Georgia Football Recruits: Only 23.8% of Commits Stay Home

David Jacobs Jalen Brewster Xavier Griffin Casey Barner LaDamion Guyton

Georgia has 698 football recruits in the 2026, 2027 and 2028 classes in the PrepRanks database, and 555 of them have committed. Of those 555, 132 chose a Georgia college, an in-state retention rate of 23.8%. Of the ten five-stars, seven have committed as of October 16, 2026. Four of them are in the 2026 class and are already on college rosters, and one of those four plays for Georgia.

The state produces more football recruits than almost anywhere in the data, and the best of them leave. What stays is a large group of mid-tier commits spread across five in-state programs. The 2026 class has signed and mostly enrolled, the 2027 class has committed but not signed, and the 2028 class is almost entirely uncommitted, so the three classes are at different stages.

Class sizes and ratings

The 698 recruits split into 295 in the class of 2026, 283 in 2027 and 120 in 2028. The average PrepRanks Score is 67.3 out of 100. Eighty-five carry four or five stars: 10 five-stars and 75 four-stars. A PrepRanks star rating comes from the composite of the major recruiting services plus an elite recognition bonus, explained on the methodology page.

Three-stars are the largest rated group at 320 recruits, followed by 271 two-stars. The commitment rate across the three classes is 79.5%, so the in-state figure below describes a mostly decided group.

The top ten by PrepRanks Score

Every one of the top ten is a five-star. David Jacobs, an edge rusher at Blessed Trinity Catholic, and Jalen Brewster, a defensive lineman at Buford, both score 100.0. Jacobs has committed to Ohio State and Brewster to Texas Tech.

Three of the ten are uncommitted: Barner, Che and Davis, all in the 2028 class. The four 2026 five-stars (Griffin, Guyton, Prothro and Atkinson) have signed and enrolled.

Where the top players went

Kaiden Prothro, a tight end at Bowdon, is the one five-star who stayed home, and he is already on the roster of the Georgia Bulldogs. The other three five-stars from the 2026 class enrolled elsewhere: Xavier Griffin at Alabama, LaDamion Guyton at Texas Tech and Tyler Atkinson at Texas.

The 2027 five-stars have committed but have not signed. Jalen Brewster is committed to Texas Tech, David Jacobs to Ohio State and Kamarui Dorsey to Texas A&M. Across all seven committed five-stars, Texas programs hold four: Texas Tech has two, and Texas A&M and Texas have one each.

The next five are four-stars with scores from 91.0 to 89.1. Bryce Perry-Wright, an edge rusher at Buford, is 11th at 91.0 and enrolled at Texas A&M in the 2026 class. Brayden Rouse, a linebacker at Kell, is 12th at 90.9 and enrolled at Tennessee, also from 2026. Jai'lil Goley, a 2028 cornerback at Gainesville, is 13th at 90.4 and uncommitted. K.J. Green, a 2027 edge rusher at Stephenson, is 14th at 90.3 and committed to LSU. Xevien Brinson, a 2028 tight end at Stephenson, is 15th at 89.1 and uncommitted.

Across the top 15, ten players have committed and one of them, Prothro, chose a Georgia school. The pattern holds below the five-star line: the state's best players leave and the in-state programs sign the next tier.

The ten five-stars come from ten different schools: Blessed Trinity Catholic, Buford, Gainesville, McEachern, Benedictine Military School, Hampton, Bowdon, Thomas County Central, Cartersville and Grayson. No school has two. Georgia's elite players are spread across the state and not collected at a few programs, which is different from states where a handful of academies hold most of the top names.

The four-stars show a little more concentration. Of the five four-stars ranked 11th through 15th, Gainesville, Buford, Kell and Stephenson appear, and Stephenson has two of them, Green and Brinson.

Which schools produce the recruits

Buford has the most recruits in the state at 29, followed by Grayson at 27 and Gainesville at 19. Douglas County, Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School and Thomas County Central have 16 each, and McEachern and Carrollton have 15 each.

Quality does not track volume. Gainesville has 19 recruits and the highest average of the three largest schools at 3.1 stars, and it has two of the top 15 by score in Griffin and Goley. Buford has 29 and the same 2.9 average as Grayson, but it places two players in the top 15, Brewster and Perry-Wright.

Where the commitments go

The in-state colleges take most of the volume. The five Georgia programs that appear in the top ten destinations account for all 132 in-state commits.

Georgia is the only in-state program that averages above 3 stars, at 3.3. Georgia State averages 2.1 and Georgia Southern 1.9. Out of state, Alabama has the highest average of any top-ten destination at 3.5 stars on 11 commits, and Florida State and Pittsburgh both average above 3.

The comparison is between volume and talent. Georgia State signs about as many Georgia recruits as Georgia, 32 to 34, but at an average more than a full star lower.

The out-of-state list shows who competes for Georgia players. Florida State has 12 commits at a 3.1 average, Western Kentucky has 12 at 2.3, Alabama has 11 at 3.5, Pittsburgh has 11 at 3.2 and Wake Forest has 11 at 2.7. Western Kentucky and Wake Forest are drawing from the same middle tier as Georgia State and Georgia Southern, while Alabama and Florida State are winning higher-rated players on a smaller number of commits.

The pattern gives Georgia's in-state programs two jobs. Georgia and Georgia Tech compete with the national programs at the top of the list, and Georgia State, Georgia Southern and Kennesaw State compete with schools like Western Kentucky for the next tier. Georgia's 34 commits at 3.3 stars are the best group of in-state signees by rating, and Georgia Tech's 31 at 2.8 are second.

Positions

The position counts are close to even across the top five, which makes the state a source of every kind of player.

Safety is the most common position at 86 recruits, followed by cornerback at 82, interior offensive line at 80, wide receiver at 79 and linebacker at 73. Defensive line has 67, running back 54, edge rusher 48, quarterback 38 and tight end 31. The state's supply is heaviest in the secondary and lightest at quarterback and tight end.

Retention by class

The 2026 class has signed: 272 of its recruits have signed and 221 have enrolled, so its 63 in-state commits are settled. The 2027 class has 65 in-state commits and no signings yet. The 2028 class has only 10 commits, so its 4 in-state commits say little about where the class will end up.

Counterpoint

The 23.8% retention rate mixes finished and unfinished recruitments. Of the top 15, Barner, Che, Davis, Goley and Brinson are uncommitted, and any of them could choose a Georgia school. The 2027 commitments can still change before signing day.

The rate also reflects a large and crowded market. Five in-state programs take 132 commits, and they compete with Florida State, Alabama, Pittsburgh and Wake Forest for the same players, each of which has 11 or 12 Georgia commits. A low rate for the best players does not mean the in-state programs are failing in the middle of the roster, where they take most of their commitments.

Taken together, the data shows a state that supplies recruits to every part of the college football map. The 2026 five-stars have scattered to Alabama, Texas Tech and Texas, with Prothro the only one at Georgia, and the 2027 five-stars are committed to Ohio State, Texas Tech and Texas A&M. The uncommitted names in the 2028 class are the ones that could change the picture.