Kirby Smart’s Georgia off to a slow recruiting start for 2018. What’s up?

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart has an excellent recruiting track record. A former assistant at Alabama, Smart helped Nick Saban lock down a couple of No. 1 signing classes in Tuscaloosa. He was an SEC recruiter of the year in 2013, and his ability on the trail (to say nothing of his defensive acumen) is why UGA decided after the 2015 season it’d rather poach Smart from Bama than keep longtime boss Mark Richt.

To date, Smart’s recruited in Athens like he has for most of his career: very well. Hired shortly before Signing Day 2016, Smart kept together and built upon a strong class Richt had built, finishing No. 8 on the 247Sports Composite. Last year’s class was a breakthrough, finishing a clear-cut third in the nation behind Bama and Ohio State.

Something weird’s happening so far in the 2018 cycle: Georgia isn’t lining up elite talent. UGA has just three commits: two three-star defensive backs and a two-star kicker. The latest pledge is Chris Smith, an Atlanta cornerback who’s rated four-stars by some recruiting evaluators. He’s a good pickup, for sure, but business has been slow. The Dawgs are 12th in the SEC and 60th nationally, for the moment, for 2018.

Georgia is a great recruiting job. The Peach State is the fourth-most loaded state in the country for four- and five-star recruits, behind Florida, California, and Texas. The Dawgs are the preeminent team in the state. They need to fend off recruiters from near and far, and that’s not easy. But Georgia has a built-in advantage it draws upon each year.

Here’s a problem, though. Of the five highest-rated recruits inside Georgian borders this year, four have already made verbal commitments. None is slated to be a Dawg. The top-rated player in the country, Cartersville quarterback Trevor Lawrence, is with Clemson. Elite dual-threat QB Justin Fields is with Penn State, and Emory Jones with Ohio State. Four-star defensive end Brenton Cox just picked the Buckeyes, too.

It’s difficult to say what’s wrong, exactly. Ohio State’s recruiting brilliance has happened to hurt UGA quite a bit, with the Buckeyes (so far) reaching into the Dawgs’ backyard for two top-five Georgians. Some of the Dawgs’ current position might just be noise. Some years, teams load up on early commits. Some years, they come late.

All of your usual caveats about early recruiting rankings certainly apply, but still, Smart’s team isn’t where it would like to be. Last year, UGA signed three of the state’s top five players and 14 blue-chippers from in-state alone.

Georgia remains an elite recruiting program. The Dawgs are probably not even in the vicinity of panic time, and they’ll surely add some elite talent before the year’s out. (They’re the consensus favorite for five-star North Carolina running back Zamir White, who might be the best skill player in the class of 2017.) They will eventually make some hay in their home state again, for sure. They just have lots of work to do.