This Sentell Intel rep on Georgia football recruiting shares an excerpt from an interview with Georgia assistant coach Chidera Uzo-Dirbie about what the program seeks in high-level prospects for the EDGE position.

Nolan Smith. Azeez Ojulari. D’Andre Walker. Leonard Floyd. Jordan Jenkins.

That’s a solid track record of NFL guys who played the EDGE position at UGA. When looking for the next one of those guys on the recruiting trail, there’s always the staple to find another Dawg to set the edge like Smith and two-year starter Chaz Chambliss did. Smith is now NFL-famous.

We also won’t soon forget how watching Chambliss do his job in the defense was one of the more enjoyable positions to scout each week.

Assistant coach Chidera Uzo-Diribe leads that room. He’s looking for a prospect with a specific set of skills.

Length? Explosion? Is that the starter kit?

“You always want guys with length,” Uzo-Diribe said. “But I think that’s what it is. Explosive power. I like things that you can’t coach. The length. The explosive power. Those are things that are God-given.”

“I think those are things that help you make plays a lot easier on the football field. I’m always looking for ‘Hey, do guys have traits that you can’t coach?’ and it allows them to naturally go out there and make plays and then everything else you can kind of coach off that.”

When Uzo-Diribe breaks down what he looks for in prospects at that position, he points to the common term of a “Jack” in the base odd front at UGA.

“I always find it funny,” he said. “You know, it’s not a single word. But you call it the ‘Jack’ position for a reason. You always hear the moniker jack-of-all-trades. We ask our guys to do a lot. So that guy has got to be pretty versatile.”

“Obviously, the main things I’m always looking for is physicality in the run game, obviously the ability to rush the passer but they also have to be athletic enough to play on their feet. That versatility piece of that position of the defense I think is what highlights those guys and helps prepare them for the next steps when they can go to that as well.”

Uzo-Diribe was hired in February of 2022. He just finished his third season at UGA. He’s already recruited the 2023, 2024 and 2025 classes to Athens.

He was busy in 2023, signing a 5-star prospect (Damon Wilson), another top-50 prospect (Sam M’Pemba), and another top-75 national recruit (Gabe Harris) for that class. After two seasons in Athens, Harris is the only one remaining.

That didn’t allow for much room in the 2024 class for his room, but he still found an under-the-radar gem in Peach State EDGE Quintavius Johnson. Johnson played QB for the majority of his time at Mays before converting to play the EDGE at UGA.

Those transfer departures, plus the exhaustion of eligibility for Chambliss, afforded him the chance to go get three dynamic top-tier EDGE prospects in the 2025 cycle in 5-star Isaiah Gibson, 4-star Darren Ikinnagbon, and 4-star Chase Linton.

The roll call here stands out on the rankings front for the 247Sports Composite:

He’s restocked his room with three All-American signees at the position in the 2025 class. Those experiences have led to an educated eye. He can’t tell whether or not a guy can play instantly at UGA, but it doesn’t take him long.

“I wouldn’t say within five plays but I think within the course of a season or maybe a game all depending on how they’re being used in high school but just in terms of athleticism you can kind of get a feel for a guy running around on the football field and motor,” Uzo-Diribe said. “Does he look comfortable enough standing up? Does he look athletic enough to stand up and do some of those things? But I do feel l like within a couple of games maybe of high school tape you can kind of get a feel in terms of ‘Hey this guy can do this for us’ at a high level.”

He might not be able to spot an athletic fit instantly. But Uzo-Diribe says he can figure out whether or not a young man has the mentality to be that “Jack-of-all-trades” for the Dawgs.

That type of “Georgia guy” attitude can come across to him within the first five or 10 minutes of talking to a talented prospect.

“I think you can kind of tell,” he said. “It is no secret how our program is in terms of the culture, the blue-collar mentality, and the mindset. You can kind of get a good feel for these kids if they are about that or they are not. You don’t try to sugarcoat it. You don’t try to hide it and we try to put it out there in the forefront.”

“So the kids can either tell you right away this is something they like or they don’t like. I think you can find pretty quickly with a lot of these high school kids in terms of ‘Hey do they fit what we do?’ and what we want from a culture standpoint or do they not?”

Have you subscribed to the DawgNation YouTube channel yet? If so, you will see special 1-on-1 content with key 2025 prospects like Ethan Barbour, Ryan Montgomery, Elijah Griffin and Justus Terry

Check out our “Dawg DNA” series so far:

SENTELL’S INTEL

(check on the recent reads on Georgia football recruiting)