Noah Sewell‘s recruitment has been one of the neater ones to follow in this cycle. Or any cycle.
The 5-star’s moves are planned and (except for that Texas A&M official) have mostly ticked away like a Swiss timepiece. There have been very few sharp turns.
The nation’s No. 2 ILB prospect had hoped to make his decision before the end of his senior season. Those plans, according to his father, are now on hold.
Sewell’s focus is where it should be in November. He’s focused on his Orem Tigers and the Utah state football championships.
“He’s completely turned his focus into this playoff run,” his father Gabriel Sewell Sr., said. “This Friday will be the quarterfinals. He’s really kind of zoned in on that. We haven’t really talked much about recruiting or the next visits that he wanted to line up.”
“He’s kind of all dialed in on this. We’ve got nothing in the books right now as far as definitive dates to visit other places. We are just kind of all in on this (the Utah state playoffs) right now.”
He doesn’t see any movement anyway. Either to a decision. Or to set up more visits.
It seems as if there’s a logical playoff pause button in effect.
Orem High (Orem, UT) plays in Class 5A. Utah has six classifications. The Tigers (7-4) are in the quarterfinals this week. The semifinals are next week.
If his Tigers advance to the state championships, their game will likely be played on Thursday or Friday of the following week. Those games are all played at the University of Utah. Orem could potentially face a Thursday morning game during that championship week.
Texas A&M was a school he hoped to visit. But that’s up in the air. His father said they just haven’t been talking that much at all about recruiting. Or any trips.
“Now this is me talking I think that those ones that were initially planned are the ones he is going to want to take,” Gabriel Sewell Sr., said. “But then again we haven’t really talked about trips and recruiting. He hasn’t wanted to. He’s like ‘Dad let’s focus on making this run right now.'”
Sewell has taken officials to Georgia (Sept. 21 for Notre Dame) and Oregon (Oct. 26 for Washington State) this year. Sewell’s older brother, Penei, is a likely All-American at OT for the Ducks. He will be a major NFL Draft target after the 2020 season.
It stands within reason to conclude that Georgia and Oregon are two programs that will hold significant weight in the remainder of his process.
The 6-foot-2, 265-pounder rates as the nation’s No. 2 ILB for this cycle on the 247Sports Composite rankings. He sits at No. 20 nationally on the latest overall ratings for that service.
That places him as the highest-rated prospect from the state of Utah on those composite ratings since longtime NFL great Haloti Ngata was ranked No. 10 overall in 2002.
Ngata also went to Oregon.
Breaking down the Oregon and UGA visits
Sewell had a great time in Athens on his official. Georgia played a national game on a dazzling stage against Notre Dame. Noah Sewell told DawgNation there were parts of that trip where he didn’t stop laughing.
Georgia also connected with Sewell with a brotherhood appeal. He assimilated well with the Georgia ILBs on another good visit. The boys even played paintball together on the second day of his official.
The Bulldogs already had his father’s blessing. His father said that he and his wife wouldn’t allow Noah to take an official and waste anyone’s time if a program didn’t already meet the standard of what they were looking for.
“Quite frankly, I don’t really care too much about the football fact,” Gabriel Sewell, Sr. said back in October. “It will take care of itself. Like at the programs we are going to go see, they are known for their football. So I don’t have to be sold, so to speak, on that. All my wife and I really want to know at the end of the day is my son going to be cared for.”
“If he’s stranded somewhere on the road in the middle of the night will somebody be there to pick him up? For some miraculous reason if he’s hungry at 2 a.m. is there a way for him to get fed? We’re just looking for his overall well-being. Will he be held accountable? Will he continue to be taught good things? Will he know the right way to treat people? Just parent things. I thought Georgia did a pretty good job of getting that message across that he will be coached hard but his overall well-being as a young man is still more important to them.”
“I think if there was a message left with us by Georgia, then that would be it.”
Team Sewell clearly knows what college football is all about. Besides Penei at Oregon, his other sons play at Nevada and Utah. They understand the deal.
How did that Georgia official compare with the Oregon trip?
“We’ve been there a couple of times you could say because I have a kid there,” Sewell Sr. said. “It was all about kind of reaffirming what we kind of already knew of the place, of the staff and whatnot. It was more of a relaxing visit because I’ve been there so many times I could probably give a tour.”
He shared the parent’s perspective on both of those options.
“All of the boxes are checked,” he said. “Will your son be pushed? Will he be taken care of? Will he be held accountable? I think all of those boxes are checked.”
But then he looked at it from a football filter
“There are boxes there,” he said. “Let’s say with the SEC and what it has going for it right now, right? It seems like ‘the’ conference. The big big stage. So things like that are in favor of Georgia, I believe. But then there is the aspect of already being sort of familiar with Oregon. So then again, I think that’s the only difference.”
The Oregon staff didn’t really set up anything like the paintball in Athens. Sewell Sr. said that just let Noah dictate what he wanted to do.
“So he just spent time with his brother, chilled and talked to the players,” he said.
Orem High has a 7-4 record and is the lowest seed still left in the playoffs. But three of those losses came while Sewell was sidelined with a preseason foot injury. He only played a half in the fourth loss of 2019.
Sewell is an ILB prospect. Yet he makes plays all over the field for his Tigers. His athletic ability for his size is very uncommon on the recruiting trail.