Mike Tirico of NBC Sports spoke with Kirby Smart on Thursday afternoon about how recruiting tactics have changed and what he and the Bulldogs staff are doing to stay on top of things during the COVID-19 shutdown.
“Our ability to gather information on a kid comes from, number one, going to his high school and talking to the people who have been around him,” Smart said. “We rely heavily on that information.”
“The next thing, at a place like Georgia, you rely on camp information. When a kid comes to camp – how does he work? Does he work? Does he want to workout? Is he competitive? What are his skill sets?” – Smart continued. “When you take away the opportunity to have camps this summer and be able to recruit face-to-face, you put a lot of doubt in a lot of peoples heads.”
The NCAA extended its dead-period last week from April 15 to May 31 in the midst of shelter-in-pace orders across the country.
The dead-period keeps coaches from face-to-face meetings with recruits which includes off-season recruiting camps that programs like Georgia have come to rely on.
Although coaches may not meet recruits in person, they are still allowed to keep in touch through calls, texts and video chats.
“Kind of like the NFL does, we have to go back to old school and call people, get on virtually and find out if a kid is committed to the time he said,” Smart added. “A lot of these GMs now, they’re calling kids and they’re saying, ‘alright, is he going to be on time for the Facetime, is he driving a car? What is he doing?’ Well, we’re doing the same thing with a high school kid. If he is committed to the process and jumping on Zoom at the right time, he’s probably gonna be the right kinda kid to be on your team”
