Despite the Georgia Bulldogs being viewed as favorites to land a five-star defensive lineman, the better NIL deal offered by the Texas Longhorns ultimately won out.
Name, image, and likeness opportunities continue to dictate college football recruiting, and that was the case with Georgia native Justus Terry.
Terry initially made an early commitment to the USC Trojans, and the Bulldogs were viewed as the favorites to nab the coveted recruit upon his decommitment.
Chad Simmons of On3 detailed the decision made by Terry after covering the prospect throughout his high school journey.
Six months after his decommitment, Terry’s final decision lay between Georgia and Texas.
Simmons was blunt — it came down to a more lucrative NIL opportunity by the Longhorns, leading Terry to sign a financial agreement with the program and pull out a Texas t-shirt on signing day.
“I don’t know how else to say it—just a straight-up better NIL package,” Simmons said. “That’s kind of what it came down to. Justus had the better, much longer connections in Athens with Tray Scott, Kirby Smart, Glen Schumann, and multiple off-field staffers. He had been there to Athens too many times to count. Texas got involved in the fall; communication picked up in the summer, and they got him on campus for an official visit. Even coming off the OV, we knew Texas was a player but didn’t think they were going to be that kind of player come early December.”
While it’s clear that NIL has become a main player in college football recruitment, it’s somewhat concerning to hear prospects are choosing financial offers over cultivated relationships.
It would be ignorant to think that connections transcend NIL offers, but players should be prioritizing situation and fit.
In Terry’s case, he was drawn by the additional promise of success on the field after the Longhorns’ berth to the College Football Playoff and a proven developmental trajectory.
“… Texas’ success on the field, building guys in the trenches and him seeing a guy like Colin Simmons as a true freshman make the impact he did this year,” Simmons continued. “And them being back-to-back playoff contenders the last two years. All of that obviously played into it as well, and he likes the staff and player development. There’s no questioning that. But I think the simple answer is the better NIL package won out.”
The recruiting flip of Terry comes on the heels of recent legislation introduced by Georgia lawmakers to exempt NIL payments from state income tax, with the main bill sponsor citing Texas in particular as a state they need to be able to compete with.
There is no mandated income tax in Texas, along with a few other states.
However, despite the massive loss, head coach Kirby Smart has a strong recruiting class for 2025, with four of the top five and six of the top 10 signing from their state.
Intriguingly, On3 recently released anonymous information by several Power 4 NIL Collectives and personnel staffers. Among the insights was a question posed of who spent their NIL money the smartest.
Two different SEC NIL Collective representatives and two from the ACC all named Georgia as the only consensus answer.
“Georgia is pretty good with how they spend money,” one SEC NIL Collective said. “Kirby is still able to play off the cache that is Georgia. It’s rare that they ever overspend. When these kids were growing up, Georgia was the program. Georgia is still probably the safest bet in college football if I want to play in meaningful games.”
The second SEC NIL Collective pointed to the Bulldogs and Ohio State Buckeyes.
“Georgia got some guys for a steal,” the source said. “Kirby really leaned into some old-school stuff in getting guys to come at a discount.”
Perhaps Smart’s old-school style is indeed relationship-building and clearly works with more recruits than it doesn’t, per the surveyed collectives.
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