AUSTIN, Tex. -- Georgia is in Austin today to face a Texas team ranked as the consensus No. 1 team in the country. It marks the first meeting between the two schools on the Texas campus since 1958.
The simplest way to preview the Top 5 matchup would be to find the answer to two questions.
- Which team has the more talented roster?
- Which team is playing better right now?
The answer to the second item isn’t that difficult to chart.
While it may be a matter of the teams each program has faced in 2024, the Longhorns hold a clear edge. They are unbeaten and the key national statistical rankings in the major statistical areas favor the home team.
The fact that Texas leads the nation in scoring defense (6.3 ppg) and Georgia is 20th overall (17.2 ppg) in that metric jumps out. Texas is also seventh (43.2) in scoring offense and the Bulldogs are 35th (33.5 ppg) in that category.
But this is the SEC here. Players matter. Those players are evaluated in high school and recruited to make a major impact in big games like this one.
The way each program has also forged those prospects into bonafide NFL prospects matter.
There’s a point in every top 10 matchup where the number of future projected Sunday players matter more than the collection of former high school All-Americans and 5-stars on each roster.
That said, the recruiting tale of the tape yields another clear winner.
DawgNation researched a key set of measurables when it comes to each program . (NOTE: All recruiting rankings used below are culled from the 247Sports Team Composite rankings).
- Average recruiting class ranking (2020-2024)
Georgia: No. 2 nationally (Average 2.0 ranking)
Texas: No. 7 nationally (Average 7.4 ranking)
- Average recruiting class ranking (2021-2024)
Georgia: No. 2 nationally (Average 2.3 ranking)
Texas: No. 7 nationally (Average 7.0 ranking)
- 5-star recruits signed (2021-2024)
Georgia: 19 (13 remain; 4 off to the NFL; 1 left via the transfer portal)
Texas: 11 (10 remain; 1 off to the NFL)
- Check out the number of former 5-star prospects that have started for each school in 2024
Georgia: 5 (0 offense, 5 defense)
Texas: 5 (4 offense, 1 defense)
- Top 100 overall prospects signed (2021-2024)
Georgia: 41 (13 offense, 28 defense)
Texas: 20 (12 offense, 8 defense)
- Former Top 100 overall prospects that have started in 2024 for each team
Georgia: 15 (5 offense, 10 defense)
Texas: 10 (5 offense, 5 defense)
- The average HS prospect ranking for the starters on both sides of the ball was also charted
Offense: Georgia No. 259 overall; Texas No. 238 overall
Defense: Georgia No. 211 overall: Texas No. 426 overall
Georgia: 80 percent
Texas: 72 percent
- Age and experience matter. Check out which HS classes the starters for each team came from:
Georgia: 2019: 2; 2020: 4; 2021: 7; 2022: 12; 2023: 6
Texas: 2018: 1; 2019: 1; 2020: 4; 2021: 7; 2022: 8; 2023: 7
- Development also matters. Here’s the number of players that showed up on the latest ESPN 2025 NFL Top 5 Draft prospects at each position
Georgia: 9 (6 offense, 3 defense)
Texas: 6 (2 offense, 4 defense)
The findings show that Georgia has recruited at a higher level. The Bulldogs have signed more of the elite 5-stars and brought in more of the elite Top 100 national recruits over the last four recruiting cycles.
While the data for each program’s 2021 recruiting class is skewed with so many NFL or transfer portal departures, it was included because those classes still provided a large number of starters for each program (14) heading into this game.
While we have focused on starters so far in 2024 for this comparison, recruiting at an elite level also factors in greatly with depth and also the players each team deploys on special teams.
DawgNation was also able to identify several interesting personnel notes leading into the matchup. The listed items below help shape the data presented up to this point.
- Texas has the nation’s No. 1 QB from the 2021 cycle and the 2023 cycle on its roster. Starter Quinn Ewers came in via the transfer portal from Ohio State. The Texas native was the nation’s No. 1 overall prospect in 2021. The same can be said for former 5-star QB Arch Manning. Manning was also the nation’s No. 1 overall prospect in 2023.
- The presence of those two players and their No. 1 overall rankings boosted the Texas average when it came to the high school recruiting rankings of their starters on offense so far this season.
- Texas had a graduate transfer DL that graduated from high school in 2018. That is former 3-star DL Jermayne Lole. He has played at Arizona State and Louisville and is now a graduate transfer at Texas. He’s taken full advantage of his redshirt options and the COVID-19 bonus year for the 2020 season.
- Texas and Georgia also both have starters that came out of the 2019 recruiting class. That’s sixth-year LB David Gbenda for the Longhorns and starting OT Xavier Truss for UGA. Georgia’s Dan Jackson also graduated from high school in 2019.
- Speaking of Jackson, the Longhorns have their own walk-on to starter at safety story in safety Michael Taaffe. Taafee was a zero-star recruit with no national prospects rankings coming out of high school. He is a sixth-generation attendee at Texas in his family.
- Jackson and Taaffe started each game for their respective teams. That’s even though they were not ranked as a prospect at all. As a result, a No. 1600 overall prospect ranking was used to compile their respective prospect rankings coming out of high school.
- Texas also has another defensive starter in EDGE Trey Moore who had zero stars coming out of high school. The first-year transfer from UTSA was not rated as a prospect by the national services. That said, he’s on those 2025 NFL Mock Draft boards as one of the nation’s top 5 players at his position.
- Both teams used the transfer portal to stockpile their teams. It is interesting to note Texas has found six players who have started a game in 2024 out of the transfer portal. The ratio is split with three players each on offense and defense. The Longhorns will deploy two probable starting receivers that came out of the transfer portal.
- Georgia has started four players this fall that came out of the portal. Those Bulldogs have all been on offense with three of those starters lining up at either wide receiver or tight end. Georgia’s starting personnel on defense remains 100 percent from the high school ranks.
- The Longhorns have benefitted from great consistency in their starting lineups. While they lost a 5-star tailback this year due to injury, they’ve been remarkably healthy across the offensive front. Texas has had the same five offensive line starters in every game this year.
- As a means of comparison, the Bulldogs have had to shuffle around seven different starters across their OL.
- Texas has also had the same starter at eight of the 11 positions on defense this season, including the same four names across their front four this fall. Georgia has seen eight different players start for its defensive front in 2024.
SENTELL’S INTEL
(check on the recent reads on Georgia football recruiting)
