What Tank Bigsby’s college decision means for Georgia’s 2020 running back recruiting
On July 29, Georgia landed a commitment from 5-star running back Kendall Milton. During an interview following his commitment, Milton said Georgia was still trying to land a second running back in the 2020 recruiting class.
The two running backs Milton mentioned by named were 4-star prospect Tank Bigsby and 5-star Zachary Evans.
Bigsby, from Hogansville, Ga., made his commitment on Friday. It was not to the Georgia Bulldogs, but rather the Auburn Tigers.
Bigsby was rated as the No. 7 running back prospect in the 2020 class and the No. 31 prospect overall by the 247Sports Composite. Given that he is in-state prospect, a number of Georgia fans wanted to see Bigsby end up in the class, to pair with Milton.
That’s no longer on the table, given Bigsby’s pledge to Auburn.
As for where Georgia goes next, the Bulldogs are now squarely in the Evans game.
Related: The No. 1 RB prospect or a ‘Tank’ in Athens? Kendall Milton shares his view on that
Georgia was one of the five finalists that Evans tweeted out back in May. Since that announcement, he’s also taken another visit to Georgia, as the Houston based running back was at Georgia in the last week in July. That visit was an unofficial visit, meaning he’s still got another potential visit to Georgia to take.
Evans is a higher ranked running back than Bigsby. In fact, he’s the highest-ranked running back in the class and the No. 6 overall prospect in the 2020 recruiting class.
Bigsby picked Auburn over South Carolina, Georgia and LSU. Landing Evans will require Georgia to beat out the likes of Alabama, LSU and Texas A&M to land the Texas running back.
Alabama does have a commitment from one of Evans’ high school teammates in 3-star offensive tackle Damian George. He would be the lowest-rated offensive line commitment in Georgia’s 2020 recruiting class, which is made up of three 4-star prospects and a 5-star prospect in Broderick Jones.
One of those commitments is Texan Chad Lindberg, who committed to Georgia the day before Milton did. The Bulldogs also have another commitment from a Texas prospect in 4-star cornerback Jalen Kimber.
Related: Elite Georgia CB commit Jalen Kimber wants to play with 5-star Kelee Ringo
Evans recruitment is expected to last a good while longer, as he has not hinted that a possible decision is close.
When Milton spoke following his announcement, he indicated that there was a chance that neither Bigsby or Evans ends up in the class.
“What’s best for me might not be what’s best for Tank or what’s best for Zach,” Milton said. “At the end of the day, whatever is their best decision – whatever God wants them to be – then they should take that opportunity. But if that’s Georgia, then both of them — Tank and Zach — they both have similar running styles. Both built backs. Playing with one of those backs, it wouldn’t be any sort of a dropoff if we were playing together. It would sort of be a one-two punch type of thing.”
It’s also important to consider Milton is very much committed to Georgia. He’s the No. 4 running back in the class and the No. 22 overall prospect class. Milton has also been a very vocal recruiter for Georgia since his commitment went public. One name he’s been very involved with his 5-star cornerback Elias Ricks, who is committed to LSU.
Related: Kendall Milton and his family explain why Georgia was the perfect fit for 5-star RB
Part of the reason Georgia is pushing to land a second talented running back in this class is that Georgia could see two running backs depart from the team after this season. Brian Herrien will exhaust his eligibility, while D’Andre Swift could also declare for the 2020 NFL Draft.
If those two leave, Georgia will still have Zamir White, James Cook and Kenny McIntosh at the position.
Milton was the most recent commitment to Georgia. The Bulldogs have the No. 5 overall recruiting class with 16 commitments. Every team above Georgia in the rankings has at least 19 commitments.
For more on where things stand with Georgia’s running back recruiting, here is what Jeff Sentell had to say about the running back position for the class of 2020.
More Georgia recruiting stories from around DawgNation
- 2020 vision: 5-star class leader Mekhail Sherman is still working hard for UGA
- How Dell McGee has made Georgia’s claim to ‘RBU’ even stronger
- College football is becoming a Superteam sport and Georgia is trying to keep up
- 4 things on Georgia’s star-studded running back stable entering fall camp
- Nation’s No. 1 RB Zach Evans takes the 5-star count up to 10 for weekend recruiting event
- History shows landing 2 elite running backs a real possibility for Georgia football
