Wednesday kicked off the Early Signing Period for the 2020 recruiting class, which will go through Friday, December 20th, and Early Signing Day did not disappoint. The University of Georgia picked up three new commitments and 17 of their 19 verbal commits in the class signed their National Letters of Intent (NLIs or LOIs) with the Bulldogs.
And UGA is not done yet.
During Wednesday afternoon’s Sugar Bowl and Early Signing Press Conference, head coach Kirby Smart talked about the class of 2020 signees and what they mean to the University and football program.
“Next thing would be Signing Day today, which is kind of a weird timing for everything because we’ve still got the February signing date coming up, but we were able to address a lot of our needs today,” said Kirby. “I really feel like, when you talk about wide receiver and you talk about offensive line, what we’ve got leaving and what we need on our roster, we were able to attack some of those areas and still have work left to be done hopefully in both those areas.”
The Bulldogs entered Wednesday with two wide receivers committed for 2020, St. Thomas Aquinas’ Marcus Rosemy and ELCA’s Justin Robinson, who both signed and turned their LOIs before 11 a.m. UGA then added Lakeland High School’s Arian Smith shortly after 1:00 p.m. ET and Smith had his LOI in not long after. The Dawgs weren’t done and added a fourth receiver to the class, flipping former LSU commit Jermaine Burton from the Tigers at around 3:45 p.m. Burton also signed and turned in his LOI that afternoon.
UGA also signed four of their six offensive line commits on Wednesday. Chad Lindberg, Tate Ratledge, and Devin Willock all had their LOIs in by 11 a.m., and former North Carolina State commit Austin Blanske, out of South Effingham High School in Guyton, GA, announced his decision to commit to and signed with the Bulldogs. Georgia’s two other o-line commits that did not sign Wednesday, Broderick Jones and Sedrick Van Pran, are planning on waiting to sign on National Signing Day, Wednesday, February 5, 2020.
Kirby went on to add:
“We’ve got a really good strong group. We’ve got some really strong academic kids, which matters a lot to me at this university, and some great competitors. A couple guys, I think four guys played for state championships. Two guys won state championships. I’m really excited about this class. It’s not completely done yet, but obviously, a lot of the pieces are in place. With that, I’ll open it up.”
If there is room on the roster to do so, the NCAA mandates a maximum allowed 85 scholarships for Division 1 FBS football teams, UGA could potentially take 25 signees in the 2020 recruiting class. That would mean the Dawgs could possibly add 8 more prospects either over the next couple of days or during the next allotted signing period in February. It also means Georgia could have room to take on transfers from other programs. As Kirby said, while he and his staff addressed a lot of UGA’s needs, they still have work to do.
Below is a list of 2020 UGA football signees and commits.
UGA FOOTBALL 2020 RECRUITING CLASS:
SIGNED (17)
Carson Beck | 4-star QB | 6-foot-4 | 225 lbs | Mandarin HS, Jacksonville, FL
Austin Blaske | 3-star OL | 6-foot-5 | 278 lbs | South Effingham HS, Guyton, GA
Warren Brinson | 4-star DT | 6-foot-4 | 305 lbs | IMG Academy, Bradenton, FL
Major Burns | 4-star S | 6-foot-2 | 175 lbs | Madison Prep Academy, Baton Rouge, LA
Jermaine Burton | 4-star WR | 6-foot-1 | 190 lbs | Calabasas HS, Calabasas, CA
Jalen Carter | 4-star DT | 6-foot-4 | 305 lbs | Apopka HS, Apopka, FL
Jalen Kimber | 4-star CB | 6-foot-0 | 170 lbs | Mansfield Timberview HS, Arlington, TX
Chad Lindberg | 4-star OL | 6-foot-6 | 315 lbs | Clear Creek HS, League City, TX
Kendall Milton | 5-star RB | 6-foot-1 | 220 lbs | Buchanan High School, Clovis, CA
Tate Ratledge | 4-star OL | 6-foot-6 | 322 lbs | Darlington School, Rome, GA
Justin Robinson | 4-star WR | 6-foot-4 | 205 lbs | Eagle’s Landing Christian, Mcdonough, GA
Marcus Rosemy | 4-star WR | 6-foot-3 | 195 lbs |St. Thomas Aquinas HS, Fort Lauderdale, FL
Mekhail Sherman | 5-star OLB | 6-foot-2 | 235 lbs | St. John’s College HS, Washington D.C.
Arian Smith | 4-star WR | 6-foot-2 | 180 lbs | Lakeland HS, Lakeland, FL
Nazir Stackhouse | 4-star DT | 6-foot-3 | 305 lbs | Columbia, HS, Decatur, GA
David Willock | 3-star OL | 6-foot-7 | 330 lbs | Paramus Catholic HS, Paramus, NJ
Jared Zirkle | 3-star K |6-foot-3 | 190 lbs | Tivy High School, Kerrville, TX
COMMITTED (2)
Broderick Jones | 5-star OL | 6-foot-5 | 275 lbs | Lithonia HS, Lithonia, GA
Sedrick Van Pran | 4-star OL | 6-foot-4 | 305 lbs | Warren Easton HS, New Orleans, LA