By: Drayton Hogarth

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

College football’s National Signing Day has come and gone yet again.

While it was the usual suspects with the highest class rankings in Alabama and Ohio State, the Georgia Bulldogs closed with the third ranked class.

Coach Kirby Smart’s first full recruiting class ended as the highest ranked class since the composite rankings have been in use. Let’s take a look at the pieces coming to Athens to play Between the Hedges.

On the offensive side of the ball the focus was on the offensive line. Coach Smart and offensive line coach Sam Pittman went to work, scoured the country and brought in six offensive linemen in this class.

It is quite a varied group with one common theme—they are big; included in the group are pound Isaiah Wilson from Brooklyn, New York, junior college D’Marcus Hayes, teammates Netori Johnson and Justin Schaffer out of Cedar Grove, Andrew Thomas, who was the best lineman at the Under Armour All American game, and of course Brunswick’s own, D’Antne Demery.

The man who will look to challenge returning starting quarterback, Jacob Eason, will be Jake Fromm from Houston County. Fromm was originally committed to Alabama last year, but once Smart was made the top Dawg, Fromm became a high priority.

Joining Fromm in the backfield, will be DeAndre Swift, a big time playmaking running back from Pennsylvania. Bulldog offensive coordinator, Jim Cheney showed his excitement about Swift, “I can’t wait to get him in here this summer and see what he can do.”

One area of major need was at the wide receiver spot, and Georgia brought in four that should possibly play right away in Jeremiah Holloman, Matt Landers, and Mark Webb. Webb coincidentally is also from Pennsylvania and is cousins with Swift. One other receiver in this class, Trey Blount, may be looking at a redshirt season.

Flipping over to the defensive side of the ball, the primary focus was to get bigger and faster in the secondary. Mission accomplished. Liberty County’s Richard LeCounte was the leader of this recruiting class and is an electric playmaker in the defensive backfield. DeAngelo Gibbs is the do everything player from Grayson and the top player in the state of Georgia. Tray Bishop played quarterback at Terrell County but will be a big physical cornerback in college. William Poole is a true cover corner and could thrive in the Smart/Tucker system.

The big surprise of signing day was the addition of corners who are big and fast in Ameer Speed, out of Jacksonville; he stands 6’3” 200 pounds but has legit 4.5 speed. Eric Stokes is a 6’ corner from Covington, Georgia, who also just so happens to be the fastest guy in Georgia. Latavious Brini is a 6’2” corner out of Hialeah, Florida, who was previously committed to Georgia last season but ended up back in the fold when it came down to signing day.

The linebacker group will get reinforced with the additions of inside linebackers, Monty Rice and Vidalia’s Nate McBride. Rice is the most-game ready player right now, and McBride is a freakish athlete. On the outside, Robert Beal, Walter Grant, and UGA legacy Jaden Hunter will provide athleticism from the edge.

While the defensive line group isn’t big in numbers, Malik Herring and Devonte Wyatt will provide depth in the rotation. The defensive line wasn’t quite as high of a priority given the number of big time defensive linemen that were brought to Athens in last season’s recruiting class.

When Kirby Smart became the head coach at Georgia he immediately noted where the Bulldogs needed to address to improve, “It is a line of scrimmage league, everybody knows that everybody said it, it’s critical to our success and I think that’s an area we got to improve. We’ve got to get bigger people if we want to be successful at Georgia, and we got to get more depth within the people we have.”

This class, along with last year, will go a long way toward getting Georgia on the right path to compete for championships.