Georgia coach Kirby Smart knows what opponents are saying about him and his program.

When schools pitch prospective prospects, Smart says that rival schools love to point out that Georgia is not going to pay top dollar for elite high school prospects.

The Bulldogs have missed out on a number of top targets of late. Last cycle saw 5-star quarterback Jared Curtis flip to Vanderbilt, while Texas Tech beat out Georgia for 5-star EDGE LaDamion Guyton. It’s hard to believe that finances didn’t play a part in losing those players to those non-traditional powers.

“I want you to earn it and work your way up,” Smart told Josh Pate in a recent sit-down interview. “People hear it all the time in recruiting, they want to use this as a negative to us.”

Some data shows that tactic is working. The Bulldogs signed the No. 6-ranked recruiting class this past cycle. That is a step down from where the Bulldogs have traditionally ranked under Smart. It was the first time since 2016, when Smart spent much of the recruiting cycle working as the defensive coordinator at Alabama, that the Bulldogs did not sign a recruiting class that ranked in the top 5.

Georgia’s 2026 recruiting class saw the Bulldogs sign only two top 50 overall prospects in the 247Sports Composite rankings in No. 36 Ekene Ogboko and No. 38 Kaiden Prothro. Last year’s recruiting class had the fewest top 50 recruits in any of Smart’s recruiting classes at Georgia.

As of publish time, Georgia already holds two top 50 commitments in the 2027 recruiting cycle in running back Kemon Spell (No. 6) and tight end Jaxon Dollar (No. 33). Georgia did see 5-star cornerback Donte Wright flip his commitment to Miami this weekend. Miami went above and beyond what Georgia was willing to pay last cycle to land 5-star offensive lineman Jackson Cantwell and it seems the Hurricanes have used the same tactic to win the services of Wright.

Smart very well knows this type of recruiting isn’t going anywhere. Each school is playing the same game when it comes to landing top targets.

The Georgia coach has to adapt how he builds out his program, unless he wants to experience the same fate of Clemson coach Dabo Swinney or former LSU coach Brian Kelly.

“We only need to find 25. We need to find 22,” Smart said. “And there’s thousands of them good enough out there. Like the difference in the top thousand players … I just need to find 22 that want to be here.”

Smart’s new goal is to keep the players he signs together. While Alabama, Texas and Ohio State all had 20-plus players transfer out of their programs this offseason, Georgia had only 12 members from last year’s roster depart Athens to play elsewhere.

That level of retention is helping age up Georgia. The Bulldogs have nine more players on their roster in 2026 who have spent at least three seasons in Athens compared to last season’s team.

Smart doesn’t want top prospects cycling out of the program after just one or two seasons because they’re disgruntled for whatever reason. Ohio State, USC and Auburn all had 2025 5-star prospects transfer out of their respective programs after just one season.

“We’ve been a much more developmental,” Smart said. “We’ve been a much more, hey, we think this guy’s a really good player and we feel comfortable paying him, but we don’t have to pay him the most money. And then he’s just going to get better by being in our program. And that’s a developmental route versus a purchase route.”

Smart acknowledges that recruiting rankings tend to be pretty accurate in terms of determining who has the kind of athletic traits that lead to a high draft slot in the NFL draft.

But Smart taps into some of the advantages a place like Georgia offers to find more gems than the average program. Georgia is a talent-rich state, as it produced the third-most draft picks in the 2026 NFL Draft (22) and the third-most blue-chip recruits (47) in the 2026 recruiting cycle.

Georgia did sign 24 blue-chip recruits in the 2026 recruiting class, tied with Notre Dame for the most of any school in the cycle. Based on how some of those prospects — Prothro, defensive back Tyriq Green — looked this spring, the Bulldogs seem to have had no issues landing prospects that can help

Smart understands how fast things change, especially on the recruiting front. The Bulldogs signed the No. 2 overall recruiting class in the 2023 recruiting cycle, the first after having won back-to-back national championships.

But 18 of the 26 signees from that class transferred out, including two 5-star prospects. What Smart thought he purchased with that class didn’t blossom as he hoped.

How the 2026 season plays out will go a long way in further shaping how Smart tends to us NIL to attract top talent. A deep playoff run, and possible national championship should give Smart further proof that his way absolutely works when it comes to team building.

Should Georgia fall short in a manner similar to the last two seasons, perhaps Smart tweaks his approach.

What likely won’t is those pitches against Georgia. Smart has worked in Athens long enough to know that when you’re at, or near, the top of the sports, you’ve got plenty of adversaries who are trying to knock you down.