Georgia's unique approach to recruiting 5-star Casey Barner could pay dividends

Casey Barner is a five-star safety in the 2028 recruiting class, and Kirby Smart has been recruiting him since the sixth grade. It is uncommon for any recruit to be recruited before high school, and most recruits may not be seriously recruited until their junior and senior seasons, but Smart had his eye on Barner early.

Barner has visited Georgia's campus 11 times throughout his recruitment. Most of those visits took place before his recruitment took off nationally, but now he is the No. 1 safety and No. 5 overall player in the country and Smart is hoping his efforts years ago will pay off.

Casey Barner would help Georgia sign one of the best recruiting classes in the country

Georgia already has the No. 5 recruiting class in the country, and that is only with two commits. A player like Barner would not only help them climb the recruiting rankings even higher, but it would give them a chance to sign one of the top recruiting classes in the country.

Four-star tight end Asa Wall is one of Georgia's commits. He is the No. 7 tight end in the country, so it's clear that he is and will continue being one of their big commits in the 2028 class. He however doesn't compare to five-star quarterback commit Jayden Wade.

Wade is the No. 2 overall player in the country and the top ranked quarterback in the 2028 class. He has been committed to Georgia since November and since then has shot down multiple flip attempts from other programs.

If Georgia can add Barner he would join what is an already solid foundation in the Bulldogs' 2028 recruiting class. They would need to add more recruits on top of them to contend for the No. 1 class ranking, but those three commits would give Georgia a chance to make a push for it.

Georgia landing Casey Barner would help change negative trend surrounding in-state recruiting

Kirby Smart has been struggling to recruit the top players in the state to Georgia, but Barner could reverse that trend. Out of the top 20 recruits from Georgia in the 2027 class, the Bulldogs only have three commits. Going back one more year to the 2026 class Georgia was able to sign seven of the 20 best in-state recruits, but that still isn't quite good enough.

In the 2025 recruiting class Georgia added six of the top eight players in the state alone. That is what dominant in-state recruiting looks like, but since then Smart hasn't been able to find the same success in his state.

He hopes to change that with Barner though. At this point Barner doesn't intend to commit anytime soon, and he also hasn't released a list of his top schools either. It would be surprising though if Georgia wasn't on that list since he's visited Athens 11 times since sixth grade and is from the Peach State.

This early interest doesn't guarantee Georgia will win his recruitment. They've learned that over the past few recruiting classes, so if Kirby Smart wants to come out on top he will likely need to recruit him even harder over the next year and a half.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow