Georgia’s football recruiting budget skyrocketed under coach Kirby Smart en route to back-to-back national titles while counterpart Nick Saban has kept Alabama atop recruit rankings despite stagnant spending.
It’s two paths to a similar result in the ultra-competitive SEC, which spends more than any conference on recruiting by a wide margin.
Georgia spent $4.51 million on football recruiting during the 2022 fiscal year. Its budget almost doubled from the $2.27 million spent in 2017, the first fiscal year under Smart. The comparison is not adjusted for inflation.
That data was revealed in NCAA financial reports obtained by USA TODAY Sports Network in response to open records requests and compiled in partnership with the Knight-Newhouse Data project at Syracuse University.