This Sentell’s Intel rep on Georgia football recruiting has the latest with 4-star Carter Jones in Virginia. He ranks as the nation’s No. 21 IOL and the No. 402 overall prospect for 2027 on the 247Sports Composite. The Rivals Industry Ranking has him as the No. 25 IOL and No. 399 overall.
Carter Jones just took his official visit to check out the Georgia football program. When he rewound the weekend with DawgNation, he kept coming back to the same word.
That was “development” for him. He’s aware of the fact that the Bulldogs have seen a whopping 14 offensive linemen drafted by the NFL this decade. Those are also off-the-vine Dawgs, not talented players plucked from the transfer portal.
“I think they fit me really well,” Jones said. “I also think that development is a major key part of Georgia football. I think they’re an O-line powerhouse.”
That “development” term was also the keynote of the personal time he spent with Georgia offensive line coach Phil Rauscher.
“They think that I’m a great fit here and they want me to make the right decision for me, but they wanted me to know that I’m going to get developed there.”
When Jones sat with Kirby Smart for a big one-on-one meeting, there was something interesting that unraveled there. Jones said that was the biggest area where Georgia helped itself this weekend.
“I think all of the one-on-one attention with Coach Smart was big,” he said. “Really just getting around the players and the coaches and getting to know everybody even more than I already do definitely attracted me more towards them.”
There was a moment with Smart on the field at G-Day that mattered. It came while he was walking down to the bleachers for the game. Smart stopped and spoke to him during pregame.
“That was really special,” Jones said. “Getting to talk with him there because we had already talked with him for an hour the day prior. We talked at dinner that night, too. I think all that time talking with Coach Smart and getting to really know him and hear about the values of the program really impressed me.”
The two also discussed his family background. His father is an O-6 in the Coast Guard. That’s a captain rank for a senior officer. His grandfather also served 30 years in the Coast Guard. His great-grandfather also served in the U.S. Navy.
“He loves my family and he said he loves kids that come from a military family background,” Jones said. “He mentioned that and how he’s very interested in me and really expressed that throughout the visit.”
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Carter Jones breaks down his OV
There are two key elements that Jones is looking for in his eventual college choice. The first was he wanted to be prepared for the NFL.
The second major criteria was he was looking for strong relationships among his future team. When he pointed out how much he enjoyed seeing the culture at UGA, that was not a surface-level comment.
Redshirt freshman Mason Short was the player host for his OV. He formed a quick friendship with Jones. There was also a real connection established between Jones and fellow official visitor Reis Russell.
Georgia redshirt sophomore OL Henry Peagler hosted Russell. Jones and Russell have both told DawgNation that their OVs wouldn’t have been the same without one another’s company on the visit.
The term “best buddies” or “best buds” was used by both Jones and Russell to describe how well they clicked with one another in Athens.
“Reis and I became really good friends on the visit,” Jones said. “Mason’s a really, really good dude and getting to know him, he’s a lot like me and so is Henry. Getting to know both of them was honestly really good for me and really really good for Georgia because they’re just great people, you know?”
Did Georgia feel like it “fit” him? He did get some of those feelings.
“Definitely, while talking with the players and most of the O-linemen,” he said. “Just getting to know them. They’re definitely all a lot like me. We all got along really well. That was definitely one of those feelings.”
The academic side of the University of Georgia also made an impression. He does carry a 4.1 high school GPA.
“Going into the academic building and seeing all the resources they have in there definitely surprised me,” he said. “I also think about how much the people in the building care about the players and how well they do in school, which also really impressed me.”
What’s next for Carter Jones?
The Dawgs maximized their chance with Jones over the weekend.
“I think they fit me really well,” Jones told DawgNation.
Jones has now taken officials to Penn State and UGA. He’s got trips lined up to go with at least Clemson (May 29-31) and Tennessee over the next six weeks.
If he does wind up choosing Georgia, then what he just saw over his official visit had to move the needle for him. It would’ve had to plant the seed that he felt the best place to reel in his NFL dreams was in Athens.
“The genuineness and the culture of the program really impressed me,” he said.
There were a couple of other standout moments for him, including:
- It was interesting to hear how he viewed the whole G-Day experience among the fans. He spotted all the young kids that were in Sanford wearing UGA gear. “I really enjoyed getting to see kind of like the fans in action,” he said. “Getting to see everyone come out and support the Bulldogs.” I think that was really big for me,” he said.
- Georgia strength coach Scott Sinclair had a long conversation with him. “We got to talking about the workouts they do, the way they do them, the structure and stuff like that,” he said. “That really impressed me and also how well they work with their nutrition staff.”
- The prime rib he ate on the first day of his OV hit the spot. No official visit recap with an OL would be complete without asking what they ate while in Athens.
- His mother and father came with him. His agent also made the trip on the OV. His mother was “blown away” by how beautiful the UGA campus layout was. “They absolutely loved it,” Jones said.
