ATHENS — Landing KJ Bolden on Wednesday was big for a number of reasons for Kirby Smart. Not only did his commitment and eventual signature give Georgia the No. 1 safety in the country, it also meant that Georgia landed the No. 1 ranked player in the state of Georgia.

Smart, for as well as he has recruited at Georgia, has only done that twice. The other time came in 2021, when the Bulldogs signed Amarius Mims. For comparison, Georgia has signed the No. 1 overall recruiting class more often than it has landed the top player in Georgia.

Bolden’s commitment gives Georgia nine players in the 2024 recruiting class who played their high school football in the state of Georgia. Only Georgia Tech signed more Peach State products among Power 5 schools, with 11.

“I love getting kids from the state of Georgia. If I could sign every kid from the state of Georgia, I would love to do that. That would be great,” Smart said. “That’s not realistic. It’s just not. Some years our state provides us speed, athleticism. Some years it supplies us size. Some years it doesn’t have a good — I don’t know what the right word is — it doesn’t have maybe a sample size of that position, so you’ve gotta go search outside of that.”

To Smart’s point, Georgia signed just six players from the state in the 2023 cycle. It was not as deep a class, especially at the top of the prospect rankings. There were just four prospects ranked as top 100 overall players last cycle. In 2024, that number jumped to 14.

Georgia landed just two of those top 14 players, with Demello Jones joining Bolden in the secondary. But because Georgia is such a deep and talented state, the Bulldogs still landed blue-chip prospects in Daniel Calhoun, Nasir Johnson and Dwight Phillips Jr.

“Dwight’s completely different all together. He’s got a very unique skillset, very elite skillset,” Smart said. “How we use him will be very important. He’s not just a normal back. He can do a lot of things. He can create a lot of matchup nightmares. We don’t think he’s even seen his full potential.”

While some may wish that Georgia did a better job of keeping top talent home, it’s hard to argue against the way Georgia has recruited of late. Georgia signed the No. 1 overall player in Tennessee, New Jersey and Virginia and pulled players from California, Connecticut and Illinois.

When the Bulldogs missed out on Jefferson, Ga., product Sammy Brown, it went into Texas to land 5-star prospect Justin Williams. Georgia recruiting as well as it does nationally has time and time again shown it can help make up for not signing a class full of Georgia players.

“Extremely high character. I mean, Justin, I have not been around many kids in a meeting like Justin Williams,” Smart said. “This kid had everybody in the country recruiting him, throwing things at him and doing all kinds of stuff, and he never blinked. He was like, ‘I’m coming to Georgia. I want to be a linebacker at Georgia. This is my plan.’ Very intentional about everything. And his GPA’s above a 4.0. I mean, just incredible.”

One only needs to look at the current Georgia team to see how the Georgia philosophy works. Brock Bowers, from California, and Sedrick Van Pran, out of Louisiana, were important leaders. As were Ladd McConkey, of Chatsworth, Ga., and Javon Bullard, Milledgeville, Ga.

“So we know what we’ve gotta go out and look for outside that. We don’t look at where you’re from,” Smart said. “We look at who you are, how you compete, how you behave when you’re here, what do people say about you, and what your makeup is. That’s it, and I really could care less if they’re No. 1 in their state or No. 2 in their state. I care a whole lot more about how they behave when they get here and do they buy into our culture. I don’t think the rankings matter. I just really don’t think they matter.”

Georgia football 2024 signees from the state of Georgia

*All rankings via the On3 Industry rankings

• KJ Bolden, 5-star safety, Buford High School, Buford, Ga., No. 13 overall player, No. 1 safety, No. 1 player in Georgia/Early enrollee/What Georgia football is getting in KJ Bolden
• Demello Jones: 4-star cornerback/Swainsboro High School/Swainsboro, Ga.,/No. 66 overall player/No. 8 cornerback/No. 10 player in Georgia/Early enrollee/What Georgia football is getting in 4-star cornerback Demello Jones
• Nasir Johnson: 4-star defensive lineman/Dublin High School/Dublin, Ga.,/No. 112 overall player/No. 13 defensive lineman/No. 16 player in Georgia
• Daniel Calhoun: 4-star interior offensive lineman/Walton High School/ Roswell, Ga.,/No. 128 overall player/No. 6 IOL/No. 16 player in Georgia/Early enrollee
• Justin Greene: 4-star defensive lineman/Mountain View High School/Lawrenceville, Ga./No. 164 overall player/No. 21 defensive lineman/No. 22 player in Georgia
• Dwight Phillips: 4-star running back/Pebblebrook High School/Mableton, Ga.,/No. 206 overall player/No. 15 running back/No. 24 player in Georgia
• Quintavius Johnson: 3-star defensive lineman/Mays High School/Atlanta, Ga.,/No. 402 overall player/No. 40 defensive lineman/No. 47 player in Georgia/Early enrollee
• Sacovie White: 3-star wide receiver/Cass High School/Cartersville, Ga.,/No. 513 overall player/No. 81 wide receiver/No. 61 player in Georgia/Early enrollee
• Malachi Toliver: 3-star offensive tackle/Cartersville High School/Cartersville, Ga.,/No. 1209 overall player/No. 80 offensive tackle/No. 142 player in Georgia/Early enrollee