Advertisement
football Edit

Take Two: Will Georgia make a run at Alabama's SEC dominance?

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.

MORE TAKE TWO: USC for Isaac Taylor-Stuart? | Georgia for Tyreke Johnson? | Is Ohio State offense back?

STORYLINE

Advertisement

Georgia had the top-rated recruiting class in the SEC East last recruiting cycle led by five-star quarterback Jake Fromm, who has earned the starting spot already and has helped take the Bulldogs into College Football Playoff contention.

Last week, Georgia secured the commitment of five-star quarterback Justin Fields, holding off Florida State, LSU, Auburn and others, and the Bulldogs are now well-positioned to become the first team in Rivals.com history dating back to 2002 to sign five-star quarterbacks in three-straight recruiting classes.

Ranked third in the SEC so far this recruiting cycle behind Tennessee and Florida surprisingly, Georgia is the only school in the conference with two five-star commitments so far in Fields and running back Zamir White.

With the Bulldogs recruiting so incredibly well and backing it up on the field - they’re undefeated, ranked fourth and outscoring opponents 35-10 this season - is Georgia shaping up to be the king of the SEC East for a while, and setting up an interesting rivalry with college football’s king, Alabama, for years to come?

Coach Kirby Smart learned under Alabama’s Nick Saban for years. Is it time for student to pass teacher and have Georgia as the SEC powerhouse in the future or will the Crimson Tide continue to dominate the conference for years to come?

FIRST TAKE: JAKE REUSE, UGASPORTS.COM

“There's no doubt that Georgia has grand designs of taking over the SEC, whether recruiting or otherwise, but the performance on the field and pulls of No. 1 dual-threat QB Justin Fields and No. 1 running back Zamir White on the trail prove it may be ahead of schedule on both ends. Can Georgia compete with Alabama in that regard? We shouldn't get ahead of ourselves there, as there's much to be accomplished in Athens before the comparisons should start to be made.

"It's no surprise that Kirby Smart has brought over Nick Saban's mold, but the student is not quite the master as of yet. Until Georgia begins winning like Alabama year-in and year-out and puts together classes like last year's on a regular basis, it will still be reaching for the SEC's standard. I'm not saying Georgia can't get there, but it is definitely not there yet. It's a good start, but the juggernaut that is the Tide wasn't built in a day. The Bulldogs won't be in two seasons, either.” – Reuse

SECOND TAKE: MIKE FARRELL, RIVALS.COM

“At least SEC divisional championships. Right now, Georgia is the strongest team by far in the SEC East and it’s pretty obvious it is going to get a big bump from Fields because he’s an in-state kid everybody knows and he’s going to be the charge on getting other kids to join him. But we don’t know when Nick Saban is going to stop his reign of terror.” – Farrell

Advertisement