In 2022, Georgia spent over $4.5 million on its recruiting efforts, $1.5 million more than any other Power Five school during the year.
This information comes from an NCAA financial report the athletics department provided Wednesday to the Athens Banner-Herald in response to an open-records request.
The closest to Georgia’s spending was Texas A&M, which ranked No. 2 with $2.98 million in recruiting expenses. In 2022, the Aggies finished with the No 1 ranked class. Tennessee is No. 3 at $2.92 million, Texas No. 4 at $2.44 million, No. 5 is Alabama at $2.32 million and then Michigan at No. 6, having spent $2.24 million. No other school reported having spent more than $1.85 million.
Weiszer explains what counts as recruiting spending:
The recruiting expense totals in the latest NCAA reports cover transportation, lodging and meals for recruits and school personnel on official and unofficial visits for a period that, for most schools, covered July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022. It also accounts for phone charges and postage for pursuing recruits and the value of school’s vehicles and planes or those used by the school for recruiting.
Georgia’s recruiting spending and efforts have certainly been paying off. The Dawgs are back-to-back national champions, signed the No. 2 class for the 2023 recruiting cycle and No. 3 for 2022, and are loaded with talent despite losing a huge number of players each year.
Last offseason, Georgia lost 28 guys to the NFL draft and transfer portal. Yet they still managed to go a perfect 15-0 and win a second consecutive national title. On top of that, they were the only Power Five program not to sign a player from the transfer portal, meaning it relied on recruiting alone to build another stacked roster.
Weiszer mentions that both Clemson and Oklahoma are yet to report their spending from 2022, but are typically two of the highest when it comes to recruiting expenses.
