Want to attack every day with the latest Georgia football recruiting info? That’s what the Intel will bring at least five days a week. The play sheet for Wednesday calls for a flashback to wasted youth from the 1980s and 1990s and how that might relate to 4-star DT Rick Sandidge.
Rick Sandidge is a big Tetromino.
Shameful confession time: As much as I played Tetris back in the day, I didn’t know what the name of that long skinny piece was.
Did anyone?
We all used to wait for that piece that was known as the “I” o come down so we could vanish the loose ends that were hanging a few lines down the board. I do remember it was a light teal. But my wife would call it something with a designer sound, like cyan.
Well, that’s the way I have viewed the last few laps of the Sandidge decision as it relates to Georgia’s 2018 class. He is the piece that can make the rest of Kirby Smart’s “Tetris” for 2018 fall into place.
Why am I making this reference now?
Well, Wednesday is the day of the final visit for the Georgia staff at the Sandidge home, and coach Kirby Smart is expected to use his one in-home visit at 7 p.m. in North Carolina.
I’d look to see a lot of the staff show up for that. The Bulldogs sent six coaches to see Sandidge last week. I bet if they could bring along Greg McGarity and Jere Morehead and Geno Atkins and Richard Seymour, then they would.
Where will that long cyan piece fall? When will it fall? Sandidge has said he is undecided whether he will sign with Georgia, North Carolina or South Carolina on National Signing Day, Feb. 7.
If Sandidge is in with Georgia, that leaves some tough chopping for the class. How do the coaches fit the nation’s No. 14 defensive tackle into this big Tetromino?
The big man from Concord (N.C.) High School rates on the 247Sports composite as the nation’s No. 141 overall player for 2018.
Google relays that the names for all those other Tetrads are O, T, S, Z, J and L. (They sure faked their way through the game design on that one. And it didn’t matter one bit.)
So I had a little fun with all of this. Why not? It is that time of year.
- O – That would have to be Otis Reese, right? That’s the one that looks like a box. Reese was once rated as a safety, but then everyone saw how well he played inside the box. I will place a reminder here that his highlight film shows him hitting dudes so hard their hair has to hurt afterward.
- T – Tramel Walthour. UGA commit. Also a DT. Walthour would be the purple one that sort of looks like a pyramid. The in-state 3-star prospect has been in the class for a long while now.
- S – That “S” to me means the star of the 21st wave or so of this class. That’s 5-star cornerback Tyson Campbell. He’s the man with the most stars and the got-to-get on every game of Tetris the staff plays during any simulation to close out this class.
- Z – Seems like Quay Walker to me. He’s going to be the piece that figures itself out last. Is it a left turn? Or a sharp right? Is that Georgia red? Or Alabama crimson? That’s the question we get when we look at what that “Z’ piece looked like.
- J – Makes sense to call this one the Jordan Davis. Davis is another 3-star DT commit to UGA who did not sign during the early period. It is also known as the elbow. Davis, just like Sandidge, is also from North Carolina, so it makes sense here to see those players in different shades of Duke and North Carolina blue.
- L – That’s the orange piece. That orange piece that also looks like Texas. That’s a nod to the Longhorn State. That’s the home of oversized receiver Tommy Bush Jr. The Bulldogs will go in-home with Bush on Friday. The L was also called the Alpha or the right elbow. Bush, like that piece, is very much an alpha wide receiver given the size and speed he brings to the table.
If that long cyan piece never comes, the rest of the class falls into place. It is actually easier. Do they really want a 3-piece meal of defensive tackles?
When Sandidge decides, then the Bulldogs can look to toggle in a Quay Walker here or an Otis Reese there and maybe even a Tommy Bush around all the other pieces.
Especially that S piece.
More Rick Sandidge, plus a few more interesting tidbits
- I’ve been told that North Carolina will not have an in-home visit with Sandidge this week. South Carolina is scheduled to visit for the final time on Feb. 3. The Gamecocks get the last official visit and the last visit. That’s pretty noteworthy.
- The Sandidge family still plans to let each of his three finalists know his decision about two to three days before National Signing Day on Feb. 7. North Carolina and South Carolina need to finish out their Tetrads, too.
- I think one aspect that gets overlooked with Sandidge is his athleticism. Do you know that he delivered a 30.4-inch vertical jump during Nike’s The Opening combine testing at 295 pounds last May?
- Four-star linebacker Quay Walker still plans to take his official visit to UGA this weekend. He also politely stated that he is done with interviews until he announces his decision from Crisp County High School in Cordele, Ga., on Feb. 7. As of now, there is no scheduled ESPN live ceremony for the college decision from the nation’s No. 3 outside linebacker prospect for this cycle.
- Otis Reese will make his final decision known from a school ceremony at Lee County High School in Leesburg, Ga., at 10 a.m. on Feb. 7.
- Smart and receivers coach James Coley had an in-home with 4-star Florida WR Antoine Green Tuesday night. Green rates as the nation’s No. 59 receiver for this cycle. https://twitter.com/_yg_qualified/status/958556538452496386
- Green, a 4-star recruit, took his official visit to UGA earlier this month. The one-time Florida State commit backed off that pledge and has taken official visits to UGA and North Carolina. He is also expected to take another official visit to Tennessee this weekend. The 6-foot-2, 185-pounder ran a 4.50 on the laser in his 40 at The Opening Orlando regional 11 months ago.
- Where does Green fit into this UGA Tetris class? It seems to me that the nation’s No. 349 player for 2018 on the 247Sports composite might be an insurance policy in the event that players such as Bush, Reese, Sandidge and Walker all somehow wind up elsewhere.
Miss any Intel? The DawgNation recruiting archive will get you up to speed just as fast as former Georgia All-American LB Roquan Smith found the ball after the snap.