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Georgia football may not be known for recruiting highly-ranked wide receivers, but head coach Kirby Smart and his staff know how to find the diamonds in the rough.
One of the biggest storylines of the offseason was Ladd McConkey being taken right outside the first round of the NFL Draft when the Los Angeles Chargers selected him with the 34th pick. Now, the Bulldogs may have found another three-star recruit that could make waves in Athens.
This hidden gem is Sacovie White, a 5-foot-8, 170-pounder out of Cartersville, GA. White played at Cass High School and was labeled an athlete by multiple recruiting websites due to his versatility. He flew under the majority of the nation's radar, only holding offers from Georgia, Charlotte, Maryland, Troy and Florida A&M.
Despite his size, White has already shown he can make an impact on the field for the Bulldogs, making multiple plays during the G-Day scrimmage.
White could be used in a similar role to Isaiah McKenzie. While he may not have the speed of the 'Human Joystick,' he has the playmaking ability to have an impact on the game in the slot role or while returning kickoffs and punts. 
White also has shades of a smaller Dillon Bell in his game, and could be on a very similar career trajectory as well. Due to the Bulldogs' depth in the wide receiver room, White's playing time might be limited this year, but he should see some action.
Despite being behind names like Colbie Young, Dominic Lovett, Dillon Bell and many others, the coaching staff could find ways to get him on the field. Lovett is firmly entrenched as UGA’s starting slot receiver and could lead the WR room in snaps, but White may emerge as an impactful player by taking advantage of the opportunity to spell Lovett or lining up as an inside receiver in four or five wide sets.

As college football continues to evolve we are seeing more and more teams schedule tough non conference opponents to strengthen their schedules, and give themselves a better chance to make the College Football Playoff. This year there are a plethora of exciting, potentially landscape altering non conference games for some of the SEC’s finest. With the season’s start inching closer I thought it would be fun to rank some of these matchups. The Dawgs kick it off against non-conference foe Clemson this year, but where will that rank among the best out of conference?
 
10 - Arkansas @ Oklahoma State - September 7th - 12:00 PM
Starting off with a matchup of two neighboring states, Arkansas travels to Stillwater to take on the Cowboys in an early season showdown. On one side Sam Pittman is looking for a statement win against a ranked opponent. He’s been on the hot seat for too long and needs a big win like this one to cool it down. For Oklahoma State, they’re looking to be serious contenders in not just the revamped Big 12, but also for the College Football Playoff. With the reigning Doak Walker Award winner Ollie Gordon II in the backfield, the pokes are going to be looking to run it down the throats of an Arkansas team who was pretty mediocre against the run last season(#76 Natl.). Overall, I think this is going to be a fun game to watch and a true indicator of the trajectory for each team’s 2024 season. 
 
9 - Miami @ Florida - August 31st - 3:30 PM
Oh man am I interested in this game. In-state rivals face off to open the season in The Swamp, in a game where Miami has legit CFP aspirations that need to start with a win against the Gators. For Florida, everyone is writing them off because of their brutal schedule, but this is a chance to catch some early momentum and maybe change the minds of the nation. Miami brought in veteran quarterback Cam Ward from Washington State in the transfer portal. The gunslinger is hoping to finally be the answer to all of the Hurricane faithful’s prayers, and deliver them a playoff berth. Miami also has a barrage of talented running backs who will try to overwhelm the Gator defense. Florida now has Graham Mertz in his second season with the program, and while he caught a lot of flak last season, he had a sneaky solid year. However, the biggest motivator for him has to be 5-star quarterback DJ Lagway, lurking in the shadows waiting for Mertz to slip up. The Gators lost a lot of production to both the draft and the portal, losing Trevor Etienne (UGA), Princely Umanmielen (MISS), Ricky Pearsall (Draft), and others. How will The Gators look to start the season? Will they get swept up by the Hurricanes like everyone seems to think? Or will they brave the storm and march into their gauntlet of a schedule with confidence?
 
8 - Alabama @ Wisconsin - September 14th - 12:00 PM
Alabama and Wisconsin last met in the season opener in 2015, with Alabama winning 35-17. Derrick Henry rushed for almost 150 yards and 3 TDs in that game. There’s one major difference between then and now- Nick Saban is gone. This will be Kalen Deboer’s first real test. The expectations for Alabama are up in the air right now. Obviously we expect them to be Alabama, but will they be a shell of themselves under new leadership? This game should tell us a lot. For starters, Madison is not a quiet place. Camp Randall Stadium gets really loud and hostile. They have Miami transfer Tyler Van Dyke coming in to hopefully give them a spark at the quarterback position. The biggest reason why I think this is a game to watch, is because just beyond the horizon, one of the biggest games of Kalen Deboer’s life, lies in wait. The Dawgs. Will the Tide be looking past the Badgers? I don’t think so, but there is always a chance. 
 
7 - UCLA @ LSU - September 21st - TBD
This game is interesting, and I put it this high strictly because of curiosity and the element of the unknown. LSU is coming off of a solid season, obviously losing the Heisman winner and two wide receivers to the first round of the NFL draft, this team is going to look different. UCLA had a rocky year last year, and on top of that lost their 5 star quarterback in Dante Moore. They did however, bring in Ethan Garbers, a former 4 star from Washington. For LSU, I’m interested to see what new starter and absolute gunslinger Garrett Nussmeier can do with a new offense. They have a solid foundation up front, with potentially 3 first rounders on the offensive line, and we know LSU always has weapons on the outside. The defense also has one of the best players in football if used correctly in Harold Perkins Jr. UCLA is in what feels like a rebuilding year in a new, loaded BIG10, but they could really get off on the right foot if they were to knock off the Tigers. This game is definitely going to be a feeler matchup for me. 
 
6 - Tennessee @ NC State - September 7th - 7:30 PM
If you haven’t picked up on the pattern yet, I think these early games are very interesting, and I’m looking to them to answer lots of questions I have about each program. What a matchup to start both the Nico Iamaleava era in Knoxville, and Coastal Carolina transfer QB Grayson McCall’s year with the Wolfpack. Both fan bases have extremely high expectations for their teams and specifically these quarterbacks. Each of these programs have legitimate playoff aspirations that could be either cashed or crashed depending on the outcome of this game. Tennessee comes into this game with a rowdy fanbase, preseason Heisman hype, and national championship expectations. How will Nico manage that pressure? On the flip side, Grayson McCall was a stud in his career with Coastal Carolina, but it seemed as though he never got the respect he deserved because of the size of his program. Now he has it. This is his opportunity to prove he is a big time player who can make big time plays. I think this game will shape the season for both teams. 
 
5 - Tulane @ Oklahoma - September 14th - 3:30 PM
I think this game has the potential to be my favorite non-conference game of the year. Tulane is a program that has been at the top of the Group of 5 for a few years now. They have won 23 of their last 28, including a Cotton Bowl victory over USC. They did lose their head coach Willie Fritz, who left for Houston, and a four-year starting quarterback in Michael Pratt. On the bright side, they snagged Oregon transfer Ty Thompson from the portal. For Oklahoma, this is an early test for the Sooners as they look to make their mark in the SEC. With sophomore Jackson Arnold taking the reins and another year under Brent Venables, this team is expected to make some waves this season. This could be an early opportunity to show the rest of the conference that they mean business. Tulane wants to make a push to be the G5 autobid into the playoffs.  To do it, they are going to need to win this game. That would give them something almost no other G5 team has- A victory against an SEC team on the road. 
 
4 - Notre Dame @ Texas A&M - August 31st - 7:30 PM
What a fun matchup this is. A Notre Dame team who is foaming at the mouth to get back into the playoff, and a Texas A&M team who has plenty of talent but hasn’t been able to put it all together. Marcus Freeman and The Irish are coming off a 10-3 season, where once again they fell short of the CFP. This year there are no excuses. They play Texas A&M in College Station, Florida State at home, and USC on the road. Outside of those 3 games they play almost no one. If they’re gonna make their run, it’s going to be now. They have a couple transfers coming in who should make big impacts, none more so than Duke transfer QB Riley Leonard. Leonard was phenomenal when he was on the field for the Blue Devils last year, but fought the injury bug after an early season upset over Clemson. Texas A&M should be well prepared for Leonard. After the expensive exit of Jimbo Fisher, the Aggies went out and hired Duke head coach Mike Elko. There might not be a team more prepared for the Irish air attack than A&M. On the other side of the ball, Conner Weigman is looking to put himself in the Heisman conversation. Before his season ending injury he was looking fantastic, and Aggie faithful are hoping he picks up where he left off. We will see if the massive amount of talent that A&M has collected over the last few years will finally be enough to get them over the hump. This game will be a real test for both teams to see where they stand going forward. 
 
3 - USC @ LSU - September 1st - 7:30 PM
Both of these schools lost former Heisman winning quarterbacks this offseason, and this game will show us how their new offenses are going to shape up. USC is going to be starting Miller Moss, who, in case you missed it, threw for 372 yards and 6 touchdowns in the Holiday Bowl in his first start. He definitely gave Trojan fans something to look forward to, even while losing one of the best players in program history. USC finds themselves in a peculiar situation entering 2024. The Trojans haven’t won the PAC12 since the arrival of Lincoln Riley. They join a conference with 4 of the top 9 teams in the AP Poll, and they aren’t one of them. How will Lincoln Riley adjust? Riley has never been known for his defensive prowess and now he enters a league with teams like Iowa, Penn State, MIchigan, Ohio St (all top 7 defenses in the country last year). Sure, they have brought in plenty of portal help on defense, but can they improve? This game will be a good benchmark for what Lincoln RIley’s team will look like. LSU always has a good offense. Will this be a game where USC attempts to dig their heels in and make defensive stands? Or will they fall into the same old habits and only play one side of the ball? LSU has a great opportunity to make a statement, but to me this game will say a lot more about USC. 
 
2 - UGA v Clemson (Atlanta) - August 31st - 12:00 PM
The last time the Dawgs opened against Clemson it was a defensive slugfest that UGA won 10-3. JT Daniels and the offense couldn’t really get anything going, and the only touchdown was a Chris Smith pick-six. I expect things to be a little different this time around. Georgia’s offense is stellar to say the least. Playmakers at the skill positions are going to give opposing defensive coordinators headaches throughout the year. Obviously with Carson Beck at the helm, there is a ton of confidence in the quarterback. Transfer running back Trevor Etienne will be huge in the run game for the Dawgs alongside Branson Robinson and freshman Nate Frazier. Transfer wideouts Colbie Young and London Humphreys will be looking to make an instant impact as well. Oscar Delp is looking to step up and fill the unfillable shoes of Brock Bowers, but if anyone in the country could come close it might be him. On the defensive side of the ball, the Dawgs will look to be dominant in every facet. Georgia’s defense struggled in pass rush at times last season, but another year of Mykel Williams and Jalon Walker in the front seven could have the Dawgs wreaking havoc on the edge. I have no doubt there will be an uptick in production. For the Tigers, they see the return of Cade Klubnik, who many were expecting a lot more out of last season. He and the Tigers had a rather disappointing year in 2023. Clemson’s philosophy doesn't seem to be changing this year. They will look to have a balanced offensive attack and a bruising defense that shows no mercy. I expect UGA’s secondary to take advantage of Clemson’s mediocre passing attack with many different looks in an effort to confuse Klubnik. Do I expect this to be a low scoring affair? No. Do I expect this to be one of Georgia’s lowest scoring games? Yes. This should be a good test of Georgia’s offense as this will be one of the best defenses they play in the regular season. Last time UGA opened vs Clemson they had a pretty special season… Let’s see if they can recreate some magic. 
 
1 - Texas @ Michigan - September 7th - 12:00 PM
This game will be filled with hype. The atmosphere should be one of the best in college football this year. The defending national champions take on a Longhorn team who came close to reaching the mountaintop last year. Even with how rowdy it’s going to be in that stadium, Texas is still a 3.5 point favorite. Why? Because Michigan doesn’t have a sure thing at quarterback. Alex Orji is the projected starter as of now, but he is still a massive question mark. If we’ve learned one thing watching college football for the past couple years, it’s that you need a solid, stable quarterback in order to win games of this magnitude. Don’t get me wrong, the defense for Michigan is ridiculously good, and they may have the two best defensive players in football with Will Johnson and Mason Graham. I do not expect this game to touch the 30 point mark for either team. This game feels like a 21-17 or 24-21 type of battle. Sherrone Moore has taken the reins from Jim Harbaugh. In his stint as interim head coach he did his job and won games. Is he ready to take on a full season? Not only is it his first season as a head coach, but he is at the forefront of the Connor Stallions scandal. Can he ignore the distractions? Can he lead this team through the Big 10 gauntlet? Can he beat Ohio State? Only time will tell. For the Longhorns, they see the return of Quinn Ewers, a Hesiman hopeful who has now had plenty of big game experience. Many people have criticized his game, and we will see if his offseason work filled some of those holes. Texas lost their 3 best pass catchers in Xavier Worthy, AD Mitchell, and Ja’tavion Sanders, but they picked up former Alabama wideout Isaiah Bond. The most troubling problem for Texas right now is in their backfield. They lost starting running back CJ Baxter to a season ending knee injury, and backup Christian Clark to a season ending achilles injury. They will be starting junior Jaydon Blue, who has just under 400 career rushing yards. Will he be able to step up to the plate? Texas has a stellar offensive line which should take plenty of pressure off both him and Ewers. The UT defense was good last year, but again, they lost a lot of talent to the draft, losing interior pass rushers Byron Murphy and T’vondre Sweat. They have plenty of talent on the roster but much of it is unproven. This is an early matchup that is going to tell Sark and Longhorn fans who is for real. This game will be hyped as a battle between two blueblood powerhouses, and it will shape the College Football Playoff picture. You’re going to want to tune into this one. 

Hi Y’all. This is Nathan, co-host of Chapel Bell Curve, UGA fan, and stats enjoyer. As part of our work at CBC, we’ve been lucky enough to work with Ross Rutledge, proprietor of r2sportsmetrics.com. In partnership with Ross (read: he did the hard work), we release our power ranking metric, CBCR2, each week. Throughout the year, I’ll be hopping on DC to give y’all updates on what our numbers are telling us. 
 Before I get into our preseason rankings, let’s define a few things. First, what is CBCR2? Second, how do we come up with these numbers? And third, what is this metric useful for? Our metric, as many in the industry do, rates each team based on points above average. Each CBCR2 entry will have a net number, a number for offense, and a number for defense. These are our estimations for what the team would score against a theoretical average team, how many points they would give up, and a net rating (the difference between the two) to represent the total quality of a team as Points Scored - Points Surrendered. This gives us a number that we can use to say how many points any given squad is better than the “average” team. (And by the way, we derive the average team from a composite of the previous few seasons) For convenience and smack talk purposes,  we also provide the national ranks for offense and defense in each entry. 
So how do we come up with these rankings? In short, we let a computer decide. In long, or longer, we select hundreds of stat categories that matter to winning a football game. Then, we use machine learning to weight those stats by how much they impact a teams chance of winning. Finally, we derive our ranking using a linear model based on the weights we get, and apply that model to a team's returning production, talent level, and in-game results. 
We output two models: preseason – which is focused on talent and returning production –  and in-season, which is derived entirely from play-by-play data for each team. As we enter each season, our preseason model is slowly phased out as we have more in-game results. In terms of what our in-season  model values, we generally care about three broad categories: 
Efficiency: How well can you move the ball down the field on a down-to-down basis? How well does your defense do in preventing sustained drives? This category includes things like opportunity rate, success rate, and EPA.  Finishing Drives: When you have the ball inside your opponents 40, how likely are you to score?  How likely is your defense to surrender points in that same situation? We define “opportunities” as trips inside of the 40, because they are the most likely to result in points. The key metric here is points per opportunity.  Explosive Plays: Does your defense give up homeruns? Does your offense score big plays? The key factor here is EPA (expected points added).  These categories are similar to Bill Connely’s five factors, but leave out turnovers and field position; those categories are generally represented in finishing drives and efficiency. If you’d like to learn more about the specifics of what we do, you can find an in-depth description of this process in Ross’ excellent primer here. 
So what can you use these numbers for? Well, first, they are great for smack talk. It may not be literally true that UGA is, say, 5 points better than Bama in 2024. But it sure is fun to say that we are. Second, more practically, they give us an answer to the age-old question: “On a neutral field, which one of these teams is better?” Generally speaking, I use our numbers to give me a rough estimation of team quality. In the era of the 12 team playoff, I use CBCR2 to give myself tiers of teams. Who is fighting for a top-4 seed? Who has a shot at hosting a home playoff game? Who is fighting for the 12th spot? It’s not exact, but CBCR2 gives us more informed answers to these questions. Week to week, you can use these numbers to give yourself an approximate idea of each matchup. While it may not give you specifics on how the game will play out, it will give you a rough idea of the quality of each team involved in a given game. I use it to set my expectations not just for UGA’s games, but for games of teams whose rosters I’m not familiar with. 
It’s important to note, however, that CBCR2 is not intended to give an accurate prediction of any given matchup. These aren’t numbers designed to help you bet, win your pick-em pool, or generally predict the specific score of a game. While we could use the numbers to give an implied predicted score, that’s not what they’re designed to do. So don’t bet the house on these, is what I’m saying. 
With that warning given, let’s look at our preseason top 25. (You can find the full list at r2sportsmetrics here.)

A couple of surprises here based on the eye test. First of all, CBCR2 loves Oregon. If you can get past the corpse-of-the-Pac-12 bias – a difficult task for some, it makes sense. Oregon’s complete dominance of the transfer portal means that this is a title-caliber roster. Two of the main components of our preseason model are team talent and returning production, and the Ducks have that in spades. 
The second thing that stands out to me is Ohio State. Thought by many to be the best bet for a title game appearance, our numbers have them at #5, 6 full points between co-leaders Georgia and Oregon. I’m not sure I agree, but I think the Buckeyes aren’t necessarily getting the credit for their splashy defensive transfers from the numbers that the public and press are generally giving them. However, based on the digging we’ve done in the model, CBCR2 doesn’t think that the massive exodus of talent from the 2023 Buckeyes’ offense has been adequately replaced during the offseason. While CBCR2 doesn’t have eyes, it gives Will Howard a funny look based on his performance at Kansas State. You can take the boy out of Manhattan (Kansas), but you can’t take the Manhattan (Kansas) out of the boy, I guess.  
As for the tiers of teams, our numbers see UGA and Oregon as a clear cut above the rest. There is a 5 point drop to our 3rd place team, Bama, who is grouped in tier 2 (or really, 1a) with Texas, and the aforementioned Buckeyes.  Fittingly enough for the first year of the new playoff, our next multi-point gap comes between #12 LSU and #13 Oklahoma. Inside the top 12, the big surprise to me is Penn State. This is probably just my bias, as I think James Franklin is a walking self-help book with a pair of bad sunglasses attached. Having said that, their inclusion does illustrate the pressure that Franklin and the Nittany Lions face this year. I think playoff or bust is a reasonable expectation for fans in State College. 
Ultimately, preseason metrics are an exercise in rangefinding. It’s a near certainty that there will be a team in these rankings that makes me look foolish. That’s fine. The point of the exercise isn’t perfect accuracy, but to set our expectations for the coming season. If anything, a team over- or underperforming from this benchmark is a really compelling moment to know advanced stats. A lot of the time, what we consider to be “underdogs” are really just teams whose public perception hasn’t caught up with their performance. When we see a team truly outperform their numbers, we’re able to identify which squads are truly surprising. If there’s anything that makes college football compelling, it’s the surprises. 

Fall camp has concluded in Athens and that means the 2024 college football season is on the horizon. Juniors Malaki Starks and Miles Thornton sat down with The Players' Lounge to discuss fall camp and look back on their first fall camp.
The two juniors kick off the episode discussing recent practices and the Bulldogs' last scrimmage of fall camp. Thornton describes a conversation with Oregon transfer, Collin Gill, comparing the Ducks' practices to Georgia's. The two elaborate on Gill's comments and break down the Bulldogs' offseason workouts that are like no other.
Following their discussion, the two chat about their return to campus and the start of the 2024-2025 school year. Following this, Starks and Thornton share some of their stories from the fall camp of their freshmen year.
Check out the full 30+ minute conversation, available exclusively for DawgsCentral subscribers.
 
 

"Who would you rank as the coaches most important to UGA's success?"
A DawgsCentral user posting under the name PiousMonken posed that question to me in the spring of 2023, and I quickly realized that a good answer would require quite a bit of consideration. 
When thinking about the question, I kept coming back to an old football cliche, "It's not the X's and the O's, but the Jimmys and the Joes that make the difference." I found myself considering the players who suit up on Saturdays. Good gameplans and great play calls are key to the success of any college football program, but they are usually only as good as the personnel executing them. With that in mind, I decided to broaden the scope of the rankings beyond members of the coaching staff. 
It sparked a series of longform articles called 23 For 2023. The premise was simple- Profile the 23 people who were most important to Georgia’s success on the gridiron in 2023. To create such a list, one must make value judgments on what on and off-field assets are most important to a modern college football program. 
It focused on players and coaches within the UGA program. Collectively, the series served as a giant preview for the season ahead. It became a favorite of subscribers, and it forced me to ask questions that I hadn’t before. 
This year, I am bringing the list back once again. Naturally, it will be called 24 for 2024. 
With his former mentor now manning a microphone on ESPN, Kirby Smart is college football’s most accomplished coach. In 2024, Smart will have to navigate significant staff turnover and seismic changes within the sport itself. Georgia came up short of a third straight national championship in 2023, but winning it all this season would give the Bulldogs three titles in four years. That achievement would cement the program as a modern dynasty. 
Whether or not Georgia can reach that lofty pedestal, and how they go about trying to do it, will be largely influenced by the roles these 24 individuals play. 
Today we continue the rankings with #10 and #9. The first entries in this series were not paywalled, but they are now. Let’s get after it…
 
Previous Entries
#24 - David Hill
#23 - Will a True Nose Tackle emerge for the Dawgs?
#22 - Benjamin Yurosek
#21 - Will Muschamp
#20 - Dominic Lovett
#19 - Jalon Walker
#18 - Chidera Uzo-Diribe
#17 - Daylen Everette
#16 - Trevor Etienne + #15 - Josh Crawford
#14 - Daniel Harris + #13 - Donte Williams
#12 - Earnest Greene + #11 Stacy Searels
24 For 2024 - #10 Malaki Starks + #9 Travaris Robinson
Alabama DB coach Travaris Robinson joined UGA's staff twice this offseason. Once on a Saturday, and then again for good on the following Monday. 
That Monday announcement came on January 13th, and it marked the end of a whirlwind period where Robinson was linked to the defensive coordinator positions at both Alabama and Georgia. 
UGA first announced Robinson as its new Co-DC/Safeties coach on Saturday morning. By late Sunday night, sources were confirming that Robinson had interviewed for the defensive coordinator position at Alabama. 
So, how did the man known as "T-Rob" end up at Georgia for good, and why was he uniquely suited for the UGA defensive coordinator job?
Already in the works
The announcement of Robinson's hire coincided with UGA sharing that Will Muschamp was moving into a defensive analyst role. Sources told DawgsCentral that Muschamp had met with UGA head coach Kirby Smart about the change back in December, expressing a desire to move into a role with fewer day-to-day responsibilities. At that time, Smart started looking for Muschamp's replacement. 
Smart identified Robinson as a potential hire well before Nick Saban announced his retirement. That isn't surprising if you know the history between Muschamp and Robinson. The two started their working relationship in 2006, with Robinson working as a defensive graduate assistant under Will when he was the Auburn DC.
Robinson coached defensive backs for Muschamp when he was the head coach at Florida from 2011-2014. After Muschamp was fired at UF, the two went back to Auburn together in 2015. Robinson once again coached DB's and Muschamp served as the DC for Gus Malzahn. 
The next offseason, Muschamp was hired as the head coach at South Carolina. He immediately brought on Robinson to serve as his defensive coordinator and DB's coach. Robinson called the plays for the Gamecocks throughout Will's tenure in Columbia, but Muschamp was let go seven games into the 2020 season. 
Knowing this history, it is logical why Kirby Smart saw Robinson as the logical choice to replace Muschamp. Smart values Muschamp's opinions and the two have a large amount of philosophical overlap when it comes to coaching techniques. In a perfect world, sliding Robinson into the co-defensive coordinator role next to Glenn Schumann would ensure a seamless transition for the entire defensive staff. The only problem was that getting Robinson away from Alabama was never going to be easy.
A strong finish
Robinson knew that Georgia wanted to hire him before Nick Saban announced his retirement, but he didn't jump ship when the legendary coach called it quits on Wednesday, January 10th. At the time, multiple sources confirmed that Robinson met with new Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer on Friday evening to discuss his future with the program.
Sources also confirmed that Robinson was the play caller for Alabama's defense for mpstof the 2023 season. Saban hired Kevin Steele as his defensive coordinator in February of 2023, but in-game play calling duties were given to Robinson sometime in September. 
That change was never formally announced by the Crimson Tide, but it was called out by Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin prior to the game between the two schools in week four. 
“We’ve been against Kevin a number of times. Worked with him at Alabama and against him at Auburn and LSU. There seems like there’s been a change there. I don’t know what happened after the Texas game, but our guys watching the TV copy and schematically in this last game, certainly seems like T-Rob’s now calling the defense. We played him before at South Carolina, so we’re preparing accordingly for him calling the defense. He’s done a good job, too, and they’ve got really good players.”
The switch worked. Alabama's defense closed 2023 by allowing a defensive success rate of just 35.2% to opposing offenses. That was ranked fifth in the Power Five. Robinson also coached defensive backs the Crimson Tide, and that unit was one of the strengths of the team. 2023 Alabama allowed successful plays on just 34.8% of opponent's pass attempts, which ranked tenth in the FBS. 
Robinson's defense held UGA's seventh-ranked scoring offense (38.8 points per game) to just 24 points in the SEC Championship. The Tide defense followed that by holding Michigan (37.6 points per game) to only 20 points over the first four quarters of their 27-20 overtime loss in the CFP semifinal. Following the strong close to the season, Robinson seemed like a natural choice to be the permanent hire in the DC role at Alabama. Reports from the Alabama side indicated that T-Rob was mulling over a new contract offer from Bama and the UGA job offer at the time of Saban's retirement. 
A lack of answers
Alabama AD Greg Byrne announced the hire of Washington head coach Kalen DeBoer on Friday afternoon. 
Sources told DawgsCentral that Robinson met with DeBoer that night to discuss his future with the Crimson Tide. Following that meeting, Robinson told the Alabama administration that he was resigning. 
It is believed that DeBoer declined to offer Robinson defensive play calling duties in that initial meeting. Early the next morning, Robinson reached out over text message to tell Alabama players that he was stepping down. 
In communications with his now former players, Robinson said DeBoer was "unable to answer" all of his questions about his job duties and new contract due to how quickly the transition had happened. Robinson then encouraged his Alabama players to not make any fast or uninformed decisions about transferring. 
After expressing gratitude and well wishes, Robinson shared that he was taking a job as the Co-DC/Safeties coach at UGA. Robinson told the Alabama players that NCAA rules would prohibit him from contacting them once his hire at UGA became official. 
A couple hours later, Georgia announced Robinson's hire on Twitter. 24 hours after that, DeBoer was offering him the DC job at Alabama. 
A miscalculation
The answers that DeBoer lacked on Friday night suddenly became available in the hours after Robinson left for Georgia. It is certainly possible that DeBoer needed more time to think about how he wanted to structure his new staff, but his decision making may have also been influenced by the reaction to Robinson's departure. 
CB Dezz Ricks, a former five-star recruit, announced his intentions to enter the transfer portal within hours of the news. Other talented young defensive players began to consider doing the same. 
One of the players considering a transfer was Caleb Downs, who starred for Alabama as a true freshman. Downs flashed the kind of ability that should make him one of the best safety prospects of the decade. Even at a program where Saban stacked elite talent for the better part of two decades, Downs is a rare type of player who you can build an entire defense around. 
The reaction to Robinson's departure underscored some of the reasons why UGA wanted to hire him. He is one of the best recruiters in the SEC, with a history of pulling blue-chip recruits out of other program's backyards. Robinson recruited and coached future first-round NFL Draft picks Vernon Hargraves III and Jaycee Horn when he was overseeing the DB's at Florida and South Carolina, respectively. That is the type of proven success that resonates in an elite prospect's living room. 
Robinson's recruiting relationships run deep in talent-rich Florida. His recruiting ability is so strong that he often helped Alabama in its pursuit of offensive players too. Robinson was a key part of Downs' decision to leave the state of Georgia to go play for the Tide. Those are the kind of high-stakes recruiting battles a program has to win if it wants to capture championships in the SEC. At the upper levels of the sport, games can sometimes be swung by one or two star players.
Perhaps DeBoer realized Robinson's value as reactions to his departure trickled in on Saturday. Who or what changed his mind is still unknown, but we do know that he managed to convince Robinson to interview for the Alabama DC job on Sunday. This was a dramatic 180-degree shift.
DeBoer had not wanted Robinson as his defensive play-caller when they met on Friday night. By Sunday, he was offering him a job as Alabama's sole defensive coordinator with a significant bump in pay. 
Robinson strongly considered the offer, but on Monday he informed UGA that he planned to work for the Dawgs.
Why did T-Rob make the move?
Sources said that the opportunity to work under Kirby Smart was a major factor in Robinson's decision to take the job as co-DC/Safeties coach at Georgia. Many were surprised that he took a job as a co-coordinator at UGA when he could have called the defense for DeBoer at Alabama. 
The Bulldogs pitched Robinson on learning the UGA system while working with incumbent DC Glenn Schumann in 2024. Schumann is a rising star in the profession and is likely to be offered a head coaching job in the near future. If and when Schumann leaves, Robinson will be in a natural position to call the defense for Smart's program. 
Being in the position of defensive play-caller at Georgia has led to head coaching jobs for former UGA DC's Mel Tucker (Colorado/Michigan St) and Dan Lanning (Oregon). 
Smart has made his feelings on college coaching well known over the years. It is his belief that talent acquisition is the most important part of the job. After UGA's 2021 victory over rival Florida in Jacksonville, Smart put it bluntly.
"The best coach to ever play the game, better be a good recruiter because no coach is going to out-coach players. Anyone will tell you our defense is good because it has good players." To this point in Smart's tenure, every defensive coordinator at UGA has had success. That success is largely the product of recruiting highly ranked classes year after year.
With the hire of Robinson, Georgia added another elite recruiter to a staff full of elite recruiters. Robinson has been part of signing 7 five-stars and 35 four-stars in his career. He has often been in charge of coaching defensive backs, but he recruited players at all positions when at South Carolina. He even helped land offensive skill players at times in the past. 
Leading a leader
Robinson is no stranger to SEC football, but he has joined a UGA program that has become college football's standard for defensive excellence. With Schumann calling plays and Muschamp still in the building, T-Rob will have plenty of help from the rest of Georgia's staff. 
The biggest help to Robinson might be what he inherited in his safety room. Georgia has some questions at the position, but it also has Malaki Starks on its roster. The rising junior might be the best safety in the country, and he could go down as the best safety in program history before his time in Athens is through. 
Starks and Robinson clicked from the moment T-Rob arrived at UGA. Robinson knew what kind of player Starks was, but he talked to reporters this summer about how he learned of Starks's leadership traits firsthand. Robinson mentioned to Starks that he was going to start running in the morning to lose weight. 
"I told Malaki I was going to start running, and he was like, ‘OK, what time are you going to run?' I say 5:30. So, I get in at 5:30 and Malaki is in the dang indoor waiting on me.”
The two completed their run together, and Starks was immediately ready for the next day.
“He says ‘What time are you coming tomorrow, Coach?’ I said 5:30 again. Same thing. So, the next day my knee was bothering me a little bit, so I wasn’t going to run, but I wasn’t going to tell Malaki that. So, I get back home and I get a text about 10:30 or 11 and it’s Malaki going ‘What time we going, Coach?’”
Robinson used that story to illustrate the type of leadership abilities that Starks possesses. 
“He’s straining, but it’s the same thing he does on the field. He's holding people accountable. I think that's one of his greatest traits. Yes, he's a good football player. Yes, he's a great ball hawk, all that kind of stuff. But at the end of the day, Malaki holds people accountable, and he holds himself accountable. That's why he's a good player.”
Starks has become one of the biggest leaders in Georgia's program. He guides the way for his teammates with both words and actions. Sometimes that's being a coach on the field. Other times that is encouraging his teammates to match his level of effort in workouts and practices.
In 2023, Starks showed just how much being on the field means to him. He played through a torn labrum in his shoulder that happened in the third game of the season. The injury meant his shoulder lacked stability, but he still filled run lanes and slammed into ball carriers with abandon. 
Despite the injury, Starks played 417 coverage snaps in 2023. That was the most on the UGA roster. He gave up just 18 receptions for 200 yards receiving while being targeted 35 times. His 7 pass breakups led UGA and his 3 interceptions were second only to Tykee Smith. 
Smith shined at the STAR position for the Bulldogs last season, and replacing him will be one of Robinson's biggest tasks in 2024. The DB's playing STAR are part of UGA's safety room, and right now it looks like former 5* recruit Joenel Aguero has the inside track on the job. 
The position is key to UGA's defensive scheme because it must out leverage run blocking schemes on rush attempts and cover shifty slot receivers on pass plays. It's a lot to learn, and the details matter a lot. If the player at STAR makes a mistake it can have a domino effect of bad consequences for the defense. If they play things right, it can create turnovers and tackles for loss. 
When teaching Aguero and his projected backup Jacorey Thomas, Robinson has an ally in Starks. The All-American free safety know UGA's defense so well that he often helps coach the other players in his position room. He also can slide into any position in UGA's secondary when needed.
Starks did exactly that late in the fourth quarter against Missouri last year, shifting to the boundary cornerback position to guard WR Theo Wease after the Tigers hit him on back shoulder fades on both a 3rd & 8 and a 4th & 14 play to keep their last gasp drive alive. Starks shut Wease down and Mizzou QB Brady Cook forced a throw downfield a couple plays later. That ball was intercepted, clinching a 30-21 victory for the Dawgs. 
Filling out the room
As we sit in August, it feels like UGA's safety room is the one that can least afford an injury. Starks is the known commodity who can cover ground lightning quick and erase bad angles for the rest of the defense. Aguero has talent but still hasn't proven himself under the lights. The Bulldogs need to cultivate depth in the safety room as the season goes on, but they have to find a starter next to Starks first. 
With the season approaching, it appears veteran Dan Jackson will be UGA's starter at strong safety when the Bulldogs open against Clemson in Atlanta. Jackson has battled back to form after injuries derailed his 2022 and 2023 campaigns. Back in 2021, he was Georgia's sixth-leading tackler while rotating behind Chris Smith and Lewis Cine. 
Jackson played 455 coverage snaps that season and his snap to target and snap to reception allowed ratios were on par with Smith's. He's a better player than many realize, and a lot of people have forgotten how good he could be when healthy. Jackson can be a solid member of the secondary who keeps mistakes from being made. 
Pushing him is another special talent. That's five-star true freshman KJ Bolden, a late-cycle flip who moves differently on a football field than all but a select few players. He is both fast and physical and he has come into UGA's program and dedicated himself to learning all he can. His athletic gifts made him a five-star, but he shares Starks's desire to be great. Starks even helped recruit Bolden last fall, and told him to come to Athens so they could play together this season. 
Bolden will be a star for UGA, but the question is how soon it will happen. As we move towards the season, Bolden looks more and more like a player who will demand snaps. Robinson's experience coaching Caleb Downs last season will be huge for Bolden. T-Rob took Downs from a player who gave up 118 yards on 6 TGT/5 REC against Texas in week two to one of the best safeties in the country by the time the season ended. If Starks isn't the best safety in college football in 2024 then that title will likely belong to Downs. 
Bolden has a similar type of raw talent that Robinson could mold into a ball hawking machine. KJ rarely takes a bad step, and T-Rob could help him become a player who never takes one. If Robinson gets Bolden somewhere close to meeting his potential then Georgia could have the best safety tandem in the sport by the time the College Football Playoff comes around. 
Between now and then, Robinson will also look to get snaps out of Alabama transfer Jake Pope. Some were surprised when UGA brought Pope in out of the portal, but his former position coach with the Crimson Tide was one of those who banged the drum for the redshirt sophomore. He could be an important depth piece and he understands the system if called upon in a big moment. T-Rob will also look to develop redshirt freshman Justyn Rhett into a player who competes for significant snaps with the first-team in 2025. 
If T-Rob is successful the leadership of Starks will be a big reason why. When one of the best players and biggest leaders on the team follows a coach the rest of the room tends to fall in line. Both will try to build a trustworthy safety room around Malaki. If they do, Georgia's defense could take the punch out of the deep pass attempts they're likely to face against Texas, Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee and Ole Miss. 
Erasing explosive plays is big for any defense, but it could have even more value for the 2024 Bulldogs. Kirby Smart teams usually tackle very well. It's hard to drive the field on a team by taking small chunks, and the Dawgs could become a nightmare to face if that happens. It's hard to get first downs if you have to be successful three plays in a row to do it. If that becomes the case then it will open up all sorts of interesting options for Schumann and Robinson when calling the defense. Eventually QB's and OC's are likely to lose patience, and Georgia's safeties could be there to make them pay for floating it downfield when they do.
If the Dawgs are able to hoist a third national title trophy in four years, the continued improvement of the safety room will be a key reason why. 

The Georgia Bulldogs wrapped up their second and final fall scrimmage on Saturday and are only 11 days from their Week 1 matchup against Clemson in Atlanta.
The Bulldogs have been relatively healthy this offseason, but the injury bug has begun to affect some of the roster. Players such as Jordan Hall, Roderick Robinson and Xzavier McLeod have been noted to be injured and head coach Kirby Smart addressed these injuries and more while meeting with the media on Tuesday.
Here is everything Smart had to say following the team's second and final scrimmage of fall camp.
Opening statement
"We finished up scrimmage 2 on Saturday and the players had Sunday and Monday off. It's a big recovery time for us. We kind of finished what we consider to be training camp on  Saturday afternoon. We are still working on us and focusing on us and on getting better. We're going to work on opponents for a couple of days before we dive into Clemson later this week."
On what he has seen from the team during fall camp
"That we've got good mental toughness. We're in a good spot in terms of physicality. They've grinded. We're not where we need to be by any means, but we have made progress. I mean, the scrimmage 1 to scrimmage 2 progress was good. I saw things that I needed to see in terms of tackling, playing better without the coaches on the field, all the things you look for in young players to see them grow. You know, there's a small body of guys that have played a lot of football here that I know can go out there and execute. Then there's a larger body of new players that have to prove that, and I thought we had more guys execute without the coaches on the field Saturday and push through the heat, which is mentally tough that you have to be able to get through that to grow and get better. I'm pleased with where we are coming out of camp."
On Roderick Robinson and Warren Brinson's injuries
"Yeah, Roderick's dealing with a little bit of a turf toe. Don't know when he's going to become or be available. But we had a good group of backs really do good things Saturday.
Warren's been working his way back. He's hitting I think around 75% or 85% on his GPS. He has improved each and every day. He's been dealing with a little of an Achilles, but that was coming into camp. It was something we were aware of. Actually today he's supposed to get back and do a lot more work with us."
On what he has seen from Colbie Young, London Humphreys and Michael Jackson
"Colbie's been dealing with a hamstring some, so he hasn't been 100%. London had a big jump from scrimmage 1 to scrimmage 2, and Michael Jackson is a guy that's been really reliable for us. He's a hard worker, competitor, continues to improve and get better. I'm pleased with all three of those guys."
On how many cornerbacks can play winning football and if Ellis Robinson IV is a part of the mix
"Well, we've got probably 5-6 guys operating and repping there. You know, we've got some guys that work both that go inside and outside. Chris Peal's a guy that we've used at safety and at corner. Daylen plays some STAR and corner. Julio, Daniel, Ellis, Demello all have grown and gotten better. Ondre Evans is continuing to grow and get better. All of those guys, they work really hard and I'm really pleased with the camp that all really six of those guys have had."
On Tate Ratledge's transition to center in Jared Wilson's absence
"Yeah, Tate's done great. He's a really good athlete. You know, he's a tremendous athlete. He can move and do things. Drew Bobo's done really good things. Jared's been back and practiced and scrimmaged Saturday and done some good things. We've been controlling his volume, but he's been out there working and getting some continuity. He has the largest body of work over the last 2-3 years at center of anybody. Drew has continued to impress and done a great job. Tate's gotten a lot of work there through our OTAs, training camp days, walk throughs. Tate has had a lot of reps, and he's been right next to the center making all the calls. The mental part of it's been great, and his snaps have been really good, too. He's just creating value for himself and then he can play multiple positions now."
On Xzavier McLeod and Smael Mondon's injuries
"Xzavier McLeod has been dealing with a little bit of an injury. He's been pushing through and working through. We're trying to get him back. We don't know when he'll be back. Smael has practiced every practice this camp. He's had some days of higher volume, some days of lower volume, but Smael's been out there doing everything." 
On Smael Mondon becoming a leader in a young linebacker room
"Well, it was hard for Smael because he wasn't able to do everything last year. He was dealing with a nagging injury and then he had the same thing in the spring. I feel like he's been a little more assertive now that he's back working, operating at every practice getting reps. Even though his reps one day may be 80% and then 40% and then he goes up and down with the volume, he's been out there. He's been able to be a leader.
CJ Allen's a natural leader who does a really good. You don't really see him like a sophomore out there. He plays like he's a little bit older, and Raylen's done a good job. The guy that has really stepped up is Terrell Foster, whose probably been here longer than any of them. I don't know if he's been here longer than Smael, but it sure seems that way. Terrell's done a great job for us. He's a warrior in terms of competitive toughness, special teams and makes plays. That room has no shortage of talent. It may have a shortage of experience, but they rely on each other and there's several good leaders in there. The freshmen are great leaders. Chris Cole and Justin Williams are going to be tremendous leaders and players in our organization as they get older."
On Branson Robinson's rehab and Trevor Etienne's leadership
"Branson is a really hard worker. First of all, he came with some tendinitis, and so it was really hard for him his freshman year to push and get through. There were times at camp that he couldn't even run. He never complained. He's just a tough, mentally and physically, kid. He's got great parents. They've pushed him. He's a great leader, and from the time of the injury he never pouted or cried. He just understood that was part of the game. 
It was a significant injury, so for him to come back and not even get to really go through spring full speed — he did some things in the spring, but he didn't get to go full speed — it's been great having him back from a physical toughness standpoint, a reliability standpoint, ball security, third-down pick-ups, special teams. He's just a really good football player. I love the way he went about doing things.
Etienne, he's a natural leader. He's been the way, even at Florida he was that way. He's a very confident kid. He leads by example, gets up there first, is hard on guys when he needs to be and speaks up in front of the team. He's a tremendous asset."
On the young defensive tackles
"They're working hard. I wouldn't go as far as saying 'flashing' but they're working hard and getting better. Jordan Thomas, Jamaal Jarrett, Nnamdi (Ogboko), Nas Johnson - the quality of work they've gotten has been inordinate based on years past where a guy like that might not have gone against the number one o-line much, he would've gone against maybe the number three o-line. Well, they've been forced to go against twos, threes, ones. They've gotten a lot of work. Naz (Stackhouse) has been a staple for us. Christen (Miller) has, Xzavier McLeod has and so has Warren Brinson. Those guys all getting back and getting back healthy, it's provided us an opportunity to build depth with the younger players." 
On Christen Miller
"I think he is an every down player in that defensive line room. I think he's shown that. Last year we had the luxury of some depth so we didn't have to play him every down. We got to rotate and play him. He's been much more dependable, reliable, and available might be the best word because he's been doing a good job of staying healthy and working. He's had some nagging injuries the last couple of years where he didn't get all the way through camp. So availability is sometimes the best ability, and he's been that."
On Texas natives, Justin Williams and Joseph Jonah-Ajonye
"They're both working, getting through their first camp which is not easy here. I don't set real high expectations like you guys try to do for these kids. I tell them if they can help and contribute I want them to. I think both those guys will help us and contribute this year. To what extent may be based on injury, how many snaps we have to play, what package we play. Justin's probably going to help on special teams before anything else. Joseph has done a tremendous job. You feel like they're older because they went through all of spring. Joseph has asserted himself as a physical presence. He's a good sub rusher. He's really physical on the edge. He's gotten matched up a lot of times against our older offensive tackles and he holds his own. We're looking forward to being able to play those guys." 
On Gunner Stockton
"You know, we have a group of quarterbacks that have done a great job. I think we have depth at the quarterback position that we're not used to having in terms of having guys that have experience, some guys that are young, some guys that have played like Gunner and Jaden (Rashada), and they've done a tremendous job. Gunner's had two of his better scrimmages and had probably his best scrimmage since being here in the last one. I'm really pleased with where all those guys are."  
On the chemistry Carson Beck and the new faces on offense have made
"Well I think that's a work in progress because we don't have a complete, full deck out there. I would adventure to say everyone in the country is that way. You've got maybe one wide out out, maybe a tight end out, maybe a back out and the next thing you know, you don't have everybody out there. You're really trying to develop two things. Is chemistry with your No. 1s more important than developing your No. 2s. And at the expense of chemistry, we want to have depth. We've done a really good job of pushing the envelope with London (Humphreys), Michael Jackson, Sacovie (White), Nitro (Tuggle), (Jaden) Reddell, Colton Heinrich. Making sure they're on the same page as Carson. Sometimes when you do that you might lose a little continuity or rhythm because you don't have your top guys in there. We've got to force guys to get ready to play who are going to play throughout the year. And then really try and get that continuity over the next week or so."
On Sacovie White, Nitro Tuggle and Cole Speer
"I can tell you guys all three of those guys are hard workers. Very intelligent. Extremely athletic. Cole has been a dominant special teams player and he's going to take on more of a role this year at receiver on top of being a special teams player. He's a core product of our system. He came in, probably under-recruited, not highly-touted. He's gotten better every year. He's really tough, really physical, really fast. He can dominate on all four phases of special teams but he's also created a role for himself at wide out. 
Sacovie and Nitro are still learning. They need to play football. They need to go out there without coaches and execute. They're talented football players but I don't know if they're 100 percent reliable right now. We have to get more reliability out of them." 
On Joenel Aguero
"His ability to process information faster. I mean everything was really fast on Joenel last year in terms of get the call, get lined up, execute. Get the call, get lined up, execute. That was tough, man. It was like he was going from a system where he never had so many words, he didn't have to learn things, he had rules he had to get. He took a lot of lumps last year. He learned a lot from Tykee. He got frustrated at times. But it has paid off this year in terms of he understands the defense. We're still challenging him to communicate a little better, meaning verbalize things to people in front and behind of you. But he does a really good job with see ball, hit ball. Cover people, strike people. He's a good football player."
On Dylan Fairchild's best attribute
"Toughness, character, what he stands for as a man. I have a lot of respect for Dylan and the way he's gone about the approach. He got up in front of the team and told his story. He talked about the years he spent on scout team and how much it mean to him to earn what he's gotten here and how hard he's had to work for it. Lot of respect for him. His greatest attribute is probably his toughness or his power." 
On Peyton Woodring
"He's been great. It's relieving that we don't have that stress of trying to figure out who that is this year, feel great about that. We do have good competition going on for kickoff battles. Peyton's consistent, he's been good all camp."
On Justyn Rhett, Chris Peal and Kyron Jones
"Growth. Rhett has gotten better with each and every practice and continues to improve. He's gotten better this camp from spring. Peal has been dealing with a shoulder surgery that he missed some time at the end of spring. So he was not cleared for the start of camp. He's just now getting cleared, as in today, he's been practicing, he just hasn't been completely cleared to do full contact. He'll get to do some of that. Then Kyron has had a good camp. He's really fast, he's really physical. He was a running back in high school that had really never played DB. We told him, it's going to take a while. It's not overnight you just snap your fingers. He's starting to show up more on special teams as a really competitive and dominant player. He's still working at DB to grow and get better. It's not something that you just click your heels together and get it right." 
On the staff's scouting of future opponents
"We're just looking at future opponents and things we don't see from ourselves. So if we don't play a certain coverage, certain front. We're going to look at it and work on it and try to expose our team to it. You have to be careful to not getting programmed in to playing us. We don't play us this year. Same thing on offense. There are teams that don't do things we do offensively. We just try and explore and that's probably 10, 15 percent of practice. It's not the majority. It's a small piece and we continue working on fundamentals."
On the Georgia and Clemson rivalry
"We don't see them on the road recruiting as much as it seems like we used to. I don't know if it's died down some. There's a lot of overlap. They recruit our state hard and we recruit their state hard. A lot of respect for their players, their teams, their coaches, for what Dabo's built there. I had a good relationship with Brent when he was there, he's in our league now. They've been one of the premier teams in college football in terms of the last 10 years, you could say. It's probably longer than that. They've done a tremendous job. We do see them on the road some recruiting. I think the matchup is more about our fans. Just getting that caliber of a matchup to start the season is important. We've got issues on our hands today we're trying to deal with over the game."

Georgia will be taking on some of the best offenses in the country this year, and a true freshman could be one of the biggest surprises for the Bulldogs' defense.
Ellis Robinson IV was the crown jewel of the Bulldogs' 2024 signing class, and for good reason. The New Haven, CT native was rated the No. 1 cornerback in the nation by every major recruiting website. The 6-foot, 175-pound CB from IMG Academy was also a consensus Top 5 recruit, his lowest rating coming in at No. 4 in the nation. Robinson spent his last two years of high school with the prestigious Ascenders in Bradenton, FL after freshman and sophomore campaigns at Iona Prep in New York.
Despite Georgia becoming known as 'LBU,' head coach Kirby Smart has excelled in bringing in some of the top defensive backs in the nation, year in and year out.
Robinson is not the first No. 1 ranked cornerback to sign with Georgia, most notably Kelee Ringo was ranked tops among corners in his class back in 2020. Still, many believe Robinson could the best freshman cornerback Smart has signed. 
Circling back to this year, Robinson is not promised immediate playing time. Daylen Everette, Julian Humphrey and Daniel Harris all have experience and their own blue-chip pedigrees. Although some predict Robinson will enter the year as the fourth cornerback, he could easily enter his name into the mix for the No. 2 cornerback role. That spot is currently being battled for by Humphrey and Harris.
Robinson has a similar style to former South Carolina cornerback Jaycee Horn. Both players had elite ball skills and coverage ability. If those skills shine through then Robinson and fellow five-star freshman KJ Bolden could create a youth movement for the defense. The Bulldogs also have rising sophomore CJ Allen patrolling the middle of the field. 
Under Kirby Smart, the Bulldogs haven't hesitate to start the best available player even if they are a freshman. This could very well be a possibility for Robinson. The Bulldogs will need to shut down the passing game against top offenses like Texas, Alabama, Ole Miss and Tennessee. In this stretch, the Bulldogs' coaching staff could need the talented freshman.
If Robinson is not able to take over a starting role for the Bulldogs this season, he will likely see a starting role in 2025. This will help lead Georgia's youth movement as the Bulldogs look to reload over the next couple of years.

"Who would you rank as the coaches most important to UGA's success?"
A DawgsCentral user posting under the name PiousMonken posed that question to me in the spring of 2023, and I quickly realized that a good answer would require quite a bit of consideration. 
When thinking about the question, I kept coming back to an old football cliche, "It's not the X's and the O's, but the Jimmys and the Joes that make the difference." I found myself considering the players who suit up on Saturdays. Good gameplans and great play calls are key to the success of any college football program, but they are usually only as good as the personnel executing them. With that in mind, I decided to broaden the scope of the rankings beyond members of the coaching staff. 
It sparked a series of longform articles called 23 For 2023. The premise was simple- Profile the 23 people who were most important to Georgia’s success on the gridiron in 2023. To create such a list, one must make value judgments on what on and off-field assets are most important to a modern college football program. 
It focused on players and coaches within the UGA program. Collectively, the series served as a giant preview for the season ahead. It became a favorite of subscribers, and it forced me to ask questions that I hadn’t before. 
This year, I am bringing the list back once again. Naturally, it will be called 24 for 2024. 
With his former mentor now manning a microphone on ESPN, Kirby Smart is college football’s most accomplished coach. In 2024, Smart will have to navigate significant staff turnover and seismic changes within the sport itself. Georgia came up short of a third straight national championship in 2023, but winning it all this season would give the Bulldogs three titles in four years. That achievement would cement the program as a modern dynasty. 
Whether or not Georgia can reach that lofty pedestal, and how they go about trying to do it, will be largely influenced by the roles these 24 individuals play. 
Today we continue the rankings with #12 and #11. The first entries in this series were not paywalled, but they are now. Let’s get after it…
Previous Entries
#24 - David Hill
#23 - Will a True Nose Tackle emerge for the Dawgs?
#22 - Benjamin Yurosek
#21 - Will Muschamp
#20 - Dominic Lovett
#19 - Jalon Walker
#18 - Chidera Uzo-Diribe
#17 - Daylen Everette
#16 - Trevor Etienne + #15 - Josh Crawford
#14 - Daniel Harris + #13 - Donte Williams
#12 - Earnest Greene + #11 Stacy Searels
When Kirby Smart hired Stacy Searels from North Carolina for his second stint as Georgia’s offensive line coach there was a great deal of angst among Bulldog Nation. 
That UGA was searching for an offensive line coach at all was fairly unexpected to begin with. Matt Luke had been in charge of the unit since shortly after he was fired at Ole Miss in December of 2019. At just 45 years old, Luke chose to step away from football to spend time with his family. He left the program after winning the 2021 national championship with the Bulldogs, but he came back to the coaching profession this year when he joined Dabo Swinney's staff at Clemson. 
The college football coaching carousel was basically done spinning by the time Luke formally announced he was stepping away. Most staffs were already settled and moving towards spring practice, which limited the candidate pool for Smart. 
Georgia first targeted Baylor OL coach Eric Mateos. At the time of the search, sources told DawgsCentral that a verbal agreement had been reached for Mateos to join the staff in Athens. UGA had already drafted a memorandum of understanding when Mateos had a change of heart and decided to stay at Baylor. Smart then targeted Searels and hired him away from UNC. 
Searels was the right man at the right time for Georgia
The hire was met with a lukewarm reception from some in the UGA fanbase. Searels was Mark Richt’s offensive line coach and run game coordinator for four years in the late 2000’s. His tenure started out with a bang in 2007, as the Bulldogs rode Knowshon Moreno to a Sugar Bowl win and a #2 ranking in the final AP poll. Things regressed from there. UGA was ranked #1 in the 2008 preseason, but a young offensive line was among the things that sank the Bulldogs. 
The 2009 Dawgs ranked 58th in the FBS in rush yards per game while struggling to an 8-5 record. In 2010 the run game again sputtered and ranked just 76th in the nation with only 140.5 rush yards a game. Searels came under fire by some media personalities and certain factions of the fanbase. The criticism blamed him for UGA’s failures in the run game, but how responsible he was for UGA’s problems at that time is very debatable. Searels took a job as the Texas OL coach after a 10-6 loss to UCF in the Liberty Bowl.
Many Georgia fans had memories of those dark days bubble back up when the Searels hire was announced. It also didn’t help that the unit Searels coached at UNC in 2021 gave up 3.9 sacks per game. That number was 3rd worst in the FBS. 
As is almost always the case, Kirby Smart knew a thing or two that the public did not. Searels is one of the more decorated OL coaches in college football today. He played tackle for Auburn and was an All-American for the Tigers in 1987. He joined his alma mater as a grad assistant from 1992-1993 and then became the OL coach at Appalachian State. The Mountaineers were an FCS program in those days, and he honed his craft under legendary coach Jerry Moore from 1994-2000 before taking the same position at Cincinnati. 
When Nick Saban needed to replace George Yarno following the 2002 season, it was Searels, then a young up and coming coach, who he tabbed to come down to Baton Rouge. The next year the Tigers won a national title. Kirby Smart joined Saban’s staff as the defensive backs coach the next season, serving under LSU defensive coordinator Will Muschamp. 
2004 was a long time ago, but Smart was familiar with Searels and had worked with him before. In hindsight, there are a few boxes that Searels checked that made him a very logical and uniquely qualified hire for the Bulldogs.
The first box was personality... Searels had the aforementioned familiarity with coaches already on staff. Smart knew what he was getting and knew Searels would work well with the personalities he had already assembled. As Kirby Smart has matured as a coach we have seen him prioritize internal staff dynamics more and more. Good recruiters have been allowed to walk if they didn’t fit in well with the other personalities on hand. 
After UGA beat Oregon to start 2022, Smart said the following… "Our staff is the best it's ever been. We've got a great staff right now and it's awesome because we've got a great...we've always had a good staff, but we've got a really great staff right now in terms of guys enjoying the work together and putting plans together, and I thought they did a great job of doing that… The buy-in of those four coaches. The alignment. The understanding of this program's bigger than me and that I'll sacrifice for the program. They understand their role. They've done what they've been asked to do and they embrace it and there is a lot of positive energy and enthusiasm at practice...and it works. So it's created a really good kind of connection amongst the staff…” 
Some didn’t love the addition of Searels, which was a bit ironic considering how Georgia fans saw his hiring away from LSU as a coup when Richt brought him aboard in 2007. When he came aboard it struck me as relevant that Richt and Mack Brown had both hired him twice and that Smart was clearly happy to work with him again. Put simply, Searels has a reputation as a really good guy. We didn’t know when he was hired that Mike Bobo would become the offensive coordinator a year later, but it’s an added bonus that those two have worked together in the past as well. 
The second box was also personality in a way, but this time it related to retention… Searels walked into an offensive line room that was a bit unsettled. Some talented players were considering transferring and hadn’t meshed well with Luke. On the field, Searels had two excellent starting tackles in Broderick Jones and Warren McClendon. In the middle of his unit was one of the team’s strongest leaders, Sedrick Van Pran. It took some time for Searels and the players he inherited to really feel each other out, but pretty soon they started to click. By the time UGA hit October, sources said that the offensive line room was functioning better than it had in years. Searels is an excellent communicator who excels at figuring out how to motivate his players and understands how to reach a wide range of personalities. He brought stability and calm to the unit. 
The third box is scheme… Searels has done a ton of work over the years on a lot of different units, and the man knows offensive line play like few do. I have written a lot in the past about the diversification of Georgia’s run schemes. When Sam Pittman left Athens for Arkansas, Kirby Smart made the decision to move away from the zone-heavy attack that relied on his linemen to always win against the man across from them. That zone based rushing attack struggled in 2019, and Smart wanted to freshen things up. He hired Luke, an offensive line coach with a lot of experience running gap scheme attacks that got his linemen pulling across the formation and moving downfield. 
The philosophical switch required Georgia to recruit a different type of offensive lineman than it had under Pittman. The Bulldogs needed the size they had always craved up front, but they also needed players who were quick enough to pull into a hole and decleat a linebacker scraping into the hole. 
In 2019, Georgia ran zone scheme on 84% of his runs. That bumped down to 71% in 2020. Then in 2021 the Dawgs transformed to a team that was 51.7% zone scheme and 48.3% gap scheme. In 2022, UGA kept on the same path with 53% zone runs and 47% gap. 
When Luke was hired, he helped oversee the installation of more gap scheme concepts. It gave UGA a release valve when its zone run game was being stood up by an opponent’s defensive line (think James Cook’s long run late in the 3rd quarter of the 2021 national championship game).
The ability to execute gap and zone at equally effective levels became a defining characteristic of the UGA program during its rise to the top of the sport. It made the Bulldogs a nightmare for a defense to prepare for, and it is quite rare to see a team that doesn’t rely on one or the other the vast majority of the time. 
Searels oversaw some excellent rushing attacks at UNC. His 2020 unit paved the way for two RB’s who gained over 1,000 yards and averaged 7+ yards per carry. His 2021 group also had two rushers with over 1,000 yards. More important than those numbers is how they were achieved. The 2020 UNC team was 60% zone scheme and in 2021 the Tar Heels were 58% zone. Those numbers aren’t quite as even as Georgia’s were when he was hired, but Searels was overseeing a unit that deployed both schemes frequently and executed them well. That is rare in college football, and it made him uniquely qualified to work with Todd Monken at Georgia. 
Despite the initial reactions, Searels has ended up being a perfect fit for this Georgia program at this time. His personality meshes well and his understanding of the game is excellent. It was Searels who got on the headset in Columbia, Missouri in October of 2022 and urged Todd Monken to call more gap scheme runs to help his offensive linemen out. That shift led to UGA’s rushing attack finding its footing, and it allowed Georgia to grab a late come from behind victory. 
When he joined the program there were concerns about his recruiting, but Searels has been as effective on the trail as any member of Georgia's staff. Some questioned the lack of five-star linemen he had signed in the past, but he landed 5-star OT Monroe Freeling in his first full cycle. By doing so, Searels took the #1 player in South Carolina out of the state. 
In the 2024 recruiting cycle, Searels signed a class that became known as "The Great Wall of Georgia." The late-cycle addition of 6'10" former basketball player Jahzare Jackson gave the Bulldogs 7 signees on the OL. The group includes four-stars Daniel Calhoun, Michael Uini, Marques Easley, and Nyier Daniels. They are joined by three-stars Marcus Harrison and Malachi Toliver. The average size of those 7 players is 6'6.5" and 345 pounds. That's an insane amount of beef up front, and the offensive line might be the unit where the Dawgs have the least questions in the years to come. That's a tremendous luxury in a line of scrimmage league like the SEC, and it's hard to overstate how much of a separator it creates between UGA and everyone else.
Jackson hadn't played football before this year, but his footwork has been impressive and Georgia thinks he will be a valuable player for them down the road. Calhoun was the highest ranked OL signee and he showed why during spring practice. Heading into the 2024 season, it appears the true freshman is likely to rotate in with the first-team offense. 
After signing a class of 7 players, it'd be understandable if UGA's OL recruiting took a bit of a step backwards in the 2025 cycle. Searels has already grabbed commitments from four-stars Juan Gaston, Cortez Smith and Mason Short. 
Assessing 2023's Unit
When healthy, Georgia's 2023 offensive line was one of the most effective of the Smart era. The Bulldogs essentially had a six-man starting lineup, with LT Earnest Greene, C Sedrick Van Pran, RG Tate Ratledge and RT Amarius Mims surrounding the LG duo of Dylan Fairchild and Micah Morris. That group gave up just 41 pressures, but Mims was rarely healthy. His replacement was Xavier Truss, who played 409 pass block snaps and allowed a team high 22 pressures on the season. 
Much has been made of the impact that UGA's injuries had on the SEC Championship game. The injury to Mims may have been bigger than the ones to Ladd McConkey or Brock Bowers. Truss struggled to block star Alabama pass rushers Dallas Turner and Chris Braswell. Both were taken in the first two rounds of the NFL Draft, and the threat of them wrecking the game changed Georgia's play calling dramatically following the departure of Mims. As UGA's offense got more conservative, Bama keyed on the run more and more. The Dawgs rallied in the second half with more aggressive play calling, but the quarter of low tempo offense came back to bite them as the clock hit zero before they could get the ball back to mount a final drive.
It was Earnest Greene, a redshirt freshman in 2023, who was supposed to be the big question mark on the OL coming into last season. In reality, Greene gave up 8 pressures in his first three starts against UT-Martin, UAB and South Carolina, and then allowed just 6 pressures over the next 11 games to end the year. The only sack he allowed all season came in UGA's SEC Championship loss against Alabama.
A national brand attracting national recruits
Greene being on the roster is noteworthy in that he is a product of the machine that Kirby Smart has built in Athens. He is a native of Los Angeles, and came to UGA from St. John Bosco High School. Bosco is a football factory that has fed the rosters of blue blood programs West of the Mississippi for decades. Pete Carroll built a dynasty at USC in the early 2000’s with players from Bosco and their arch rival in the Mater Dei. The school has produced five-star QB’s like Josh Rosen and DJ Uiagaleilei and it is constantly swarming with coaches from the Pac-12 and Big 10.
There are plenty of skill players and QB’s who come out of high schools that lie West of Texas, but there is a shortage of big athletic linemen like Greene. California schools produce a lot of D1 football players but states like Georgia, Florida, Texas, Mississippi and Alabama produce a much higher percentage of elite offensive and defensive linemen. For schools like USC, Washington and Oregon to thrive they need to keep elite linemen like Earnest Greene from the SEC. The best players in the South tend to stay in the South. Schools like Oklahoma and Ohio State also need to get a good chunk of the talent produced out West. 
Georgia has shown it can be an elite program by putting a fence around its own state and taking one or two of the best players from surrounding states every cycle. Kirby Smart has built UGA into a burgeoning dynasty by dominating the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. UGA is already better up front than any program in the sport, so seeing the Bulldogs come into SoCal to take a player like Greene is the type of thing that makes the rest of college football quiver in its boots. 
Historically, only a select few programs are able to pull California kids out of the region. Alabama did it under Nick Saban. Ohio State has a lot of talent from the West Coast and Arizona on its roster too. UGA beat both of those programs for Greene. 
So, why did Smart and Georgia travel over 2,000 miles for his pledge? First off, his versatility in high-school was a good indicator that he could be successful in UGA’s scheme. He played at 6’5” and 330 pounds and saw snaps at both tackle positions and on the interior of the line. He’s leaned out some since getting to Athens, but at 320 he has a blend of size and quickness that allows him to get to the second level and flatten defenders.
Greene plays fast. Even in short yardage situations you will see plays where he chips the DE and then flattens a LB at the second level. When he showed up in Athens I immediately heard buzz about him. Part of that is his natural physical gifts, but his natural processing ability on the field stood out in 2023.
He is not just a big man hitting whatever is in front of him. He plays savvily and picks out his defenders on both pulls and zone blocking runs. In pass protection he has good feet and gets out of his stance quickly. The most impressive technical aspect of his game is the way Greene uses his hands. He has strong hands and uses them to knock defenders off their paths without ever really reaching. When he puts hands on a defensive lineman it looks like he’s delivering a quick punch. That’s something that usually takes years of college coaching to develop.
 
Looking towards 2024
If you've read this site for awhile now then you know what we believe about line play in modern football, but in case you're new let's recap our overriding ethos- Football is still played form the inside out. 
I get that the SEC is no longer filled with I-Formation offenses and 8-man boxes, but games are still won and lost in the trenches. Spread offenses and RPO's have changed the face of the sport, but the quickest way to dominate a game is at the line of scrimmage. If you can't block an opponent there won't be enough time to run vertical passing routes. If you can't stop the run on defense then nothing else will matter. 
The 2024 Georgia offensive line is replacing Mims and Sedrick Van Pran, a program leader and three-year starter at Center. The good news for UGA is that there appears to be plenty of talent waiting in the wings. 
Van Pran will be replaced by Jared Wilson, a redshirt junior who saw action in 9 games last year. He was closely tutored by Van Pran and teammates believe he is even more athletic than his predecessor. Wilson has earned the confidence of Georgia's staff and gained solid experience last year by playing 131 snaps. He will have to prove his consistency, but he showed flashes of excellence last year. Wilson even pancaked projected top ten pick Deone Walker of Kentucky late in UGA's win over the Wildcats. Wilson has battled an achilles strain throughout fall camp, and his status for the opener is questionable at this time. 
Tate Ratledge returns at Right Guard after a stellar 2023 where he reached his five-star potential. He was dominant as a pass blocker, giving up just 5 pressures on 399 snaps in pass protection. He's been cross-training at Center throughout fall camp and could start there against Clemson if Wilson isn't ready to go.
At the Left Guard position, Dylan Fairchild and Micah Morris will again split reps. Both showed the ability to be dominant at times in 2023. Fairchild gave up 5 pressures in 301 pass block snaps and Morris allowed 3 pressures in 209 pass snaps. In True Pass Sets (no play-action, rollout or screens), Morris gave up 2 less pressures than Fairchild (4). 
Georgia is also likely to play freshman Daniel Calhoun at times with the first-team as well. Calhoun enrolled early and already has the makings of a dominant interior lineman in the SEC.
Greene's importance at tackle is hard to overstate. Not only does he cover the blind side of a QB who could be the top pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, he is also UGA's clear #1 tackle. 
Truss looks like he will start the season at Right Tackle. The question is whether or not he will take another step forward in his sixth year of college football. Truss's 409 pass block snaps were the fourth most on the 2023 UGA team. His 22 pressures allowed were 8 more than the Bulldog who gave up the next most. His PFF Pass Block Grade was 59.9, which was over ten points lower than any other UGA OL who played 50 or more pass block snaps last year. He also gave up 17 pressures in 109 True Pass Set snaps. No other Bulldog allowed more than 6 pressures in True Pass Set snaps. 
With Carson Beck at QB, UGA has a chance to have a dynamic downfield passing game. The Bulldogs will need Truss to get better at blocking elite edge rushers when Beck is waiting on slower developing routes to come open. 
If Truss can't take another leap in 2024 then former five-star Monroe Freeling needs to make one of his own. Freeling was a five-star recruit in the 2023 class, and is now in his second fall camp at Georgia. He gave up 6 pressures in 77 pass block snaps last season, which is not great. Freeling has plenty of talent and went through another body transformation this summer, but he will have to show much more to make a case for starting over Truss. 
After Freeling, rising sophomore Jamal Merriweather appears to lead the group of youngsters trying to make their way up the depth chart. 
The 2023 Bulldogs moved back towards more of a zone rushing attack. The Bulldogs ran gap scheme on just 33% of their attempts, and I openly wondered throughout the season if that strategy was due to the personnel Georgia had or the preferences of Mike Bobo. We saw Kendall Milton heat up down the stretch as UGA fed him more and more carries on zone runs. On the flip side, Daijun Edwards began to run more gap scheme as the season wore on. Against Missouri in Week 10, Edwards had 12 zone runs and 4 gap carries. At Tennessee, he had 7 gap and 4 zone runs. There wasn't a game where he had more zone than gap runs for the rest of the season. Before that UT game on November 18, Edwards had more zone runs than gap runs in every game he played in. 
Georgia's 2024 RB room should go four deep with Trevor Etienne, Roderick Robinson, Branson Robinson and true freshman five-star Nate Frazier. That group has a diverse enough skill set that Bobo should be able to deploy whatever run scheme split he prefers. It will be interesting to see if the Bulldogs get back towards a more even split of gap and zone or continue running over two-thirds zone scheme. 
Both Morris and Fairchild graded out slightly better on gap runs than zone runs in 2023. The same is true for Greene. Truss and Ratledge have been better zone scheme blockers to this point in their careers. Wilson's sample set is too small to judge, but everyone close to the program raves about his speed and athleticism. In theory, that should make him a strong blocker when pulling in gap runs.
With a full offseason working together as a starting unit, Searels and Bobo should have had ample time to improve how this unit blocks in their preferred runs. Calhoun has thrown his hat in the ring and Freeling is pushing his way into the conversation for snaps as well. No OL is going to execute every run (or pass) play perfectly, but UGA has known what the core of this unit will look like for months. They should have had time to perfect the bread and butter run plays that Bobo wants to build into the foundation of his offense. Searels has built lots of units that excelled at busting big runs open on gap scheme plays after leaning on the opponent's defense with some zone runs early. If Georgia can do both effectively it will allow them to counter opponents who key on one scheme or try to overload one side of the formation with extra defenders. 
Dynasties start and end in the trenches
What has made Smart’s program so dominant in this era of football is the way it has been built from the inside out. Spread formations and vertical passing attacks rule the day, but Georgia’s dominance on the line of scrimmage is the closest thing that exists to a variance eraser. Searels is responsible for keeping the Dawgs dominant at the point of attack. His recruiting has ensured that UGA has the talent to make sure that happens for years to come.
If Searels can get his 2024 unit to reach its ceiling then Georgia could field the best offense it has had under Kirby Smart. The UGA front five will have big athletic bodies that can move. That should give Searels and Bobo the ability to create run lanes with both power and leverage. They should also be able to ensure that Carson Beck feels confident in the pocket. If that happens, the Dawgs will be very hard to beat in 2024.

It will be “Merry Flipmas” time during the early signing period in December, but there is a lot of work to be done between now and then for Georgia and other programs across the country. While I have not heard of any commits that the Dawgs have to worry about losing right now, four months is a lifetime in recruiting. Just look at Christian Garrett. It was somewhat of a surprise to see him decommit after jumping on board with UGA just over two months ago.
There are a few prospects committed elsewhere that Kirby Smart and company are working on flipping, with some getting more attention than others. It wouldn’t surprise me one bit to see two or maybe even three of the following targets end up playing their college ball in the red and black:
4* EDGE CHASE LINTON
The North Atlanta edge rusher committed to Rutgers early on in June a couple of days after his official visit. Georgia recently came through with an offer in late July after he had a good workout in front of the coaching staff. He’s probably the most likely to Flip to the G right now, but will take his recruitment into the fall. Look for him to visit Rutgers and UGA, possibly in October, then make a final decision.
3* LB ANTHONY KRUAH
The in-state linebacker is another in-state prospect who committed before getting an offer from the home state Dawgs. Just like Linton, that may not be a big deal for Kruah. I’m told he’s seriously been considering a flip since UGA offered. It’s well known that Georgia is his dream school. I have him as the second most likely to flip, especially with Jadon Perlotte off the commit list and off the board.
3* DL BRAXTON KYLE
With Linton above and now Kyle, Rutgers might learn their lesson on trying to get recruits out of the Peach State. You have to feel bad for them if they’re competing against Georgia for any recruit, but especially a recruit from the state of Georgia. Kyle is another who has said that Georgia is his dream school. Watch this one closely if Georgia makes a big push for him.
4* WR CJ WILEY
Georgia has been in touch with WIley since the day he surprisingly committed to Florida State. A flip isn’t imminent here, but this one will go into the fall. Watch for the 4* receiver to visit Athens at least once this fall. Also don’t be surprised if he’s at The Benz to watch Them Dawgs face Clemson.
4* DL KEVIN WYNN
When talking about Georgia trying to flip prospects from FSU, Kevin Wynn can not be forgotten. The Greene County, Georgia native had a great official visit to Tellahassee in late June and committed shortly thereafter. Whale the Dawgs have been in touch, I’m told the contact has really ramped up since Garrett decommitted. It wouldn;t be a surprise at all if he makes his way to Athens once or twice this fall.
4* OL DAMOLA AJIDAHUN
Georgia seemingly had the lead for the talented offensive lineman for much of the summer. Something happened since then to cause him to commit to Georgia Tech. I was told at the time that there is something going on as far as having the right classes to get into Georgia. I’m also told he is fine as far as grades, it’s the amount of classes and’or the correct classes. I have as many questions as you do as far as being able to get into Tech, but not UGA. My guess is that it’s the same situation there, but Tech is taking the route of getting the commitment and figuring the other part out. If this is figured out, watch Georgia closely.
3* RB SHANE MARSHALL
As far as we know, the Minnesota commit doesn’t have an official offer from the Dawgs yet. But it could be coming depending on his senior season and building a strong enough relationship to make him comfortable to flip. The good thing is his main recruiter and position coach at UGA, running backs coach Josh Crawford, spent a lot of time coaching high school football in south Georgia. Kirby Smart and company have really ramped up the contact since he worked out in front of the coaches in late July. Let’s see if we offer and then see what he thinks about the difference in the weather in Minnesota and Georgia in the fall.
3* DL JOSIAH VICTOR
Georgia actually offered the Grayson defensive lineman in early June and have kept in contact. Defensive line coach Tray Scott has recently started turning up the heat on the Boston College commit. This is another situation where it just isn’t a fair fight if the Dawgs make him a priority. There’s a bigger chance of that happening with Garrett now off the board. Right now I’d put this in “wait and see” mode.

With 16 days until Georgia tees off the 2024 season against the Clemson Tigers in Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, it’s only right to take a look at the man who wore the number 16 jersey, Kirby Smart. Heading into year nine, he is now responsible for two national championships as the head coach of his alma mater. 
After an impressive start to his tenure, everyone in college football recognizes Smart’s greatness. How good historically has Smart been, though, and what may be on the horizon in 2024? 
Smart began his legacy at Georgia as a defensive back from 1995-1998, totaling 13 interceptions in his four-year career, tied for sixth-most in school history. 11 of those interceptions came in his final two seasons, six being in 1997, tied for ninth in the country, and five in 1998, leading the SEC. Smart was named to the First-Team All-SEC in 1998. 
After his playing days, his coaching career began soon after where he served as an administrative assistant, then as running backs coach at Georgia as he worked his way up the coaching ladder. Smart worked under Nick Saban at Alabama as a defensive coordinator from 2008-2015, before returning to Athens as the head coach of Georgia, hired after the 2015 season. 
Fast forward to 2024, and Smart has already amassed numerous wins and accolades, including back-to-back national titles in 2021 and 2022. The 2021 championship was Georgia’s first in over 40 years, a momentous occasion for the program. The Bulldogs followed it up with a dominant 2022 campaign, solidifying their status as a powerhouse.
Smart is 94-16 through his first eight seasons, having passed Saban for most wins in SEC history through 100 games in September 2023. Before the loss in the SEC Championship, Georgia’s 29-game winning streak was the longest in SEC history. 
Looking ahead, Smart is on a mission to reclaim the sport’s top spot, seeking his third national title in four years. A third national championship would etch Smart’s name further in the history books, as only 15 previous coaches have ever won three. 
Despite a tough schedule, maybe the hardest in memory for Georgia, the team still has a regular-season undefeated streak to uphold. The Bulldogs haven’t dropped a regular season contest since Nov. 7, 2020, losing 44-28 to Florida. Nearly four calendar years later, the Bulldogs are looking for a fourth-straight 12-0 regular season finish. 
Already cemented as one of, if not the greatest coaches in Georgia history, Smart sits atop college football at the moment. Despite not defending a title to start 2024, it’s hard to argue there’s anyone better at the position in the sport. Even without a CFP appearance last season, Georgia is amid a college football dynasty, one that could potentially reach the levels in the coming seasons of what college football fans came to expect from Alabama under Saban. 
It won’t be an easy road, but there’s simply nobody better equipped for a schedule like Georgia’s in 2024. 
 

Georgia and head coach Kirby Smart attacked the transfer portal and high school ranks to acquire depth for the running back room and may have a major hit on their hands in freshman Nate Frazier. 
Frazier was a consensus four-star recruit on all of the main recruiting sites (247Sports, On3, ESPN, and Rivals) and is a 5-foot-10, 210-pounder from Santa Ana, California. After a freshman year at St. Pius X-St. Matthias Academy, Frazier spent his high-school years at prestigious Mater Dei, who has been part of the nation's top 25 prep programs year in and year out. He finished his career with the Monarchs as the No. 2 running back in both On3 and 247Sports' recruiting rankings.
As a high schooler, Frazier displayed his speed early on, running the 100-meter dash in 10.58 seconds and the 200-meter dash in 21.62 seconds during April of his junior year. The speedster held 25 offers leading up to his commitment and locked the Bulldogs on August 6, 2023. Despite being from the West Coast, Frazier turned down Oregon, USC and national powerhouse Alabama. He joined the Bulldogs as a summer enrollee in July.
Frazier brings a style to the backfield that the Bulldogs have been lacking in recent years with home run speed. Joining a backfield that consists of power backs like Roderick Robinson and Branson Robinson, Frazier can pair with Trevor Etienne to create a thunder and lightning dynamic for the Bulldogs in 2024. 
The Bulldogs have had their fair share of freshmen running backs who made an impression on fans, but Frazier's electric skillset could get him on the field earlier than some anticipated. While speaking with the media earlier this summer, Kirby Smart noted that Frazier still needs to learn the playbook and catch up on the offense, but noted that he has "good speed" and is "a ball of energy." 
The California native will dawn the storied #3 for the Bulldogs this year, joining a list of former greats like Todd Gurley and Zamir White. Fans can expect offensive coordinator Mike Bobo and running backs coach Josh Crawford to scheme up some gadget plays for Frazier, who could break open or ice a game in a way that’s similar to how D’Andre Swift clinched the 2017 SEC Championship with a 64-yard touchdown.
Frazier's play style has some similarities to Swift's, and it can be assumed that he will garner a similar role rotating behind multiple veteran backs like D’Andre did with Sony Michel and Nick Chubb. Frazier could see a good portion of the carries in matchups against Tennessee Tech and UMass, but he could also be an important piece of the offense with Georgia's tough 2024 schedule.
A breakout freshman year could be a possibility for Frazier, and it could also change the Bulldogs' season. His receiving ability and breakaway speed may be the thing that swings a game in Georgia’s favor at some point this season.

"Who would you rank as the coaches most important to UGA's success?"
A DawgsCentral user posting under the name PiousMonken posed that question to me in the spring of 2023, and I quickly realized that a good answer would require quite a bit of consideration. 
When thinking about the question, I kept coming back to an old football cliche, "It's not the X's and the O's, but the Jimmys and the Joes that make the difference." I found myself considering the players who suit up on Saturdays. Good gameplans and great play calls are key to the success of any college football program, but they are usually only as good as the personnel executing them. With that in mind, I decided to broaden the scope of the rankings beyond members of the coaching staff. 
It sparked a series of longform articles called 23 For 2023. The premise was simple- Profile the 23 people who were most important to Georgia’s success on the gridiron in 2023. To create such a list, one must make value judgments on what on and off-field assets are most important to a modern college football program. 
It focused on players and coaches within the UGA program. Collectively, the series served as a giant preview for the season ahead. It became a favorite of subscribers, and it forced me to ask questions that I hadn’t before. 
This year, I am bringing the list back once again. Naturally, it will be called 24 for 2024. 
With his former mentor now manning a microphone on ESPN, Kirby Smart is college football’s most accomplished coach. In 2024, Smart will have to navigate significant staff turnover and seismic changes within the sport itself. Georgia came up short of a third straight national championship in 2023, but winning it all this season would give the Bulldogs three titles in four years. That achievement would cement the program as a modern dynasty. 
Whether or not Georgia can reach that lofty pedestal, and how they go about trying to do it, will be largely influenced by the roles these 24 individuals play. 
Today we continue the rankings with #16 and #15. The first entries in this series have not been paywalled, but they will be as we enter the top 15. Let’s get after it…
 
Previous Entries
#24 - David Hill
#23 - Will a True Nose Tackle emerge for the Dawgs?
#22 - Benjamin Yurosek
#21 - Will Muschamp
#20 - Dominic Lovett
#19 - Jalon Walker
#18 - Chidera Uzo-Diribe
#17 - Daylen Everette
#16 - Trevor Etienne + #15 - Josh Crawford
#14 - Daniel Harris + #13 - Donte Williams
"Who?"
That was the reaction of many when Georgia hired 40 year-old Rutgers DB coach Fran Brown to replace the departed Jahmile Addae in February of 2022. The hire ended up being one of Kirby Smart's best. Brown came with plenty of coaching ability, and he had valuable recruiting ties that strengthened Georgia's presence in the Southwest and Northeast. He served as the primary recruiter on five-star defenders like LB Justin Williams, CB Ellis Robinson IV, S Joenel Aguero and CB Demello Jones. He also landed plenty of other blue-chip DB's and used his northeastern ties to help Georgia land 4* DL Jordan Thomas (NJ), 4* OT Nyier Daniels (NJ) and 4* WR Yazeed Haynes (PA). 
Recruiting is the lifeblood of any college football program, and the industry took notice of Brown's success in Athens. After just two seasons in Athens, the Camden, NJ native got the call to come back home and become the head coach at Syracuse. He reached a deal to become the new head coach of the Orange on November 28th, just before UGA's appearance in the SEC Championship game.
Georgia was wrapped up in bowl prep and its final recruiting push when it hired USC's Donte Williams to replace Brown. He was announced as the hire on December 16th, and immediately hit the ground running in Athens. Multiple sources told DawgsCentral at the time that Williams was on the phone helping to flip S KJ Bolden from Florida State within hours of accepting the job. 
Can Williams Have an Outsized Impact on UGA's West Coast Recruiting?
Williams joined Clay Helton’s staff in Los Angeles prior to the 2020 season after coaching cornerbacks for Mario Cristobal at Oregon from 2018-2019. 
In Williams’ first year on staff, USC went 5-1 in a Covid shortened 2020 season that meant very little in the bigger picture. Helton had been on thin ice after an 8-5 record in 2019. The 5-1 record combined with the unusual circumstances of the pandemic led to USC choosing to retain Helton, but he entered 2021 on the hot seat. The booster and fan support that remained disappeared after a 42-28 loss to Stanford in the second game of the season. Helton was dismissed with 10 games left on the 2021 schedule, and Williams was named the interim head coach. 
Williams was captaining a lost ship with no rudder, but the fact he was tabbed as the interim head coach is informative to understanding his value. That role usually goes to a coach who has both the trust of other staff members and the ability to keep the locker room together. Williams was also the best recruiter on the USC staff. When Helton was fired, the hope within the athletic department was that the next head coach might retain Williams.
Why would USC want to encourage its next head coach to retain a staff member from the previous regime? Because talent acquisition is an essential part of being a successful coach on the collegiate level. 
Williams had been the lead recruiter on five-star defensive lineman Korey Foreman and landed his commitment to the Trojans during his first year in Los Angeles. Foreman was the top player in California and the nation’s top ranked defensive lineman, in addition to being the second ranked recruit nationally in the 2021 class. 
Two significant things happened when USC signed Foreman. The first was that a Trojans program with a lame duck head coach beat Georgia, LSU and Clemson for a player that they all badly wanted. The second was that USC won a recruitment against those Southern powers for an elite lineman. 
Why is that a big deal? Here is a little context that will hopefully help explain…
Linemen Don't Grow on Trees
The population booms that have occurred around many of the South's major metropolitan areas over the last few decades have had a major impact on the SEC becoming the dominant league in college football. Good skill players are a dime a dozen. The thing that separates elite football programs from everyone else is their ability to acquire large bodies that are athletic. 
California has always had great football players, but elite linemen are developing less frequently out West. If you look at the 2021 class that Foreman was part of, you can get an idea of the trend. 
California had 19 players ranked within the nation’s top 225 recruits that year. Only two of those prospects were defensive linemen (Foreman was one of them). Another two of the 19 were edge rushers, but they were the #18 and #19 ranked players in the state. None of those 19 players were offensive linemen. 
Of the top 11 players in the state of Georgia in that same 2021 cycle, four were linemen. UGA signed Amarius Mims, Dylan Fairchild and Micah Morris out of that bunch, and all three played starter level snaps at times on Georgia’s 2023 offensive line. 
The 2022 class in California also produced 19 players who were ranked among the top 225 recruits nationally. OLB David Bailey was the #34 player in the country and signed with Stanford, but there were only three true offensive or defensive linemen amongst the top 19 that year as well. Interior defensive lineman Hero Kanu signed with Ohio State, and DT Mason Graham signed with Michigan. The third was Earnest Greene. The Dawgs grabbed him out of Southern California and he started every game at left tackle for UGA this past season.
Do you see the theme? Elite big men rarely grow out West. The few that pop up in any given cycle are usually plucked away by the best programs in the SEC and Big 10.
Williams getting Korey Foreman to stay in California while recruiting under the cloud of Helton’s hot seat was one of the more impressive recruiting feats of the cycle.
That is one of the reasons why Williams was the only staff member who Lincoln Riley retained when he became the new coach at USC. With early signing day just days away, the Trojans only singed 9 high-school prospects that year. Riley’s decision to retain Williams was immediately rewarded when USC got commitments from four-star safety Zion Branch and four-star CB Fabian Ross. Williams also pulled in the headliner of that class, getting a late commitment from five-star CB Domani Jackson
Jackson was #2 CB in the class and the #1 player in California. He chose the Trojans because of Williams, telling reporters that he would have gone to Alabama if Riley had not retained the DB coach.
A Habit of Capitalizing on Opportunity
Oregon, USC and Georgia are some of the more prestigious places a college coach could land. Williams didn’t get to those types of programs without some work. He has risen through the coaching ranks in a way similar to how he ascended as a player. 
Williams played his prep ball at Culver City High and grew up in South Central Los Angeles. Though he was raised just a couple of miles from the LA Coliseum (where USC plays their home games), he didn’t find himself being recruited by the Trojans or any other PAC-12 powers.  
He spent a JUCO season at Pasadena City College in 2002. That was followed by a chance to play at Syracuse in 2003. From there he went to Idaho State. Williams was a team captain for the Bengals in 2004-2005, and his play made him an All-Big Sky first team selection. After two seasons in the Arena Football League, he looked for a path into the coaching profession. 
Early in his career, Williams took a path similar to Kirby Smart and Will Muschamp, opting for on-field coaching positions at a lower level instead of grad assistant jobs in power conferences. He spent three years coaching cornerbacks at junior colleges in California, which exposed him to a lot of responsibility at a very young age. In an old interview with the PAC-12 Network, Williams talked about those JUCO years. Within the same day, he might be coaching his position group, running workouts as a strength coach, and cutting up film. He was doing all of that work for little money, but he found that a different kind of reward waited for him at the end of the season. 
“As the season progressed and went on, you started seeing some of these guys that you coach, and they’re going on to, you know, Division 1A universities, and they’re the first ones in their families to pretty much go to college," said Williams. "So you start realizing how much of an impact you’re making, and these guys are getting a second chance at life. Once I started doing that, and I started seeing that, it made me realize I like helping people a lot more than I like just helping myself.”
That time in JUCO shaped Donte’s outlook on how a coach can impact someone's life. It made him into a true believer. He wants to help young men make the most of their talent, get a degree, and find a path to a better station in life. 
That desire to help others made Williams realize that coaching was the right profession for him, and it led him to a quality control role at Nevada in 2010. He spent 2011-2012 as a graduate assistant working with the secondary on Steve Sarkisian’s staff at Washington. The next year he landed his first FBS position coach job at San Jose State. in 2013.
What to Make of the Numbers
If you didn’t know anything about Williams then surprise or confusion might have been the natural reaction to hearing that UGA’s new secondary coach was being hired from USC. It is no secret that the Trojans didn’t field stellar units under DC Alex Grinch over the last two seasons. 
Skeptics of the hire could point to USC’s 119th ranked scoring defense that allowed 34.9 points a game. They could also ask about a pass defense that was 112th in the nation and allowed 255.2 yards per game. The Southern Cal defense was ranked 100th or lower in almost every major statistical category in 2023. That’s not where you would normally think to look for coaching help. 
In truth, so many things were wrong with the USC defense over the last two years that it is hard to evaluate the job that Williams was doing there. He brought a slew of talented players into the program, but the scheme and system they were put into was doomed for failure. There seemed to be bigger cultural and philosophical issues at play that went beyond the scope of a position coach’s job description. 
If you look back into his career, there are plenty of examples of Williams being an excellent developer and organizer of talent. He coached the cornerbacks at San Jose State in 2013 before taking over the entire secondary, and recruiting coordinator duties, in 2014 and 2015. The SJSU pass defense ranked 86th his first season with the program before becoming the nation’s best unit in his second season. The Spartans allowed just 117.6 passing yards a game that year and gave up just six touchdowns that entire season. Williams’ secondary continued to be excellent against the pass in 2015, allowing 157.8 yards a game. 
Williams coached under defensive coordinator Greg Robinson during those last two seasons at SJSU. Robinson had a storied coaching career, serving as the DC for the Denver Broncos during back-to-back Super Bowl wins and working as DC for Mack Brown at Texas on two different occasions. Williams also worked under former Broyles Award winner Bob Diaco when both were at Nebraska in 2017. The guy has been around a lot of great defensive minds. 
Williams also has a history of leading secondaries that produce lots of turnovers. That is an area that Kirby Smart has been vocal about wanting to improve. USC was fourth in the nation with 1.4 interceptions a game in 2022. When he was at Oregon, Williams oversaw a secondary that pulled in 37 interceptions in two seasons. 
The turnover stats fit in with how Williams described his style to the PAC-12 Network in 2021. “As a coach, I’m really, really demanding, aggressive by nature, and I’m going to make sure, that everyday, whether it’s meetings, whether it’s practice, whether it’s the game, that you’re going to get the best of me. So, it’s all about me to bring the best out in everyone else around me.”
When you have a coaching career that has featured many stops over many years, you can find a lot of stats to fit a lot of different arguments. It doesn’t mean they are predictive of future performance. 
The Reality of the Job
When it comes to his new position at UGA, there are a couple numbers that really matter with Williams. The first is 34. That is the number of four and five-star recruits that Donte Williams has had a hand in signing during his career. Williams was the primary recruiter on at least 25 of those players. 
The second number is 6. That is how many five-stars Williams has been the primary recruiter for. He snagged two of those players while still coaching at Oregon. In the 2020 class, Williams landed five-star ILB Justin Flowe out of Upland, CA in a national recruiting battle where the Ducks beat out Clemson, Miami and Georgia. 
Williams also won over five-star CB Dontae Manning in that same 2020 cycle. Manning was a native of Kansas City and had been the top player in the state of Missouri. He was the highest ranked defensive back recruit in the history of Oregon football when he signed. Once again, it was a national recruitment. Williams landed Manning over Arizona State, Oklahoma, Texas A&M and, you guessed it, Georgia. 
Kirby Smart is not shy about his beliefs or his methods. Talent acquisition is not just part of the job. To Smart, recruiting is priority number one. 
Following UGA’s win over Florida in 2021, Smart made his opinion on the matter known. “I don’t care who you are. The best coach to ever play the game better be a good recruiter because no coaching is going to out-coach players. Anyone will tell you our defense is good because we’ve got good players.” 
Smart is one of the most tenacious recruiters in college football. Part of that is skill and savvy, but a lot of it is pure work ethic. “My family sacrifices so that I can go spend time with other people’s families so that we can have good players,” said Smart. “That’s 25% evaluation, 50% recruiting, and the other 25% is coaching. If you don’t recruit, guys, you’ve got no chance.”
Some have been critical about Smart’s hire of Donte Williams, sharing the belief that it is essentially a recruiting move. The rebuttal to that is, well, duh. Kirby Smart does everything with recruiting in mind. Georgia has gone up against Williams in big recruitments on multiple occasions. If Kirby Smart recruits against you and comes away impressed, then you are a straight up dude on the trail. 
Williams is joining a staff full of all-star recruiters, and he might end up being the best of the bunch. However, that doesn’t mean the guy can’t coach DB’s. If you go back and look at some of the units Williams has been involved in, you see a lot of similar philosophies to what Kirby Smart defenses like to do in the back end. 
When Williams was coaching at Oregon, his boundary corners played a ton of press coverage. I went back and watched some tape from the 2019 Ducks, and saw a lot of coverage techniques that are similar to what UGA’s defense has done during Smart's tenure. 
Fran Brown was an excellent fit at Georgia because he was a great recruiter who was happy to work with Smart, Muschamp and the rest of the program's defensive brain trust. That wasn’t always the case with secondary coaches in the past. Brown used Smart and Muschamp as resources and knew that their experience and expertise could help him grow as a coach. In addition to following their broader vision on technique, Brown possessed a personality that created camaraderie among the players in his defensive backs room. 
Williams has a chance to be a similar type of fit. He grew up in Southern California and his family still resides there. He has never coached at a program located further East than Nebraska. It is hard to imagine him being in Athens if he didn’t see this as an opportunity to grow as a coach. He won’t be asked to reinvent the wheel. Smart has his methods that he likes to use in the secondary, and it is likely that Williams will coach Georgia's boundary corners the way that UGA always has under Smart. Williams had a reputation as a coach that players loved at USC, and that has carried over to Georgia as well.
A National Recruiting Program...
When UGA hired Fran Brown it was significant because he came with recruiting ties to Texas and the Northeast. It was another signal that Georgia has gone from a regional recruiting program to a national recruiting program. 
The Williams hire has similar implications, but this time it aligns even better with the areas where UGA has been signing players in recent years. The two biggest powerhouses in California prep football are Mater Dei and St. John Bosco. The Dawgs pulled Earnest Greene from Bosco in the 2022 class. Former UGA QB JT Daniels was a Mater Dei alum, and Georgia has recruited the school heavily in recent cycles. In the 2024 class, five of the top six players in California played for Mater Dei or Bosco. You could argue that Williams has recruited those two schools as well as anyone. Six of the 34 blue-chip recruits he has been responsible for signing came from those programs. Those relationships bring significant plus-value for UGA. 
Another school that should be a priority for any program wanting to recruit the West Coast effectively is Bishop Gorman in Las Vegas. If you’re a future FBS player being raised in the fast-growing Vegas area, chances are high that you will end up playing your prep football at Bishop Gorman. Williams signed three blue-chip players from the school in the 2022 and 2023 recruiting cycles. One of those was five-star Zachariah Branch, the top ranked wideout in the 2023 class. Branch had over 1,100 all-purpose yards for the Trojans as a true freshman this past season. 
As a West Coast coach, Williams did the majority of his recruiting work in California, but he has proven his style translates elsewhere too. He has landed blue-chip prospects from Missouri, Maryland and Florida in recent years. Donte brought waves of highly ranked DB’s into Oregon and USC, but he also strengthened the talent levels in other key spots. 19 of the blue-chip prospects that Williams has signed in his career didn’t play in the secondary. 
Williams has gotten off to a strong start at Georgia. He flipped fast rising four-star CB Shamari Earls from South Carolina earlier this summer. Earls is 6'2" with a 180 pound frame and smooth hips. There is a good chance he ends the cycle as a five-star. He also grabbed a commitment from versatile DB Jontae Gilbert last week. Gilbert was a one-time Ohio State commit who UGA turned the heat up on after seeing him in a personal workout earlier this summer. Williams has also contributed to the signings of Jaylan Morgan and Rashad Johnson, two out of state safeties who have significant upside. He has also already gotten commitments from two of the top 15 cornerbacks in the 2026 cycle. 
...That Evaluates as Well as Anyone
What's interesting about Williams is what may happen when his natural recruiting abilities are coupled with the program's ability to identify talented prospects that much of the industry might miss. There's no doubt that winning heavyweight fights for five-star recruits is an important skill to have. What's interesting to consider in the NIL era is the value of identifying a Top 50 player who might be ranked 450th in his class.
It's great to beat other powers for a guy everyone wants, but it's also likely to cost you. In 2024, there is nothing more valuable than being able to identify a player who can be developed into a five-star talent while being acquired a three-star price. Nobody in college football has been better at identifying upside in recent years than Georgia. The Dawgs recruited AD Mitchell, Javon Bullard and Ladd McConkey as three-star recruits. All of them were taken within the first 60 picks of last year's NFL Draft. Kirby Smart has gotten over a quarter of his three-star recruits drafted during his time at Georgia. 
Identifying players who are undervalued matters more now than ever before. One of UGA's best evals in recent years is Daniel Harris, a player who will be a key member of Donte Williams's first CB room at Georgia. Harris was a somewhat under the radar prospect for most of his recruitment. He wasn't nationally ranked by 247, and was seen as outside the top 35 players in Florida by ESPN and Rivals. He was called a "developmental prospect" by some scouts and rose up rankings late in the cycle after the industry realized that Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State were all after him hard during the summer before his senior year. 
Georgia identified him early, and they'll be glad that they did for many years to come. Harris is 6'2" and 180 pounds with an absurd 78-inch wingspan. In truth, he is the picture of what an ideal NFL corner body looks like these days, but some wondered if he was too stiff or not smooth enough to play the position at an elite level as he was coming up out of Gulliver Prep in Miami. Georgia worked him out in person in March of 2022 and quickly realized that he had the chance to be a special player. Being the first major program to be on Harris did wonders for the Bulldogs. Harris took official visits to UGA, Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State in June of 2022, but it was Georgia who he picked when he chose a program on July 1. 
The problem for UGA? It was still almost six months to early signing day. Harris watched as UGA continued to build a DB class that included then #1 CB AJ Harris. Other programs gave him much to think about, and Harris decided to decommit from UGA on November 15th, just five weeks before signing day. In the end, Harris recommitted to Georgia on the morning of signing day. Unlike most recruits these days, he did not enroll early at UGA.
When Daniel arrived in Athens last fall, most assumed it would be the five-star AJ Harris who would try to push for early playing time. In reality, it was Daniel who would become the ascendant Harris in UGA's cornerback room. Pretty soon, the buzz started on Harris from sources. His sturdy frame and long arms let him swallow WR's at the line. He also had the biggest trait that Kirby Smart requires from any corner- He tackled willingly and well. Pretty soon, Georgia realized that they didn't just have a future starter on their hands. They had a corner with high first-round potential. You see, Harris was faster than many realized. The downside to bigger corners in the eyes of some is that most are not as smooth and fast as the traditional corner body type that measures in at under six feet. Harris has been clocked the low 4.5's and high 4.4's in the forty-yard dash. 
As the season went along, those who watched practice everyday saw a corner who looked ready to play major snaps right now. It's rare that a true freshman gets on the field at cornerback for UGA, but Harris was pushing those in front of him with his play. After UGA's loss to Alabama, the freshman considered his future.
Kamari Lassiter's starting spot would be opening after the season, but Daylen Everette would be back again. Julian Humphrey had gotten injured against Ole Miss, but the week before he had a breakout performance by coming in and playing snaps at UGA's #1 CB spot while Lassiter moved into the slot to cover Luther Burden against Missouri. With Humphrey appearing in line for a starting role, Harris looked to enter the portal. He announced his intentions on Christmas Day. Sources expected him to transfer back home to Miami, and insinuated that the Hurricanes had been in his ear offering immediate playing time. 
A lot of UGA players enter the portal every year, but it's rare to see the Bulldogs fight to keep one as hard as they did Harris. Georgia told Harris that they thought he was ready to play now. When the Dawgs faced FSU in the Orange Bowl, Harris split first-team reps with Everette.
Harris played 34 snaps in the 63-3 victory, and gave up 1 reception on 4 targets. The interesting thing about his game was that the catch he gave up may have illustrated his unique skillset better than any completion he didn't allow. Watch the clip of Harris below. You can see him recover beautifully and then use his long arms to get to the ball while trying to breakup the intended pass. The FSU WR makes an excellent play and holds onto the ball, but it took a tremendous effort from a 6'3" wideout to make the completion happen.
Screen Recording 2024-08-15 at 2.26.10 AM.mov 
Harris's speed and size is jarring when you see it. Guys his size are not supposed to be able to run with speedy wideouts, but that's exactly what he does. He very well may have the highest ceiling of any UGA cornerback to come through the program under Kirby Smart. He symbolizes the value that can be created by Georgia's relentless scouting efforts. The Dawgs found a diamond who was ready to play first-team reps as a true freshman at the best program in college football. Recruiting him early made a huge difference in landing him. 
For a moment this offseason it seemed like Harris might be penciled in as UGA's starter opposite of Lassiter in 2024. That moment came when Humphrey announced his decision to enter the portal shortly after the Orange Bowl. Donte Williams, Kirby Smart and Will Muschamp all worked hard to convince Humphrey he could reach his NFL dreams with one more season in Athens. In fact, Williams and Muschamp were in Humphrey's house in Houston when last year's College Football Playoff semifinal between Washington and Texas was going on. 
Keeping both Harris and Humphrey to compete for the CB job opposite of Everette has given the Bulldogs an embarrassment of riches in Williams's first year in the room. That might not have happened if the new DB coach wasn't able to forge fast relationships with both players. As UGA's fall camp wears on, the two are locked in a battle that sources have referred to as "fierce but respectful." 
Humphrey's ability to step into the lineup unexpectedly against Mizzou gave UGA a major boost in stopping the Tigers deep receiving corps. He saw 6 targets that day but gave up only 2 catches while having a big pass breakup on a third down. With the high flying offenses that are everywhere in modern college football, having great boundary corners can be a ticket to success. Georgia will be able to use all three of Everette, Harris and Humphrey when necessary. It will also be able to navigate injuries if they do hit the room. 
In that trio, Georgia has two rising juniors who were once rated as five-stars by at least one recruiting service (Everette and Humphrey) in addition to a lower ranked four-star whose upside and physical traits were identified by the UGA staff before the rest of the country caught on. Being able to identify and develop is great for a program. Being able to beat other for five-star caliber players is too. Doing both can give a program an edge that leads to titles. 
Donte Williams will look to help the Bulldogs on both fronts in the years ahead, and his trio of NFL caliber corners will look to ensure that the work done to keep them at Georgia pays dividends in January. If the Dawgs are able to win a third title in four years, it's likely that the defense's ability to make top WR's disappear will be a big reason why.