![Georgia coach Kirby Smart looks on during the first half of the NCAA football spring G-Day game at the University of Georgia in Athens, Ga., on Saturday, April 20, 2019. [Photo/ Jenn Finch, The Athens Banner-Herald]](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2021/06/07/NABH/d6ffa8f0-cbe6-4524-b968-a3258744be71-190420_Gday_2527.JPG?width=660&height=440&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
The college football preview magazines that hit supermarket and bookstore racks already pegged Georgia as a top five team.
Then the latest splashes to the Bulldogs roster came last week in the form of high-profile transfers: All-ACC cornerback Derion Kendrick and tight end Arik Gilbert, the 2020 Gatorade national player of the year.
“It kind of feels like NFL free agency, right?” Ralph Russo, the national college football writer for the Associated Press since 2005, said. “You’re putting two potential All-Americans into a team that could have made a good case to be your national championship pick.”
Kendrick is a former Clemson two-year defensive starter. Gilbert was LSU’s fourth leading receiver last year as a freshman.
Before their additions, Georgia ranked No. 4 by Lindy’s, and No. 5 by Athlon and The Sporting News.
Cole Cubelic, the SEC Network analyst, viewed Georgia as his likely No. 1 preseason team before last week. Even after star receiver George Pickens sustained a torn ACL this spring.
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“I look at Georgia having one of the better defensive lines in college football returning, you can make an argument the best,” Cubelic said. “One of the better tight end groups in college football. Super deep at running back, enough bodies at wide receiver if they’re healthy that I don’t think just losing George is going to make that big of a difference. I think one of the things I came…
