UGA recruiting: Dogs earn A-plus on every grading scale

Tyson Campbell, a defensive back from the football team at American Heritage High School, announces he is signing with Georgia on national signing day, Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2018, in Plantation, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Tyson Campbell, a defensive back from the football team at American Heritage High School, announces he is signing with Georgia on national signing day, Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2018, in Plantation, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Here’s a breakdown of the offensive, defensive and overall signing class for the University of Georgia:

Grading Georgia’s 2018 offensive signing class

**Justin Fields: Nation's No. 2 QB and No. 2 overall player

**Zamir White: Nation's No. 1 RB

**Jamaree Salyer: Nation's No. 1 OG

Trey Hill: Nation’s No. 2 OG

**Cade Mays: Nation's No. 3 OT

Warren Ericson: Nation’s No. 5 C

James Cook: Nation’s No. 3 All-purpose back

Luke Ford: Nation’s No. 3 TE

** -  Indicates a 5-star player

The offensive side of the ball here is so stout that when quality 4-star guys like Tommy Bush (nation’s No. 37 WR) and Kearis Jackson (nation’s No. 23 WR) and John FitzPatrick (nation’s No. 17 TE) provide good depth for the class, this year’s haul really is special. Throwing out all these rankings are nice, but the Bulldogs actually scored more points here with finding some top-shelf replacements to add depth to the QB, WR, OG, TE and OT spots.

5: top 50 signees on offense

6: top 100 signees on offense

7: top 150 signees on offense

Final grade -- A+

Grading Georgia’s 2018 defensive signing class

**Brenton Cox: Nation's No. 2 strong-side DE

**Tyson Campbell: Nation's No. 2 CB

**Adam Anderson: Nation's No. 1 OLB

Quay Walker: Nation’s No. 2 OLB

Otis Reese: Nation’s No. 5 OLB

Channing Tindall: Nation’s No. 5 ILB

Azeez Ojulari: Nation’s No. 10 weak-side DE

Jake Camarda: Nation’s No. 2 P

** -  Indicates a 5-star player

The case can easily be made that the Bulldogs signed the nation’s top group of LBs this year. That’s even after watching its OLB coach Kevin Sherrer take a promotion to become the defensive coordinator at Tennessee. While the Bulldogs don’t have as many 5-stars from the class on this side of the ball, there is a decided edge in the number of elite players. The Bulldogs even signed a dual future P/K threat for their special teams in Jake Camarda. If we wanted to pick a nit, then the only spots where the Bulldogs didn’t grab a top 100 level player in this class would be at defensive tackle and safety.

5: top 50 signees on defense

6: top 100 signees on defense

7: top 150 signees on defense

Final grade -- A+

Grading Georgia’s 2018 overall signing class

This class has to go down as the greatest recruiting crop in program history. The Bulldogs finished with the greatest recruiting class in program history based on the 247Sports Team Composite rankings.

UGA also finished with the nation’s No. 1 class for 2018 and it wasn’t even really close. The Bulldogs wound up with a final 323.31 composite team rating. That’s just off the pace set by Alabama’s all-time class for 2017 at 323.87.

Florida tallied 324.62 class back in 2010. Aside from that, it will go down as the third highest-rated recruiting class of all time on the 247Sports Team Composite ranking archives that trace all the way back to 1999.

Final grade -- A+