Win over Auburn serves as reminder that Georgia’s 2017 recruits are program’s foundation
One look around the cramped interview room at Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday night made clear the importance of 2017’s recruiting class.
The class’s four-star quarterback Jake Fromm was there, beaming after slinging three touchdowns in a 21-14 defeat of the Auburn Tigers. As interviews began he smiled and pointed in the direction of two other 2017 recruits, left tackle Andrew Thomas and linebacker Monty Rice.
Overall, six of the seven players that spoke with the media after Georgia’s SEC East-clinching win were part of the recruiting class of 2017, known back then as the “savages.” Three seasons later, that group has collected a trio of SEC East crowns and developed into the foundation of one of the best teams in the nation.
“I thought ‘Oh my God,’” cornerback Eric Stokes said. “This is three times, I can’t even believe it. I know people who never get the chance, so to get it three times is unbelievable.”
That class comprises almost half of Georgia’s starting 22, with six starters on defense and four on offense. That includes the starting quarterback and running back, both starting offensive tackles and three starters in the secondary.
Their fingerprints were all over Saturday’s win. Fromm threw three touchdowns. D’Andre Swift ran for 106 yards, giving him over 1,000 rushing yards for the second straight season. Tackles Andrew Thomas and Isaiah Wilson protected Fromm and limited Auburn’s ferocious defensive line to one sack. Stokes, Devonte Wyatt, Monty Rice, Malik Herring and Mark Webb suffocated Auburn’s offense for the majority of the night.
“It feels good that I was able to grow up with these guys,” LeCounte said. “I feel like just yesterday, we were all reporting here our freshman year, didn’t really know what to expect, nobody had been before. But everybody started working, and everybody got on one accord, and we’re here today.”
Some 2017 signees contributed right away. Fromm took over as the starting quarterback in the second game of the year and has started every game since. Thomas started every game at right tackle, Swift ran for over 600 yards and LeCounte got some rotational playing time at safety.
Others had to wait their turn. Stokes and Wilson redshirted in 2017. Webb came to Georgia as a receiver before later transitioning to his current position of defensive back. Wyatt spent a year at Hutchinson Community College, and Rice manned a backup role behind Roquan Smith and Reggie Carter.
But whether they played that year or not, the group knew they had the potential to be something special.
“We kind of talked about how we wanted our years to go here,” Swift said. “It’s going accordingly right now.”
As freshmen, the 2017 class had a deep group of seniors headlined by Nick Chubb, Sony Michel, Lorenzo Carter and Davin Bellamy to show them the ways of Georgia football. Now that they’re in the same shoes, those baby-faced 2017 recruits are trying to elevate the program for the freshmen on this team, names like George Pickens, Zamir White and Travon Walker.
That’s evident in the standard this program now holds itself to. Back in 2017, the SEC East title was a goal that hadn’t been achieved since 2012. Now, according to Rice, that’s the expectation every year.
The Class of 2017 already has its place among the greatest in Georgia history, with the three division titles and one SEC ring, a Rose Bowl win, a berth in a national championship game and 32 wins and counting.
But the group that has played such a big role in transforming Georgia football isn’t quite done yet.
“For us, during the whole recruiting process, I think we wanted to do something special,” Fromm said. “The story’s not been written yet. We’re still writing and hoping it has a pretty good ending.”