Kirby Smart's sleepless week leads to Georgia's first-ever No. 1 ranked recruiting class

Saturday had barely turned into Sunday when Kirby Smart, at least according to his Twitter account, was departing from one location to another on an airplane.

"Wheels up! Use every minute of the day," Smart wrote at 12:10 a.m. that morning.

It can be assumed Smart was on the road — or in the air — for recruiting purposes. His goal as Georgia's head coach, after all, is to sign the best players possible to help deliver championships.

Three days after the tweet, Smart walked into his team meeting room to meet with reporters after landing Georgia the No. 1 recruiting class in the nation. If it is possible for someone to come across as exhausted yet energized in a single moment, it was Smart. He showcased the passion he's become known for while reveling in the recruits he hauled in.

His face, however, told a different story by depicting a sleepless look. It was easy to see that the final push in this year's recruiting cycle wiped him out.

"Have you looked at my face?" Smart said. "I have not slept much lately, so I mean, it was a sleep deprivation. It was a lot of work."

Smart admitted there were times over the final few days that he was unsure if he would land every player his coaching staff sought after.

When it was all said and done, however, Smart and company signed each player it wanted to round out its 2018 class — an historic one that placed the Bulldogs atop the recruiting rankings for the first time in the internet age.

"I want to give our staff, and the support of this university academically, a lot of thanks because without the support of the people on this campus, this university, academically and athletically, none of this would be possible," Smart said. "But our coaching staff did a tremendous job. There was some time (Tuesday) that (we thought) we might have only signed one guy (Wednesday), and it all changed throughout the last 48 hours."

Georgia signed 20 players during the early period in December, headlined by six five-star recruits in quarterback Justin Fields, running back Zamir White, offensive lineman Cade Mays, offensive lineman Jamaree Salyer, outside linebacker Brenton Cox and outside linebacker Adam Anderson.

The Bulldogs added a seventh five-star prospect Wednesday in cornerback Tyson Campbell, which made Georgia the only team to ever sign seven five-star players ranked in the 247Sports.com composite in one class. They then flipped four-star safety Otis Reese (Lee County) from Michigan, flipped four-star outside linebacker Quay Walker (Crisp County) from Alabama and signed four-star receiver Tommy Bush (Samuel Clemens; Schertz, Texas).

While the sheer talent arriving to Georgia is at a level the program has, quite frankly, never previously seen, the fact that it ranks No. 1 in recruiting isn't something Smart wanted to focus much on Wednesday afternoon.

"Obviously, I'm excited about the class, and I know all you guys want to talk about the ranking," Smart said. "That really does not float my boat or this staff's boat. I don't think that's what's important. What's more important is the quality of kids we were able to get, both academically and athletically."

But the main reason Smart doesn't want to become enthralled with where his team finished in recruiting is because that's not where the hardware comes from. He can land all the prized high school recruits possible.

But if a national title doesn't materialize, then, at least in his mind, it doesn't matter.

"I think it's great for the fan base, but I'd trade that No. 1 (recruiting) ranking for the last No. 1 ranking in the college football poll," Smart said. "What's important is what you do on the field, and that's what we'll be measured by as coaches -- what we're able to do with this class, what they're able to do in development. That's the key ingredient is what can you do with these guys nutritionally, strength and conditioning, academically and even mentally. Mental conditioning is a big part for us. I'm a lot more concerned with that than how many stars they've got by their name."

This story was originally published February 7, 2018 at 6:11 PM with the headline "Kirby Smart's sleepless week leads to Georgia's first-ever No. 1 ranked recruiting class."