Justin Fields' earth-shattering transfer after just one season will undoubtedly be a loss to the UGA football family.
However, it might not be a mitigating factor on the field, now that Georgia has absurdly rebounded with a surprise coup at the quarterback slot.
On Wednesday, the first day of the Early Signing Period, Dwan Mathis–the No. 2-ranked dual-threat quarterback, according to Rivals.com–verbally flipped his commitment from Ohio State to Georgia, siding with the Bulldogs earlier in the morning.
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Within this stunning turn of events, it's fair to wonder if the rampant rumors of Fields transferring to Ohio State played a part in Mathis' change of heart.
If that's the case, Georgia just brokered an eye-for-an-eye swap at the backup quarterback slot ... while putting one more year of distance between Mathis and entrenched starter Jake Fromm.
What's more, the program silenced the legions of national pundits, who believed the porous timing of Fields' decision had effectively killed Georgia's chances of landing a 4- or 5-star quarterback from the 2019 class.
As such, the 6-foot-4, 200-pound Mathis, the pride of Oak Park, Mich. (suburban Detroit), sidestepped the litany of opportunities within the Big Ten (Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State, Minnesota) to make the move to Athens.
So, what does Wednesday’s big flip tell us about the state of high-end recruiting among the nation’s elite programs? For starters, these schools are playing for keeps.
Every defeat can be spun into victory … and apparently, in less than 48 hours.