Kirby Smart gives the backstory on how Georgia landed Texas running back Andrew Paul

On Wednesday, Texas four-star running back Andrew Paul inked with Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs. Paul joined four-star back Branson Robinson in the Bulldogs’ 2022 class.

Despite picking up some Group of Five offers over the summer, it wasn’t until he put out his senior tape that Power Five programs started calling. Paul got an offer from Michigan at the end of December that proved he had arrived. Then Clemson, Notre Dame and, finally, Georgia joined the mix, too.

Kirby Smart described the process of finding Paul on Wednesday.

“Andrew Paul is a guy we found out about and discovered,” Smart said. “Dell reached out to me and sent me his Hudl link. I got to watch him and I really liked him. Dell knew the kid and the family.

“He comes from a military background family which fits a criteria for us in terms of discipline and being made of the right things. Once we checked out all that, it became was he good enough?”

It didn’t take long to answer that question.

“He’s a 210-pound back, and he’s got a great demeanor about him,” Smart said. “He loves working out in the weight room, just tremendous background checks where he’s played, and the people he’s played for have a lot of amount of respect for him. Getting to see him play, spending time around him on the actual visit, it validated that.”

Ultimately, the Dawgs knew they’d found their man for all the right reasons.

Paul finished his senior season with 271 carries for 2,616 yards and 41 touchdowns. He also added 14 receptions for 208 yards and three touchdowns for Dallas’s Parish Episcopal School.

Georgia added Paul, along with four-star defensive lineman Christen Miller and three-star in-state linebacker E.J. Lightsey on Wednesday.

Smart discusses impact of National Championship on recruiting

Despite finally reaching the mountain top of college football, Kirby Smart said Wednesday that he doesn’t think winning it all has had as much of an impact on recruiting as you’d expect.

“I don’t know that you can make (the national championship effect) tangible, I don’t know that you can kind of see that,” Smart said. “Certainly, the time we had spent on the road, there was a lot of congratulations, pats on the back, all those things.

“In terms of recruiting, I think it gets you in the conversation with maybe more national kids. We were already in the conversation with most national kids and certainly with in-state kids. It may validate some of the things you work towards but I don’t think it’s going to close the deal for these kids. I really don’t think winning the national championship moves the needle in terms of one kid’s decision or the other, it just might get you in the conversation.”

Smart and his staff have signed four five-stars, 18 four-stars and seven three-star prospects coming off of their national title.

It’s an impressive class, but then again, Georgia has had top-three finishes in each of the last five cycles without a championship. They also finished No. 1 in 2018 and 2020.