Early National Signing Day Recap: Dawgs Have Up and Down Day

As the Early National Signing Period kicks off, Georgia had an up and down day for the most part. Losing out on a few battles, and winning a few of their own.

As Early National Signing Day came to a close on Wednesday evening, there were plenty of ups and downs and plenty of storylines from a day that will likely go down in the history books of college football. 

The Nation's No. 1 player flipped to an HBCU, there was plenty of shuffling on the SI All American team rankings, and teams like Georgia solidified 95% of their 2022 recruiting class. 

Let's take a look around the landscape of college football with our Recruiting Recap. 

Travis Hunter to Jackson State University 

Travis Hunter, the nation's No. 1 overall player, had been committed to Florida State for well over a year. Hunter spent his senior season speaking adamantly about his commitment to the Seminoles. Georgia certainly tried to make the flip happen — having had Hunter on campus multiple times this fall — but it was Deion Sanders and Jackson State in a landscape-changing move in college football that pulled it off. 

Rumors have been swirling about a potential figure NIL Deal with a multitude of companies for Hunter at Jackson State. 

Georgia Has Some Misses

Georgia lost commitments from both Tyre West and Marquis Groves-Killebrew. The West flip was somewhat expected, West spent the lead up to national signing day weighing other options and eventually signed with Tennessee. Groves-Killebrew's flip to Texas A&M was something that wasn't even spoken about until the evening before signing day. 

Safety Kamari Wilson was tied to Georgia for the longest time during this recruiting cycle, so for him to end up signing with Florida on Wednesday was miss for the Bulldogs. Additionally, though it was a late push for linebacker Shemar James, Billy Napier, and that Florida staff sealed that recruitment up late as well. 

Strong Class

Entering the 2022 cycle, Georgia knew several things about their roster needs. They certainly needed to rebuild a back end that had been decimated by transfers and injuries this calendar year, they signed three five-star defensive backs. They knew the front seven would experience some departures this offseason with graduations and potential early draft entries, and the class is loaded with impact players that will live in the box on defense, including a late close on Marvin Jones Jr, the No. 8 overall player on the SI99. 

They also signed a litany of players with tremendous upside. Jacob Hood is a 6'8 offensive tackle that could develop into a mass mover on the college level. Carlton Madden is a prospect that saw a meteoric rise during the latter stages of his recruitment. Even players like Cole Speer may be lesser-known on the national recruiting scene but he's a verified 4.4 runner and has stacked consecutive 1,000-yard seasons in high school. 

Room for More

Prospects Earnest Greene and Christen Miller will be waiting until January 8th at the Adidas All-American game in San Antonio to make their college decision and the expectation is that Georgia will have room for potentially both. 

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