Want to attack every day with the latest Georgia football recruiting info? That’s the Intel. This rep has the latest with 4-star safety Jaylen Heyward. The Florida resident ranks as the nation’s No. 3 safety and the No. 52 prospect for 2024 on the 247Sports Composite. The On3 Industry Ranking lists him as the nation’s No. 3 safety and the No. 68 overall recruit.
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If one has been reading this space for a time, we’ve long gotten past paying any attention whatsoever to the type of gear an elite national recruit wears to a workout.
That’s why the sight of 4-star Georgia football safety commitment Jaylen Heyward rocking some Miami Hurricane gear at the annual Cam Newton Memorial Day 7-on-7 tournament last weekend was no big thing.
Heyward even said as much when asked about it by a film crew at the event. He really liked his Miami gear, but also mentioned the same about his Georgia stuff.
When he spoke to DawgNation, he also reaffirmed that his pledge to the ‘Dawgs was still solid.
The nation’s No. 3 safety prospect for 2024 (247Sports Composite and the On3 Industry Ranking) made his public pledge to the Bulldogs back in January. He has an official visit scheduled to UGA for the second weekend in June. He’ll be among the Hurricanes for another OV on June 23.
How does he feel about the back-to-back national champion ‘Dawgs?
“I’ve really fairly solid in my commitment,” Heyward said. “I love the University of Georgia. I love [Will] Muschamp. I love Fran Brown. I love Kirby Smart. They are doing something really good and really great for this generation of football and it is going to keep on building and building with this class.”
What might the next five years of Georgia football bring? He had an interesting answer to that question.
“It is really going to be crazy,” Heyward said. “We are really going to build a super solid class. This year is going to be one of the greatest classes we are ever going to build at Georgia. It is going to keep going up and up from here and to something really special in college football.”
If he’s wavering, it doesn’t sound like it.
When 5-star QB Dylan Raiola committed to the Georgia class, Heyward had a lot of fun with that news on social media.
“You know Dylan he really put it on the map for us,” Heyward said. “Dylan committing brought us back up to the number one recruiting class. It brought the momentum back for us at the University of Georgia. Dylan showed that he was ready to come home and be QB1 to a home that really doesn’t produce QBs.”
“But he’s coming here to go out there and ball out amid our very family-oriented team.”
Brown, the second-year cornerback coach, is a strong tether for Heyward to the Georgia football program.
“I really love Georgia because Fran Brown has really tried to build this relationship with me,” Heyward said. “I love the type of relationship we have there.”
Heyward is interested in Miami. That’s the only school he has set an official visit up for as of now. But the way Georgia recruits him is like he is not even committed at all.
That’s what keeps him committed to UGA.
“That’s just Muschamp and Fran Brown always checking up on me and asking if my family is doing okay,” Heyward said. “That goes a long way, means a lot to me and it is very important.”
Jaylen Heyward and the 2024 Georgia class: Something special brewing
Football player.
That’s a good way to describe Heyward. The 5-foot-11, 180-pound rising senior tallied up 44 tackles, two INTs, three forced fumbles and eight PBUs last fall. That’s also while putting up 677 yards of total offense for his Rockledge High School team.
Check out his junior tape below. He’s making plays all over the grid.
Athlete.
There’s also that part of it. Heyward has already flashed elite speed on the track. He was timed at 10.68 seconds in the 100 meters as a sophomore. He came back with a 10.79 showing this past spring.
There’s a point here about Georgia’s 2024 class that sticks with me whenever I speak to Ellis Robinson IV and Peyton Woodyard. The two anchor commits of the Georgia class have big plans for their future defenses in Athens.
Think about this for a second. There’s Robinson and Woodyard plus Heyward here. Don’t forget the 2024 DB commitment DeMello Jones from Swainsboro.
They openly talk about how vital it will be to add 5-star KJ Bolden to their class, too.
It would mean (according to the 247Sports Composite rankings):
- Robinson (Nation’s No. 1 CB and No. 5 overall player)
- Bolden (Nation’s No. 1 S and No. 8 overall player)
- Heyward (Nation’s No. 3 S and No. 52 overall player)
- Woodyard (Nation’s No. 4 S and No. 69 overall player)
- Jones (Nation’s No. 6 S and No. 84 overall player)
If that happens, bar the door DawgNation.
There will be teams that the 2024, 2025 and 2026 Bulldogs face in the expanded college football playoffs that do not stock their secondaries with that much elite talent across three recruiting cycles, much less a class.
“Honestly, I feel like nobody would be able to throw the ball on us really well at all,” Heyward said. “Where do they go? How do they attack? You look at guys like us. I feel like I really don’t ever get targeted in these 7-on-7 tournaments. I feel like that’s the same with Ellis and even Peyton and KJ. We all don’t get targeted at all in these 7-on-7s where they throw all the time. Where are they going to throw the ball when we are all on the field at the same time?”
“That would be a scary sight for a quarterback to behold.”
There’s no need to bring up that Georgia also signed the nation’s No. 3 CB, the No. 3 S, another highly-rated CB plus two other DBs that ran faster than Heyward in the 100 meters this spring. Why? Because it would seem like overkill here.
There’s another point here to this discussion. That’s in the versatility of it all. Robinson might be the one prospect there that should be expected to anchor a single position. Bolden might very well play more cornerback than safety in college football. He has the ball skills, length and speed to do so.
Woodyard is a true back-end safety that will fly down into the box. Heyward and Jones would play all over for the ‘Dawgs, including the nickel and “Star” positions. Jones could also play cornerback at a high level in the SEC. He’s a special athlete.
The ‘Dawgs are also vying hard for 4-star Statesboro ATH Kam Mikell in this class, too. That’s another vital highly-versatile asset for those potential Georgia secondaries to come.
That’s what is on Heyward’s mind here.
“They are telling me I can play ‘Star’ and safety,” he said. “Really anywhere in the secondary. And also corner because I do play corner at my high school. I’m really versatile in the secondary.”
How is that all going to work? There’s a good reason it will. That’s because the ‘Dawgs have targeted players with the right mindsets here. Not just an All-American skillset.
“I always like the work,” Heyward said. “I don’t shy down from any competition. I’m always coming in and trying to outwork everyone. We are all trying to come in and build a good family type of team and I feel like we are all going to play and we are all going to play hard.”
SENTELL’S INTEL
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