Georgia storms from behind and takes down SEC rival for 4-star DL

PJ Dean is the No. 7 defensive lineman in the 2026 recruiting class according to the 247Sports composite rankings. Dean has been a massive target for Georgia for quite some time now, and Dean rewarded their pursuits by naming UGA one of his three finalists along with Ohio State and South Carolina.

Monday was commitment day for Dean, and he is now off the board as he has officially committed to Georgia over the Buckeyes and Gamecocks.

4-star DL commits to Georgia over South Carolina, Ohio State

This is a massive win for Georgia for a few reasons. The biggest reason why is because the Bulldogs were actually predicted to lose this recruitment Monday morning. On3 recruiting expert Steve Wiltfong flipped his prediction from Georgia to South Carolina early on Monday, which gave the impression that Georgia was going to lose this recruitment, but that clearly was not the case.

On top of that, the Bulldogs can now pair Dean, who is the No. 7 defensive lineman in the country, with the No. 1 defensive lineman James Johnson, who committed to UGA just two days ago on June 28. So the Bulldogs now have the best defensive line duo in the entire 2026 recruiting class.

This recruitment is a great reminder for every program across the country that no one should ever doubt Georgia and Kirby Smart. Even when it looks like UGA has no shot to land a recruit, Smart is still able to regularly get it done. This is the difference between the good programs across the country and the elite programs, and in all honestly no other program is even touching Georgia's recruiting right now.

Dean joins Georgia's recruiting class as their 25th commit while also cementing the Bulldogs as the No. 2 class in the country. There is still work to be done to pass USC for the No. 1 class, but it may just be a matter of time until Georgia accomplishes that.