For the first time in the 2024 calendar year, Georgia will host top targets on a campus for a big recruiting weekend.

What does that mean exactly? Well it means, it’s officially time to focus on the Class of 2025 and Class of 2026 targets.

Unsurprisingly, the Bulldogs are already off to a fast start in the 2025 class. They already rank No. 5 this cycle, and there’s a lot of upward trajectory for the Bulldogs to go on.

Of the people expected on campus this weekend are:

A handful of 2025 Georgia commits
Someone committed to Alabama
A prospect pledged to Michigan
The nation’s No. 1 edge rusher
The nation’s No. 1 linebacker
The nation’s No. 1 defensive lineman
One of the top two QBs in 2026
A tight end transfer target
As usual, you can always expect a surprise name or two to pop up in Athens along the way.

Let’s take a full look at everyone we expect on campus Saturday so far.

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#FirstDayOut: Where Georgia coaches were recruiting in-state

Georgia’s annual in-state recruiting swing was off-and-running early on Friday. Here’s where the Bulldogs stopped.

Georgia’s annual recruiting and marketing masterpiece was in full force Friday morning: #FirstDayOut #homegrown.

The Bulldogs coaches were on the road bright and early, wielding the hashtag to their advantage. Every year, when the January contact period opens, Georgia coaches hit the road to their in-state territories to make the University of Georgia presence felts around the Peach State.

It’s a genius way for Georgia to establish a few keys.

The Bulldogs can get to work immediately and efficiently in the contact period. Georgia coaches can be out all day and still be back for junior day tomorrow.

Perhaps most importantly, it makes in-state recruits and high school football programs realize that the state of Georgia will always be priority No. 1.

It also gets the entire state talking about Georgia recruiting right as the contact period kicks off.

Kirby Smart knows what he’s doing with this one, and he certainly gets out on the road to play his part in it all, too.

Dawgs247 gathered everywhere we know Georgia coaches were able to make it on Friday. Be sure, there were so many stops the Bulldogs made that this certainly isn’t a comprehensive list. But here’s where Georgia coaches went and some of the context behind those boots on the ground.

If you missed all the social media hubbub, this is the synthetization article for you.

Kirby Smart made a statement with his first few stops:

Buford
North Gwinnett
Peachtree Ridge
Greater Atlanta Christian
Milton
Roswell
Blessed Trinity
Alpharetta
Included in that group is Buford, where there’s an alleged curse that’s getting quieter and quieter. That stop is the home of Georgia commit Jadon Perlotte, and other targeted including but not limited to: Brayden Jacobs, Jordan Allen, Nassir McCoy, Bryce Perry-Wright. It’s a mainstay for Georgia recruiting going forward and that made it a must first stop for the Bulldogs.

This also meant a swing by Milton, the state champions in the state’s highest classification, a program run by former Georgia walk-on Ben Reaves. That’s a school that will be churning out top talent in future years.

Smart’s stops included a few highly-recruited football players in the future like Dorian Barney and Gabe Daniels, but it really was a statement by Smart to say: Gwinnett County and some of the areas Georgia has so-called trouble recruiting will be tackled head on by the head coach.

His final stop — the last of any by any coach on Friday — was to see his top tight end commit Ethan Barbour at Alpharetta.

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The southwest swing was made by Georgia’s offensive coordinator.

Here are Mike Bobo’s known visits on Friday:

Bainbridge
Cairo
Thomas County Central
Thomasville
Brooks County
Lowndes
Valdosta
Thomas County Central is fresh off a 6A state championship. Prospects such as Kendarius Reddick and Cam Brooks are already highly-touted and heavily-recruited targets. Quarterback Jaylen Johnson raised eyebrows with his performance in the state championship game as a sophomore.

The other stops — Valdosta, Lowndes, Thomasville, and Cairo — are staples in that neck of the woods. There’s always the chance for top talent to come out of those programs in the 2025 and 2026 class, so building those relationships is crucial. Coleman Lewis, a linebacker from Lowndes is one of the intriguing targets down there right now.

And of course, the Bulldogs wouldn’t get through #FirstDayOut without a swing by Kirby Smart’s alma mater.

I’m not sure how Georgia defines its regions, and ridicule is thrown our way whenever we try to describe Georgia geography.

But Georgia’s defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann hit what we’d refer to as the south central region of the state.

Those included:

Toombs County
Vidalia
Wilcox County
Crisp County
Lee County
Worth County
The Lee County visit is a no-brainer for Georgia given its history of churning out top talent. That includes one of the top 2025 running backs Ousmane Kromah who plays for the Trojan. It’s always likely more young prospects emerge from there.

The other check-ins by Schumann include a few other guys being recruited by other schools that are still waiting on Georgia offers like Cayden Daniels, Lagonza Hayward, and D’ontae Fulton. But like with many of these visit, it was a great face time for the future.

You can tell Will Muschamp has been doing this a while and is as entrenched in his region as anyone. Muschamp didn’t participate in the #FirstDayOut posts like many of his colleagues.

Partially, it’s because he didn’t have to. Several high school coaches announced his campus arrival on his behalf.

Those stops were:

Cedartown
Rockmart
Cass
Cartersville
Muschamp shores up the northwest portion of the state of Georgia, putting him in striking distance of one of the two Buc-ee’s in the state.

He went to Cedartown early on Friday morning, which gave him a chance to see Georgia defensive back commit Tae Harris who will be on a visit to Florida this weekend.

Cass and Cartersville are both familiar stomping grounds for Georgia, as recently as the most recent signing class. Jamauri Brice is an intriguing receiver from Cartersville. But the 2026 quarterback Brodie McWhorter is someone the Bulldogs will keep a close eye on over the next couple years.

Muschamp also is looking way ahead, extending a few camp offers to 2027 targets at Rockmart.

Dell McGee’s name has become synonymous with Atlanta recruiting in recent years.

He was at as many places as anyone Friday, including:

Carver-Atlanta
KIPP Atlanta Collegiate
Booker T. Washington
Mays
Therrell
Tri-Cities
South Atlanta
Cedar Grove
Banneker
Sprayberry
Carver, Mays, and Cedar Grove have all been really good to Georgia’s program during his tenure, so he made sure to swing by those places early in his day. Cedar Grove will continue to be a feeder for the Bulldogs with Bo Walker already committed in 2025. Devin Carter is a 2026 receiver who’s also eye-catching.

There aren’t a ton of other known names out of that area, but that’s an under-recruited area. Georgia excels there. There’s reasons the Bulldogs do so well in Atlanta. Dell McGee has his footprint there, and not many other schools in America scout that area as well as he does. The players like Quintavius Johnson are often found without the exposure of other areas, and McGee is a big reason for Georgia’s finds.

Todd Hartley’s success in southeast Georgia isn’t stopping anytime soon.

He was out at these schools on Friday:

Clinch County
Ware County
Charlton County
Brantley County
Pierce County
Appling County
Jeff Davis
Coffee
Aside from Charlton County being the original home of tight end commit Elyiss Williams, this is a region that’s treated Georgia well through the years. Hartley posted a photo of the famous bear statue outside Stetson Bennett’s high school in Blackshear.

In terms of specific names, Jamar Birden is the most highly-recruited 2025 target from that region at this time. But the Clinch County and Coffee teams that made a deep state playoff runs have a lot of young talent Georgia will be evaluating in the coming years.

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The south Gwinnett area and parts of Atlanta were left for Bryan McClendon.

Georgia’s wide receiver coach went on the road to these programs:

Archer
Loganville
South Gwinnett
Shiloh
Brookwood
Stephenson
Tucker
Maynard Jackson
Midtown
All of these stops were perfect examples of programs that have a track record of putting out top recruits. It’s a perfect opportunity for Georgia’s area recruiter to swing by with the power G on his chest. There are a couple 2025s, including edge rusher Zion Lawson from Maynard Jackson that are still getting looks from the Bulldogs.

Brookwood has a freshman running back named Brayden Tyson that’s going to get recruited by everyone before it’s all said and done.

The most notable part about Manrey Saint-Amour visits is that the Georgia assistant offensive line coach was on the road at all. Stacy Searels is close to a full recovery from his bout with pneumonia. In his place, Saint-Amour checked out the northeast portion of the state and the local schools to Athens.

Here were his trips:

Hart County
Commerce
East Jackson
Clarke Central
Athens Academy
Cedar Shoals
North Oconee
Saint-Amour is one of the names you always hear when talking to Georgia offensive line recruits. It’s always great to see someone like that get their chance out on the trail to prove their chops, which he undoubtedly will.

In reality, Georgia’s recruiting targets in these areas are still emerging, but always good to get a staffer their first dose of life recruiting on the road.

Tray Scott sent much of his time recruiting in central Georgia and the Macon area.

Georgia’s defensive lineman coach’s known stops:

Mary Persons
Upson-Lee
Jackson
Scott wasn’t as active posting his whereabouts, and our sourcing didn’t put him anywhere beyond this. Still, he was out on the road recruiting at a few places known to be Georgia welcoming grounds. That includes Upson-Lee, the home of former No. 1 overall NFL draft pick Travon Walker.

Chances are Scott made a few more stops beyond this, so we will add to it as we learn.

Another Georgia recruiter in central Georgia near Macon was Chidera Uzo-Diribe.

He made these trips:

Washington County
Baldwin
Jones County
Northeast
Warner Robins
Houston County
Perry
Walnut Grove
We have a star-studded list of recruits to report from this region: Antwann Hill, Peyton Joseph, Isaiah Gibson. That only scratches the surface with the 2025 group, and there’s expected to be a bunch of rising stars in middle Georgia for the two classes that follow it, too.

Uzo-Diribe also probably won the day on social media with his childhood photo of Javon Bullard at Baldwin, referring to Jones County as the House That Todd Hartley Built, and hashtagging his stop at Buc-ee’s in Macon.

The new guy on staff was as busy as anyone.

Donte Williams hit a lot of the Atlanta area during his first contact period with the Bulldogs.

Here’s where he went:

Newton
Hapeville Charter
Woodward Academy
Douglass
Greater Atlanta Christian
Sprayberry
In another loaded area, let’s list off a few of the reputable names at the schools above: London Merritt, Zion Johnson, Josiah Abdullah, Jerome Bettis Jr., Lucas Farrington, Mark Manfred, and Deion Thomas. There will be plenty of other names that emerge in the months and years to come.

Perhaps the most immediately relevant connection on those trips: Jontae Gilbert. The Douglass defensive back had a close relationship with Williams when he was the position coach at Southern Cal.

Williams and McGee capped off the night with a basketball game at Sprayberry, the home of 2025 DB Mark Manfred who has close to 20 offers already.