One of UGA’s greatest signing classes ever?

No Aubrey Solomon, no Jamyest Williams, no Markaviest Bryant—in the grand scheme, no matter. Despite missing out on some prospects Georgia would like to have landed, yesterday’s National Signing Day should be one to remember for Bulldog enthusiasts. As the day neared its end, I thought back—long and hard—believing Georgia had likely signed one of its greatest incoming classes of all time.

Utilizing a heap of resources, like individual and team recruiting rankings, old recruiting guides, archived newspaper articles, etc., dating back to the mid-1960s, or around the time football recruiting started to become somewhat publicized, I came up with my top five UGA football recruiting classes of all time (or, at least over the last 65 years), plus some honorable mentions. Notably, these classes have absolutely nothing to do with how they would turn out on the field, but how highly-touted they were—their on-paper potential—before setting foot on a collegiate gridiron:

5th—1976 (28)

Top of the Class: QB Jeff Pyburn (Athens, Ga.), RB Sam Fife (Centre, Ala.), RB William Breeding (Greensboro, Ga.), tackle Michael Brunson (Jacksonville, Ala.), and DT Herbert Watkins (Athens, Ga.).

The ’76 class was considered Vince Dooley’s best group of signees to that point of his 13-year head-coaching tenure, just surpassing Georgia’s 1965 and 1968 banner classes. Pyburn and Breeding were ranked amongst the country’s top 25 prospects while another, running back Ed Guthrie (Marietta, Ga.), would eventually transfer to Georgia after first attending Penn State. Considered the best back in the state of Alabama, Fife was assuredly heading to Alabama, maybe Auburn, until surprising everyone by choosing to become a Bulldog.

4th—2017 (26)

Top of the Class: OL Isaiah Wilson (Brooklyn, N.Y.), QB Jake Fromm (Warner Robins, Ga.), RB D’Andre Swift (Philadelphia, Penn.), LB Jaden Hunter (Atlanta, Ga.), DB Richard LeCounte (Richboro, Ga.), and LB Nate McBride (Lyons, Ga.).

Tying the 2002 class as Georgia’s highest ranked during the Rivals era at No. 3, I gave this group the nod over the one from 15 years ago based on more “top” prospects (six in top 60 compared to four in ’02), and a slightly better “star average” (3.69 to 3.62). The Bulldogs lured eight of the top 14 players from the state, including five-star Fromm, and “high” four-stars LeCounte, Hunter, Johnson, and McBride, who was a five-star prospect not too long ago. Still, two of Georgia’s top three signees—No. 17 Wilson and No. 35 Swift—are from out of state, helping produce the school’s best incoming class in nearly 20 years.

3rd—1990 (27)

Top of the Class: RB Garrison Hearst (Lincolnton, Ga.), WR Andre Hastings (Morrow, Ga.), OL Steve Roberts (Dalton, Ga.), LB Mitch Davis (Mobile, Ala.), DL Bernard Williams (Memphis, Tn.), and LB Travis Jones (Irwinton, Ga.).

In a class featuring five signees ranked in the SuperPrep Top 50—Hearst, Hastings, Roberts, T, Jones, and DL Tashe Williams (Air Academy, Colo.), and eight signees considered in the top 10 nationally at their respective position, the Bulldogs also totaled four players regarded as the top prospect in their state: Hearst of Georgia, T. Williams of Colorado, B. Williams of Tennessee, and Davis of Alabama. For the most part, the ’90 class was ranked by recruiting services as either No. 3 or No. 4 in the country—and, that was before the addition of Hastings, the No. 1-ranked receiver, who signed six days after Signing Day.

2nd—1998 (24)

Top of the Class: OL Jon Stinchcomb (Lilburn, Ga.), QB Quincy Carter (Decatur, Ga.), ATH/QB Terrence Edwards (Tennille, Ga.), RB Jasper Sanks (Columbus, Ga.), LB/DL Jessie Miller (Tennille, Ga.), and LB Boss Bailey (Folkston, Ga.).

Highlighted by Sanks and Stinchcomb, Georgia also landed the state’s top three quarterbacks, including Edwards and Nate Hybl (Colbert, Ga.). Besides Bailey and Miller, top-notch defenders LB Tony Gilbert (Macon, Ga.) and LB Will Witherspoon (Panama City, Fla.), Florida’s High School Player of the Year, were also inked. The twenty-three signees were ranked by the NRA as No. 3 nationally, by the G&W Recruiting Report at No. 4, and No. 1 in the nation by recruiting gurus Bill Buchalter and Steve Figueroa—and, that was before the later addition of 20-year-old Carter, who had been the state’s player of the year in ‘95 before electing to play professional baseball.

1st—1982 (30)

Top of the Class: DT Gerald Browner (Atlanta, Ga.), FB/TE George Smith (Douglas, Ga.), QB Jamie Harris (Danville, Va.), DB Tony Flack (Greensboro, N.C.), WR Jimmy Hockaday (Nashville, Tenn.), and JUCO DB Jeff Sanchez (Yorba Linda, Calf.).

Of the recruiting services which existed back in 1982, they were essentially all in agreement: Georgia had the No. 1-ranked signing class in the entire country that year. The Bulldogs landed 10 of the state’s top 16 prospects, including Browner and Smith ranked first and second, respectively, along with No. 4 SE Herman Archie (Columbus, Ga.) and No. 5 RB Keith Montgomery (Toccoa, Ga.). In addition, Georgia remarkably signed the top prospect in each of the states of Virginia (Harris), North Carolina (Flack), and Tennessee (Hockaday).

Honorable Mention:

1965—The Bulldogs’ ’65 class was considered “perhaps the best in the Southland” primarily based on its out-of-state signees, including some of the best prospects in South Carolina (Steve Greer, Kent Lawrence, Billy Woodward, and John Farnsworth), plus highly-touted out-of-staters DB Jake Scott, QB Rick Arrington, and LB Happy Dicks.

1987—Missing out on the state’s top two recruits, but headed by OT LeMonte Tellis, DL Jeff Finch, and RB Brian Cleveland, Georgia’s ’87 class was ranked No. 3 in the nation by recruiting expert Tom Lemming behind Notre Dame and UCLA.

2002—Although not landing any of the country’s top 20 prospects, 5-star LB Marquis Elmore, who signed the year before, DE Marcus Jackson, DT Kedric Golston, and DE Preston Pannell, highlighted a class ranked No. 3 nationally.

2006—Five-stars QB Matthew Stafford and DB Reshad Jones led a group in which 14 signees were ranked in Rivals’ top 250, including RB Knowshon Moreno and linebackers Darius Dewberry and Akeem Hebron.

2011—In desperate need of a great class, Georgia landed seven of the state’s top 10 prospects, including 5-stars DE Ray Drew and RB Isaiah Crowell. Defensive backs Malcolm Mitchell (WR) and Damian Swann, along with standout JUCO DT Johnathan Jenkins added to what would be regarded as the fifth-best class in the country.