Jamie Newman is now a Georgia Bulldog.
The redshirt senior from the Class of 2016 (the Jacob Eason cycle) has opted to transfer from Wake Forest to Georgia for his final year of NCAA eligibility. He is expected to be in Athens on Monday.
When he does, he’ll find the same “Power G” on the same red helmet that he wore in high school.
The primary colors he will wear will be red and black. It is tempting here to reach for that tired “who says you can’t go home again?” line that has graced many a page.
And will likely be the stuff of a play-by-play announcer’s script, too.
There’s a better phrase here: Who says it can’t feel a little bit like home again?
Any observer could at least call that irony. His high school coach, Anthony Timmons, opted to reach for something from the divine column.
“I think it is God’s plan,” he said. “I told a reporter earlier this morning I believe. I am kind of glad I kept some of my old Graham gear. That way I can pull out a Graham hat that has got the Graham and the Georgia ‘G’ on it and feel right at home.”
“I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason.”
It isn’t an exact match. Graham High is known as the Red Devils. Not the Bulldogs.
“Everything except the mascot,” Timmons said. “But we tried to be Georgia and like Georgia through and through with everything.”
The only time he will ever wear a black Georgia jersey is for the spring game most likely, if that. The face masks aren’t quite the same.
Graham’s players are mostly seen as kids from the country who are part of a diverse high school demographic.
Timmons even called him a “country kid from a small town” when describing his makeup.
But just look at that photo up above. The school sign at the entrance. The distinctive “Power G” on that helmet.
“He’s approaching this with a business mindset,” Timmons said. “It was one of those things. He still has a lot of love for Wake Forest. It was just that he wanted to have an opportunity to move on and grow a little bit more in a pro-style offense and there are some pro-style offenses out here.”
“That’s why I go back to that I am firm believer and this is God’s plan and this is something that he had in store for him.”
Jamie Newman: Getting to know him a little bit better
Timmons said he’s done more interviews about Newman over the last few days with him trending to Georgia than he ever did when he was at Wake Forest.
“I understand,” he said. “You know with football in the SEC and down south is a lot bigger. So I get it.”
Newman started for three-and-a-half years at quarterback for Graham, but was still overlooked as a recruit in high school.
That will clearly still motivate him.
“A lot of people thought he could grow into being a linebacker or a defensive end,” Timmons said. “He’s always been a kid that knows what he is able to do and what he can bring to the team. He’s always going to be a kid that works to always do that.”
Newman was a 3-star. Rated as the nation’s No. 17 dual-threat on the 247Sports Composite. There were 29 players who rated higher than he did from his own state back in 2016.
That placed him as the nation’s No. 649 overall recruit.
When it was time for him to make his college decision, his options were down to Air Force, Duke, Elon, N.C. State, Wake Forest and West Virginia.
“A lot of people don’t know this but he was really considering Air Force and Duke there because of their academics,” Timmons said.
According to Timmons, the new Georgia Bulldog was a three-sport varsity athlete and carried at least a 3.5 grade-point average at Graham High School.
If he would’ve signed with Georgia in 2016, that would have slotted him as the fourth lowest-rated Bulldog for that cycle. He would’ve only been rated higher than RB Brian Herrien, OG Solomon Kindley and P Marshall Long in that signing class.
“I think he has been overlooked a lot in his life and a lot of people didn’t think he was a kid that could go that high,” Timmons said. “He’s a kid that has that big chip on his shoulder. That’s the big thing about him.”
Graham is not seen as an upper-echelon program in North Carolina. According to their team pages on Max Preps.com, Newman’s Red Devils didn’t win a game in 2019.
The program also only managed a 15-22 record along Newman’s last three years as the starting quarterback with Timmons.
5 things on Jamie Newman
(That maybe you haven’t read yet.)
- True dual threat — If he wins the job, he will be the first true dual-threat quarterback for the Bulldogs since D.J. Shockley led the Bulldogs to an SEC title in 2005.
- Late bloomer at Wake Forest — Redshirted at Wake Forest in 2016 and only threw four passes in 2017. Didn’t take over the job until late in the 2018 season due to an injury to starter Sam Hartman. Finished with a 3-1 record that year. Had a 10-6 record as the quarterback of record for the Deamon Deacons, including a 1-1 record against ranked teams. (Beat N.C. State and lost to Clemson.)
- He has legs at 230 pounds — Newman picked up 73 or more rushing yards in a game for Wake Forest six times, including a pair of 100-yard games as a redshirt junior.
- It really became clear for Newman and Georgia in the middle part of last week. Jake Fromm’s choice to move on to the NFL really crystallized things for him. “That made the wheels spin a little bit faster and really sped up the process,” Timmons said.
- What is his “why” for playing football? “Jamie’s ‘why’ is his family and that he is a competitive individual,” Timmons said. “He is a big-time competitor and it doesn’t matter if it is that new game ‘Spikeball’ that is starting to take some traction all the way to four square or shooting basketballs and just playing horse. He really enjoys the game and being around others that love the game also.”