This Sentell’s Intel rep on Georgia football recruiting has the latest with 4-star Craig Dandridge of Cambridge High School. He ranks as the nation’s No. 38 WR and the No. 27 overall prospect for 2026 on the 247Sports Composite. The On3 Industry Ranking has him as the No. 35 WR and No. 229 overall.
There are numerous ways to tell the story of Craig Dandridge’s commitment to the Georgia football program.
He’s the 22nd commitment in the class. His decision also marks the fifth straight day the Bulldogs have earned a commitment for their 2026 class.
Dandridge is now the third wide receiver commitment in this class. With this decision, it moves the Bulldogs past Texas A&M to the nation’s No. 3 class on the 247Sports Composite rankings.
There’s now beyond serious momentum in the 2026 Georgia class.
With all that said, there’s only one way to tell the story of why this young man found the right fit with Georgia. Dandridge didn’t even have a college offer until late November of last year.
This decision was about the work.
“Just the people around there,” he said. “That’s what makes that place special. You walk up on campus and it’s like no one is buttering your behind. They are telling you it is going to be hard. That’s what draws me to them so much.”
“No team told me this is going to be like this is the hardest you are ever going to be pushed. A guy like me, that’s what encourages me. Like, are you telling me I can’t do it? Now I’m really going to go out here and I’m going to show you that I can. I’m not going to say that I’m going to be starting day one.”
“I’m going to earn my spot. I’m going to earn my keep. I don’t want anybody to give it to me. I want to be able to go to Georgia and say, ‘I earned every single thing,’ and this is how I did it. This is the foundation I laid, and this is the type of player that I am going to be.”
Dandridge chose UGA over a final group that included the likes of Florida, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Oklahoma and Tennessee.
“With Georgia, they weren’t like it was going to be hard,” Dandridge said. “They were like ‘You’re going to want to quit and there are going to be tough days’ and you’ve got to push through it. So, for me, that’s what I need. I need to be in an environment where I’m constantly being pushed and I can’t take a day off.”
“With a lot of people, you can put in the hard work. Take a day off and you’ll still be in front. But I feel like with Georgia, if you put in that hard work, but you take one day off and (snaps his fingers) somebody is going to take your spot. That’s why I just need to be comfortable being uncomfortable. That’s what I like to say.”
Dandridge had a monster junior year in putting up the following numbers:
- 57 catches for 1,443 yards
- 24.9 yards per reception
- 14 TDs, plus a Pick-6 on defense
Check out his junior film below.
Scouting report: What Craig Dandridge can do
Dandridge can take over games. That was evident in how he carried a lot of weight taking down Centennial last fall with seven catches for 221 yards and three scores.
When he clocked a 10.84 this spring in the 100 meters while running track, that’s when his recruiting process really took off. Especially with Georgia. When he saw Dandridge work out this spring, receivers coach James Coley basically zeroed in on him as a guy he had to have in this class.
Here’s a quick 6-pack of scouting thoughts about Dandridge:
- 1) Cambridge opened its doors in 2012. That’s not a lot of tradition, but Dandridge is already the best player in school history. When asked what it is like to be walking the halls already being called that, he brought up the name of former WR Will Taylor. Taylor caught 18 TDs in his last two seasons for the Bears and is now a walk-on at UGA.
- Dandridge mentioned what type of player Taylor was, how he set the example, and how he was able to get more exposure than he did. That sounds nice, but he said it with such conviction that anyone would believe it.
- 2) This came from a member of the Cambridge staff about Dandridge. “Give him a chance to compete with somebody. Somebody that the world thinks is better than him. He’ll be up for that. That’s what he lives for. Going against somebody really good. He thrives on that. Especially when that person is supposed to be better than he is.”
- 3) Dandridge takes great pride in his blocking. “It was a touchdown play we had called back because he basically pancaked a kid in the end zone, and they called him for holding,” Cambridge coach Tyler Jones said. “I don’t think it was a hold, but they called it a hold. We were just having that conversation, and he was like, ‘What do you want me to do? Just because I embarrassed a kid by blocking him?’ and I was like, ‘Craig, I get you. I understand you, but you just can’t do that. You can’t go dominate a kid like that because they are going to call you for holding,’ and after about three minutes, he came back to me and said, ‘Coach, that’s on me. That’s my bad,’ but he’s just super competitive. He wants to win so bad and wants to do well.”
- 4) There’s a high football IQ here. “He understands why he’s beating press coverage,” Jones said. “Not just that he’s a superior athlete.”
- 5) With a gaudy 24-yards per-catch average, a football guy could assume he’s a go-ball, post, and stretch-the-field specialist. That’s inaccurate. He showed that on his first touch last fall. He turned a short glance route upfield for a 51-yard TD.
- He’s a complete receiver. “Craig’s good at all of it,” Jones said. “He can stretch the field vertically. He can run past you, but he’s also really good at the top of the route, decelerating and getting in and out of breaks. We’re able to throw him a quick screen or a glance route, and he’s able to make guys miss, but a lot of times those top-end speed guys, they don’t have the shiftiness or the twitchiness to make guys miss a ton, but he’ll catch a hitch and he’ll make that first guy and second guy miss and turn that into a much more explosive play. He’s not a 6-foot-4 guy that you will just feed jump balls to, but he’s very explosive in his own way. He’s got the whole package in what you want a receiver to have.”
- 6) Dandridge can be an inside or outside receiver in the SEC. He can play the “X’ and ”Z" positions and the slot. That versatility of skill sets will allow him to play faster in college. His most likely position? If he adds about 15 pounds and gains good strength, he looks most natural at the “X.”
Have you seen this week’s “Before the Hedges” weekly recruiting special on YouTube yet? Check it out below.
SENTELL’S INTEL
(check on the recent reads on Georgia football recruiting)
