Wednesday’s UGA Recruiting Rewind for DawgNation
What’s on the UGA Recruiting Rewind for DawgNation chalkboard today? Well, there’s a commitment who’s 1 percent unsold on UGA and an all-time UGA standout evaluating a new commitment at his old position.
Jeremy Pruitt’s tractor beam is going after another 4-star defensive back with Florida State ties, the preseason Class AAAAAA All-State team is out and Nick Chubb has somehow gotten 100 feet tall and we’ll see him on our evening commute.
Confused? That means you need today’s rewind.
TODAY’S MUST-READS
1. 100 percent > 99 percent
UGA DL commitment Tyler Clark continues to pry open the window of possibility with his recruitment. He’s made a trip or three or four to Auburn of late and he told Scout.com recently that he was 99 percent committed to UGA.
I’m on record as noting he’s vastly underrated. He’ll wind up on at least one ALL-SEC team one day if he stays at UGA for three years. Read into that along with me. That’s never good.
Especially when it is a home-state kid who hasn’t really been overexposed on the camp and combine circuit. Clark’s star rating and perch among the nation’s top-rated defensive tackles would be higher if he played in Atlanta.
2. PRUITT EYES ANOTHER DB
Florida State legacy Stanford Samuels III has gotten on the radar of UGA defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt and that usually means that UGA is now a factor in his recruitment.
The 4-star cornerback for 2017 told DawgNation that UGA is already on his short list of schools and gave a “co-leader” label to describe just how seriously he is considering playing in Athens. His father Stanford Samuels, Jr. was a defensive back at Florida State.
There are two important takeways in the Samuels update: 1) He was at Dawg Night so he saw perhaps the biggest recruiting event UGA has or will ever put on; 2) He’s already planning to come back to UGA for TWO games this fall.
3. TE’s TAKE
What’s the scouting report on UGA’s latest WR commitment? Who better than one of the leading all-time receivers in UGA history to break him down. Former Georgia WR Terrance Edwards sized up Texas Davion Curtis on DawgNation. What does he have going on besides the potential of being the first scholarship signee for UGA out of Texas since Matthew Stafford?
What did Terrance think? He compared him to current UGA No. 1 Malcolm Mitchell and said that his quickness will not only stretch defenses, but help UGA in the run game. It also proved very hard to analyze Curtis and not bring up the wheels. The kid can go.
Edwards felt Curtis deserved a four-star ranking while some services rate him as a three-star and as the least-heralded of UGA’s 2016 commitments up to this point. He didn’t get an offer from Texas in his home state and that has to hurt his evaluation on any national scale.
4. 5-STAR OL THINKING UGA
Scout.com’s Chad Simmons also offered up a report on 6-foot-7 Louisiana OL Willie Allen. The 310-pounder is seen as one of the nation’s Top 10 offensive line prospects by anyone’s measure. Allen plays for one of the nation’s elite prep programs in John Curtis and is also a viable player on the varsity basketball team.
Simmons summarized Allen’s thinking and it included the nugget that Auburn and UGA will get official visits. It also gave a window into his perspective on life. Allen has prioritized walking across a stage to receive his college degree ahead of a hand-shake from the commissioner of the NFL.
5. DAVIS SETS A DATE?
Kyle Davis went on the record with 247sports.com’s Rusty Mansell yesterday and shared his affinity for The Weekend and Zaxby’s before every game.
He debunked a few rumors with 247sports and dropped word he’s planning to make his commitment before the Georgia high school state playoffs begin on Oct.23.
6. FRESHMEN MAKING WAVES
DawgNation’s Seth Emerson recapped how a few of the new recruits have do so far in fall camp. One name that has stood out so far is receiver Michael Chigbu. His name came up when discussing with a few vets on the team.
Of course, all the early returns are also great about the man-child Trent Thompson in the teeth of the defensive line for UGA. That’s to be expected as he was the No. 1 recruit in the nation for the Class of 2015. Freshman OLB D’Andre Walker was another name who has had a strong start to their UGA career.
7. HARBAUGH BECOMING A FORCE
Remember when that Saban fella struggled with that decision to leave the Miami Dolphins for Tuscaloosa. It wasn’t soon after that the Crimson Tide were popping up everywhere and in every imaginable loophole and gray area when it comes to recruiting. That’s sort of what the feeling has been like so far with former Stanford and San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh.
There were his satellite prospect camps in distant lands. There was the game of “Peruball” in Montgomery that even featured the former NFL QB going shirtless. He even invited every football coach in the country to Michigan’s football camp as a guest instructor. Elberton’s Mecole Hardman, Jr. (huge 5-star UGA target) has already said he’s taking an official visit to Michigan for the Ohio State game.
He’s shaking it up and getting Michigan’s name out there. Big Blue recently offered two of the best young quarterbacks in Georgia in Davis Mills (2017) and Trevor Lawrence (2018) of late. Let me make sure you know about that Mills kid.
He’s more than good enough to play for UGA, but it appeared McEachern’s Bailey Hockman edged him out for that right as the centerpiece QB for the Class of 2017. Hockman is very good, but so is Mills. Lawrence is already rated the No. 1 player in the country for 2018 and has a UGA offer.
8. PRESEASON ALL-STATE TEAMS
The AJC’s preseason Class AAAAAA teams are out and UGA’s targets are all over the work presented by preps guru Todd Holcolmb. Hockman is the preseason All-State pick under center. Uncommitted UGA targets Tremayne Anchrum (OL), Kyle Davis (WR) and E.J. Price (OL) join him on the first-team O.
UGA commitment Julian Rochester is a first-team DL and major targets Dylan Singleton (DB) and Nigel Warrior (DB) are also on the squad. There are Power 5 commitments up and down the team. Just goes to show everyone that UGA can’t sign ’em all up. LBs Ja’ Quain Blakely (Tennessee) and Tre Lamar (Clemson) prove that point, among others.
9. CAN’T MISS THIS
Its that time of year. UGA football is begining to swirl around brains statewide after at least (counting ‘Crootin season) 6.5 months of hibernation. Well, UGA decided to make it even harder not to think about across commutes statewide.
Had a chance to see the fruits of a billboard campaign yet? All-Everything candidate Nick Chubb is featured prominently in the media blitz. There’s 44 of them statewide to be exact. Can the though of No. 27 in the end zone brighten the mood of a traffic goal-line stand?
Now if only we could weave and smash through traffic like he does. Be on the lookout for the heavy concentration of traffic on the 316 corridor.
ONE MO’ REP: A little reader service here: The UGA Ticket office has a handful of tickets for the Sept. 5 (Louisiana-Monroe) and Sept. 26 (Southern University) home games on sale. Ticket for the cupcake smashes are $50 each. Call 877-542-1231 or go here to make sure you be a part of the 92,000 that want to see at least 50 points, three Chubb scores and a 40-point spread.
Jeff Sentell covers UGA recruiting for AJC.com and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Follow him on Twitter for the latest on who’s on their way to play Between the Hedges. Follow @JeffSentell_
