Eddrick Houston-Georgia recruiting-UGA recruiting
Buford High School's Eddrick Houston is a 5-star DE/EDGE and the No. 18 overall prospect for 2024. (Jeff Sentell / DawgNation)

Eddrick Houston: 5-star ‘unblockable’ junior is already a must-get for the ‘Dawgs

Want to attack every day with the latest Georgia football recruiting info? That’s the Intel. This rep has the latest with 5-star junior Eddrick Houston. He ranks as the nation’s No. 4 EDGE and the No. 18 overall prospect for 2024 on the 247Sports Composite ratings.

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There are priorities in every recruiting cycle. There are 5-star talents and then there are those even more uncommon players like Eddrick Houston.

The 6-foot-3.5, 255-pounder is a foundational anchor for any recruiting class.

“Do you know that saying where hard work beats talent when the talent doesn’t work hard?” Buford coach Bryant Appling said. “I’ve got a different one with Eddrick. He’s the hardest-working kid but then has all the talent in the world. How do you beat that?”

Georgia and Ohio State began to stand out as the schools recruiting him the hardest once that crucial Sept. 1 date for high school juniors rolled around. The head coaches of both those schools were at the game of the year for Georgia high school football last Friday to see Houston, among several other prospects.

The tape is strong for Houston and the measurables are pinpoint. Yet there’s a lot more. Even for the normal cache of Intel we crack open with a big-time prospect.

Ryan Day and Kirby Smart already know a lot of it. That’s why they were at that Buford-Mill Creek game last Friday night. It featured the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in Georgia’s Class 7A, a pair of top 25 nationally-rated teams and four prospects that currently hold a 5-star ranking.

Houston was one of those. He had the privilege of competing in front of Day and Smart. Then he got to watch the ‘Dawgs take on Vanderbilt for his first gameday visit.

While he was there, he said Smart gave him an eyeball-scouting opinion of what he saw on Friday night.

“He was really talking about the game and how we all played and how I played,” Houston said of that pre-Vandy chat with Smart. “He started asking me about how things are going for me at school. Nothing really trying to promote the school there. He was just trying to see how I am doing as a person.”

Smart broke down his Mill Creek game from the night before. Check them out below.

“He said I played well and he likes how I handle myself on the field,” Houston said. “I’m not really engaging with other players that are making comments that are unnecessary and things like that. He liked to see the leader that I try to be to help my teammates and push them beyond their limits.”

It was a rare weekend in the life of a prospect. Even for this space.

The way stories are normally constructed won’t work here. The aim is to put the most interesting stuff at the top and then trim the tree down from there. That method won’t work here.

We have to weave in a lot of information like a plane at altitude. What we must unravel here about Houston calls for the narrative to keep climbing.

Let’s start with a list.

Buford High School's Eddrick Houston is a 5-star DE/EDGE and the No. 18 overall prospect for 2024. (Jeff Sentell / DawgNation)
Jeff Sentell, Dawgnation
Buford High School's Eddrick Houston is a 5-star DE/EDGE and the No. 18 overall prospect for 2024. (Jeff Sentell / DawgNation)
Jeff Sentell, Dawgnation

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The real cool things to know about Eddrick Houston

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