Demetris Robertson, former No. 1 receiver recruit, can play immediately at Georgia

Demetris Robertson, the No. 1 receiver in college football’s 2016 recruiting class, is transferring to Georgia from Cal, and the NCAA’s since decided he can play in 2018, according to multiple UGA outlets.

He announced his move in July:

He’s just the latest blue-chip addition for the Dawgs, who already signed the second-best recruiting class in the rankings era last winter. They’re building an embarrassment of riches, and Robertson should put up big numbers with whichever elite quarterback is throwing him the ball. Someday, that’ll probably be the class of 2018’s No. 1 dual-threat, Justin Fields.

Robertson decided to leave Cal due to “personal matters,” he said in June.

Robertson is from Savannah, Georgia. He was the last major prospect to commit in the 2016 cycle, not announcing his pledge to the Bears until May 1.

He was formerly committed to Alabama, and at the time of his Cal commitment, he’d also been considering the Tide, Georgia, Stanford, and Notre Dame. All of those schools figured to be in play this time around, plus West Virginia, which had his former Cal offensive coordinator, Jake Spavital.

Robertson’s commitment to the Dawgs was a long time coming.

In ‘16, Georgia was widely considered the favorite to land him under then-new head coach Kirby Smart, who was on the Alabama staff that had recruited Robertson when he committed there. Robertson signed financial-aid paperwork with multiple schools, which made his recruitment an unusual public spectacle even by five-star standards. Coaches, like Smart at UGA, were able to publicly woo Robertson without violating NCAA regulations:

Robertson chose Cal when the Bears’ head coach was Sonny Dykes, the purveyor of an air raid offense that involved tons of throwing the ball around the field. Cal fired Dykes after Robertson’s freshman season and replaced him with Justin Wilcox, a defensive coach.

Robertson had 50 catches for 767 yards and seven touchdowns as a freshman. He missed almost the entire 2017 season with what Cal termed a lower-body injury.