Richard LeCounte III, a 5-star junior prospect from Liberty County, Ga., became Kirby Smart’s first pledged recruit at Georgia (Photo: Twitter)
Kirby Smart is in the midst of transition from Alabama defensive coordinator to Georgia head coach. In the process, he’s pulled over three former Alabama commits to join the Bulldogs, one from the Class of 2016 (Tyler Simmons) and two from 2017 (Jake Fromm and, as of Tuesday, Netori Johnson).
That success in stealing from the enemy wasn’t lost on one of Smart’s other recruits, defensive back prospect Richard LeCounte III, who used Johnson’s defection from the Tide to poke the Bear that is Nick Saban on Twitter, as you can see below.
Class of 2016 Georgia signee Mecole Hardman was happy to jump on LeCounte’s train, too:
While LeCounte doesn’t specifically mention Johnson, he does call out both Fromm and Jaden Hunter, a fellow Georgia native and linebacker who is a Bulldogs commit. Hunter, the son of Georgia legend Brice Hunter, had long named Alabama as his leader before committing to the Bulldogs after Smart’s arrival.
Whether LeCounte’s rather public display of support for his future coach and team improves or hinders Smart’s ability to pull players away from his former stomping grounds remains to be seen (as does whether or not LeCounte winds up in Georgia himself; we’re still months away from February after all).
Still, the very fact that a young athlete can even launch such an attack at Nick Saban’s Alabama program on the mountaintop is a fairly remarkable turn of events, and one which bears watching moving forward.