First, get a load of the new court. Reaction has been enthusiastic – it looks as if the redesign hit the right notes. One underrated design choice was the use of the collegiate block letters on the baseline from the popular retro uniforms rather than the modernized font.

Coach Abe got some fantastic news this week with a commitment from 5’11” guard Aubrey Beckham. Beckham, a 2025 prospect from Hebron Christian Academy in Dacula, is rated as the #30 prospect in the nation by ESPN.

The commitment is significant on many levels. Most important of course is that she can play a valuable position well. She’d be the highest-rated prospect to play for Georgia in several seasons. Beckham is touted as a “floor general” who can lead Georgia’s offensive attack. With how much of Coach Abe’s offense depends on a steady player in command like Diamond Battles or Asia Avinger, it’s easy to see how a talented guard like Beckham could thrive in this system.

Beckham’s commitment also represents an important milestone for Coach Abe’s recruiting. If she takes the court in 2025, she’ll be the first Lady Dog freshman from the state of Georgia since Jillian Hollingshead in 2021. She’d be Coach Abe’s first signee from Georgia and just her second player from the state. (De’Mauri Flournoy transferred in from Vanderbilt shortly after Coach Abe was hired.) Georgia has always been a national program with greats like Katrina McClain, Saudia Roundtree, Kelly and Coco Miller, and Deanna Nolan hailing from out of state. There’s always been room though for some of the state’s best talent. Angel Robinson, Ashley Houts, Tasha Humphries, and of course Teresa Edwards were must-have in-state prospects. Those foundational players have been heading elsewhere recently.

Coach Abe had to fill a depleted roster any way she could, and her staff did not have deep ties to the state of Georgia. She leaned on the connections she brought from UCF while her recruiting operation in Georgia had to be built from the ground up. It hasn’t been easy nor fruitful. Relationships that lead to commitments can take years to develop even with prospects within the state. Take Essence Cody, a talented player from Georgia now at Alabama. Cody began receiving offers and developing relationships with programs since the 8th grade – well before Abe took over at Georgia. Making things more difficult was the inability to host camps which are invaluable opportunities to get elite prospects on campus and sell the program. The triple whammy of the Covid pandemic, the coaching transition in 2022, and Stegeman Coliseum roof construction in 2023 meant that until 2024 Georgia had been unable to host summer camps since 2019.

Perhaps the commitment of Beckham shows that things are beginning to change. Georgia was clearly on the mind of more top prospects after camp season this summer, and several will take visits this fall. Director of Recruiting Operations Brianna Patton recently returned back to Georgia from a successful stint at Ole Miss and is already paying dividends.

It’s unreasonable to put the pressure on Beckham to be the pied piper leading other elite prospects to Georgia, but she is the kind of player and leader on the court that other good players would want to play with. Georgia has added five top-100 signees over the past two years, and now they’re beginning to attract that kind of talent from Georgia. If Beckham’s commitment is a sign that Georgia is making inroads with the depth of talent in this state, the difficult task of returning Georgia back to the top of the SEC will seem much more likely to succeed.