Georgia football just witnessed their worst stretch of recruiting this summer. The Bulldogs lost two key recruitments on Tuesday, but the second loss of the day caused Georgia to lose their No. 1 team ranking in the 2026 recruiting class.
Georgia no longer has the No. 1 recruiting class in the country
Rivals updated their recruiting rankings Monday afternoon, and that update sent Georgia past USC and into the No. 1 spot. This was the first time this cycle that Georgia had the No. 1 recruiting class in the country, so Monday was obviously a significant day for Georgia.
The celebrations surrounding this news however didn’t last long as the Bulldogs fell back to the No. 2 spot just 24 hours later. No Georgia fan would care that much had USC earned another commitment to move past UGA, but unfortunately Georgia fell because they lost a commit. Five-star defensive lineman James Johnson is the recruit Georgia lost as he flipped his commitment from UGA to Texas Tuesday afternoon.
Georgia had a chance to replace Johnson with another five-star as linebacker Tyler Atkinson announced his commitment on Tuesday. Unfortunately Atkinson decided to commit to Texas as well. Had Atkinson chosen Georgia instead the Bulldogs likely would still have the No. 1 class even after losing Johnson.
The good news for Georgia is that they still have the No. 2 recruiting class in the country. Georgia also has a chance to earn some more commitments very soon as four-star linebacker Nick Abrams is expected to commit to UGA on Wednesday. Five-star running back Derrek Cooper is scheduled to come off the board on July 20 and Georgia has a chance to win that battle as well.
Regardless of how things shake out over these next few days, Tuesday was a brutal day for Kirby Smart and Georgia. And the worst part of all is that UGA lost their No. 1 ranking at the hands of an SEC rival.