In college football, perception is everything. One minute, you’re the king of the sport, hoisting national championship trophies and stacking recruiting classes like bricks in a dynasty. We are talking about a Georgia Bulldogs football head coach who agreed to a 10-year, $130 million contract last May, making him the highest-paid coach in the sport. Still, it was a busy week for Kirby Smart. The former Alabama (DC) came to Athens in 2016, spending the last week of the winter contact period visiting a boatload of Bulldog targets. Finishing the 2024 season 11-3 after the Sugar Bowl loss to Notre Dame.
Smart’s travels took him across multiple states as he worked to see as many prospects as he could. He spent the final week on a relentless recruiting blitz, UGASports looks at which prospects received a visit from Smart over the past week. Visiting 24 prospects across multiple states in just seven days. This wasn’t just a routine scouting trip—it was a high-stakes, high-speed mission to ensure that Georgia’s future remains as dominant as its past. Welcome to the week in the life of a 2x back-to-back natty winner coach. For the Dawg Nation, a drop-off isn’t an option, and Smart knows it.
The Bulldogs already boast a recruiting haul that most programs would envy. Ranked No. 2 nationally and in the SEC by 247Sports, Texas taking the No. 1 spot. Georgia has amassed 34 commits, including three five-stars and 23 four-stars. But for Smart, the work is never done. One of his biggest priorities this week was securing a commitment from a generational talent in the trenches. Standing at 6-foot-8 and 300 pounds, Nixa High School offensive lineman Jackson Cantwell is the No. 1 prospect in the 2026 class, and Georgia isn’t alone in chasing him.