Georgia’s “Covid Class” of 2021 will feature the largest group of mid-year enrollees that head coach Kirby Smart has ever seen.
Wednesday saw Georgia sign 20 new players to letters of intent, with almost that many expected to go ahead and join the program over the next several days.
“This will be the largest mid-year class that I think we’ve ever signed at Georgia, and we expect anywhere from 14, 15, 16 here in the next couple of days, as guys finish up their requirements to possibly enroll early,” Smart said. “When you’re talking about 20 signees and maybe 16 enrolling early—I don’t know if I’ve ever seen that in the country.”
No, Smart certainly is not complaining.
His class, currently ranked fourth nationally by Rivals.com, features players who could play integral roles for the Bulldogs in the not-too-distant future.
Led by five-star starter Brock Vandagriff and five-star offensive tackle Amarius Mims, 14 of the remaining 18 players are rated as four stars or higher
You can read more about each of the newest Bulldogs here.
“I don’t think you ever meet all your needs, because you don’t really know what your needs are right now—than, say, I will January 15 or 16,” said Smart, referring to the deadline for seniors to apply for the NFL Draft.
With current seniors getting a blanket waiver to return for another year, there's still considerable uncertainty about what Georgia’s more pressing needs will actually be.
“You may have a greater need in an area that you don’t know whether it’s a need due to a junior early out, or a transfer,” Smart said. “That's the timeline. You get your groceries before you know what you need. That’s just kind of where we're at.”
Of the 11 defensive players signed, four were linebackers: Smael Mondon, Jamon Dumas-Johnson, Xavier Sorey, and Chaz Chambliss. Georgia also added four defensive backs: Nyland Green, David Daniel, Javon Bullard, and Kamari Lassiter.
Smart mentioned he felt good about his newest defensive linemen: Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins, Marlin Dean, and Jonathan Jefferson.
Offensively, the Bulldogs signed nine, including four offensive linemen: the aforementioned Mims, Micah Morris, Jared Wilson, and Dylan Fairchild.
Along with Vandagriff, the rest of the newcomers on offense feature wide receivers Jackson Meeks and Adonai Mitchell, tight end Brock Bowers, and running back Lovasea Carroll.
“I’m pleased with the class. Certainly, you like to have a balanced class, right? You're basically trying to sign a team, and you want to get a good player here, a good player here, and a good player here. Sometimes your numbers are different, and sometimes your numbers are the best available. I’m going to guess we do as much number-crunching on that as anybody in the country,” Smart said. “We don’t just take people to take people, we have targets, we have roster spots, we have needs. Every roster spot on our team we try to fill with a certain-type player, and I feel like we were able to do that across the board.”
Georgia did not land all the players it hoped to acquire.
Four-star running back Donovan Edwards and five-star Maason Smith signed with Michigan and LSU respectively, while defensive back De’Jahn Warren surprised many by signing with Deion Sanders and FCS member Jackson State instead of UGA.
Although February’s National Signing Day will give Smart and other coaches opportunities to round out their respective classes, attention will now turn to the transfer portal. Georgia is expected to be an active player.
“We are good with where we are. As far as February, yeah, I think wiggle room, it is like a catch-22 because if I have a lot of wiggle room there is nobody to put in the wiggle room. Okay?” Smart said. “If I have too many available there’s not enough available players to supply the demand that you necessarily have available, so you don’t want a lot of that. We are going to know more about our team mid-January than we know now. I want to have the ability to fix, to try to find solutions for holes or depth issues. We think we are in a position to do that.”
