Alabama and Georgia Ready for Round 2 with 2019 Recruiting Classes

2nd -and-26. The play that will live on forever for Alabama Football fans. It’s the 2018 College Football National Championship. After being down 13–0 to Georgia at halftime, Alabama puts in Tua Tagovailoa, the 2nd string true freshman quarterback who helps to even the score and send the game into overtime. Georgia gets the ball first, manages an incredible 51-yard field-goal, then sacks Tagovailoa for a 16-yard loss after Alabama gets the ball. Things aren’t looking good for the Crimson Tide. But then, on the 2nd down, with 26 yards to gain, Tagovailoa flings an amazing 41-yard touchdown pass to fellow freshman Devonta Smith. WHAT. A. WIN. That is, if you’re an Alabama fan. Georgia fans likely didn’t take things as well.

So, how do you come back from that? Well, it probably starts by aiming for another number one recruiting class. After finishing the 2018 recruiting season off with 7 five-star players, 15 four-star, and 4 three-star players, and culminating the season with an appearance in the National Championship, Georgia surely had hopes to set themselves up well for the 2019 season. However, would Alabama’s comeback in the National Championship game return to haunt Georgia again come recruiting season?

247Sports reports on a variety of NCAA sports, with a focus on football and basketball. With this comes a ranking of each school’s recruiting rankings. Per their rankings, at the end of the day, Alabama managed to overcome Georgia again and rose to the top of the overall rankings, leaving Georgia with that now-familiar second place. While Georgia did manage to recruit two more 5-star players than Alabama, Alabama secured 3 more commits than Georgia, with all but one of the remaining players being a 4-star recruit.

A breakdown of player ratings in the graph above offers further insight into these rankings. This graph shows the number of 3,4, and 5-star players recruited by each school in 2019. These different player rankings can be differentiated by color, and hovering over the bars will provide more information. For comparison, the rest of the SEC schools can also be seen in the chart.