Georgia has the No. 1 recruiting class in the country for the 2026 cycle, so it’s hard to complain about Kirby Smart’s efforts on the recruiting trail. Still, the dream for the class was to pair No. 2 overall quarterback Jared Curtis with the best offensive tackle in the country, Jackson Cantwell, and on part 2 of that mission, the Dawgs fell short.
Cantwell opted for the superior NIL package that the Miami Hurricanes were offering, and Georgia settled – if you can even call it that – for four-star offensive tackle Ekene Ogboko, the No. 39 overall recruit in the class. Even without Cantwell, the Dawgs actually managed to assemble a strong offensive line class in 2026 with Graham Houston and Zykie Helton joining Ogboko.
Regardless of the whiff on Cantwell and the talented group of offensive linemen heading to Athens in 2026, Georgia is back in the market for the top tackle on the board, with the staff already turning its attention to the 2027 class and Kennedy Brown.
On Monday, Sam Spiegelman of Rivals reported that Georgia is a contender for Brown, along with other national powerhouses.
Oregon, Texas, Penn State, SMU, Texas A&M, Clemson and Georgia are among the contenders pushing for No. 1 2027 recruit OT Kennedy Brown, who has a few game-day visits locked in
— Sam Spiegelman (@samspiegs) July 28, 2025
The latest from Brown: https://t.co/2Owgh0BZ3O pic.twitter.com/CAOYwUEHbF
Georgia reprioritizing top offensive line talent with Kennedy Brown
By 247Sports Composite Rankings, Ogboko is the most highly ranked offensive lineman to commit to Georgia since Monroe Freeling in the 2023 class. Now, ranking higher than No. 39 overall is quite the high standard, and a three-year gap doesn’t exactly signify a drop-off in offensive line talent, especially when the three intermittent years include plenty of highly-rated four-stars.
However, no matter what the recruiting rankings say, the offensive line play in 2024 was evidence enough that Georgia needs to rededicate itself to building through the trenches on that side of the ball. Injuries and questionable play forced Georgia to continually reshuffle up front, and that group was partially responsible for Carson Beck’s regression. Georgia allowed 30 quick pressures in 2024 (QB pressures on dropbacks of under 2.5 seconds) compared to 25 in 2023, despite Beck and Gunner Stockton combining for fewer total dropbacks of under 2.5 seconds last year.
On the ground, Georgia’s rushing success rate dropped from 46.9 percent in 2023, which ranked 12th in the country, to 43.5 percent, which slotted the Dawgs at 43rd. And as the success rate dropped, Georgia’s run game saw a higher stuff rate in 2024.
After back-to-back national championships, Kirby Smart’s program has been knocking on the door the past two seasons. Even with a major quarterback question mark heading into 2025, the Bulldogs are bona fide title contenders in the SEC. Still, the offensive line play in Athens has taken a small but discernible step back from the elite level that the Dawgs enjoyed in 2021 and 2022, so targeting a player like Brown is an obvious solution.
According to 247Sports Composite Rankings, Brown, out of Humble, Texas, is the No. 1 overall player in the 2027 class. He won’t be easy to pry away from the in-state powerhouses with deep pockets in Austin and College Station, but heading into his junior year of high school, he appears to be worth the considerable investment that it would take.