National Early Signing Day - What Surprises Are Possible For the Georgia Bulldogs?

Kirby Smart has earned his reputation as one of the best recruiters in the business. One thing that the first 4 years of the Smart Era have taught us is, expect the unexpected.

Major College Football recruiting is a ridiculously fluid, rapidly changing, living organism. There are no guarantees. Until the pen gets put to paper, coaches and fans alike cannot breathe easy. 

Everybody loves to follow the potential flips of major prospects from one powerhouse program to the other. In the nature of society today, with the information overflow that comes from recruits themselves and media coverage, most of these flips are entertaining and newsworthy, but not all that surprising. However, there are the occasional signing day surprises that come out of left field and shock the collective recruiting world. 

Kirby Smart and company seem to have made this type of signing the norm at this point. The evidence is there when you look at the last minute landings of George Pickens and D'Wan Mathis in the 2019 class. Pickens and Mathis had been thought of as rock-solid commitments to Auburn and Ohio State respectively before the Dawgs flipped them. 

Who can forget Quay Walker's UT hat-slinging commitment and signing in 2018? Alabama and Tennessee seemed to be the heavy favorites for the former 4-star insider linebacker and many recruiting experts had Walker slated to follow Jeremy Pruitt to Knoxville after previously being committed to the Crimson Tide. 

Once again, a signing day Smart surprise. It is likely that a surprise comes about tomorrow. While it is nearly impossible to predict surprises (because after all, they are surprises) let's look at some of the long-shot recruits for the Dawgs, just how surprising the signing of each would be and what it would likely mean in the bigger picture for the program.

Zachary Evans

Georgia has long been considered off the radar for the 5-star running back out of Houston, Texas. Evans is much more likely to go to A&M, LSU, or Alabama at this point. If Evans did sign with the Dawgs, it would mean that something catastrophic and very late would have occurred with Kendall Milton. Don't see the surprise here and it would be a 10 out 10 earth-shattering deal if it did.

CJ Stroud

Ohio State. Two words that draw ire from Dawg fans everywhere after the departure of Justin Fields from the program. The two programs cross paths once again when it comes to the recruitment of 4-star pro-style quarterback CJ Stroud out of Rancho Cucamonga, California. Ohio State got the last official visit out of Stroud in his recruitment, and for a long time it has seemed like the Buckeyes are the favorite to land him. 

However, as we mentioned before, recruiting is fluid and it is possible that extenuating circumstances could factor into Stroud strongly considering the Dawgs late. A source of The Bulldog Maven has confirmed that Georgia is strongly in the mix. If this signing took place in favor of Georgia, it would likely mean that Jake Fromm has made his intentions to forego his Senior season known privately to the coaching staff. I would rate the surprise factor here as a 7 out of 10. 

Dontae Manning

Georgia recently hosted the 4-star cornerback from Kansas City, so it would not be shocking that the Dawgs end up with Manning overall, but it would be very surprising because of the timing of the announcement. It is believed that Dontae is either going to keep his signing silent until the Under Armour All-American game on January 2nd or that he will wait on signing his letter of intent until February. 

Georgia has never been considered to be in the lead for Manning and most recruiting industry predictions would have you believe that his recruitment is a race between Oklahoma, Oregon, and Texas A&M. If the recruiting prowess of Kirby Smart and Dan Lanning wins over the Raytown High School product, I would say that it would be a pleasant surprise but less shocking than that the two previously mentioned prospects would be. The surprise rating would 5 out of 10 and it would likely mean that mean Georgia is solidifying its defensive backfield for the future as Tyson Campbell and Eric Stokes could both be highly ranked when 2021 NFL Mock Drafts start rolling out.

One thing is for certain and that is something unpredictable and largely unaccounted for will be taking place tomorrow and on into early January. It's part of what makes following college football as a whole great. If one or two of these "surprises" come to fruition, it could mean that the 2020 recruiting class for Georgia is just that much closer to the top spot.