Athens will play host to the monumental college football matchup this weekend between No. 1 Tennessee and No. 3 Georgia. However, at the same time, we now know that this will be a monumental recruiting weekend in town as well.
According to a tweet from DawgNation’s Jeff Sentell on Thursday morning, 17 five-star recruits from the 247 Composite rankings will be in attendance for the game this Saturday. That number also bumps up from 17 to 21 when looking at players to hold at least one five-star ranking from the national sites.
“This weekend is trending to be the deepest list of big-time recruits we’ve ever seen for Kirby Smart’s program in Athens,” Sentell wrote in a tweet on Tuesday evening.
According to Sentell, the visitor list this weekend reportedly has 29 out of the Top 100 players in 2023-2025.
With this contest being arguably the biggest game in Georgia program history and with the added immediacy of the College Football Playoffs around the corner, it’s no surprise to see the recruiting weekend unfold the way it looks like it will.
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While the recruits in town will be visiting the Georgia program, the Vols will still have an opportunity to show the recruits what they are missing on the other sideline. During 2024 Jacob Oden’s trip to Knoxville for the Alabama game, the highly-ranked recruit still moseyed over to the Tide side to see the Alabama players go through warm-ups.
Not to mention, there will be plenty of players visiting Georgia this weekend that already have some sort of connection to Tennessee.
Take class of 2023 defensive lineman Daevin Hobbs, for example. The four-star recruit has been to Tennessee twice this season during the Florida and Alabama games. Hobbs was then in Tuscaloosa for the Alabama-Mississippi State game, and will also be in Athens this weekend to see the Bulldogs host the Volunteers.
Hobbs is set to make his announcement on his mother’s birthday coming up on Nov. 25.
Another high-level Tennessee target that will also be in Athens this weekend is five-star EDGE rusher Samuel M’Pemba. The class of 2023 Top 100 prospect was in Knoxville for the Alabama game and is now set for Athens this weekend.
The game between No. 1 Tennessee and No. 3 Georgia continues to rise in terms of importance: in the SEC, in the recruiting world, and now in the College Football Playoffs scenarios as well.
Tennessee and Georgia will square off at 3:30 p.m. ET this Saturday afternoon in Athens.
— Samuel M’Pemba (@SMPEMBA5) October 21, 2022
