Sports Illustrated put up the headline about how Alabama was going to replace the decommitment of four-star quarterback Jake Fromm after he flipped to Georgia.

Well, no offense to Jake Fromm, as he looks like a fine prospect, but Alabama hasn’t had a problem replacing a recruit yet.

How will the Tide coaching staff replace Fromm? They will recruit someone else. Simple as that.

The story isn’t really about Alabama and losing a quarterback prospect. The story is about Georgia and Kirby Smart jumping headfirst into a battle with his former boss, Nick Saban.

And the message Smart is sending Saban is clear: “If you want the top players in Georgia, you’re gonna have to go through me first.”

This isn’t to say Georgia had a hard time recruiting in-state prospects under Mark Richt. They certainly got their fair share. But I never got the feeling Richt tried to stake claim to all of the top prospects in the state. A lot of that has to do with Richt’s more laid back personality, but there are guys like Robert Nkemdiche and Deshaun Watson and even Greg Reid that I believe Richt didn’t fight for hard enough to keep.

Smart might not sign every top prospect in Georgia, but there will never be the perception that he isn’t trying.

The early commits in 2017 spell out where Smart is focusing his recruiting attention.

Player Position Stars HS State
Richard LeCounte III Safety 4 Georgia
Jake Fromm Quarterback 4 Georgia
Jaden Hunter Linebacker 4 Georgia
Breon Dixon Linebacker 4 Georgia
Xavier Jenkins Wide Receiver 3 Georgia
Justin Shaffer Offensive Guard 3 Georgia

Six early commits from six in-state prospects. Smart is working all parts of the state too. At times I felt like Georgia’s recruiting stretch was weaker in south Georgia and west Georgia. Smart wants to fix that.

Looking back at the 2016 class, it’s easy to see why Smart is going all in on in-state prospects. Assuming Demetris Robertson enrolls at Georgia (which isn’t a sure thing), Georgia will have signed three of the top 10 prospects in the state for the class of 2016.

Auburn also signed three of the top 10 prospects in Georgia, including top-rated prospect Derrick Brown. Looking at a prospect like Brown, who could be the second-best defensive line prospect in the class behind Rashan Gary, Smart is probably thinking, “I have to face this kid for the next three or four years and he’s sitting in my state? Never again.”

It’s probably the same feeling that Will Muschamp had when he saw Derrick Henry run roughshot over his defense while he was the head coach at Florida in 2014. Henry lived about two hours from Florida’s campus and the Gators recruited him but, like many other coaches, were skeptical of his upside at running back.

Oops.

As far as Smart is concerned, if Florida wants to share their top prospects with the rest of college football, that’s their business. But Georgia is now his house and he’s not going to let the top prospects walk out the door without a fight.

Georgia has to be better at in-state recruiting and while Fromm is just one player on a prospect list of many, it was the first sign that Smart isn’t afraid to take on Saban head-to-head when it comes to recruiting Georgia prospects.

He’s not going to back down, and if his attitude can filter down throughout the roster, there will be some interesting Alabama-Georgia battles ahead on and off the field.