A record crowd of more than 93,000 rowdy fans. An LED light show before the game. A win over a top 10 opponent.

If Kirby Smart wanted to make a strong impression on a quality list of recruits in attendance at No. 3 Georgia’s game against No. 7 Notre Dame at Sanford Stadium on Saturday night, he got his wish.

Among them: Noah Sewell, the No. 22 player overall and No. 2 inside linebacker in the country according to 247Sports, and speedy tight end Darnell Washington, a Las Vegas product parked just outside the top 10 that’s been projected by one of his high school coaches to be “the Zion Williamson of college football”.

Blue chip recruits are the norm at Georgia, and mainly from the Southeast: Only 5 of the Bulldogs’ high school signees out of the class of 2019 are from outside the region, with one (Lewis Cine) hailing from Texas. As the Dawgs have taken a consistent spot as one of college football’s powers, though, Smart’s recruiting means that the borders have expanded.

Kendall Milton, a 5-star running back commit and the No. 4 player at his position in the class of 2020, is from California and had Alabama, Arizona and LSU among his finalists. Sewell is from Utah, a state not normally on the top of the recruiting charts. Neither is Nevada, where Georgia hopes to pluck Washington from. Zachary Evans, an uncommitted player from Houston who is considered the nation’s top running back in his class, could team up with Milton to bolster the Dawgs’ backfield and continue a strong pipeline to the Lone Star State. Doing so provides an added bonus of keeping recruits away from in-state schools like Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and even Midwest programs like Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.

Landing a player like Washington, though, who has Georgia, Miami and Tennessee in his top 3, would be another big splash for a program that has boasted top 3 recruiting classes over the past three cycles, including the No. 1 class in 2018. Not only would the 6-8 prospect fill the pass-catching tight end role that Eli Wolf occupies now, but he brings a level of versatility not seen by many recruits in the class.

That is, if he does play tight end at college after seeing significant time at defensive back in high school.

“Sometimes I want to catch touchdowns. Sometimes I want to tackle people and slam them,” Washington said. “Whatever. But I will say I want to play tight end.”

“He really understands football at a high level and is very coachable,” his assistant coach and mentor, David Hill, told DawgNation.com. “There are plays where there are guys running 10 and 15 yards ahead of him and he’s running 50 yards downfield to catch them.”

Sewell is a name to monitor as well. But he might have his sights on the Pac-12 and Oregon, where his brother, Penei, is one of the top offensive linemen in the country.

“Ultimately, that’s going to be the thing that’s a pretty big motivating factor,” Rivals.com recruiting analyst Jake Reuse said. “I will say after talking to him and his dad, they both agree that his body style and the way he plays are a bit more of a fit for the SEC, or at least down South.”

While a chance to play for a contender like Georgia might be tough to turn down, the family ties, Reuse said, might win out.

“(They’re) a tightly-knit family and the opportunity to play with Penei is going to be pretty strong,” he said.

And while there are plenty of priority recruits in the 2020 class, 2021 will be key as well.

Georgia’s staff has made Washington (D.C.) Gonzaga dual-threat Caleb Williams — the No. 16 player in the country and the top dual-threat signal-caller — a major target, and the attention appears to have worked as he’s been in Athens several times over his high school career. But Stanford, his “top choice”, might be the team to beat right now (despite not yet offering), and they, along with his other schools of interest, have undergone detailed analysis from him and his father to ensure the younger Williams isn’t questioning his decision down the road.

“They (Georgia) are trying to make me a real priority for my class,” he said last month. “So it is a pretty good feeling and a pretty good thing to know.”

Saturday’s game was a solid advertisement for Georgia football and the atmosphere it brings. Hopefully for Smart and his staff, it’s a sign of more good feelings and more good things to come on the recruiting trail.