Here’s a fun financial stat that reinforces Kirby’s belief that he ain’t gonna pay a lot for that freshman.
The TLDR version: Curtis (Vanderbilt), Cantwell (Miami), and TE recruit Mark Bowman (USC) passed on Georgia for greener pastures. Now I’d pay good money for a great offensive lineman, but color me timid to invest that much in a private school quarterback phenom (Jacob Eason, cough, cough) and position player that we are already five to six deep in. Whether Cantwell will have an instant impact remains to be seen, but if Kirby is investing his dollars in upperclassmen or guys he recruited, I’ll take the development over the off-chance that a true freshman takes the field and is as good as your seasoned vets on the field.
Or, you can invest in seasoned vets, a la Indiana…take your pick. But youth might not be the best ROI if you’re a coach, and given the relative few of them who played on Championship teams, I’m fine if we didn’t land these guys in Athens.
Let’s see how it plays out with our new RB recruit.
Paying for proven ability and work ethic sounds better than buying potential to me.
Trust your evaluation. Recruit for potential upside, pay for performance.
There is a reason so many guys from the 2024 and 2025 classes are still here. Kirby likes the core of what he has.
I’m with you guys, unless I knew UGA needed that elite OL to play as a freshman. In that case, I’d want Kirby to pony up.
I agree with you there. I don’t believe Gaston was a 5 star (unless he showed up there in the final rankings). I know Glover (ended up as a freshman All-American) wasn’t.
I’m guessing we put our best and final offer out to Cantwell and then said good luck.
I’m fine with this. No interest in kids (and these are kids) who jerk us around for over a year just to take the most money at the end regardless of circumstances. Good luck to them, but I would rather pay the guys who want to be here.
We’re not hearing the real sausage making. The contract demands are going far beyond money including housing, guest passes, private air travel for family to attend games, PWO offers to HS buddies and more. This is the “adults” pressing for these extras and as long as the trough is open the pigs and hogs will come. I suspect Kirby is saying no to a lot more than just NIL payments.
I saw a video yesterday with Brooks Austin (AKA the film guy) on Aaron Murray’s pod and they were talking about Dawgs 2026 prospects. One of the things discussed was that Indiana coach said that you can’t recruit 5 star players, pay them big bucks and then leave them on the bench. …..unless you’re Texas. They mentioned Justus Terry got over a mil from the Shorthorns and played about 35 snaps for the season! I’m far from panicked about being #6 in the HS recruiting rankings. After last year, I’m questioning how relevant that is anymore.
Waiting for those to surface, who would go to an institution/staff for the basic$ or nuthing at all…GO DAWGS!!
With a very few schools excepted, a running back getting a multi-million dollar NIL plus perks is going to get his wheels run off from Day 1.
I don’t see much of a flex here. Missing out on recruits because you got out bid isn’t really a positive. Miami was just in the national title game. Georgia hasn’t won a playoff game in 3 years. Maybe toss a few extra dollars in the direction of kids like this. It’s not my money. Missing out on Curtis dropped Georgia like 5 spots in the recruiting rankings.
I mentioned this on earlier thread. I taking a Moneyball approach to college football is relatively smart but will we continue to feel that way if say Curtis becomes a stud at Vandy, or Bowman shows near Bowers-like skills at USC or Cantwell anchors a Miami OL that bullies its way to playoff victories? Especially say if UT passes us in the conference.
FWIW … Eason was not a private school recruit. Lake Stevens is a public school but only serves grades 10-12.