Recruiting is such a hit-or-miss aspect of college football, but it is what determines a program’s success for the next 4-5 years.

The Georgia Bulldogs have been fairly consistent when it comes to their recruiting in recent years, hitting on a lot of their major recruits like Todd Gurley, Nick Chubb, Jordan Jenkins, Leonard Floyd and others.

But it was a player from the 2013 class that stands out as a miss for the Bulldogs.

Out of that group, the biggest recruit was safety Tray Matthews. An Under Armour All-American and a four-star safety, Matthews was primed to be the next great Georgia defensive back.

He saw playing time early on and gave early indications he was going to be everything fans thought he would be — a playmaker.

Matthews racked up 20 tackles in his first four games, along with one interception and three pass breakups. But his season took a turn for the worst when he missed the next four games due to a hamstring injury. When he returned, he was largely ineffective and he didn’t record a single tackle in his final three games.

What fans will most remember about Matthews, however, is a moment tied to one of the more improbable plays in SEC football history. It was Matthews, along with fellow safety Josh Harvey-Clemons, who failed to knock the final hail mary pass down against Auburn, leading to the Tigers’ unthinkable game-winning touchdown pass to Ricardo Louis after he caught the ball off the deflection from Matthews.

Matthews’ error cost Georgia a big conference win against one of the Bulldogs’ biggest rivals.

To make matters worse, Matthews couldn’t stay out of trouble off-the-field. In March he was arrested and charged with “theft by deception” for cashing in his university stipend check twice.

He didn’t miss any time during Spring practice, but then it wasn’t long before Richt announced that Matthews had been dismissed from the team in June, leading people to believe something else occurred with Matthews to convince Richt he should no longer be a part of the team.

“We are trying to make room for guys who want to do things right,” Richt said following Matthews’ dismissal.

The former four-star later transferred to Auburn.

Unfortunately for Georgia, Matthews’ issues off-the-field kept him from reaching his potential on-the-field for the red and black. Georgia’s top recruit from the 2013 class never really made much of an impact and he was joined by five other defensive backs to either quit, be medically disqualified, dismissed or transfer as of today.