Dylan Fairchild is a state heavyweight wrestling champion and an All-American football player out of West Forsyth High School in Georgia.
Needless to say, he is a priority target for the Georgia Bulldogs in the 2021 recruiting cycle.
He was so well-regarded by Matt Luke, that the new Georgia line coach wanted to make sure he offered him in person earlier this year.
When Fairchild told DawgNation this week he was ready to make his college decision, he spoke with a conviction and a purpose we rarely hear from a recruit.
Especially when the nation’s No. 2 OG and the No. 40 overall prospect (247Sports) for the class of 2021 never saw himself committing this early.
Toss in the global pandemic denying all the college visits he thought needed to take.
Sprinkle in the fact that he never thought he’d be committing this early regardless of the COVID-19 concerns.
Fairchild just knows. He makes a very telling case.
“It was always Georgia and Auburn,” Fairchild said. “I think it was those two. Those were the closest but I think that Georgia was there. I think I was sitting there and I don’t think I had that two hour or three-hour conversation with other schools like I did with coach Matt Luke and coach [Kirby Smart] to get to know each other.”
“To get to really really know each other. The more I am around Coach Luke and I see his style and the way he coaches and takes care of his kids, the more I have grown closer with him. We’ve built a very good bond.”
The 4-star prospect becomes the ninth public commitment of the 2021 recruiting class in Athens. That moves the Bulldogs up to the nation’s No. 12 class for 2021 on the 247Sports Team Composite rankings.
“Georgia is going to be the best of both worlds for me,” he said. “Even with football, I am picking a school that even without football I would want to go to. You never know what could happen. This football life could end in one moment. I think I’m going to go to a place where I’m going to be happy with football and I am going to be happy with school, too.”
“I think Georgia is really the best of both worlds. I think all the pieces of a national championship are falling right into Georgia’s hands. I want to be a part of that and do something special over there. I think that me and a few other guys have that same mindset. I’m just ready to go.”
“I’ve been talking with Brock [Vandagriff] and Micah Morris and a few other guys and we are all in with this. We are ready to be a part of something really special at Georgia.”
Dylan Fairchild is one committed recruit
He actually knew he wanted to be a Bulldog before he got the hat that he wore on his commitment day. He told DawgNation he finally made up his mind about Georgia about two weeks ago.
The West Forsyth rising senior called the Georgia staff at 3 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. That was a private chat and he made his commitment.
He then joined DawgNation for a special recruiting announcement on its Facebook and YouTube social channels. When Fairchild sent out his tweet letting the world know he was a Bulldog, he was live with DawgNation.
“If I were to do this without the whole coronavirus thing going around I would go see the Georgia coaches and do it in person,” Fairchild said. “I just wanted to give them that respect and still call them. Person to person. Just tell them I was 100 percent with this and ready to go. I’m ready to get to work already.”
It was a bit unexpected, but said the fact he couldn’t visit the Georgia coaches in person actually helped him come to that decision faster than he expected.
“The Zoom meetings really helped me more,” Fairchild said. “It really made it feel like I was doing a one-on-one with the coaches on a recruiting visit. I don’t think it would have been the same for me with that if I was on a recruiting visit on the campus at Georgia. You can really ask the questions you would really want to ask face-to-face and in some circumstances it helped even more than doing it when you are around a bunch of people and have a lot of activities going on.”
“I think in my case the Zooms actually helped me more.”
Fairchild ranks as the nation’s No. 7 OG and the No. 135 overall prospect on the 247Sports Composite ratings. (Reminder: The Composite ratings combines the 247Sports rating with the ESPN and Rivals.com rankings for a comprehensive score across the major recruiting services.)
He grew up a Georgia fan with his family barking at the TV every Saturday in the fall. His family is made up of mostly Bulldogs with a few Georgia Tech fans sprinkled in.
“I don’t know it is just like it kind of all matches up,” Fairchild said. “There’s just no way I’d feel that if I went to any other school. There’s no way at any point that I would regret it if I went to Georgia. It was just meant to happen. All the recruiting put aside, I just think that degree from Georgia is just going to be the best fit for me. I’ve never been more excited about something in my life than I am right now.”
Check out his junior highlight reel.