'QBs Want to Play at Georgia': Kirby Smart Addresses Brock Vandagriff and More

Georgia signed 20 players Wednesday and exits the first day of the early signing period with the No. 3 class via SI All-American.

The signing periods are arguably the most important time of the year for college coaches across the country, as it creates the program's foundation for the next 3-5 years.

For the fifth straight year, Georgia football head coach Kirby Smart and his staff did not disappoint. 

Highlights of early signing day include the commitment of five-star linebacker Xavian Sorey and 19 prior commits putting the pen to paper officially becoming Georgia Bulldogs.

As another roller-coaster signing day came to a close, here’s what Smart had to say about his upcoming class:

“This will be the largest mid-year class that I think that we have ever signed here at Georgia. We expect anywhere from 14, 15 to 16 in the next couple of days. It'll be somewhere around that number as guys finish up their requirements to possibly enroll early, and when you're talking about 20 signees and possibly 16 enrolling early, I don't know if I've ever seen that.”

Smart is on track for his fifth consecutive year with a top-three recruiting class, and with 16 out of the 20 signees enrolling early, Georgia fans are excited about what this class will bring to the table. Smart addressed what it says about Georgia’s program to consistently recruit at an elite level and to sign a five-star quarterback like Brock Vandagriff.

“Quarterbacks want to play at Georgia,” he said. “I don't know if you've noticed, but they enjoy playing at Georgia. Criticism is going to be there and everything we do, but the opportunity to play at the University of Georgia and be a quarterback  . . . those kids want the opportunity to do that."

Smart went on to recall one of the very first stories he'd heard about Vandagriff dating back to his freshman year at Prince Avenue High School where he was on the kickoff coverage team and laid someone out. Smart admired his athleticism and attitude as a player. 

He said, “When they start talking about where they want to go, they want to go win championships; at least that's what the best quarterbacks want to do, and Brock Vandagriff never shied away from that. He wanted an opportunity to play close to home. He wanted the opportunity to play near his family. His dad is a coach right here in town. His mom is a teacher. He's got sisters who are really good athletes. He wants to be able to play in front of them, so I'm excited about what he can do . . . We are excited to see what he can bring to the University of Georgia.”

Smart believes the program’s recent success and even the pandemic was a huge help to recruiting out of Georgia this year, as seven of the top 11 in-state recruits decided to come to play for Bulldogs.

“I thought the pandemic was the No. 1 factor that helped in-state recruiting,” he said. “Their inability to go on all of these trips might have played a factor . . . I know that a lot of people have reached out to me and said, 'Georgia’s success in the last four-to-five years is starting to take its toll.’ These kids grow up seeing Georgia in the top five, top six in the country most of their high-school, even middle-school lives. That plays a factor in it.”

As of now, Georgia sits as the No. 3 overall class with 21 commits (seven in the SI99), according to SI All-American.