Three early takeaways on Georgia football’s top-ranked 2024 recruiting class

Related: Nation’s No. 1 junior CB Ellis Robinson IV is a ‘Dawg’

Robinson became Georgia’s 10th public commitment in the class. By comparison, Georgia had just six commitments from the members of the 2023 signing class this time last year.

With the 2023 signing class mostly put to rest — 5-star tight end Duce Robinson is the only outstanding target still out there for Georgia — let’s go ahead and turn the page to next year’s class.

Which, for a variety of reasons, is shaping up to be another incredibly strong recruiting class for the Bulldogs.

Georgia football 2024 commitments

*All rankings via the On3 Consensus

Robinson is the highest-rated player in the class, but he’s not the only elite talent to have already pledged his services to Georgia.

Of the 10 commitments, eight rank among the top 100 overall prospects in the 2024 class.

The combination of prospects gives Georgia the No. 1 overall recruiting class for the 2024 cycle to this point. Surely there will be attrition when it comes to this class, but it’s still a very strong start for Georgia. The last cycle saw Georgia sign 12 players who ranked among the top 100 overall prospects. That was second most in the country, behind only Alabama.

Of those 12 prospects, only two came from the state of Georgia and one of them played his senior year at IMG Academy in Gabe Harris. Linebacker CJ Allen was the other.

The 2024 cycle appears to have a much stronger in-state crop of players, which should benefit Georgia.

Top 2024 Georgia recruiting prospects to know

The 2023 recruiting cycle was a down year for the Bulldogs when it came to in-state talent. Only four players found themselves ranked among the top 100 overall players in the class.

In the early stages of the 2024 cycle, that number is more than quadrupled, as 17 Georgia natives rank among the top 100 overall players in the 204 class.

Not helping matters in the state for Georgia last cycle was that the top three players all ended up leaving the state. 5-star safety Caleb Downs and 4-star running back Justice Haynes are off to Alabama, while 4-star defensive lineman Vic Burley is going to Clemson.

Burley was rated as the No. 72 overall player in the class but third in the state. By comparison, Zion Ragans is the No. 71 overall player in the 2024 recruiting cycle. He is the No. 14 player in the state for this cycle.

It’s an incredibly strong class, with wide receiver Mike Matthews, safety K.J. Bolden, linebacker Sammy Brown, edge rusher Eddrick Houston and Thomas already holding 5-star status.

Related: Sammy Brown: 5-star in-state LB explains why Georgia football is still very much on his mind

While Georgia will once again recruit nationally as it always does, there’s a much stronger base of talent in the 2024 class than there was in the 2023 cycle. Georgia had just six in-state signees in this past cycle, with the other 20 coming from outside the Peach State.

The 2023 class will also influence the way Georgia goes about recruiting the 2024 recruiting cycle. For starters, we’ve already seen Georgia take a quarterback prospect in Puglisi and Georgia might not be done at the position.

Georgia football 2024 recruiting cycle to rely heavily on offense

The 2023 cycle was loaded with defensive talent, as nine of the top 100 signees play on the defensive side of the ball. With Georgia signing three inside linebackers, three edge rushers and six defensive backs, you can see why the class skewed more to the defensive side of the ball.

Georgia will need to see some of those numbers shift back to the offensive side in 2024. Georgia already has a quarterback and two running back commitments for the cycle but it is going to try and add at both positions. Georgia sits in a good spot with Dylan Raiola and Jerrick Gibson, the respective No. 1 quarterback and running back for the cycle.

Related: Dylan Raiola: Why a ‘gold standard’ Georgia football program now has a strong chance with the nation’s No. 1 prospect

It also has two wide receiver commits in Carr and White, but Georgia is nowhere close to being done at the position. Landing Matthews would go a long way to adding some major talent to the room.

If there are two defensive positions to watch for this cycle, it would come at safety and the defensive line. Joenel Aguero was the only true safety prospect Georgia signed last cycle. The Bulldogs already have commitments from Woodyard and Heyward and would also love to add Bolden to the mix as well.

Georgia signed only two defensive linemen in the previous class and has four defensive linemen who will be seniors this year. Look for the Bulldogs to be aggressive in trying to land players who can clog the middle of the field.

The Bulldogs last signed the No. 1 overall class in the 2020 cycle. That class produced Jalen Carter, Broderick Jones, Kelee Ringo and others who helped Georgia win back-to-back national championships.

Georgia, with those championships as a selling point, is in a position to once again land the top class in the country for the 2024 recruiting cycle.

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