When it comes to high school football, it’s well known that Georgia is one of the top recruiting hotbeds in the country. When it comes to boy’s high school basketball, the Peach State, once again, is one of the premier destinations for college recruiters.
Anthony Edwards, who plays at Georgia and is projected by some experts to be the No. 1 pick in this year’s NBA draft, is the latest example of a top-tier prospect whose prep career began in metro Atlanta. But he’s just the latest in a lineage of Georgia prospects to gain the nation’s attention in the 21st century.
Dwight Howard, who played at Southwest Atlanta Christian, was the No. 1 pick in the 2004 NBA draft. Josh Smith, who was born in College Park and began his high school career at McEachern, was taken 16 picks later. Shareef Abdur-Rahim of Wheeler was the third overall pick in 1996, and Lou Williams from South Gwinnett is in his 15th season in the NBA. More recently, Bulls 2019 lottery pick Wendell Carter played at Pace Academy, and Brandon Goodwin of Norcross is making the most of a two-way contract with the Hawks.
So it’s not a matter of if there’s another Edwards waiting in the wings in Georgia. It’s a matter of who.
“I don’t know if we’ve seen him yet, but I’m sure he’ll come along,” said Rivals national recruiting analyst Eric Bossi, who has been scouting for more than 20 years. “Georgia has always had a steady stream of top-10, top-five guys to come out every two or three years, so I know he will come down the line.”
Ranking college prospects, which is what Rivals does, is subjective. Ask 10 different experts who’s who, and you’ll get 10 different answers. But two of Rivals’ national recruiting analysts rank Georgia at least in the top five, if not higher, when it comes to national recruiting hotbeds. Bossi puts Georgia behind California, Texas and North Carolina. Rivals’ other national analyst, Corey Evans, puts the current Georgia landscape at No. 2 behind the Washington, D.C., area.
“The class of 2022 has some really good guards,” Evans said. “Bruce Thornton (Milton), Scoota Henderson (Kell) and Dillon Hunter (Westlake) — those three especially. I love Jabari Smith out of Sandy Creek for the class of ’21. He could be really special. His father played for LSU and a little bit in the NBA, and (Smith Jr.) is a modern day 4-man for the NBA. He’s only getting better, and I see him as the next guy up out of Atlanta.”
Rivals currently has 10 players in its Rivals150 Prospect Rankings for the class of ’20 — behind only California’s 14 and Florida’s 13 — led by 5-stars Sharife Cooper (McEachern) and Walker Kessler (Woodward Academy). Cooper signed with Auburn and Kessler signed with North Carolina. Georgia has nine players in the ’21 Rivals150 — behind only Florida (11) and Texas (10) — including 5-star Smith. For the class of ’22, Rivals has a Top 50 watchlist with four Georgia players, including 4-stars Thornton, Henderson, Hunter and Chauncey Wiggins (Eastside).
“It seems like every year Atlanta has big-time talent popping out,” Evans said. “Whether it’s 5-stars, one-and-dones, top 150 players or mid-majors, you see that area as such a hotbed that a plethora of programs prioritize.”
Evans considers the Holiday Hoopsgiving event in Atlanta a “must-see” every year for all the top-flight talent it attracts. Bossi observed that, during the past 5-7 years, apparel brands including Nike, Adidas and Under Armour have made Atlanta a priority destination for running their events, as well.
Although the prospect pool is deep in Georgia for football and basketball, there is one notable difference between the sports: keeping the local talent in state. While it’s much more common for football players to go to Georgia or Georgia Tech, players like Edwards signing with Georgia, or Josh Okogie at Georgia Tech — Okogie left before his senior season with the Jackets to enter the 2019 draft, where he was selected in the first round by Minnesota — are more the exception than the rule.
Bossi and Evans are curious to see if that disappointing trend will change — especially at Georgia, where second-year coach Tom Crean landed Edwards.
“(Georgia Tech coach Josh) Pastner has done a good job the second time around with transfers and Crean shows the ability to get them the first time around with Edwards,” Evans said. “Can they do that consistently? Can you get Jabari and the elite-level guys? We’ll see. It’s definitely a storyline to follow.”
Bossi pointed out why Georgia colleges struggle to keep elite talent in-state, but noted how that can change.
“Winning has a lot to do with (prospects not staying in the state),” Bossi said. “That’s been a problem at Georgia and Georgia Tech, and it’s tough when Auburn, Duke, North Carolina and Kentucky aren’t too far away and have a big Georgia pipeline. But one or two guys (staying in-state) can be the difference. Georgia was going to be better this year to begin with, but Edwards is clearly making a difference. Sure, they lost to Kentucky (on Jan. 7, 78-69), but in years past that game is a blowout.
“Anthony makes the Bulldogs competitive and instantly relevant, so if you get (in-state) guys like him to follow suit (and stay in Georgia), the narrative changes really quick.”
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