Top UGA target from Florida speeds up his commitment decision
Tre’ Nixon has moved up his commitment timetable. The 4-star receiver with the 4.38-second speed in the 40-yard dash wants to speed things up. Naturally.
“It is going to be in the next two or three weeks,” said Nixon, who is a recruiting priority at UGA. “Anywhere in October. I can say 100 percent it is not going to go past October. It is going to likely be somewhere in mid-to-late October.”
The 6-foot-1, 169-pounder from Florida’s Viera High School wants to do that before the slots start filling up at one of his target schools.
UGA receivers coach and recruiting coordinator Bryan McClendon saw him score four touchdowns in a single game last weekend. Nixon caught two touchdowns against Florida commitment Chauncey Gardner in that contest.
He said McClendon has made it clear how much he’s needed.
“When we do talk football he basically tells me how he’d love to use me in the offense,” Nixon said. “He says he can’t wait to get me to be that vertical threat down the field to blow the top off of defenses.”
Nixon covers ground fast, so in that spirit let’s blitz through a few key topics with him:
- His schools are UGA, Auburn, Florida, Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Penn State.
- UGA and Penn State were the schools he felt stood out to him over the summer.
- Why? He loved those visits and his mother came along. She also loved those schools.
- He said Texas A&M is making up a lot of ground.
- Nixon did say “it is currently an even playing field” among those six schools.
- He does not plan to take any official visits before his decision and will take just one official visit after his commitment.
- He’s already scoped out all six of his possible destinations.
- Nixon carries a 3.8 GPA and scored a 22 on his ACT.
The really interesting part is he’ll decide with a big assist from his DVR. He told DawgNation.com that he records all the games those six schools play. His evaluation process will just be the football.
“I record all the games I need to watch,” Nixon said. “I go through their entire offense and watch their games. I want to see how they operate. The routes the receivers run and the variety of routes. I also want to see their passing games spread the ball around.”
He loves how UGA uses it playmakers in different ways. He’ll spy them in a four-receiver set and then see them in the Power-I.
“If you have a team that can definitely put the ball on the ground and run the ball it will force the defense to put more men in the box,” Nixon said. “That leaves me with one-on-one matchups all day. … . Man-on-man is my favorite coverage. That’s one real big reason I do look highly on Georgia is they run the ball so effectively. I know there will be a lot of one-on-one coverage on the outside.”
Nixon didn’t have any contact with UGA until McClendon took over coaching the receivers. He said he was contacted by McClendon on the first day after he got the job.
“Around this time last year Georgia wasn’t even on my mind and now I love them,” Nixon said.
He remembers one of McClendon’s first lines.
“He said ‘Man all I can tell you right now is that speed is just out of this world’ and he also said he loved my character,” Nixon said. “I spoke to a lot of coaches at this time last year, but I’d never connect with them like I did the first time I spoke with Coach McClendon. Our personalities connected real easy. He’s a great guy to talk to on and off the field.”
Nixon aims to study digital graphic design.
“I would say Georgia and Penn State definitely opened my eyes the most when it came to academics,” he said.
UGA’s depth chart at receiver will be more wide open than at Penn State, but he’s looking at other things.
“The big thing with Penn State is I’d be the only receiver on the team with high top-end speed,” Nixon said. “They have a lot of receivers who aren’t real fast. The other thing would be having the opportunity to play early.”
—Check out Nixon’s mid-season highlights so far in 2015:
Jeff Sentell covers 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.
