Take Two: How worrisome are recent Georgia decommitments?

CLASS OF 2019 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | State | Position | Team

CLASS OF 2020 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | State | Position

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Take Two returns with a daily offering tackling a handful of issues in the college football landscape. Rivals.com National Recruiting Analyst Adam Gorney lays out the situation and then receives takes from Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell and a local expert from the Rivals.com network of team sites.

Georgia had the No. 1 recruiting class in the country for the 2019 cycle. The Bulldogs were cruising along undefeated on the field. And then last week happened.

Five-star receiver Jadon Haselwood backed off his Georgia pledge along with four-star linebacker JD Bertrand and four-star cornerback Jalen Perry. All three are in-state prospects.

Haselwood, who took his visit to Miami this past weekend and is also serious about Auburn and Oklahoma, was the biggest surprise since he had been committed to Georgia for so long and he’s ranked as the third-best prospect in the entire class. That was a big fish that the Bulldogs did not want to lose.

Perry and Bertrand are highly-talented players as well, but there’s a sense that Georgia could have been looking elsewhere and could have players higher on the board at those positions. After those three decommitments, the Bulldogs currently sit with the ninth-best class in the country and fourth in the SEC behind Alabama, Texas A&M and LSU.

Is Georgia making a move for even better prospects and needed to open up some space in this recruiting class or is there something more to worry about for the Bulldogs heading into the early signing period?

“Georgia's recruiting hemorrhage last week was a mixed bag in terms of how serious it felt. Bertrand and Perry are both excellent players, but it was not a total shock to see them decide to reopen their process. Communication just wasn't as strong as it had once been, and this Georgia staff has moved on from other prospects already in this class (Rashad Cheney, Luke Griffin). These decommitments feel more impactful because they are from in-state prospects, but they're just part of the world of recruiting.

“The loss of Haselwood, however, was a bit more unexpected, and there are not many like him in the country to replace that impact. Some of the decision has to be attributed to Georgia's mixed success in the passing game, especially in terms of establishing a bona fide star at wideout. It's very effective for Georgia, but it's not been the most exciting thing to watch to this point.

"While the staff in Athens would figure out creative ways to get the ball into Haselwood's hands, it's not hard to see why he'd want somewhere with a proven track record of already doing so. Georgia isn't giving up the race, so they may still get the chance to show it.

“There's only one thing that this really makes certain - the pressure is back on Kirby and his staff to replace top-level players with more of the same, if not better. The staff has done it well to this point in their tenure, but they've got to be counting on keeping that streak up in 2019.”

“Haselwood is the one they really wanted and he’s the only one they would really be bothered by losing. The other two guys, especially Bertrand, were expected to be dropped. Perry seemed like a little bit of a surprise to me. I didn’t think they’d drop him.

“It wouldn’t surprise me at all if two of the guys - Perry and Bertrand - were two guys where they decided they wanted to fill other positions of need or maybe go after guys who are higher on their board at those positions.”