After the historic stretch of commitments from Georgia to end the month of June, the Bulldogs saw their 2026 recruiting class skyrocket to No. 2 in the country. They also were able to earn the No. 1 class ranking in the SEC, stealing that title from Texas A&M last week.
While Georgia still sits with the No. 1 class in the conference, Alabama is emerging as a new contender that is ready to swipe the No. 1 spot away from the Bulldogs.
Alabama currently the favorite to finish with SEC’s best recruiting class
According to On3’s Industry rankings, Alabama is not far behind Georgia as they sit with the No. 6 overall class in the country and the No. 3 class in the SEC. The gap between these two programs is actually still quite large, but Alabama has a huge advantage when it comes to five-star talent.
The Tide already have four five-star players committed to their program with a fifth likely committing to Alabama on July 5. Georgia on the other hand only has one five-star recruit in their 2026 class.
The reason Georgia still leads Alabama in these rankings is because UGA has 27 total commits to Alabama’s 18. So Alabama will pass Georgia once they both have a similar number of commits in their class.
However, there is still a chance Georgia ends with a better class than Alabama because they are waiting on announcements from three five-star targets. Running back Derrek Cooper, linebacker Tyler Atkinson and tight end Kaiden Prothro are all leaning towards Georgia right now, and if they all choose UGA that would give Georgia four five-star commits. That very well could be good enough to stay ahead of the entire SEC, including Alabama.
But until those commitments come true for Georgia, Alabama will have the best chance to finish No. 1 in the SEC, which is a scary thing for the future of Georgia’s program.