is Atkinson's first trip to Oregon, so he hardly knows anything about their program right now. Georgia also is the in-state school and even has a crystal ball prediction in their favor on 247Sports to win this recruitment as well.

Georgia's favorable standing in Atkinson's recruitment obviously can change at any point, but hopefully that does not happen this weekend when Atkinson heads west to Oregon.