Will David Gabriel Georges be worth the NIL price tag? Breaking down five-star running backs in CFP era

Five-star running back David Gabriel Georges committed to Tennessee on a CBS Sports College Football YouTube channel and CBS Sports HQ broadcast Wednesday. 

The Baylor School (Chattanooga, Tenn.) running back chose the Vols over Ohio State and Ole Miss. Gabriel Georges is expected to command a multi-million dollar NIL deal, according to On3.com's Pete Nakos. 

Will it be worth it? Gabriel Georges is one of two five-star running backs in the 2027 class along with Kemon Spell, a five-star running back from McKeesport, Pa., who is committed to Georgia. They are part of the 22 five-star running backs on 247Sports.com in the College Football Playoff era.

Will Gabriel Georges live up to the hype?

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Five-star running backs in CFP era 

According to 247Sports.com, there have been 22 five-star running backs since 2014, and it's a hit-or-miss list. The 2026 class featured EJ Crowell (Jackson, Ala.), who committed to Alabama; and Savion Hiter (Louisa County, Mineral, Va.).

Here is a look at the other 18 five-star running backs and their career totals at the FBS level: 

Five-star running backs since 2014

Royce Freeman, Nick Chubb, Dalvin Cook and Leonard Fournette were part of a loaded class in 2014, but the production from five-star running backs has not been a perfect science since. 

Texas' Bijan Robinson and Penn State's Nick Singleton are the only five-star running backs with more than 3,000 career rushing yards since 2020.

In total, eight of the 18 running backs ran for at least 3,000 career yards, six won national championships and 10 of the 17 who have finished their college careers were drafted, with seven going in the first or second round.

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Who is David Gabriel Georges? 

Gabriel Georges is a 6-foot, 205-pound running back. He rushed for 1,726 yards and 27 TDs at Baylor School last season. He had 27 carries for 150 yards in a 28-24 victory against Brentwood Academy in the BlueCross Bowl TSSAA Class 3A, Division II state championship last season. 

Gabriel Georges was born in Quebec, Canada, and his parents are from Haiti. According to On3.com, Gabriel Georges attended Armand-Corbeil High School in Canada before moving to Tennessee in 2024. 

In an interview with On.3 com's Chris Low, Gabriel Georges addressed how he will handle the high expectations in college.

"In my head," Gabriel Georges said. "I know I will work for it. That's what I will promise, that I will give everything I have and every last effort to bring myself to that level and be a great player."

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Will David Gabriel Georges be worth hype? 

Gabriel Georges will have more pressure on him than most of the running backs because of the NIL price tag, and the hype feels somewhere close to what Fournette experienced at LSU. 

Fournette had 3,830 yards and 41 TDs in three seasons with the Tigers from 2014-16, and he finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting in 2015. Fournette, however, was limited to 145 rushing yards on 2.5 yards per carry in three matchups against rival Alabama. 

Gabriel Georges will be counted on to be a difference-maker – and he's being compared to Quinshon Judkins by On3.com, who writes: "Georges' build, vision, and elite tackle-breaking ability remind us of Quinshon Judkins. Both were instinctive, hyper-physical running backs at the high school level with each being very productive, particularly in big playoff games. Gabriel Georges looks to be faster at the same stage, showing more of a top gear to pull away in the open field, with Judkins adding speed once he got to college." 

Judkins, of course, played at Ole Miss and Ohio State in college, where he amassed 3,785 yards and 45 TDs. Judkins was a four-star recruit in high school. That appears to be the baseline production for which Gabriel Georges will be held at Tennessee in 2027. 

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