On July 5, 2016, four-star defensive end Robert Beal Jr. of Suwanee, Ga., committed to play football at Georgia. It was a nice pick-up for new Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart, who had yet to coach a game at his alma mater. But nobody at the time recognized it as the first brush stroke on a defensive masterpiece five years in the making.
Smart really got to work on the canvas in 2017: Two defensive backs committed Feb. 1 for the Class of ’18; another on May 1; and then a flurry of linemen and linebackers in the fall and winter.