Georgia Football: Bulldogs continue big finish with Nakobe Dean

Five-Star Nakobe Dean, the nation’s top-ranked inside linebacker, signed with Georgia Football on the opening day of the early signing period.

The top-ranked player in the state of Mississippi, and the No. 14 overall player in the 247Sports composite rankings, Nakobe Dean signed with Georgia over Alabama and Ole Miss on Wednesday.

Dean is the No. 1 ranked inside-linebacker in the country, and could make an immediate impact as a true freshman next season. He became the fifth five-star prospect to pledge to Georgia during the 2019 recruiting cycle.

Dean is a true sideline-to-sideline linebacker that fits with any and every defensive scheme. The one thing that seemed to be missing from Georgia’s defense this season was a true stud at middle linebacker as they weren’t able to replace Roquan Smith’s production and leadership. Dean may not be the second coming of Smith, but he fits a big position of need for the Bulldogs in this cycle.

At 6’0 and 220 pounds, Dean is a bit undersized for your traditional inside-linebacker, but with the spread further evolving the game each year, Dean is the evolution of the position. He will need to bulk up a little bit, though, in order to survive the grind of an SEC season. He’s quick enough that he could make a seamless transition to outside linebacker as well, with his versatility being a major reason why every major program in the country made a push for him.

Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, LSU, and Ole Miss were all finalists, but in recent weeks Dean seemed to narrow his recruitment down to Alabama, Georgia, and Ole Miss, with most industry experts thinking the battle was down to the Crimson Tide and the Bulldogs.

Dean took many unofficial visits to the Rebels though, and seemed to be most at home in Oxford. In the Alabama-Mississippi All-Star game, Dean notably threw up the Landshark, which has been a patented sign for Ole Miss defenders for years.

It seemed for the longest time that Dean was an Ole Miss lean, though those thoughts had cooled over the last few weeks, but the Rebels made a furious final push to land his signature that came up just short.

It seems that Dean couldn’t get over the struggles Ole Miss had defensively this season or the 6-6 record, eschewing his home-state school for an opportunity to head to Athens and compete for championships.

Kirby Smart made a furious surge over the last couple of weeks, once again proving his prowess as one of recruiting’s best closers, and securing a Top 3 class for the Bulldogs for a second year in a row. They’ll probably come up just short behind Alabama for the top ranked class, but no team has inked more five stars than Georgia in this cycle.

The Bulldogs are one of the big winners from the early signing period, which was needed after their prized recruit from last year’s cycle, QB Justin Fields, announced that he would be exploring a transfer.

Even with Fields on the way out, Georgia is winning on the recruiting trail at Alabama-like levels, and winning more recruiting battles head-to-head with the Crimson Tide than anyone has since Nick Saban came to Tuscaloosa in 2007.

Nakobe Dean is the latest big win for Kirby Smart and company.