Throughout the NIL era there have been a few schools that emerged as the nation's biggest spenders. Texas Tech is one of those programs and that is why they have had some really good teams over the last few years.
The Red Raiders have been a force on the recruiting trail because of their deep pockets. They even came into Georgia and stole five-star LaDamio Guyton from Kirby Smart not that long ago.
Smart leanred his lesson from this as he now knows that he can't overlook Texas Tech on the recruiting trail. So when they started to get involved with four-star linebacker Joakim Gouda he made sure to end their relationship as soon as possible.
“Other programs — namely Georgia — wanted to avoid that curveball at all costs,” Benjamin Wolk said via 247sports.com. “So instead, Gouda cancelled his Texas Tech visit and replaced it with a weekend visit to Georgia.”
Kirby Smart convinced 4-star Joakim Gouda to cancel his visit to Texas Tech
Wolk explained in the above quote that Texas Tech threw a curveball in Gouda's recruitment. They appeared out of nowhere in his recruitment and had an upcoming weekend visit with Gouda on the books. Smart however had other ideas as they convinced Gouda to come to Athens that weekend instead and cancel his trip to Texas Tech.
This is one of the oldest recruiting tactics of all time. Back when NIL wasn't allowed this is how teams got recruits to commit to them. They built an early relationship with a player and did everything they could to prevent any other school from getting close to that player.
This is what Smart and Georgia did as they have already been predicted by On3 to win his recruitment. But Texas Tech getting involved could've changed that, but thankfully Smart was able to put a stop to that before the Red Raiders made too much progress.
Gouda doesn't plan on committing anytime soon, but it does appear that Georgia is the team to beat. And as long as Smart can continue keeping teams away from him then there is a good shot he will become a Bulldog at some point in the future.