Psst. There’s no need to scroll down.

The grades are going to be over-the-top good. No matter what the half-empty crowd thinks about …..

  • D'Andre Swift and his family were clearly impresed by the turnout of the Georgia faithful at this year's spring game. (Jeff Sentell / AJC)
    D’Andre Swift wound up as one of the highest-rated recruits in Georgia’s National Signing Day haul. He was the No. 1 player in Pennsylvania this year. (Jeff Sentell / AJC)

    Closing with “only” a trio of 3-star cornerbacks

  • Missing out on 4-star DE Markaviest “Big Cat” Bryant and 5-star DT Aubrey Solomon
  • Not flipping 4-star South Carolina commit Jamyest Williams back to Athens

The grades just have to be pretty flippin’ good. Georgia totally reshaped the offensive line, receiver room and secondary with this year’s class. The Bulldogs also ….

  • Grabbed 3 of the Top 5 recruits in Georgia
  • That run extends out to 5 of the state’s Top 10 and 10 of the state’s Top 15 prospects
  • Signing a whopping 20 prospects which had a 4-star rating. The rest of the SEC signed 25 after Florida finished with 11.
  • Georgia also signed the No. 1 player in both New York and Pennsylvania in this class. That feat won’t likely be matched anytime soon.

Grading Georgia’s Class of 2017

Offense

  • QBs: 1
  • RBs: 1
  • OGs: 2
  • OTs: 4
  • WRs: 4
  • TEs: 0

Grade: A+

Big ups for: Landing future All-SEC talents in QB Jake Fromm and RB D’Andre Swift for the skill spots. Freshman WR J.J. Holloman looks like he can get on the field fast thanks to his size, skills and playmaking ability. The case can be made that the program’s haul in landing six OLs which rank among the nation’s Top 20 players at their position has never been matched in team history. Kirby Smart wasn’t happy with what the program signed at offensive tackle this year. That got fixed. The Bulldogs signed three All-Americans this year and their highest-rated overall recruit in this class was 5-star OT Isaiah Wilson.

Highest marks: 10 of the 12 signees on this side of the ball were rated as 4-star recruits. There are five signees here that rate among the nation’s Top 10 players at their position.

Picky picky: The Bulldogs clearly have a need at WR, but they failed to land a Top 10 or even a Top 15 receiver. Yes, we do realize that’s kicking the tires on a Ferrari here.

Defense:

  • DTs: 1
  • DEs: 2
  • ILBs: 2
  • OLBs: 2
  • CBs: 5
  • Ss: 2
  • Ps: 0

Grade: A

Big ups for: Georgia went out and got itself five cornerbacks and four linebackers this year. That’s to help out the back end. The safety class can hardly be matched in college football as the Bulldogs landed the nation’s No. 2 (Richard LeCounte III) and No. 4 rated players (DeAngelo Gibbs) at that position.

Highest marks: 10 of the 14 signees on this side of the ball were rated as 4-star recruits. There are also another six signees here which rate among the nation’s Top 10 players at their position. Georgia signed nine defensive players in 2017 which round up rating among the nation’s Top 200 overall prospects.

Picky picky: The Bulldogs missed on three major targets on National Signing Day. Those blue chips all played defense. The cornerback trio that did choose UGA on Wednesday then feels a little less satisfying given those conditions. Each one of those guys became one of the five lowest-rated players the Bulldogs signed this year. That’s a blanket statement, but it did seriously dampen the fireworks on National Signing Day.

 

Overall grade: A+

Rationale: This is the highest-rated recruiting class for Georgia in at least a decade and it is the first time that the Bulldogs have ever topped the 300-point mark in the 247Sports team composite rating. The case can be made this is the best class UGA has ever signed in the modern recruiting era.