Third Georgia defensive back shuts down his recruitment
This news is hardly shocking. Fort has been beating the drum for other recruits, such as Breck Kojolay, Preston Carey, and Zykie Helton, to come to the Georgia Bulldogs. Fort is teammates with Preston Carey at IMG Academy and Georgia has had a long list of IMG Academy alumni that played for the Bulldogs such as Nolan Smith Jr. and Ellis Robinson IV.
Fort was one of the first recruits to commit to Georgia, committing in January, and now he's taken a step to cement his spot on Georgia's roster in 2026.
Fort is the No. 11 safety prospect and No. 133 recruit in the nation. He was on the Polynesian Bowl roster and Under Armour All-American Game roster. While there, he was probably persuading many recruits to commit to Georgia.
Georgia has the No. 1 recruiting class in the nation and the biggest part of their 2026 recruiting class is their secondary. Georgia has seven commits in the secondary, with five four-stars and two three-stars. Defensive backs Justice Fitzpatrick and Jordan Smith have already shut down their recruitment too.
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USA Today
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This homesick football player cried on air. It sparked a conversation about masculinity.
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No. 5 Georgia is looking for defense to reclaim standard set by 2021-22 national championship teams
ATHENS, Ga. — Glenn Schumann says comparisons are not fair to Georgia teams of the past or present. Even so, the defensive coordinator isn't ducking the fact that the 2024 defense didn't meet the Georgia standard even while the Bulldogs won their third Southeastern Conference championship in the Kirby Smart era. Georgia's path to 11 wins, the SEC championship game victory over Texas and a spot in the College Football Playoff was filled with harrowing results by the defense. The defense produced three NFL first-round draft picks — Mykel Williams, Jalon Walker and Malaki Starks — despite giving up 41 points in a loss to Alabama and closing the regular season with a 44-42 win over Georgia Tech in eight overtimes. It's no coincidence that Georgia's back-to-back national championships in 2021 and 2022 were built on defense under Smart, a former defensive coach. Georgia led the SEC in points and yards allowed in three consecutive seasons, beginning with the 2021 team that led the nation with 10.20 points allowed per game. The proud tradition of strong defenses slipped in 2024 when the Bulldogs fell to eighth in the league with 20.57 points and 329 yards allowed per game. 'You start rationalizing stats, then you're just making excuses for a performance that wasn't up to our standard,' Schumann said. 'The number one thing we need to do better in run defense is tackle better. In fact, we did not tackle to our standard last year.' Georgia, No. 5 in The Associated Press preseason Top 25 poll, carries high expectations, including on defense. The belief the 2025 defense can return to its lead role may be at least partly based on the championship standard of units led by such players as Travon Walker, Jordan Davis, Eric Stokes, Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith. 'Speaking of a defense, I think it really comes down to the little things,' said linebacker CJ Allen, expected to be a leader of the unit. 'Our whole theme and this message this whole offseason for the whole team has been fire, passion, energy. Playing with fire, passion, energy, being able to affect each other means a lot. Just coming out doing the little things.' Freshman defensive lineman Elijah Griffin, one of the top signees, has an opportunity to make an immediate impact. 'EG's doing great,' Schumann said. 'You always want to temper expectations on young players, but he has a maturity to him, a work ethic to him. He's obviously a big guy with a lot of athleticism. So we hope that Elijah's able to help us this year. ... He's had a good start to camp.' Linebacker Raylen Wilson and safety KJ Bolden are other leaders of the defense. Smart said he is watching the defensive line, led by junior tackle Christen Miller, as a key to the emphasis on stopping the run. 'We need him to be a playmaker,' Smart said of Miller. 'We need him to be disruptive. We talk about habit, we talk about quickness, speed, experience. He's our most experienced player. He has taken on this role of knowing the burden lies with him to set a standard for that group.' Smart said the goal of stopping the run 'starts with that group. I mean, it's everybody, but it really starts with the defensive line, and what kind of mentality that room has. And so far, he has approached that the right way.'
