Andrew Thomas, the state of Georgia’s top offensive lineman for 2017, visited UGA on Sunday for three-plus hours.
It was just another trip for his dad, but Thomas’ mother and sister made their first UGA visits. This marked the fifth visit for Thomas since his first to UGA’s “Dawg Night” camp under Mark Richt in 2014.
That trek came before he found it hard to stay away from his grandmother Annie Thomas’ fried chicken. He’s an athlete, but the 6-foot-5, 315-pounder makes an exception for that on his training table.
“Can’t say no to Grandma’s chicken,” Thomas said.
Could he say no to UGA? Thomas (Pace Academy / Atlanta) quickly confirmed where UGA stands after the visit.
“They were my leader before (earlier this spring) and they are still my leader,” Thomas said. “Right now I’m just trying to visit other schools and get a feel for each school before I make a decision.”
He’s trying to figure out the timing of his decision with his parents and coaches.
“My plan when I was a sophomore was to wait until signing day and do the whole cap thing and choose a hat,” Thomas said. “But right now I’m just trying to figure out what school I want to go to and I feel like if I know, then I may come out public with it. But I’m trying and my goal is to at least take some officials first before I make a decision. But if it comes up on me this summer, then I may do it then also. It just depends.”
The senior is rated as the nation’s No. 8 offensive tackle for 2017 and the No. 37 prospect overall. If that choice remains UGA, he knows what type of reaction that will get from offensive line coach Sam Pittman.
“He’ll probably do a backflip,” Thomas said.
Thomas said UGA still continues to recruit him the hardest. He’s already thinking about scheduling his official visit.
“Georgia right now is complete,” Thomas said. “It has all the things I’m looking for in a college. So like with the other schools, I’m looking to compare and contrast them if they might have something better. Or Georgia might have something better. I am just trying to weigh my options right now.”
He felt it wasn’t realistic to expect one school to have the best of everything.
“I’m looking for which one has the best combination of all the things I’m looking at,” Thomas said.
His answer as to what he likes best about UGA right now is layered. It is the business program. It is his relationship with Pittman. It is the playing opportunity and also the school’s location.
Pittman has made it clear to him the starting tackles are seniors and the depth chart at UGA has set up well for him to play early.
“I understand that you have to work hard and be prepared and be ready,” Thomas said. “But if I have the opportunity then I would definitely love to start as a freshman. Because it is not done that often at left tackle.”
Thomas felt UGA also sets up as the best place to play right away. His family even grew up Bulldog fans. He also felt his father’s favorite school along his recruiting process would be UGA. That was evident after an earlier visit.
“When he came up for the spring game, he really liked Georgia and felt like it would be the perfect place for me,” Thomas said. “But I just wanted my mom and my sister to get up there and go see it so we could talk about it.”
Georgia impressed the family this time because, on a previous visit, Thomas wanted to know how he’d maintain his faith as a player in the program. So UGA had Athens United Fellowship of Christian Athletes minister Thomas C. Settles III speak to him today.
Thomas described him as a team chaplain. That’s also the title on his Settles’ Twitter bio. Settles is also the pastor of Calvary Bible Church in Athens.
“Getting to know the chaplain today and things like that was big,” Thomas said. “Because religion is a great priority in my family. They handled that well. It definitely helped Georgia out when they showed me that. … They never said anything to me about the chaplain, but it shows they definitely are thinking about me and trying to make sure my parents feel where I go that I will be taken care of with things of that nature.”
There’s also his Pace teammate. Trey Blount, a UGA commit, making sure he knows he’d fit in nicely between the hedges.
“He’s always texting and talking to me about Georgia,” Thomas said. “He brings up a national championship and things like that. He is definitely recruiting me hard.”
Thomas also knows UGA commits Netori Johnson and Justin Shaffer very well, too. Those would be his teammates as Class of 2017 commits on the offensive line. The U.S. Army All-American also had another knee-slapper of a day hanging with Pittman.
“I can’t recall all the funny things coach said today,” Thomas said. “But he said a lot.”
The visit saw the family peppered with statistics, but not of the offensive line or NFL Draft variety. These were numbers relating to the Terry College of Business at UGA.
That was important given that this was his mother’s first trip to check everything out. The academic side of her son’s decision is a big priority. She’s hoping he enrolls at a school that has a great academic reputation. Thomas already has been impressed by the business school at UGA.
“She really likes the school a lot and she just wanted to go up there and see it for herself,” Thomas said.
He discussed the visit with his mother on the ride home. Thomas isn’t sure which school is his mother’s favorite yet.
“She said he liked Georgia and wanted to get more information from the coaches about the school and the academic side of it,” Thomas said.
The visit on Sunday was progress on that front for Belinda Thomas.
“She really likes the school a lot and she just wanted to go up there and see it for herself,” Thomas said.
Thomas isn’t fully recovered from the sprained shoulder he suffered at Nike’s “The Opening” Atlanta regional in March. If there was a game this week, he’d be able to play. But to be on the safe side, he doesn’t plan on doing any camps this summer to rest that joint. “The Opening” in Oregon should be the only one.
His next trip to UGA might be in June to hang out. The next visit he’s planned will be to Notre Dame on June 17. Thomas said his family will join him on that trip, along with talented junior teammate Jamaree Salyer. Salyer is rated as the nation’s top offensive guard for 2018.
Clemson is Thomas’ No. 2 school, and he will take an official visit to see the Tigers, too. He has a good relationship with offensive line coach Tony Elliott.
“Coach (Dabo) Swinney has a great program there that has been winning a lot of games and doing it the right way,” Thomas said. “They also have great academics and it is just a family-oriented place when you go down there.”
He’s more than just a player. Thomas (and his 3.5 GPA) was recently honored by Pace Academy as an exemplary underclassman both on and off the field. The well-rounded student also continues to perform with the school band as pictured in the video below.
Jeff Sentell covers UGA football and UGA recruiting for AJC.com and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Follow him on Twitter for the latest on who’s on their way to play Between the Hedges. Unless otherwise indicated, player rankings and ratings are from the 247Sports Composite.