People come and go. That phrase pretty much sums up every major college football recruiting headline. Recruits say they’re “committed” to one place but then flip on a moment’s notice to another program with what feels like little to no remorse for dishonoring their “commitment.” That aforementioned phrase does a decent job describing Georgia’s efforts on the recruiting trail this year– more so than in year’s past. 

Georgia’s gotten close to earring a couple of guys’ commitments in the past, but as of late it’s not like anyone’s had a major flip to or from Georgia. The most recent big-time almost-commits were now Alabama running back Justice Haynes and Texas quarterback Arch Manning. I will say that those stories were still pretty tame: a lot of people thought they’d go to Georgia, but they just didn’t. One thing’s for sure, and it’s that they fail in comparison to trials and tribulations that the Dawgs have gone through during this year’s National Signing Day.

Other than Coach Kirby Smart and his recruiting staff signing all twenty-seven of their verbally committed recruits before half past noon and five-star quarterback Dylan Raiola decommitting earlier in the week, it was thought that NSD was about wrapped up for the Dawgs. That was until one o’clock in the afternoon rolled around.

Georgia’s NSD was all about the last minute addition of five-star safety K.J. Bolden out off Buford High School, just down the road from Athens. Bolden was a major Georgia lean–and was considered by some to be a lock for the Red and Black– before his commitment to Florida State back in early August. But the story doesn’t end there. Georgia and Auburn both continued to pursue the highly-coveted defensive back to the point where most knew that regardless of his decision to come NSD, Bolden wasn’t going to be playing with the Seminoles. 

Bolden’s coach, Bryant Appling, made the announcement for him around 1:20 pm yesterday during Buford’s signing day ceremony, and his letter of intent was signed and submitted later in the afternoon adding to Smart’s star-studded squad.

“I love getting kids from the state of Georgia. If I could sign every kid from the state of Georgia– I would do that,” Smart said at his Signing Day Presser yesterday– of course he admitted it’s that’s not how the real world worlds, but a coach can dream.

Thankfully, Georgia landed one of the guys from Buford– a place that’s given Georgia fans a couple of nightmares in the past. That school alone had three five-stars in the 2024 class which makes up about half of all the five-stars in Georgia depending on what recruiting site you reference. Needless to say, right in the final hour, Georgia sunk a buzzer beater and signed a young man that’ll add to their already number-one-ranked recruiting class.