The Athens Banner-Herald got its hands on Georgia’s financials for the 2018-19 fiscal year and learned the Bulldogs turned a $31 million profit… which represented a $12 million decrease from the year prior.

But that’s not the most interesting part, at least to me.

According to numbers reviewed by the paper, Georgia spent $3.7 million on football recruiting alone in 2018-19. That represents an increase of more than $1 million — we’re talking close to 40 percent — from 2017-18. Georgia already led the nation in 2017-18, spending roughly $200,000 more than Alabama, according to USA Today.

Clemson, meanwhile, spent $2.2 million on recruiting in fiscal year 2019.

The $3.7 million figure is more than five times what Georgia spent on recruiting in 2014, and more than what Georgia’s 20 other athletics teams spent on recruiting in 2019 — combined.

Georgia’s 2019 recruiting class ranked second nationally according to the 247Sports Composite rankings, a 25-man haul from 10 states, stretching as far north as Rhode Island and Michigan and as far west as Kansas and Texas.

The 2020 class, now hours away from being complete, is ranked No. 1 in the 247 Composite. The Dawgs’ 23-man class includes commits from California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, New Jersey and Washington, DC.