This Sentell’s Intel rep on Georgia football recruiting has the latest with 4-star safety Jireh Edwards. He ranks as the nation’s No. 5 safety and as the No. 42 overall prospect for 2026 on the 247Sports Composite. The On3 Industry Ranking has him as the No. 4 safety and at No. 47 overall.

Jireh Edwards took a big visit to UGA this weekend for the program’s second “Junior Day” event. It was his first visit and those are vital.

Especially when the nation’s No. 4 safety already had Georgia among his top five schools without even seeing the first brick on campus.

There’s a lot to like here listening to him share his story. There’s a lot that sounds like a prototype UGA safety such as:

  • 6-foot-2 and 200-pound frame
  • 4.48 laser speed in the 40 yard dash
  • He’s known as “Shark” around his strong St. Frances Academy team in Maryland
  • Ask him the origin of his first name and he’ll share it means “a King that cares for others”
  • What’s the most fun part of the game? “Dominating another human,” he said.
  • He loves Sean Taylor as the “goat” of all safeties, but likens his game to NFL standout Budda Baker. “I like to play hard-nosed old school football,” he said.
  • “Nobody compares me to Budda Baker because of my size,” he said. “But I just like his instincts he has on the field. Knowing where to be at the right time. Making the play that comes to him. Being a leader on and off the field. Just knowing when he’s in your presence, you feel that aura.”

DawgNation would love to see a 200-pound safety that can clock a 4.48 laser nicknamed “Shark” patrolling the back end for the Bulldogs in a couple of seasons.

Did the odds of that get a lot better after this weekend?

“Definitely will be back soon,” he said. “When the dead period opens back up, I will for sure definitely be back. I also already scheduled my OV. June 6th.”

It was a great first impression.

“You see Georgia on TV,” he said. “You see how they win. All the wins. But by just being there, I see what it takes. What you have got to do to be great. The player development. The first thing that came out of my mind when I got to Georgia was ‘wow’ and that’s the first thing that came to my mind. I was just like ‘wow’ and ‘this is differerent’ here now.

The trophy case got him, too.

“The trophies,” he said. “All the bowls they win. Just spending time with Coach Kirby Smart. It just wowed me.”

“He’s a legend. Definitely a legend, man. He’s somebody that you wouldn’t think is real because you see him so much on TV. Just him holding a trophy. It was really something. It made my mind go blown. For real.”

What does he likes best about the Dawgs now?

“Just a winning program and the overall player development that they have,” he said.”That’s really one of the top things I like about Georgia. How they just win and how they just produce guys going into the NFL but not just going to the NFL. Doing well in the NFL. That’s really at the top for me about Georgia.”

“Not a lot of teams can say they have a lot of guys in the NFL every year. Not a lot of schools can say they had 15 guys drafted in one single draft. Not a lot of schools can say they are back-to-back national champs. Things like that. Those are not small things. Those are big things. A lot of schools can’t say that.”

Edwards was able to get down to a Top 5 quicker than most of his peers. He’s got Auburn, Georgia, Oregon, Tennessee and Texas A&M in his lead group.

That’s because of the way he looks at things.

“The one thing I do is I keep receipts,” he said. “So I will know who was there. before my name got out there. I know who was there before. Showing love every day. Texting me. Creating relationships from the get go. Because I got my first offer my eighth grade year.”

“Tennessee they’ve been recruiting me since my eighth grade year. Georgia was recruiting me my eighth grade year. Schools like that I keep my receipts and I know who I would love to play for and have been building a relationship with different coaches.”

He’s been to Ohio State about five times, but that program didn’t make his top group. Those “receipts” didn’t match up for him.

Truth be told, he would have had four of those five schools in his top 5 a year ago. The lone outlier was Texas A&M. He didn’t like the Aggies at first, but now they are one of his faves.

“It was so beautiful and the food was so great,” he said. “There’s nothing you can’t like in Texas. They’ve got everything you really need. You don’t have to go out of Texas to find something.”

He’s planning to make Texas A&M his first official visit.

Georgia safeties coach Travaris Robinson also made an impact.

“That’s one of the funniest coaches I’ve ever met in my life,” he said. “He just cracks jokes. He’s real funny it is almost like he’s not for real as a coach.”

Edwards felt a fit. When he left, the big thing that was going through his mind was when he might be able to get back. He also felt he could see himself at UGA.

“Definitely did,” he said. “Definitley feel like I can play there. Make an impact as a true freshman.”

4-star Class of 2026 safety Jireh Edwards has Georgia among his top five schools. He's the nation's No. 5 safety prospect for this cycle. Edwards has also been clocked at 4.48 seconds on the laser in the 40-yard dash. (Courtesy photo) (Courtesy photo/Dawgnation)

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“A King that cares” sums up Jireh Edwards

As it turns out, he lives up to his name origin. That’s reflected when he discusses why he plays football.

“The thing that drives me is seeing other kids and other people that are disabled,” he said. “Disabled that don’t have the ability to do stuff that they want to do. The kids in wheelchairs. Stuff like that. That’s one thing that drives me. Just seeing my mom work two jobs a day. Seeing my father go to work at 11 p.m. and come home at 12 in the afternoon and then go back to work at 11 p.m. again.”

“Seeing that every day that drives me to work 10 times harder. To work harder than I did on the last day.”

He said his cousin, Ray Frederick, is disabled. That had an impact on him coming up.

4-star Class of 2026 safety Jireh Edwards has Georgia among his top five schools. He's the nation's No. 5 safety prospect for this cycle. Edwards has also been clocked at 4.48 seconds on the laser in the 40-yard dash. (Courtesy photo) (Courtesy photo/Dawgnation)

The dream is a little more specific than most of his peers.

“Get into the league and play well and earning my third contract,” he said. “That’s basically my goal.”

That third contract stuff shows off his long-range plan. Rookies typically sign for four years. The second contract covers another four or five seasons. He wants to spent 10 years a a pro.

That’s one reason why Georgia stood out to him.

“They have had nine DBs drafted in the past four drafts,” he said. “Nine DBs.”

The number is actually 11 DBs across the last four NFL drafts, but he gets the point. He knows how high that Malaki Starks will go in this year’s draft.

“I look at him,” Edwards said. “But I also look at Lewis Cine.”

Why did the Dawgs make his top five prior to his first visit?

“Just building a relationship with coach T-Rob and being able to talk to coach Smart,” he said. “That relationship with Coach Smart is one of the reasons why I have a good relationship with Georgia.”

Smart having played safety for UGA in the SEC means something.

“You are going to be playing under a good head coach,” he said. “Knowing he can relate to your scheme. Playing style. Stuff like that.”

Those traits mesh well with the big things he’s looking for in the right school.

“A coach that can relate to what type of player I am and a place where I want to live at,” Edward said. “Some where that I would love to live at. I don’t believe in the transfer portal. That’s not me. So whatever school that gets me is going to have me for three years or even more. But my goal is a three-year plan.”

“Other things I can say is the head coach. The factor of the head coach. The environment. Just being somewhere I would have a good time at.”

Check out his junior highlight tape below. Don’t miss the hit he had against national power Duncanville out of Texas.

“I was at nickel safety and it was a two-to-one drop,” he said. “I was playing down on the ball because it was a two-by-two. Two receivers on both sides. I’m inside leverage on the No. 2 receiver. So I did a two-to-one drop. That means a curl to the flats. Then I saw the No. 2 he was running straight up the field. My job was the cover the flats and I saw it. It was a running back that bubbled out to the boundary. My back was turned. I was late to the ball. I could have picked it honestly but I saw him and I did what I had to do. Big hit. Soon as he caught the ball. TFL.”

That’s the second play below.

Schools see him as an all-around safety. He can guard the post at his size. He can guard receivers 1-on-1 and play in the box.

“Schools say that they don’t see that a lot,” he said. “I can be the most versatile player on the field in any scheme.”

4-star Class of 2026 safety Jireh Edwards has Georgia among his top five schools. He's the nation's No. 5 safety prospect for this cycle. Edwards has also been clocked at 4.48 seconds on the laser in the 40-yard dash. (Courtesy photo) (Courtesy photo/Dawgnation)

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