In addition to their two on-field encounters from the previous season, the Texas Longhorns and Georgia Bulldogs have been engaged in recruitment wars this offseason.
Texas has increased its national recruiting efforts since joining the SEC last year, landing a number of players from outside the Lone Star State.
During the 2025 SEC Media Days, head coach Steve Sarkisian stated, “We’ve obviously made it a point to recruit more in the southeastern region.” Players from Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, and Georgia were much more inclined to come play at the University of Texas when we got into the SEC. Because A&M was in the SEC, they were already sort of heading there, but now that we’re in the conference, it’s much more appealing to those families and the kids who want to come play at Texas.
Recent recruitment contests between Georgia and Texas have demonstrated this palatability. Five-star defensive lineman James JJ Johnson and five-star linebacker Tyler Atkinson committed to the Longhorns on July 15 alone.
Atkinson is from Loganville, Georgia, and the Longhorns were not the clear favorite to win him over until the last few days before his commitment. Shortly after Georgia head coach Kirby Smart’s SEC Media Days speech and prior to Sarkisian’s, he made his commitment to Texas.
Even though Johnson is a Miami, Florida native, the Bulldogs played a significant role in his recruitment process. He committed to play for Georgia for two weeks, but a few hours after Atkinson choose the Longhorns, he changed his mind and committed to Texas.
Although the Longhorns’ acquisition of both Atkinson and Johnson on the same day was a significant turning point in their recruiting process, not all battles have ended in a burnt orange triumph.
According to Rivals’ 2026 Industry Ranking Football Team Recruiting Rankings, Georgia’s class is still ranked number two, while Texas’ class is ranked number five.
Out-of-state recruitment has been more common in college football in recent years, according to Sarkisian.
One noteworthy aspect of recruiting in this day and age, in my opinion, is that players are traveling to other states to play, and we’ve seen a lot of players leave Texas to play at other universities, Sarkisian said.
So far, the Lone Star state has only produced 10 of Texas’ 21 2026 pledges. Nineteen of the 20 then-commits from Texas high schools came to the Longhorns in 2020, the year before they declared their intention to join the SEC.
In this new era of hiring, name, image, and likeness have also been important considerations. Due to the chance to earn more money outside of their own states, players are probably more likely to think about out-of-state possibilities.
This emerging recruitment battle is likely to continue since Georgia and Texas are both among the top five college football NIL collective leaders in the country.
