A new rivalry has been emerging for Georgia football over the past year. The Texas Longhorns have only been a member of the SEC for one season, but the battles these teams have fought on the field are already increasing the hate between these programs.
However, it’s the recent battles between Georgia and Texas on the recruiting trail that could eventually cause a major shakeup in the SEC pecking order.
Georgia finds new recruiting rivalry with Texas
Georgia and Alabama are the top dogs in the SEC. These two programs have dominated the conference over the last two decades, but newcomer Texas is looking to change that.
Texas has to win at least one SEC Championship before they reach the level of Georgia and Alabama, but recent developments on the recruiting trail shows Texas is the top contender to disrupt the pecking order at the top of the SEC.
Tuesday marked a really bad day for Georgia on the recruiting trail as five-star in-state linebacker Tyler Arkinson chose Texas over UGA. On top of that, five-star James Johnson flipped his commitment from Georgia to Texas on Tuesday as well. These developments caused Georgia and Texas fans to go at each other on Tuesday as the Longhorns attempted to flex these wins over UGA fans even though Georgia beat Texas twice last season.
This isn’t the first run in Kirby Smart and Georgia have had with Texas on the recruiting trail as these two sides have been continuously battling each other for many of the top recruits in the country. The Bulldogs have found success over Texas this cycle as well as UGA stole Chace Calicut out of Texas just last month. On top of that, UGA outlasted Texas for five-star tight end Kaiden Prothro last week too.
Georgia and Texas have had serious battles in past recruiting classes as well as Texas infamously stole Justus Terry out of Georgia last year. Georgia also has recent wins with Justin Williams and Joseph Jonah-Ajonye who both are from Texas as well.
These constant recruiting battles with Texas likely won’t stop anytime soon, and this new rivalry with the Longhorns will eventually cause a shakeup at the top of the SEC.
Texas will join Georgia, Alabama at the top of the SEC
Texas has shown over the last two seasons that they are a legit threat in the SEC. The past two seasons the Longhorns reached the semifinals of the College Football Playoff which is a huge accomplishment. The constant recruiting wins, which includes signing the No. 1 recruiting class in the country last cycle, also shows that Texas likely isn’t going anywhere anytime soon either.
So while Texas still needs to win the SEC or a National Championship before they join Alabama and Georgia at the top of the SEC, the success they found the last two seasons is impressive. The dominant recruiting run they’ve been on also shows it might just be a matter of time until Texas wins a championship and enters the top tier of the SEC.
And based on the two games during the 2024 season and constant recruiting battles between Texas and UGA, Georgia fans may start viewing their relationship with Texas as a legit rivalry in just a few short seasons.