Posted by JC Shurburtt
Here are three quick notes about Georgia's recruiting class.
Looking ahead: Defensive tackle
Michael Thornton (Stone Mountain, Ga./Stephenson) has seen his stock rise during his senior season and has multiple major schools, including Georgia, beating down the door for his services. The Bulldogs are considered the odds-on favorite for Thornton, but Penn State and some other programs linger as well. Will Georgia and ace recruiter Rodney Garner add yet another talented in-state prospect to this class?
Taking the state: One of the things that makes the Georgia job one of the best in the country is being located in the Peach State, which is loaded with top-shelf prospects every year. The Bulldogs have six ESPNU 150 prospects from the state of Georgia committed in this class, including Under Armour All-Americans
Da'Rick Rogers (Calhoun, Ga./Calhoun),
Alec Ogletree (Newnan. Ga./Newnan) and
Kolton Houston (Buford Ga./Buford).
Bottom up: One of the more impressive things about this class is the quality of prospects toward the bottom when you line up the ratings of all of the players. For example, receiver
Michael Bennett (Alpharetta, Ga./Alpharetta) isn't on many top 150 lists, but he's got size, speed, hands and can run routes.
Jakar Hamilton of Georgia Military College, the younger brother of Carolina Panthers running back Michael Goodson, could end up being one of the best junior college prospects in this class. Getting those types of quality players to round out a class is beneficial and will make the "hit rate" (the number of actual contributors in a given class) much higher.
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JC Shurburtt
JC Shurburtt has been covering recruiting in not only the Southeast, but across the nation for nearly a decade. He can be reached at jcsespn@aol.com.
