Georgia 'has ground to make up' with 5-star teammates James Smith, Qua Russaw

Georgia will have a number of the country’s top prospects on campus this weekend for its huge showdown against Tennessee, and that includes five-star Montgomery (Ala.) Carver teammates James Smith and Qua Russaw.

On3 Director of Recruiting Chad Simmons confirmed the visits and reported the news on Thursday during On3’s Inside Scoop recruiting show. But the Bulldogs have some work to do to catch up to other teams in Smith and Russaw’s recruitments.

“They’ve always liked Georgia, and they took an OV to Georgia back in the summer,” Simmons said. “There’s been some communication, and Georgia was at Montgomery Carver during their off week, so I think there’s definitely interest on both sides still. But I still like it right now, the three schools you mentioned being ahead of Georgia: Alabama, Auburn and Florida. Auburn doesn’t even have a coach, but I would say Auburn is running No. 2 to Alabama at this point.

… Georgia getting them back on campus is only a positive with those guys. Right now I think Georgia is trailing at least two, maybe three schools in this race. Communication this weekend, a good performance, obviously the atmosphere is probably off-the-charts in Athens. It’s only going to help Georgia in this race, but I think they have considerable ground to make up this weekend.”

Russaw and Smith aren’t expected to make a commitment decision until the Early Signing Period, with Alabama holding a lead for both right now in the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine (RPM).