This is the biggest myth in college football recruiting over the last 10 years. I've studied our classes in-depth for 20 years, so I know fantasy from reality. The true marker of recruiting success is on field performance and post season accolades. Georgia for all Spurrier's hype did not land as many players on the First Team All SEC post season squads as one would expect, particularly at key position areas like OL, DL and DB.
Richt was really good at landing flashy recruits at the skill positions, which made it seem like Georgia was recruiting at a high-level year-over-year. As Bama fans know all too well, flash only gets you so far and in the areas where you win Championships (in the trenches) UGA was weak and had little depth. This was something Kirby recognized immediately upon arriving in Athens. Sam Pittman is rectifying the OL issue, however it remains to be seen whether Tray Scott can recruit at the same level to improve our DL talent. He whiffed on Sandidge, so I'm reserving judgement.
Regarding UGA fan patience if Kirby doesn't turn this recruiting success into on field Championships. That's an interesting question. Let me turn it around. What top tier SEC fan base has patience? We all want to win Championships. I think Georgia fans realize they have a gem in Kirby, because he's cut directly from Saban's cloth and will give him a longer leash than one might expect.