On Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC, the No. 5 Georgia Bulldogs (8-1, 6-1) will host the Texas Longhorns (7-2, 4-1) in a game with College Football Playoff, SEC championship and, now, big recruiting implications on the line.
As for the CFP and the SEC championship, we know what needs to happen. But Saturday in Athens is shaping up to be a huge one for the Bulldogs’ 2026 and 2027 recruiting classes, as outlined thoroughly by Steve Wiltfong of Rivals.
For starters, UGA QB commit Jared Curtis, 247Sports’ Composite Rankings’ No. 1 quarterback in the class of 2026, will be on hand for the game after giving Georgia fans a bit of a fright thanks to some visits to the hometown Vanderbilt Commodores.
2026 Georgia commits expected to attend Texas game:
- Receiver Craig Dandridge
- Receiver Brady Marchese
- Receiver Ryan Mosley
- Running back Jae Lamar
- Tight end Kaiden Prothro
- Tight end Brayden Fogle
- Offensive lineman Ekene Ogboko
- Offensive lineman Zachary Lewis
- Offensive lineman Graham Houston
- Offensive lineman Zykie Helton
* Per Wiltfong of Rivals
As for 2027, UGA’s class currently ranks No. 10 in college football with four commits, per 247 Sports. But if UGA can land a commit from Kemon Spell, that would change things drastically with still over 12 months from signing day for next year’s cycle.
Spell will be in Athens for the game this weekend, per Wiltfong. 247 Sports has him as the nation’s No. 7 overall player and as the No. 1-ranked running back in the 2027 class. The McKeesport, PA native decommitted from Penn State after the Nittany Lions fired James Franklin and reopened his recruitment. This will be his first visit to UGA.
Georgia must have had a feeling it was coming, because Kirby Smart offered Spell on Oct. 8, just a few days prior to Franklin’s firing. Spell has since received offers from Nebraska, Ole Miss and Oregon.
Last year, as a sophomore, Spell ran for 1,681 yards and 24 touchdowns on just 157 carries, an average of 10.7 yards per carry.
“The former Penn State commit has UGA in his lead group with the likes of Notre Dame, Miami, Ohio State and Oregon,” Wiltfong wrote.
247 Sports compares Spell to former Michigan running back Blake Corum, incredibly describing him as “a mix between a tank and a jackrabbit, which is an extremely difficult combination to tackle.”
Georgia has a long history of iconic running backs, including Herschel Walker, Nick Chubb, Sony Michel, Todd Gurley, Garrison Hearst, Knowshon Moreno and Terrell Davis, to name a few. And look, I’m a fan of Nate Frazier and Chauncey Bowens. I was a fan of Trevor Etienne, Daijun Edwards, Kendall Milton, Kenny McIntosh, James Cook and Zamir White. But Georgia hasn’t had that true game-changing back since D’Andre Swift, and really not since the Chubb and Michel era.
That’s not a knock on the guys mentioned; they’re all talented players. But I’m talking about that kind of back, the one you can hand the ball to 30 times a game and trust to move the chains when it matters most. Players like Nick Chubb and Todd Gurley don’t come around often, but when a prospect is described as a “mix between a tank and a jackrabbit,” Georgia has to do whatever it takes.
