Want to attack every day with the latest Georgia football recruiting info? That’s what the Intel will bring at least five days a week. The play sheet today calls for an orientation with the biggest member of Georgia’s 2020 recruiting class. That’s 4-star tackle, Broderick Jones.
Broderick Jones has more than a pinch of James Brown to his game. If somebody wanted to call him “The Hardest Working Sophomore” in Georgia high school football last season, I would not debate that point.
Jones spent his Fridays and Saturdays doing the following:
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Broderick Jones received his first offer from UGA. He also plays tight end for Lithonia. He posed for a photo at UGA here with his mother Tawana Jones. (Contributed photo) Logged up to two quarters in three junior varsity games before Friday action. He was getting a baptism-by-fire orientation to the tight end position. Lithonia coach David Edwards said it was an “experiment.”
- Jones then played both ways at tight end and defensive end for his Lithonia Bulldogs on Friday nights.
- He also shined as an all-county defensive end for the Bulldogs. The 6-foot-6, 300-pound rising junior picked up 9 sacks and collected 24 tackles for losses in 2017.
- It is interesting to note he plays tight end because he likes it. He also does so because of the fact he really likes to wear No. 88. He realizes that when he plays tight end he can wear that number. He usually has two jerseys on hand for when he plays the tackle spot. That would be the No. 70. When he is a full-time offensive lineman in college, that seems like the number he will most likely wear for the Bulldogs.
- Lithonia’s primary RB ran for about 1,700 yards last fall. Edwards estimated that at least 1,000 of those yards came by following behind whatever side Jones was lined up on.
Why the Bulldogs? Well, he is committed to play in Athens. That’s even though Alabama was the school he thought about playing for growing up.
“I just like the way they jumped on me early,” Jones said of Georgia. “They trusted me early on that I could play for them.”
Georgia was his first offer, and he says the only other school he would consider playing for would be Alabama. But that’s not likely the way offensive line coach Sam Pittman is recruiting him right now.
“Nobody is recruiting me as hard as Georgia does right now,” he said. “I don’t think it is possible for any school to recruit me harder than they do right now. If Georgia keeps doing what they are doing, then no other school has any chance at all.”
There’s a good connection at work there.
“Sam Pittman is an amazing coach,” Jones said. “His practices are intense. I like that.”
Jones has been up to Georgia a lot. The Lithonia coaching staff estimated that he has been to Athens at least four times during the last two months.
“I think I have the potential to come in and start there as a freshman,” Jones said.
Why does his coach call Broderick Jones ‘Big Silly’ a lot?
Edwards breaks out the “Big Silly” term a lot to describe Jones. He uses it with great affection. Jones is also called “Tub” by those who know him very well.
“He’s a big silly child,” Edwards said. “Play all the time. You will see that once he gets comfortable with you, he will play with you all the time. He’s his Mom’s baby. So, that’s why I know where he gets that nice kid nature from.”
Jones wears a size 17 cleat, and he is still growing. The 16-year-old will turn 17 in May. But right now, he wears a bigger shoe size than his age.
“He also has good grades, so I never have even given a second thought about how old he was,” Edwards said.
He said his older brother plays offensive line at Mississippi State.
There’s a funny story to be told about the first time he met Pittman.
“The first visit to Georgia we were walking through the hallways,” Lithonia assistant coach Robert Hamler said. “They were escorting around and then coach Pittman came around, and I swear that Broderick saw him and just came up to him and gave him a big hug around his shoulders and said, ‘Hey coach,’ and now we are talking about the very first time he ever met that man in person.”
Edwards laughs at that one, too.
“He gave him a big old hug like he was his brother,” Edwards said.
It is the sort of thing that a young man nicknamed “Big Silly” would be expected to do.
“Sam Pittman just said, ‘Hey, Big Baby’ right back to him,” Hamler said while wondering why Jones decided the grab the Georgia line coach the very first second he met him.
Jones is also prone to wrestle around with teammates. That’s just something he likes to do.
Broderick Jones: How does his mother feel about UGA?
Hamler asks a simple question to break down why Jones is on the board as a commit.
“Do you know why he’s committed to Georgia right now?” he said. “That’s because they treat him like he’s family. They treat all of us like family. That’s why his mother is in love with the thought of him playing for Georgia.”
Tawana Jones calls Broderick her “blessing” baby. She didn’t want to have another, but when she did, that was it. He was to be her last child.
She said the Bulldogs really wanted her son to play on their line.
“They just stayed on him until they got him,” she said. “They told him a lot of good stuff.”
Jones was at G-Day with her son earlier this year.
“I just love that Sam Pittman,” she said. “But when we committed to Kirby Smart, he was very happy, too. I would say that Broderick’s commitment to Georgia should be seen as 100 percent.”
His academics have been prioritized.
“We don’t play that stuff around our house,” she said. “His grades and his schoolwork comes first and foremost.”
Big decision by Amari Kight takes UGA target off board
Jones is important to the future of the Georgia program because the offensive line currently has more guards than tackles. He’s in the Class of 2020 and could be in line for quick playing time given his skill set, size and Sunday potential.
That’s good for the Class of 2020, but the Bulldogs lost out on a major target for 2019.
Amari Kight, the nation’s No. 8 offensive tackle for 2019, chose to reveal his commitment to Alabama on Sunday evening. Kight was of interest to Georgia but in the end, a few factors won out.
- Alabama has a mighty fine program, and he’s a valued in-state prospect.
- Taulia Tagovailoa, his teammate at Thompson High School in metro Birmingham, was also already pledged to Alabama. Tagovailoa is his quarterback in high school and that will carry over to their college years on Saturday, too.
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