College football recruiting re-rank: Grading 2019’s actual top 25 classes, 4 years later Max Olson Jun 21, 2023 The transfer portal and NIL money have made roster-building in college football a more chaotic experience for all, but the fundamentals of recruiting haven’t changed. Whether your program is aiming for the College Football Playoff, a conference title or even just a bowl game, success still depends on a coaching staff’s ability to identify, develop and retain talent. And that’s why, for six years, The Athletic has made re-evaluating recruiting classes an annual tradition. It’s time once again to review how college football’s highest-rated recruiting classes from four years ago panned out. This year, we’re grading the best classes of 2019. The scoring system for grading these classes remains the same 0-to-5 scale inspired by the recruiting industry’s star system. We are grading scholarship players and walk-ons who earned scholarships based on what they’ve achieved over four years, not what they might do in the future. 5 points: All-American, award winner, top-50 NFL Draft pick 4: Multiyear starter, all-conference honors 3: One-year starter or key reserve 2: Career backup 0: Minor or no contribution 1. Georgia Adjusted average: 3.30 Class rank in 2019: 2nd Four-year record: 49-5 Attrition: 46% Top signees: QB Stetson Bennett, LB Nakobe Dean, DL Travon Walker, DB Lewis Cine, LB Nolan Smith, OL Warren McClendon, WR George Pickens, RB Kenny McIntosh, OL Xavier Truss, DE Jermaine Johnson II A quarterback who delivered two national championships. A Butkus Award-winning linebacker. A No. 1 overall draft pick on the defensive line. And a bunch more blue-chip recruits who lived up to the hype and have bright futures in the NFL. There’s really not much room for debate over whose 2019 recruiting class was most rewarding. When this group signed in December 2018, one topic dominated discussion at Kirby Smart’s news conference: Justin Fields. The freshman quarterback had just entered the transfer portal and was exploring his options. After answering five questions about Fields and QB recruiting, Smart wished to change the subject. “Look, guys, I’m not trying to be disrespectful,” Smart said, “but I do wanna talk about these signees. There’s some really good football players. I’d hate for Justin Fields just to overshadow that.” The next question he got was about D’Wan Mathis, the Ohio State quarterback commit who’d flipped and signed earlier that day. But the Bulldogs weren’t done. A few hours after Smart spoke with reporters, he officially added one more QB to the class. Bennett went into the day ready to sign with Louisiana and play for Billy Napier. After leaving Georgia and playing at Jones College in Mississippi in 2018, he wasn’t planning to come back to Athens. Georgia reentered the picture and made a last-minute scholarship offer on signing day to bring back their former walk-on. Good call on that signing. Bennett leaves as a Georgia legend and a Heisman Trophy finalist with two rings. He’s one of 19 players in this class who started games for the Bulldogs. Ten have already been drafted. Dean, Walker and Smith all came in as five-stars and teamed with Cine, a top-50 recruit, to become key starters and leaders for the Bulldogs’ incredible 2021 defense that powered the program’s first run to a national title since 1980. McClendon was a three-year starter and first-team All-SEC pick at right tackle. McIntosh waited his turn and put up more than 1,300 yards as a senior. Pickens only started 10 games for the Bulldogs but was one of the NFL’s top rookie wideouts in 2022. Even some of the players who left ended up being special. Georgia inked another future first-rounder in this class in Johnson, who became the ACC Defensive Player of the Year in his lone season at Florida State. They also signed cornerback Tyrique Stevenson, who transferred to Miami and was a second-round pick this spring.
It’s hard to not be impressed by what Georgia has accomplished recently as the Bulldogs have won back-to-back national titles. Even Houston head coach Dana Holgorsen is blown away by what is happening with Kirby Smart‘s program in Athens. Holgorsen spoke at a high school coaches clinic at Georgia this offseason and spent plenty of time around Smart and the Bulldogs program while in town. He couldn’t say enough good things about Georgia while speaking with ESPN at Big 12 Media Days on Wednesday. “What they’re doing in Athens, Georgia right now is on a whole nother level. I’ve been to a lot of NFL camps. I’ve been to Alabama. I’ve been to a lot of places. What they’re currently doing at Georgia is on a whole nother level,” Holgorsen said. “Just the commitment from the athletic department, to the funding, to how they’re feeding them, to how they’re practicing, how they’re lifting, what their staff looks like. It’s big time. And clearly it works because they’re back-to-back national champs.” Kirby Smart brought in Dana Holgorsen to speak about the air raid offense, which is a system he ran in the past but no longer does. Holgorsen has evolved throughout his career, whether he was an offensive coordinator or head coach. He isn’t stuck in his ways and believes adapting is key. After visiting with Smart and the Bulldogs, he plans to continue to adapt how he runs his program. “It was awesome for me, because I’ve been doing things one way for a long time – the air raid way. I’ve evolved and I’ve developed,” Holgorsen said. “I wanted to look at their day-to-day facility, too. And they were gracious enough to open all their doors. And I took a lot of ideas of what their building looks like and what the day-to-day for the student-athlete looks like. We’ve been designing our building for the last six months. So it changed a lot of our thought process going into the building that you’ll see in a few years.” Overall it was a positive and eye-opening experience for Holgorsen, who is entering his fifth season at Houston. The Cougars are coming off of an 8-5 year in 2022. They went 12-2, including an 8-0 mark in American Athletic Conference play, in 2021. Houston is entering its first season in the Big 12 in 2023. The hope is that the Cougars will be able to compete for championships in the league. Learning from Smart and Georgia seems like a good place to start.
Straka and Harman should have their ryder cup places locked up after today too so another dawg will be holding the cup again this year
We’ve lost so much to the NFL the past two years, it’d be crazy to not expect a step back. *looks at preseason all SEC first team selections* Literally half of the preseason first team is from UGA. (5 on offense, 6 on defense) Holy shit. https://www.secsports.com/article/38047147/preseason-football-media-poll-all-sec-team-announced
This idea thats going around that we're gonna take a step back on defense is wild. This is the year the defense is supposed to be dominant again
Homer alert but if Mims steps up like Broderick did last year, this could be the best oline we've ever seen and not just at Georgia.
agree, but on other hand I would probably put OL in my top 5 biggest unknowns this year. Still have to hope Earnest Greene (who I thought would play RT to Amarius' LT) is the real deal. For sure looked it at GDay. Also, Tackle depth is not where it is. We always had a Broderick or Mims injury insurance policy waiting in the wings. Now its Freeling and whatever the mods are selling us on Blaske.
yep schedule (and the sec east being trash) is exactly what we needed with all the roster turnover. Gives us a few months to get everyone up to speed. Spread out minutes. Limit tread on tires. And learn whatever is new with the offense. going to be a lot of sleepwalking, playing with our food, and adhd at times too. But there are just enough tests with the south carolina or auburn or florida types that kirby should maintain their attention.
Also, I'm calling it now. Smael Mondon will end up first-team All-SEC and on some All-American lists.
Feel like they'll be a lot of frustrating wins as the team lacks focus at times with the schedule being what it is.
the interior OL should absolutely maul people with Truss, SVP and Tate. I know Searels is telling people Earnest Greene is one of the best run blockers he's ever seen at LT. Mims will be a top 15 pick. Just need to stay healthy at OT like Fran said since we dont have any proven depth there. They love hyping up Blaske, but I like him better at C. Need Freeling to get ready fast
Fall Camp starts next Thursday, August 3rd FWIW it will be the first fall camp in program history coming off 2 straight national titles
17 of the last 19 preseason AP #1 teams did not win the title, according to Brett McMurphy. Going to have to add them to the list of doubters.
Watching the Peach Bowl on ESPNU. Harrison got KO'd by Bullard a few minutes ago. OSU will probably be fine though. There's no way losing one guy will matter that much.
40-1 since 2020 Jax. Just a mind boggling stretch I have to remind myself to enjoy. I still don't know about this team. I feel like they could beat every team in the county by multiple scores and also lose to any P5 team depending on the day.
Even so, we will still get to the SECCG and a win there would put us in the playoffs. It’s quite possible that no team finishes the Conference championship games undefeated. OSU, UM and PSU play round robin with 1 home game/1 away game. Pac 12 will likely beat each other. Basically leaves FSU and Oklahoma to run the table and I think that is unlikely, FSU probably has the best chance.
Florida is better than Auburn for sure. If we play like that again, we could lose. Guessing/hoping that we won't have motivation issue like we may have against AU.
The common denominator in the ‘close’ games, has been turnovers that allowed for quick short-field scores. Teams aren’t consistently sustaining drives. The defense is more susceptible to big plays, than to sustained drives. That, and the red zone defense is horrendous this year.