Kirby Smart is one of the best recruiters in the country. Ever since he became Georgia's head coach he has routinely signed one of the best recruiting classes in the country while bringing many of the best players in the country to Athens.
Smart however isn't perfect. It is impossible for any coach to win every recruit they target, and that is especially the case with five-star players like Marcus Fakatou who are being recruited by all of the top schools in the country.
Fakatou ended up committing to Ohio State over Georgia and a few other schools, but a clip of how Smart attempted to recruit him just went viral for all the wrong reasons. In the below clip Smart is seen bragging about how Georgia has more "stations" than Ohio State during recruiting visits, and by stations he just means areas to take pictures. Is that really something to brag this much about?
Georgia head coach Kirby Smart to now-Ohio State 5⭐️ DL commit Marcus Fakatou during his recruitment:
— The Buckeye Nut (@TheBuckeyeNut) July 9, 2026
“I was asking how many stations Ohio State has. They only have one. We have four.”
Safe to say that pitch didn’t work. 😁🌰 pic.twitter.com/niilEEa1tt
Kirby Smart did Georgia no help in 5-star Marcus Fakatou's recruitment
Could Smart just have been making a joke? Potentially, but it really doesn't come across that way. Smart comes across a bit snarky and that he thinks Georgia is better than Ohio State simply because they have more places to take photos during recruiting visits.
Is that a good thing for Georgia? It definitely isn't a bad thing, but it's unlikely that this fact would have any real impact in a recruit's decision. That is especially the case for someone as talented as Fakatou who has dreams of winning championships in college and making it to the NFL in a few years.
Smart likely was just trying to make a joke, but this one backfired in a big way. This ultimately probably had a very small impact (if any) on Fakatou's final decision, but it's impossible to ignore the uncomfortable reaction he gave when Smart said this.
Why Georgia fan shouldn't worry about Kirby Smart's blunder
At one point Georgia felt like they had a good chance at landing Fakatou. Ohio State was viewed as the leader at the start of June, but after hosting him on a visit they weren't able to seal the deal. This allowed Georgia to host him and potentially make up some ground a few days later, but they unfortunately weren't able to get it done.
Georgia fans however shouldn't be too worried about this loss because they already have a really good defensive line class which includes three players committed at that position along with one EDGE.
None of those players are ranked as high as Fakatou though, so it obviously would've been really nice to win his recruitment. Georgia however wasn't able to get it done, but there's no reason to smash the panic button after this loss alone.
Smart however better be a little more careful about what he says when cameras are around though because comments like this could impact more than just Fakatou's recruitment because of how bad it came across on social media.
Add us as a preferred source on Google