UGA and Alabama recruit and sign the top talent in the country. The two border states compete with one another for the nation’s elite players so it is only natural that each roster would contain significant recruiting “wins” for each program.

UGA has players that Alabama wanted. The inverse also applies. The bigger chore would be looking at both starting lineups and finding a player who wasn’t offered by both teams. That doesn’t happen all that often.

That said, which players stand out as the biggest head-to-head recruiting wins for each school? Here’s a list of eight former recruits that each school wanted who will loom large in Saturday’s game.

 

  1. Alabama RB Derrick Henry (Yulee, FL)

High school rating: 5 star

Why: The 6-foot-3, 242-pound Henry was about that same size in high school when he demolished a long-standing rushing record with 12,124 career yards, including 4,261 yards and 55 touchdowns as a senior in 2012. 

It is impossible to forget he was committed to UGA for a long time, before bolting to Alabama. The natural question is this: What would’ve happened with Nick Chubb and Sony Michel had Henry never wavered from UGA?

That’s a mind-blowing question. Chubb didn’t have a major scholarship offer until after his junior season. He likely would’ve still signed with UGA. Michel is another story. Would he have wanted to have been a part of a backfield last year with Todd Gurley, Derrick Henry and Keith Marshall already on campus? 

The ramifications of that decision would have radically altered the outlook on this game.

 

  1. UGA LB Jordan Jenkins (Hamilton, Ga.)

High school rating: 5 star

Why: Jenkins spoke candidly this week about how much he loved Alabama and lead recruiter Kirby Smart. Smart’s the defensive coordinator at Alabama this week.

Both schools went hard after the nation’s No. 4 weak-side defensive end and the Crimson Tide held an early lead. But UGA closed with a late push and the opportunity to play right away.

Alabama and Florida were his leaders, but former UGA and former defensive coordinator Todd Grantham closed him based on his NFL experience.

 

  1. Alabama RB Kenyan Drake (Powder Springs, GA)

High school rating: 4 stars

Why: Drake was rated the nation’s No. 5 all-purpose back coming out of his school in 2012 and he grew up a big fan of UGA. That offer wasn’t one of his first and one can’t help but wonder what might have happened had UGA been a little quicker on the trigger.

The question keeps coming up: What would UGA’s talented backfield look like this week if things had worked out differently in Drake and Henry’s recruitment coming out of high school?

  1. UGA WR Malcolm Mitchell (Valdosta, Ga.)

High school rating: 4 star

Why: Mitchell and UGA senior tight end Jay Rome both chose the Bulldogs on the same day and were a part of the “Dream Team” class in 2011. Mitchell said at the time that Alabama led for him basically the whole way, but his decision started to turn toward UGA after his official visit.

Alabama’s cup has seemingly runneth over with talented receivers over the last few years and it has a lot of young talent on its roster, too. UGA fans would shudder to think how the receiver spot would look right now if Mitchell would have decided to roll with the Tide. He is the team’s No. 1 receiver and the gap between his spot and the next-best wideout on the team is rather large.

The 4-star recruit was actually projected to play cornerback at UGA coming out of high school. That’s also where he started out at UGA. He was rated the nation’s No. 2 athlete at the time.

 

  1. UGA QB Greyson Lambert (Jesup, Ga.)

High school rating: 4 stars

Why: This situation is unique because neither school landed Lambert coming out of high school. Both offered, but eventually settled on different guys. Folks around Jesup still reminisce over the Alabama plane landing and bringing Nick Saban to town to recruit Lambert.

He eventually signed with Virginia and earned and then lost his starting spot there. He’s a graduate transfer at UGA now and the way he’s played of late is probably the biggest difference between the offenses of both teams at this point.

Lambert was rated the nation’s No. 8 pro-style passer coming out of high school in 2012

  1. Alabama LB Dillon Lee (Buford, Ga.)

High school rating: 4 stars

Why: Lee’s an interesting case in that his older brother, Dallas, played at UGA. Yet he seemingly always expressed an affinity to go his own way at the next level. He was rated as the nation’s No. 9 OLB prospect coming out of high school.

UGA didn’t help matters by recruiting him in the early going as a tight end. Lee preferred to play linebacker in college and Alabama certainly accommodated him with that. The 6-foot-4, 242-pounder has a chance to earn another win against his home state school this week.

 

  1. UGA DB Rico McGraw (Nashville, TN)

High school rating: 4 star

Why: McGraw hopes to return back from a knee injury this week and he’s likely a game-time decision. Yet his recruiting story is still significant. He’d have to be the most publicized “win” for UGA in a head-to-head recruiting battle with Alabama.

McGraw flipped from UGA to Alabama in July 2014, seven months after initially pledging to UGA. He de-committed from Alabama a week before signing day, and UGA won because defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt hunkered down to and never stopped recruiting him to earn his signature on scholarship papers.

McGraw showed he was worth it by earning a first-team sport on the depth chart to open the season. He was rated the No. 20 cornerback in the country coming out of high school.

 

  1. UGA QB Brice Ramsey (Kingsland, Ga.)

High school rating:  4 stars

Why: Ramsey actually committed to UGA with Henry on Dawg Night in 2011 and never wavered. That’s despite some publicized attention from Alabama and head coach Nick Saban even while he was committed to UGA. Saban was not able to flip the nation’s No. 6 passer coming out of high school in 2013.

What would each quarterback situation look like this week if Ramsay also pulled a “Derrick Henry” and flipped from UGA to Alabama?

 

 

Jeff Sentell covers UGA recruiting for AJC.com and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Follow him on Twitter for the latest on who’s on their way to play Between the Hedges.