How Georgia's Kirby Smart's recruiting compares to Nick Saban at Alabama - ESPN

During his introductory news conference as the new Georgia coach in December 2015, Kirby Smart fielded a question from a reporter with the Athens Banner-Herald.

When did you feel like you were prepared and ready to be a head coach?

«The growth you get from working at a place like Alabama under Nick Saban helps immensely,» Smart said. «A lot of people have said, 'Why not take a small school head job?' I honestly feel like my growth was better by being in a large program and being around Coach Saban.»

While Saban built Alabama into a modern college football dynasty and turned the Crimson Tide into a recruiting juggernaut, Smart developed into a dogged recruiter and one of the nation's top defensive playcallers during his nine seasons in Tuscaloosa from 2007 to 2015. But as of this fall, Smart has now spent as much time in charge of the Bulldogs as he did as an assistant under Saban.

In nine seasons at Georgia, Smart has built a powerhouse of his own, amassing a record of 96-17 while matching the same ultra-elite recruiting standard set by his mentor. And for the better part of the past 10 years, up to Saban's January retirement, the sport's fiercest elite recruiting wars have been fought between Georgia and Alabama — Smart and Saban.

Since 2017, the programs have finished more than two spots apart in ESPN's team recruiting rankings only once, combining for six No. 1 classes in that span. Now, following Saban's departure from Alabama earlier this year, Smart holds the mantle as college football's preeminent recruiter, one of only three active coaches with a national championship.

On Saturday, No. 2 Georgia visits No. 4 Alabama at Bryant-Denny Stadium and the Bulldogs and Crimson Tide open a new era of the rivalry with