Good morning DawgNation. Congratulations are in order. You made it to what should serve as the biggest single recruiting day for Georgia football in 2018.

Welcome to the first day of the early signing period for 2018-2019. It should be quite the day.

Can the Bulldogs vault past Alabama to defend their 2018 mythical national recruiting rankings team title? Or will Alabama still be No. 1 overall after the events of the day?

The Bulldogs, who already hold commitments from a quartet of players with a 5-star rating, can still push their 5-star tally up to eight prospects before the end of this year’s cycle. That means there is a lot to track both today and through the six weeks to come until the traditional signing day on Feb. 6.

Just how big could the day be? Despite that number of 5-star commits in hand, the 2019 class could possibly add signed letters-of-intent or financial aid forms from four more of the nation’s top 20 prospects.

The ideal close for the Bulldogs would be to see them net a haul which includes five of the nation’s top 20 prospects. The number extends out to seven of the nation’s top 38 prospects.

It appears there is quite the chase to see which current commit can send their letter-of-intent in first.

A few more prospects might sign as early as 7 a.m. as listed here but will ask UGA to hold the release of their letters until their official signing ceremonies later in the day.

Does that sound like a lot to keep track of? Well, it gets easier with this handy reference guide to all the times the Bulldog commits and top targets are set to sign today.

Here are the approximate times we expect all of this to go down:

UGA commits (13)

(all times EST)

(with their latest 247Sports composite ranking)

  • Nolan Smith/5-star OLB/Nation’s No. 1 overall prospect*: TBD (Expected to be very early)
  • Dominick Blaylock/5-star WR/Nation’s No. 90 overall prospect: 7 AM
  • Ryland Goede/4-star TE/Nation’s No. 196 overall prospect*: 7:45 AM
  • Makiya Tongue/4-star ATH/Nation’s No. 209 overall prospect: 8 AM
  • Rian Davis/4-star OLB/Nation’s No. 4 OLB*: 9 AM
  • Lewis Cine/4-star S/Nation’s No. 66 overall prospect*: 11 AM
  • Warren McClendon/4-star OT/Nation’s No. 235 overall prospect*: 11:20 AM
  • Zion Logue/4-star DE/Nation’s No. 344 overall prospect: 12 PM
  • Trezman Marshall/4-star LB/Nation’s No. 122 overall prospect*: 12 PM
  • Bill Norton/4-star DE/Nation’s No. 129 overall prospect: 2 PM
  • Xavier Truss/4-star OT/Nation’s No. 139 overall prospect: 2 PM
  • Travon Walker/5-star DT/Nation’s No. 24 overall prospect: Set to sign at 2:30 PM
  • Tymon Mitchell/3-star DT/Nation’s No. 418 overall prospect: Did not respond with a scheduled time

Already on campus and practicing with the team (4)

  • Clay Webb/5-star OL/Nation’s No. 22 overall prospect*
  • Jermaine Johnson/4-star OLB/Nation’s No. 1 overall junior college prospect*
  • D.J. Daniel/4-star CB/Nation’s No. 6 overall junior college prospect *
  • Tramel Walthour/3-star DT/Nation’s No. 40 overall junior college prospect*

Does not plan to sign during the early period (2)

*-Indicates a prospect who intends to enroll early

Major UGA targets (7)

  • Jadon Haselwood/5-star WR/Nation’s No. 6 overall prospect*: Signs today but will announce on Jan. 5
  • Tyrique Stevenson/4-star CB/Nation’s No. 38 overall prospect*: Signs at 9:15 A.M. but will announce on Jan. 5
  • Zach Calzada/3-star QB/Texas A&M commit/Nation’s No. 476 overall prospect*: 9:30 AM
  • Trey Sanders/5-star RB/Nation’s No. 5 overall prospect*: 1 PM on ESPNU
  • Nakobe Dean/5-star ILB/Nation’s No. 14 overall prospect*: 2:20 PM on ESPNU
  • Evan Neal/5-star OT/Nation’s No. 20 overall prospect*: 2:30 PM on ESPNU
  • Dillon Gabriel/3-star QB/Nation’s No. 1190 overall prospect*: 6:30 PM

Keep an eye on: 

National Signing Day Decisions:

  • Darnell Wright/5-star OT/Nation’s No. 10 overall prospect: Will decide on Feb. 6
  • Kaiir Elam/4-star CB/Nation’s No. 61 overall prospect: Will decide on Feb. 6

Key head-to-head battles with Alabama

Georgia is chasing Alabama for the nation’s No. 1 class on the 247Sports Team composite rankings this year. It seems likely that the Bulldogs will not be able to sign as many players as the Crimson Tide can this year.

That’s due in part to the fact that Alabama did not sign a full class last year. The Bulldogs can still make it a close race all the way to the traditional signing day by notching wins in head-to-head battles for the following prospects:

  • 5-star RB Trey Sanders (undecided)
  • 5-star ILB Nakobe Dean (undecided)
  • 5-star OT Evan Neal (undecided)
  • 3-star K Will Reichard (Nation’s No. 1 K and current Alabama commit)