The big red machine Georgia football machine is steaming down the track scooping up football talent. The resources have always been available. All it took was the will. Today, the Bulldogs have signed six five-star recruits and boast a class ranked number

Georgia football: the big red recruiting machine rumbles

Georgia football ATLANTA, GA - DECEMBER 02: Head coach Kirby Smart of the Georgia Bulldogs reacts to a play during the second half against the Auburn Tigers in the SEC Championship at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on December 2, 2017 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) /

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US dollar bank notes. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images) /

Money

The Bulldog Nation wants a big winner, a really big one. It decided it was willing to pay for it.

For example, after releasing plans for the recently built 30 million dollar Indoor Practice Facility, 24 million dollars was pledged from private sources. When the University planned a 63 million dollar Sanford Stadium renovation focusing on a recruiting center and locker rooms for Georgia football, it was with the anticipation of raising 53 million dollars.

Georgia spends money because it has money

The Athletic Department holds a 75 million dollar reserve of un-budgeted or un-appropriated funds, 32 million of which is held in the University Foundation. The funds invested through the Foundation are not intended to be spent. This ultimate-rainy-day-fund guards against unforeseen and unlikely budget disasters: severe revenue shortfalls, expensive coach firings, NCAA lawsuits regarding concussions, future mandated pay to athletes .

“There are a lot of unknowns, and what this allows us to do, and the right way, is to have a buffer there that allows us to cover the unexpected.” Greg Magarity told the AJC’s Dawgnation.

This self-mandated economic safeguard makes Georgia athletics funding nimble and responsive. For the Bulldog Nation to reach the top of the college football mountain, it needed only to pour its resources on the Big Red Machine’s already burning fire.

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