Ohio State beat Georgia for 5-star transfers, but UGA still got the last laugh

Former five-star recruits James Smith and Qua Russaw from Alabama entered the Transfer Portal this offseason. That is great news for Georgia already because the Crimson Tide gettings worse will always help UGA, but there was some hope that they would both be interested in transferring to Georgia.

The Bulldogs defensive front this past season wasn't as dominant as they typically are, so adding two former five-stars to the mix would fix a lot of their problems. Unfortunately both Smith and Russaw announced that they were transferring to Ohio State instead.

This is obviously a big win for the Buckeyes and a huge loss for Georgia, but the Bulldogs still got the last laugh over Ohio State.

Georgia won the battle against Ohio State that mattered most

Last week there were plenty of rumors circulating that running back Nate Frazier could enter the Transfer Portal. And if he did decide to leave Athens, Ohio State was his likely landing spot.

The Buckeyes even felt optimistic for about 24 hours that Frazier was going to be their new star running back. That however did not happen as Frazier announced earlier this week that he was officially coming back to Georgia.

So while it would have been nice to add these two five-star defensive linemen, Georgia kept the one player they couldn't afford to lose. Georgia already has a lot of depth on their defensive line, so these two weren't players they absolutely needed. Frazier however is someone that UGA needed next season, so they got the player they needed most this week.

So while Ohio State is celebrating their big win Georgia knows that they won the war. Because while Smith and Russaw are great players on paper, they haven't really proved it on the field yet. Frazier however has proven he is one of the top running backs in the country, so Georgia in the end won the most important battle against OSU.