Georgia’s 2022 signing class is currently made up of 23 members. The Bulldogs have three commitments who will sign in February, but the bulk of Georgia’s No. 3 ranked recruiting class joined the program.

In total, the class includes five 5-star prospects and 11 top-100 prospects. Its strength is on the defensive side of the ball, with all five 5-star signees and the top seven players in the class being defenders. But there are a few key offensive players to know in the class as well, such as quarterback Gunner Stockton or running back Branson Robinson.

Below are some early thoughts and takeaways on the members of the class, and who might be able to help sooner rather than later.

Most likely to play early: Malaki Starks

Yes, Starks is the highest-rated signee in the class as he is the No. 14 overall player per the 247Sports Composite rankings. But that’s not why he is the best bet to see the field early for Georgia.

As head coach Kirby Smart said often this year, opportunity is a big reason why certain young players get on the field faster. Given where Georgia stands from a numbers standpoint in the secondary, Starks should have a chance to play early.

If Lewis Cine, Chris Smith and Latavious Brini all declare for the NFL draft, the Bulldogs will be looking for people who can play the safety position. That’s where Starks best has a chance to play early for the Bulldogs, as he is athletic enough to play at multiple positions for Georgia.

“I think Malaki has a bright future. He’s fast,” Smart said. “Number one, he’s very intelligent. He’s high-character and you’re going to hear me repeat that over and over because that matters way more than what reputation they’re coming in with.”

Best position group: Defensive backs

Despite great hauls at defensive line, running back and inside linebacker, this is an obvious answer. The Bulldogs signed five defensive backs, all of whom rate as 4-star prospects or better. Four of them rank among the top-100 players in the country.

Jahmile Addae, along with Will Muschamp and Kirby Smart, addressed Georgia’s current biggest weakness by bringing in one of the best defensive back classes in recent memory. Starks and 4-star prospect Jacorey Thomas should both help Georgia at safety. Jaheim Singletary, Daylen Everette and Julian Humphrey should bring some much-needed talent to the cornerback position.

This class could’ve been even better had it not gotten some bad news on Wednesday. Kamari Wilson, a 5-star safety, committed and signed with Florida while long-time Georgia commit Marquis Groves-Killebrew flipped to Texas A&M.

Even with those misses, Addae still deserves major credit for how he was able to re-stock Georgia’s defensive backfield. Smart said Georgia may still be operating at a numbers disadvantage next year, but the talent in the room got a major upgrade this week.

“The length and the speed is what stood out the most,” Smart said of the group. “We missed some size in recent years. We like to have length; we like to have toughness. I like intelligence; I like ball skills. I think a lot of these qualities and traits show up.”

Most important recruiting win: Marvin Jones Jr.

Georgia needs help at the edge rusher position. What was once a strength could be a very real weakness entering the 2022 season. Add in outside linebackers coach Dan Lanning taking the Oregon job, and there was some question whether the Bulldogs could close with the 5-star edge rusher.

But the Bulldogs were able to beat out Alabama, Florida State and others to land the nation’s No. 22 overall player in Jones. He joins Darris Smith and CJ Madden as edge rushers in the class for Georgia, with Jones having the highest upside of the three. Jones was also the only commitment for Georgia on Wednesday, though it landed Everette and 4-star wide receiver Chandler Smith on Tuesday.

American Heritage High School has been a football factory in recent years, with the likes of Tyson Campbell, Sony Michel, Brian Burns, Patrick Surtain and others coming from the South Florida high school. Georgia will need Jones to be the next big-time player from the school to have an impact at the college level.

Best flip: Mykel Williams

The Bulldogs signed nine different players who were at one point committed elsewhere during the recruiting process. Georgia benefitted greatly from coaching turnover at Florida, Clemson and other schools to piece together its class.

Williams, the No. 26 overall player and No. 3 player in the state of Georgia, originally committed to USC over the summer. But the Trojans fired Clay Helton in September. By October, Williams had seen enough from the Bulldogs to commit to Georgia.

Georgia will be able to use Williams much like it has Travon Walker, as a defensive lineman with the capability of setting the edge.

Smart spoke about Georgia’s ability to maintain relationships with prospects, even when they are committed elsewhere. That ability proved to be huge for Georgia in this cycle.

“It’s the number one overall quality that I want to be known for in recruiting: consistency in performance, consistency in messaging, continuity of our staff and program,” Smart said. “We won out a lot on that because a lot of folks by default had things change, and we didn’t have a lot of change. We were able to continue developing a relationship with people even if they were committed somewhere else because you never know what’s going to happen.”

Best player comparison: Oscar Delp

Given the success Brock Bowers had this season, you’ll hear Delp compared to him early and often in his Georgia career.

Delp has a similar skill set to that of Bowers and Delp was actually a higher-rated recruit in his respective class. He is the No. 2 tight end prospect and the No. 89 player in the country.

Related: Oscar Delp: 3 things to know about Georgia football’s 2022 4-star tight end signee

Of course, expecting Delp to do what Bowers did would not be fair to the incoming freshman. Bowers had a great season in part because of preseason injuries to Darnell Washington and John FitzPatrick. Delp will have to compete with Bowers for playing time, in addition to targets in the passing game.

If Delp is able to catch on quickly at Georgia — he enrolled early and is already practicing with the team while Georgia prepares for Michigan — he could give the Bulldogs another talented pass catcher. But expecting him to be Bowers 2.0 would both diminish what Bowers did this season and put massive expectations onto Delp.

Most likely to be a team captain: Gunner Stockton

Stockton is not you’re typical quarterback prospect. Yes, his talent level is on par with recent signees as he set multiple Georgia state passing records, previously held by Trevor Lawrence and Deshaun Watson.

But it’s Stockton’s off-field persona that has earned him praise throughout his high school career. He’s an atypical elite quarterback prospect in the sense that he didn’t go through the Elite 11, which prevented him from boosting his recruiting profile in comparison to other quarterback prospects.

Ultimately, that matters very little to Stockton. It’s evident in Smart’s comments about his new quarterback that Stockton’s intangibles, the things that can’t be measured in a box score, are off the charts.

“Tremendous athlete, tremendous character, I don’t know you could raise a finer young man in today’s day and age of all the attention-seeking people. He’s never done that,” Smart said. “He’s stuck to his guns that he loves UGA. He wants to be here, and certainly, a major part of our class.”

Most upside: Aliou Bah and Jacob Hood

Georgia could still add to its recruiting haul on the offensive line if it is able to land 4-star guard Earnest Greene on Jan. 8. Greene is the No. 40 overall player in the class and more in line with the traditional offensive line prospect Georgia has signed in recent cycles.

The recruiting success for Georgia in each of the last two cycles though has made it hard for Georgia to sell early playing time. Top-rated offensive line recruits aren’t going to play for your program when 5-star prospects like Broderick Jones and Amarius Mims are still waiting to start.

Which is why this Georgia recruiting class has more developmental prospects on the offensive line. Bah and Hood both have massive frames and the potential to develop into key players for the Bulldogs. It just might take a little while longer for that to be the case.

“We have a couple guys with great size,” Smart said. “We have a couple of guys with great upside, kids that we think are going to be really good players that maybe haven’t played football for a long time.”

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