DJ Lundy had an eventful official visit over the weekend. It was part-game show, part-cooking show and part-decide if he wants to join the show at Sanford Stadium, too.
The 3-star ATH said Georgia coach Kirby Smart did a lot of things over the weekend to get the 11 official visitors out of their comfort zones.
There was a cooking contest. Lundy whipped up a Hibachi-style meal. There was also some axe-throwing, but he won’t soon forget the “Family Feud” style game they played.
His opponent hit the buzzer first, but got one of those strikes that will make Steve Harvey wince.
Lundy didn’t. His reply to the query “What melts when it gets hot” was the No. 1 answer on the board.
“The top answer was ice,” Lundy said.
He won that face-off and his team went on to win the “OV Feud” this weekend. Colquitt County RB Daijun Edwards, preferred walk-on DT Cade Brock and a couple other commits were a part of that winning team.
Lundy had the right answer for that topic. Now he just has to figure out the right answer for his college future.
“Georgia just really made me come out of my comfort zone and open up to the coaching staff and do things I normally wouldn’t do,” he said. “Kind of put the spotlight on me.”
Let’s take a few reps through everything he shared with DawgNation Sunday night after his official visit in Athens was up.
- The 3-star ATH from Irwin County (Ocilla, Ga.) has two official visits left to take, but will not need them anymore. He’s finished with that part of his recruiting journey.
- Lundy took back-to-back visits to Georgia and Virginia Tech over the last two weeks. Those are his two finalists.
- He will make a private decision this week and share that with the respective coaching staffs. He said he hasn’t figured it out yet, but will come up with his choice this week.
- He will then let the world know on February 5. That will be the traditional Wednesday that has long been the home of National Signing Day every recruiting cycle.
- Some schools have been recruiting him as a RB and others see him as an ILB.
- Georgia rising sophomore ILB Trezmen Marshall was his host. That was the perfect choice as those two went head-to-head for years in high school. Marshall’s teams at Clinch County had been the roadblock to Irwin County’s state title hopes over the last few years prior to a breakthrough 2019 season.
- His Irwin County teammates call him “The Lumberjack” and “Big 4” back home. (Side note: Who wouldn’t want to sign a dude with a “Lumberjack” nickname to play ILB for their defense?)
How would he sum up his official visit?
“It was mainly building a strong relationship with coaches and players,” he said. “Seeing if it was a good fit and then I just liked the vibe you know.”
DJ Lundy: How he feels about Georgia right now
Lundy described that potential fit he saw this weekend.
“It is a bunch of good people up there,” Lundy said. “Like a brotherhood.”
What did Georgia give him to think about? It was quite a lot.
“I already had a lot to think about before I went up there,” Lundy said. “That has just given me more to think about now.”
Lundy rates as 3-star recruit and the nation’s No. 53 ATH on the 247Sports Composite ratings for 2020. That places him as the nation’s No. 887 overall recruit.
It goes without saying that Georgia has him a lot higher on the board than that. Lundy is a two-sport state champion. He has won back-to-back wrestling state championships at Irwin County.
The Irwin County football team also won the Georgia Class A public state championship this past season in dominating fashion.
Georgia sees the 6-foot-1, 230-pound senior as a ILB prospect with a few extra options to his game. He could be a RB on the other side of the ball. Lundy has bruised up Georgia high school secondaries for the last two seasons as a hard-to-handle threat in the ground game.
Lundy had three tackles for losses, a sack, a forced fumble and rumbled for 174 yards on the ground in the state title game. Pair that up with a wrestling acumen that hasn’t seen him lose a match since falling to state champions in his freshman year. That’s stout combination for a South Georgia player.
Lundy associates the Georgia program with success, too.
“It is a winning program,” Lundy said. “If you go there, then you know you are going to win. You are fighting for a national championship every year. Not only that, it has always been a dream to go to Georgia in my home state. It is just the brand. If you go to Georgia, you would be set or life.”
DJ Lundy compares Georgia and Virginia Tech
Georgia did not offer Lundy until late in the 2019 recruiting calendar. That offer came mere days before the early signing period.
When that offer came, it changed up his recruiting outlook.
“It was a dream come true really,” Lundy said. “It made me hold off my decision and think about it a little bit more. I just wanted to make sure that I was making the best decision.”
If Georgia had not offered, he said he probably still would not have signed early. Virginia Tech was neck-and-neck with Vanderbilt at that time.
That has evolved.
“My decision will be between Virginia Tech and Georgia,” he said.
As stated earlier, he will make the decision next week and then release it on National Signing Day.
When he left Athens, he felt he understood the message he had gotten from the staff pretty clearly.
“They really want me,” he said. “They think I can contribute to the team and that it would be a good opportunity for me if I want it.”
He sees an opportunity in Athens, too. The same as he does with the Hokies.
“I feel like I can help them on both sides of the ball,” he said. “It really is just going to depend on how I compete when I get down there. I plan on going down there to compete and getting straight to business. I’m fighting for a spot just like everybody else. Let the best man win.”
Marshall laid out the deal in Athens. He was going to have to work. Players in the program will have their ups and downs. Just like at any college.
“At the end of the day, it is just competition,” Lundy said of what Marshall told him. “I love to compete so why not? If you go to Georgia you are going to be competing against the best of the best.”
How does he compare that to the vibe at Virginia Tech?
“It is different kinds of good,” he said. “For sure. What I love about Virginia Tech is it reminds me of home. It is a big school but it has that small town feel to it if you know what I mean. Like the country. It is backroads. It feels a lot like home.”
That does remind him of Ocilla.
“Then what with Athens is it is a college town,” he said. “So many people. It is just up there the networking you would meet so many new people up there every day.”
He has not decided on a major, but feels both schools check all the boxes for him academically.
Lundy grew up an Oregon fan at Irwin County. Not Georgia. But he did have a breathtaking moment along his official visit.
It wasn’t another round of “Family Feud” or working that hibachi grill.
“When I went downtown to Athens,” he said. “Just to see all the students and the people. It is breathtaking.”
What is he looking for in a college fit?
“Education is first and foremost,” he said. “Then after that really you have got to find that fit. You have got to go somewhere that you can be for four years. Make sure that the coaches have your best interests at heart and that you get your degree no matter what. I feel like at both schools that will happen.”
He said he will make “a gut feeling” over the next week about his college choice. He does not have that figured out yet.
“I still have got to work on that a little bit,” he said.