Georgia should be in the SEC and national championship conversation for the foreseeable future thanks to an already-loaded roster and outstanding 2018 recruiting class highlighted by the top-overall prospect, Justin Fields. While the future appears to be bright for the Bulldogs, can Fields end a strange drought by No. 1 recruits?
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Mario Edwards is the only ESPN No. 1 overall recruit to win a conference championship since the 2007 class, as noted by ESPN's David Hale. Edwards, the top player in 2012, won three ACC titles at Florida State (2012, 2013 and 2014) before entering the 2015 NFL Draft. The top recruit from the four preceding classes — Da'Quon Bowers (Clemson, 2008), Matt Barkley (USC, 2009), Ronald Powell (Florida, 2010) and Jadeveon Clowney (South Carolina, 2011) — combined for zero conference championships. Joe McKnight was the No. 1 recruit in 2007 and won the 2008 Pac-10 Championship at USC as a sophomore
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Robert Nkemdiche (2013) didn't win a title at Ole Miss, nor did Leonard Fournette (2014) at LSU or Byron Cowart (2015) at Auburn. Rashan Gary (2016) has fallen short in two years at Michigan and Trey Smith (2017) didn't get an SEC ring at Tennessee this fall.
Now Justin Fields, a 6-foot-3, 221-pounder from Kennesaw, Ga., who signed with Georgia on Wednesday, joins Gary and Smith in trying to end the conference title drought.
