Mekhail Sherman rates as the nation’s No. 3 outside linebacker and the No. 25 overall prospect for 2020 on 247Sports.
The 6-foot-3, 232-pound prospect used to play running back for St. John’s College in Washington, D.C., but would rather know focus on hitting people.
The Georgia Bulldogs would rather see him focus on hitting people, too. He’ll be a top target in the 2020 class.
Sherman said that most teams would like to see him stick at outside linebacker. That’s even though he’s already a fairly large individual heading into the spring of his sophomore year.
“At this point, what they are really telling me is that if I stay at my weight and continue to move at my size and be as agile as I can be, then I can stay where I am going to be at,” Sherman told Land of 10’s Tyler Donohue at the New Jersey Opening regional.
Some coaches see him as a hybrid. He can flex to an OLB spot in a 3-4 or a 4-3. That’s what his coaches have been training him to do.
He told Donahue that he has been timed as fast as 4.59 seconds in the 40-yard dash. That came at a camp in Syracuse. That was back when he went to prospect camps. Sherman is forgoing those and the junior day options for personal visits.
Sherman plans to visit UGA for two days, May 11-12. It will be his first time in Athens. He also plans to visit Penn State in May.
Georgia will have slight advantage with Mekhail Sherman
Sherman has family in Atlanta. That’s only an hour from UGA. He also knows a little bit about the program.
“Georgia is a prestigious school,” Sherman said. “Every time a school offers me, I will always study their defense and how they play and how I could fit into their defense. I would fit in both defenses such as the one at Penn State and UGA.”
First-year outside linebackers coach Dan Lanning has made an impression.
“The linebackers coach took favor in me,” Sherman said. “I took favor in him, too. I decided, ‘You know what? I’m just going to make a trip,’ and plus I have family down there in Atlanta. So it is a pit stop right there and then an hour drive to UGA.”
Georgia offered Sherman on Feb. 26. That was his birthday.
He felt that Georgia and Penn State would be long-term schools he would take a look at. Sherman also mentioned Michigan, Ohio State, South Carolina and Tennessee as other schools that will be on his radar. His 247Sports profile page lists 13 offers.