Kirby Smart and company picked up a huge commitment this morning with the announcement of Oxford, Alabama center Clay Webb that he’ll be playing his college football at the University of Georgia. Webb chose the ‘Dawgs over a host of other offers, primarily from his other finalists Alabama and Clemson. He’s ranked the #1 prospect in the state of Alabama and the #22 player in the country according to 247Sports composite rankings. In short, Webb is one of the bluest of blue chips.

Webb’s commitment is big news for a couple of reasons. Obviously nabbing one of the top offensive line recruits in the country is never, ever a bad thing. But the other aspect of this one that feels pretty good is that Georgia took him right out of Nick Saban’s back yard, and out of Saban’s potential Recruiting class. Georgia wants to beat Alabama on the field, and I suspect that’s coming. But a major part of doing that is going to be beating the Tide on the recruiting trail. Recruiting is the life blood of college football. Getting the players the Red Elephants want and need starves them of the stream of blue chip talent Nick Saban’s built his empire on.

This is not the last head-to-head battle between the Tide and ‘Dawgs this recruiting season by any means. The two teams are also battling down to the wire for IMG Academy offensive tackle Evan Neal (the Tide are widely viewed as the favorite here), IMG tailback Trey Sanders (the nation’s top running back, again favored to pick the Tide), and Horn Lake, Mississippi linebacker Nakobe Dean (a toss up between the two, though Ole Miss may come into play as well) among others.