Georgia Bulldogs and Kirby Smart aiming to keep top five star recruit away from SEC rivals as their next Jalon Walker Kirby Smart and his staff have been pushing hard in recruiting already this off-season to help offset their losses to the 2025 NFL Draft and the Transfer Portal. Offensive coordinator Mike Bobo just made yet another visit to five star quarterback Jared Curtis. Now they’re hosting a five star linebacker that could be the next Jalon Walker or Nakobe Dean for the Georgia Bulldogs. Kirby Smart and his staff have been chasing after five star linebacker recruit Tyler Atkinson from Grayson, Georgia for quite some time now. Atkinson has had his Georgia offer in the bag for over a year now, and he’s visited with Bulldogs’ staff double-digit times now, but he’s going to be back in Athens yet again this weekend according to Chad Simmons of On3.

If Tyler Atkinson’s name sounds familiar that’s because he’s the same linebacker recruit that Kirby Smart visited via helicopter on Georgia’s bye week last fall.

Smart and his staff have logged more than double the unofficial and official visits with Atkinson compared to any other college football program in the country. They recognize how special a talent Atkinson is, but also how badly the Georgia roster could use him here soon.

Atkinson has racked up an absurd tackle total around 500 in just three seasons of high school football with more that 30 sacks to go along with that. He’s a lightning fast downhill tackling machine with the length and athleticism to cover any team’s best offensives athletes when called upon.

It’s like he really has the pursuit and play recognition of former Georgia star linebacker Nakobe Dean mixed with the pass rushing capabilities of Jalon Walker (who just departed for the NFL) and he’s still a junior in high school

It’s unclear how quickly Tyler Atkinson intends to make his commitment decision. And he did just visit with Auburn, Alabama, Texas, Ohio State, and Miami last fall. However, this will be his third visit with Georgia since early November, not including the Kirby Smart helicopter visit to his game in October.

It seems the Bulldogs are clearly in the lead. If so, that would mean Georgia could land two of the top ten players in the 2026 class (including five star quarterback Jared Curtis who has Georgia among his final schools and was already committed to them once

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And if you want to check out what makes Tyler Atkinson so special just watch this highlights video below from his junior year!