Kirby Smart took an in-home visit Sunday night to see priority QB commit Jake Fromm
Kirby Smart was already hitting the recruiting trail hard on Sunday.
The next two weeks should seem similar to the December charge that followed soon after Smart took the Georgia job approximately 51 weeks ago.
The priority at hand will be strategic targets. Those will be important with the dead period looming on Dec. 11. Georgia’s stacked recruiting class — which currently ranks third nationally — has two natural candidates to see as quickly as possible.
Jake Fromm. Richard LeCounte III.
Smart and offensive coordinator Jim Chaney went in-home with Fromm and his family on Sunday evening.
“It was awesome just to see them on a personal level,” Fromm said. “Just to have them in your house and everything was a good experience for me and my family. A lot of the people in our community got to come by and say hello. Man, it was just an awesome night.”
The first-year head coach should work on the December graduates with his in-home visits this week.
Smart went to see one of Georgia’s two most important commits for 2017 — early graduate or not — to begin that push on Sunday.
Thankful @KirbySmartUGA and @JimChaneyUGA stopped by and had dinner with the Fam. Can't wait to play for these guys #GoDawgs ?? pic.twitter.com/qLZMyr2psD
— JakefromStateFromm (@FrommJake) November 28, 2016
Fromm and LeCounte seem like certainties to eventually enroll at UGA. DawgNation broke the story earlier this month that Fromm had signed his financial aid papers with UGA. He did so before the start of his senior season.
That document binds UGA to Fromm. It requires the athletic department to reserve a scholarship for him for the 2017-2018 school year. While Fromm is not tethered to UGA by those form, the senior does not plan to take any visits — unofficial or otherwise — except for his official visit to UGA next month.
Fromm has only taken unofficial visits to UGA since he made that commitment. He is expected to immediately begin competing for playing time behind 6-foot-6 freshman quarterback Jacob Eason.
“They said competition is always good,” Fromm said. “I know for me personally I can’t wait to get up there in January. The recruiting process started really early for me my freshman year. It seems like this stuff has been here my whole life and I didn’t feel like it was ever going to end. But now it is coming soon. I can’t wait for that to happen and finally start to get there and make a difference for that football program.”
He’s set to enroll at UGA in early January. That will follow the week he spends in Texas competing at the U.S. Army All-American game. Fromm will be one of at least six UGA commitments at that game.
The not quite 6-foot-3, 220-pound senior flipped from Alabama to Georgia shortly after the Smart hire. The decision allowed Fromm to fulfill a life-long dream of playing for Georgia. Fromm is ranked as the nation’s No. 3 pro-style passer for 2017.
RELATED: 12,821 reasons to get excited about Fromm’s career at UGA
The U.S. Army All-American is rated as the nation’s No. 44 overall prospect and the No. 4 player in Georgia for his class. He finished his prep career at Houston County with 12, 817 career passing yards.
That figure trails only Clemson Heisman Trophy contender DeShaun Watson in Georgia high school football history. Watson finished with 13,077 career passing yards after 56 career games. Fromm accumulated his total in 46 games.
In addition to the Fromm visit, LeCounte tweeted out he was visited by Georgia assistants Glenn Schumann and Mel Tucker on Sunday night.
Fromm said he thought that UGA offensive line coach Sam Pittman also visited three targets on Sunday. That’s Pace Academy offensive tackle Andrew Thomas and Cedar Grove teammates Netori Johnson and Justin Shaffer.
The Houston County quarterback is set to take his official visit to UGA on Dec. 9.
DawgNation has learned that the Bulldogs also plan a similar in-home visit with 4-star receiver Jeremiah Holloman on Monday night. James Coley will join Smart for that visit.
A source close to the situation also expects UGA to take another in-home visit with 4-star Grayson safety DeAngelo Gibbs on Tuesday night. Gibbs is a huge priority for Georgia. He rates as the state’s top undecided prospect for the Class of 2017.
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Follow Jeff Sentell 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.
