Georgia and Texas, the new recruiting rivalry shaking the SEC
ATLANTA – Georgia has a new recruiting rival in the SEC.
It’s not traditional rivals like Florida or Auburn. It’s not even Alabama, whom the Bulldogs have clashed with time and time again in recent years.
No, the new kid on the block is Texas, and Georgia is going against the Longhorns on the trail more than ever.
The most recent clashes wrapped up on Tuesday.
Texas beat out Georgia, Oregon, and Clemson to land five-star linebacker Tyler Atkinson out of Grayson High School.
UGASports asked Longhorn linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. at SEC Media Days on Tuesday why a five-star prospect should commit to Texas.
“A lot of people don’t realize this until after they’re there, but Austin, Texas, as a whole, the city is an amazing city,” Hill said. “There’s so much to do outside of football. When you’re done playing football here, you’re going to be able to come back and get the same amount of love as when you were playing here.”
Georgia linebacker CJ Allen fielded the same question about the Bulldogs.
“I think the development piece speaks for itself,” Allen said. “There’s no other place you can go where you’re coached by the best and play with the best. I think the biggest thing is the people you’re around and the people in the building. It’s great people. I think elite want to play with elite, and the best want to play with the best.”
On Tuesday evening, five-star defensive lineman James Johnson flipped to Texas after committing to Georgia on June 28.
‘Horns finding success in Georgia
Sarkisian has dipped into Georgia more and more in recent years.
In addition to Atkinson, Texas famously landed five-star defensive lineman Justus Terry in the 2025 class. The Longhorns also signed Zelus Hicks and Nick Brooks in 2025 and have battled for other in-state standouts as well.
“Now that we’ve joined the conference, it’s a lot more palatable for those families and for those kids to want to come play at Texas, knowing that we’re playing in the Southeastern Conference. So we’ve tried to take advantage of that,” Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said Tuesday. “Again, we don’t major in that, but we do definitely try to recruit the high-level players that fit our scheme that are made of the right stuff, not only as football players, but as people. So far, so good.”
Bulldogs not doing too shabby in Texas
As much success as Texas has had in Georgia, the Bulldogs have done just as well recruiting the Lone Star State.
Georgia landed Justin Williams and Joseph Jonah-Ajonye in 2024, signing the No. 2 and No. 6 prospects in Texas. The Bulldogs also signed offensive lineman Michael Uini in 2024.
In 2026, Georgia has a commitment from corner Chace Calicut. Texas got the last visit from Calicut and was long thought to be the favorite before he pledged to the Bulldogs.
Other recent battles
Georgia recently outlasted a Texas charge to land elite tight end Kaiden Prothro.
Texas landed 2026 defensive linemen Vodney Cleveland and Kendall Guervil, both of whom took Georgia official visits in June 2025.
Texas signed Ryan Wingo in 2024 after Georgia once seemed to be the favorite. One year later, Georgia beat out Texas for international defensive lineman JJ Hanne.
The two schools have also gone head-to-head on recruits who ended up elsewhere. Mark Bowman and Malakai Lee are two examples from the 2026 class. Georgia and Texas are also currently battling for running back Derrek Cooper.
The future
These battles are likely to continue in the future as Georgia and Texas, two of the preeminent powers in college football, battle for top talent.
Texas has established a reputation as one of the game’s NIL superpowers. Sarkisian refuted some of those notions on Tuesday.
“I think sometimes, quite frankly, it hurts us a little bit in recruiting in the fact that, when kids come on our campus, one of the first things we do, we don’t talk about NIL,” Sarkisian said. “We don’t talk about NIL or revenue sharing or publicity rights until the very end, and that may hurt us on some kids, but if a kid is coming to Texas for that reason, we don’t want him anyway. We want kids that want to be at the University of Texas because of the school, the coaches, the team, the culture, all those things that go into it, and, oh, by the way, you can get publicity rights or revenue share and so on and so forth.”
Georgia head coach Kirby Smart also gave his thoughts on Georgia’s approach.
“We sell relationships over transactions,” Smart said. “We think the relationship still wins out because the relationship allows you to push people and demand excellence, and we’re going to continue to do that at Georgia. We don’t believe in just being transactional because when you’re transactional, you cannot accomplish whatever your ultimate goal is, whatever your greatest reach is.”
In the past, Georgia has battled Alabama, Florida, and a whole host of others on the trail. Now, Texas has emerged as a premium rival that Georgia will face more and more in the years ahead.