Want to attack every day with the latest UGA football recruiting info? That’s what the Intel brings. This entry offers a good window into what 4-star Newton HS cornerback Nyland Green is thinking about his college options at this time. 

When Nyland Green is asked to share his thoughts on Georgia, his thoughts immediately go to defensive backs coach Charlton Warren and shoes.

Then he’s breaking out the biggest of smiles.

“Coach Warren now that’s my ‘Dawg,” he said. “We are always comparing shoes and playing ‘Madden’ and everything. Coach Warren that is my guy. That is my ‘Dawg.”

For the rank and file in DawgNation that have felt more than a little stung by recent decisions made by elite DB prospects Tony Grimes Jr. and James Williams, that will be a good thing.

But that’s more of a reflection of who Green is as a person. The honest truth is that Green is always smiling. If somebody would ask him about the recent GHSA rulings regarding the novel coronavirus or even the snippy back and forth between politicians about mask ordinances, he’d wear a positive expression for every interaction.

Georgia defensive backs coach Charlton Warren will be a big piece of the puzzle in helping bring Nyland Green to Georgia. (Jeff Sentell/DawgNation)/Dawgnation)

The young man simply exudes joy.

That’s because he has a good heart.

“I know outside of football I would like to open a homeless shelter,” Green told DawgNation. “To take care of kids that are younger than me or less fortunate than me. Maybe somebody that doesn’t have what others have. I’d love to do that. I feel like we should be here to help one another out.”

To him, there’s no feeling like helping someone else out. It might just be emptying the bills or coins he has on him when he sees somebody in need.

“I’m always smiling but when I do that then God puts that on my heart to help somebody and that puts an even bigger smile on my face,” Green said. “Just helping anybody. People younger than me. Our youth. Really just helping anybody in general.”

Green said he’s always been like that growing up.

“God has just put that on my heart always to share what I do have with others,” he said.

Wouldn’t “Nyland’s Island” be a great name for that homeless shelter concept he has on his mind? Especially for a future cornerback/philanthropist with a heart of gold like Green. He used the term a couple of times first in casual conversation.

Wouldn’t that just be perfect?

When it comes to young people with a giving heart, they don’t come much more sincere than Nyland Green. If he makes it big, he aims to open a homeless shelter one day as an adult. (Jeff Sentell/DawgNation)/Dawgnation)

Nyland Green: What he is thinking about his decision?

Which schools are in it for Green? Those are the ones that recruit his family. He made that clear.

“The schools that I am considering really know how to recruit my family,” he said.

What is he really looking for?

“When I really get to down to it, I am looking for a school which really fits me. Not just as an athlete but what can I do and make with my life outside of football. What can I do outside of football?”

He had been dropping a lot of hints lately about a top 4 or a top 5. Look for that, he says, in “a few weeks” from now.

“I think it will be a top four,” he said. “I don’t want to make it all too crazy with schools, but this process is starting to come to an end. Got to knock it down to like four schools somehow.”

When would he like to reach his decision?

“Probably like the beginning of the season or toward the middle of my senior year,” he said. “Just try to get that out of the way.”

Nyland Green plans to pare his many college options down to a final four group of schools in the next few weeks. (Jeff Sentell/DawgNation)/Dawgnation)

He’s not swayed by watching the influx of commitments of late. It appears a lot of his peers have grown tired of the virtual visits and constant wi-fi recruiting.

“Nah, that’s not me,” he said. “That is their job and their decision they feel led to make. That’s not me. I’m out here on Nyland’s island. I take all of this my own way.”

Will he need visits?

“Nah, I’ve been to visits to a whole bunch of places with some my guys,” he said. “With Justin (Benton) and all of my guys here. We’ve really been all over. I don’t really need them, but I would like to take my five official visits.”

Which schools are in the running for that final four on Nyland’s Island?

“There are schools I have been to all the time,” he said. “Georgia. Alabama. Auburn. LSU. Clemson. Tennessee. It is just a whole lot that I will have to break all of them down.”

It is funny to him how he has evolved as an All-American football prospect.

“I never thought I would be able to do just this,” he said. “I always did football and basketball and baseball. I never thought I would blow up in football.”

Nyland Green is rated as the nation’s No. 2 overall cornerback prospect for 2021 by 247Sports. That’s just his pure 247 rating and not the composite matrix scale. (Jeff Sentell/DawgNation)/Dawgnation)

Nyland Green on Georgia: What is he thinking there? 

Green has been asked the Georgia questions a lot. Naturally. His answers seem polished. That’s because he’s gotten those questions so often.

“It is right up the street,” he said. “That’s 35 minutes away from my house. That’s the biggest thing I could ever say.”

Location was the big pull.

“That’s right up the street but my family will travel and we travel all the time,” he said. “So it doesn’t really matter if I go far away. It really doesn’t mater.”

Green said he doesn’t have to stick within a three-to-four hour radius of home.

“If I go far or close, I know my family is going to come with me and be there for me on my decision with whatever,” he said.

What forms his base opinions of the chance to play for the Bulldogs?

“I like to hear from the guys and the players that are there and have actually been here,” he said. “But I also still have to look for for the fit for me and myself. How do I fit in there or how would I fit in there?”

Georgia has been up there as one of his schools to pay a lot of attention to for years.

“It has just been amazing and I keep going back and forth and visiting and seeing new things,” he said of those trips prior to the pandemic. “Seeing things I have never really saw before but everything has really been amazing with Georgia.”

Green is a press corner. He’s used to playing alongside the boundary, too.

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Nyland Green is thinking about a graphic design or a criminal justice major. (Jeff Sentell/DawgNation)/Dawgnation)

The other schools in contention for Nyland Green’s final 4

Green was asked to share a quick summation of his opinion on several schools, including several programs that a lot of the online chatter points to as of late.

It is interesting to note that all of the “Crystal Ball” predictions by recruiting analysts still point to Clemson. There are still three predictions for Green to choose those Tigers from the ACC with varying degrees of confidence placed behind those picks.

How does he feel about the major schools associated with his recruitment?

  • Alabama: “That’s a ‘Dog place right there. They separate the men from the boys. That’s Alabama, man. What more can I say?”
  • Auburn: “Auburn is amazing. They run a ‘Dog defense. Cover Zero. Man coverage is what they do. That’s really amazing.
  • Clemson: “Clemson is an amazing place, but I really don’t pay too much attention to the media or where my crystal balls say or anything like that. I just come out here to practice and work all the time.”

He said that the recruiting process for him really got serious going into his junior season at Newton.

“I was like ‘Dang’ at that point because I had offers from everywhere around in the world,” he said. “That’s when I really thoughts all of this was starting to get serious.”

He favors a certain piece of advice he’s gotten about all of these great opportunities.

“I only get this once,” he said. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

If not of the pandemic, he feels that he would have taken his official visits over the summer.

“That way I could have gotten my officials out of the way and just focus on finishing my senior year of football,” he said.

He said those that really want to know where he is heading can start to pay close attention to his social media.

“That’s how you can really find out,” he said.

That’s where an astute college football fan can find an early breadcrumb or three regarding his recruitment.

He has a couple of college majors in mind.

“Graphic design and criminal justice,” he said. “I’ve always had graphic design on my mind for the longest time and then with criminal justice my stepmother is a lawyer. So that has now always been an interest for me, too. She got me into all of that.”

SENTELL’S INTEL

(the recent reads on DawgNation.com)