Why did Georgia football coach Kirby Smart show up at the Carver-Lee basketball game?
Georgia football coach Kirby Smart was in attendance at Tuesday's boys basketball game between G.W. Carver and Robert E. Lee.
Smart, fresh off of leading the Bulldogs to their first national championship since 1980, was in Montgomery recruiting a pair of 2023 prospects from Carver: Jaquavious Russaw, a four-star defensive end, and five-star defensive lineman James Smith, who also plays for the Wolverines' basketball team.
Smart, who was born in Montgomery, chatted with Russaw during halftime. During the game, he sat with Todd Dowell, who runs MadHouse Athletic Training in Montgomery, where Russaw and Smith train.
Smith, a 6-foot-4, 310-pound defensive tackle, is the No. 11 player in the Class of 2023 per the 247Sports Composite and the No. 1 player in the state of Alabama. In July, he transferred from Carver to play his junior season at IMG Academy in Florida, but has since returned to Carver.
Smith has 17 listed offers, including ones from Georgia, Alabama, Auburn, Michigan, Ohio State and Texas.
Russaw is the No. 38 player in the class of 2023 and the No. 6 player in Alabama, as well as the No. 4 defensive end nationwide. The 6-foot-2, 230-pound edge rusher has 22 offers listed on his 247 prospect page, including Georgia, Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, LSU, Oklahoma and USC.
A first-team All-State and All-Metro selection as well as a finalist for Class 6A Lineman of the Year, Russaw had 130 tackles, 27.5 tackles for loss and 16 sacks as a junior while leading Carver to the playoffs.
A number of other prominent coaches also visited Montgomery on Tuesday, including Alabama's Nick Saban and Charles Kelly, Auburn's Zac Etheridge and Trovon Reed, and Nebraska's Erik Chinander and Travis Fisher.
Jacob Shames can be reached by email at jshames@gannett.com, by phone at (334) 201-9117 and on Twitter @Jacob_Shames.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Who is Kirby Smart recruiting at Carver-Lee basketball game?
