In an era of college sports when athletes’ heads are quickly turned by enticing financial deals — whether through revenue sharing or name, image and likeness compensation — and their locales are easily changed through the NCAA transfer portal, Georgia managed to retain the most top-level talent of any football program in the Southeastern Conference ahead of the 2026 season.
More than half of the 2025 starting lineup for the Bulldogs will be suiting up in red and black again this fall, including quarterback Gunner Stockton, both halves of the team’s dynamic running back tandem, and defensive playmakers such as KJ Bolden and Raylen Wilson.
And with the NCAA’s change this year to a single portal window for football — and more specifically, having it occur in January — it meant that Georgia coach Kirby Smart could go through spring practices with the luxury of fully focusing on the season ahead without wondering who would really be around for it in Athens, at least as far as the portal is concerned.
Smart, preparing for his 12th season in charge at his alma mater, said that was his plan all along.
“We didn’t respond or react to it last year,” Smart said in reference to the spring window that was eliminated by NCAA rules changes made last fall. “There’s not anything we’re doing different … We’re working on building depth, trying to get guys ready, but we were doing the same things last year.”