Want to attack every day with the latest Georgia football recruiting info? That’s the Intel. This rep has the latest with 4-star Texas DL Joseph Jonah-Ajonye. He ranks as the nation’s No. 6 DL and the No. 37 overall prospect for 2024 on the 247Sports Composite ratings. The On3 Industry Ranking has him as the nation’s No. 8 and the No. 44 overall recruit.
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When Joseph Jonah-Ajonye saw his mother smile brightly on his official visit, that was finally it. Especially after seeing the way his younger sister came out of her shell on that same trip.
That was everything to the Under Armour All-American defensive line prospect out of Texas.
Joseph-Ajonye had already felt quite cozy in Athens. Those good vibes dated back to his first-ever trip to check out Georgia over the annual scavenger hunt weekend back in May.
“That’s when I knew that was where I wanted to be,” he said. “That’s when I knew this was where I needed to be.”
If we’re being honest, he knew he was going to be a ‘Dawg back during that weekend. Then he took the official visit about a month later to be sure.
That’s when those frequent pings of “this might be it” in May were replaced but a “this is it” feeling on that OV. Joseph-Ajonye committed to becoming the next terrorizing defensive line prospect in Athens back on June 25.
Well, actually his mother did. She was the one who told Kirby Smart first. Not the 16-year-old who already checks in at 6 feet, 4 inches plus change and 270 pounds.
Then he kept it silent.
That decision is silent no more. Jonah-Ajonye revealed late Thursday night that he was going to be a Georgia Bulldog.
The native of Nigeria is a man of his word. He told DawgNation going into that OV that he just needed to see that his mother and sister loved UGA a lot. Maybe close to as much as he did.
They did. That put the bow on his recruiting journey.
He has dropped the mic on his college recruiting and has decided to go public with the fact he’s ready to be a “Dawg.
“It felt like home,” Joseph-Ajonye told DawgNation. “I trust the coaches. I feel like they can develop me to be the greatest D-lineman to ever play the game.”
Why is he going to sleep a public UGA commitment tonight?
“I just want people to know this is the right decision for me,” he said. “I’ve put a lot of thought into it. A lot of prayers. I’m very confident that this is where I need to be.”
Ajonye made his public commitment to Georgia football known moments ago across his social media. He becomes the 24th public pledge to the nation’s top-rated recruiting class of 2024 for the 247Sports, On3 and Rivals team rankings.
What stood out to him the most about Georgia?
“The bond that I have with the players, the coaches and the recruits and then the developmental factor that Georgia has in putting a lot of great defensive linemen into the league. Then just the people in Athens overall. I love their fans. They are really cool people.”
The big athletic Texas said that he felt the love from DawgNation on his visit. They knew who he was on both his unofficial and official visits.
“It is not like that everywhere,” he said. “Georgia is just different.”
This decision now makes three commitments ranked among the nation’s top 150 overall recruits over the last week for Smart and his Georgia football program.
The rising senior from Oak Ridge High School in Texas ranks as the nation’s No. 6 DL and the No. 37 overall prospect for this cycle on the 247Sports Team Composite ratings. That now makes him the fourth-highest-rated recruit in the UGA class at this time.
There were a few benchmarks where Georgia certainly checked the box with him:
- Great food on his official visit
- Great time with the coaches on the UGA staff, including DL coach Tray Scott and head coach Kirby Smart.
- Mom and sister need to be impressed\
- Could he see himself at UGA for the next three to four years
- He wanted to feel like UGA was home if he wasn’t there for a football scholarship. Would it be a cool place to just get a college education?
Needless to say, the ‘Dawgs delivered what he was looking for. The ‘Dawgs beat out Oklahoma here for the decision. He also had Georgia Tech and Oregon among his final group.
Joseph Jonah-Ajonye: What the ‘Dawgs are getting here
Jonah-Ajonye would be an ideal DE or “5-tech” or “4i” in the Georgia front. It is not the most glamourous position across the defensive line, but it plays a vital role in the Georgia defense.
He’s got the perfect mindset for it. While others chase sacks, he’s appreciative of the chance to chase championships.
“They’ve talked about three tech, four tech, five tech and nine tech with me,” he said last month. “If they need me to pass rush, I can do either three tech or five tech. If they just want me to take on the dirty work and free up the linebackers, I’m willing to do that. I just need to do my job so we can win. That’s what is most important to me.”
“Yeah, sacks and tackles for losses are cool but as long as I do my job they are going to come anyway.”
He values the opportunity to be a ‘Dawg. Georgia was his “dream school” growing up. When he visited Athens for the first time, he had several pings of glee where it felt like Athens might “be it” for him.
“Georgia was my dream school because of the academic standpoint,” he said after his first visit. “I heard it was really hard to get into Georgia so it must be a great school and then the football standpoint. Two-time national champions. The best defense in the country.”
“It would be a dream for me to play on that defense. It is the most dominant defense in the country.”
The young Texan has only been playing football since his freshman year of high school.
He keeps it simple about why he plays the game.
“I just love the game,” he said. “It is my favorite thing to do. It brings me peace.”
“I just feel like it is my drive and my aggressiveness that makes me good at football. Controlled aggressiveness is what I call it.”
He wants to be a kinesiology major in college. He’s carrying a 3.2 grade-point average in high school. The goal is to find a way to stay around competitive athletics for as long as he can.
The 4-star DL rattled off some very big dreams. He wants to play as a freshman in college. He wants to win national championships. Plural.
He wants to go in the first round of the NFL Draft and win multiple Super Bowls. It all points to him earning a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
“I need that golden jacket,” he said. “That’s a must. And also winning that national championship in college is a must.”
His mother, Suzanne Ajonye, deserves a lion’s share of appreciation for where he is today.
“She would always push me,” he said. “Every time I would be tired. Every time I didn’t want to go to practice or for whatever reason, she would push me. Always. Always pushing me to keep trying. I wouldn’t be playing this game if it wasn’t for her permission.”
“At first, she didn’t want me to play, but then we gave it a try and now I’m here.”
Recruiters see him lining up at defensive tackle or defensive end.
When he lines up on film, he’s relentless. He’s able to convert his speed into power and flash a lot of aggressiveness on tape. He can attack the edge and also drop back and cover.
There is also a clear understanding on tape of how to get off blocks and stop the run game. Georgia line coach Tray Scott told him he liked all those things about his game, including his speed.
Check out his junior film below:
Joseph Jonah-Ajonye is a different type of recruit
He approached this decision not wanting to play any games or waste anyone else’s time.
“I know what I’m doing,” Joseph-Ajonye said. “I’m a very honest guy and I don’t just like see the point of beating around the bush. Just be straightforward. There’s no point in letting schools feel like they are in it when they are not in it. There’s no point. It is a waste of time and energy.”
“Time and energy are something that we humans just can’t be back.”
He had a commitment date for August 1 in his mind after that first unofficial visit to Georgia. But heading into the UGA official visit weekend, he moved up that timetable to July 12. Or even earlier.
If he felt it, he was going to commit.
Jonah-Ajonye took his first visit back in May with a save-the-date tucked in his back pocket. If that visit went well, he had set up an official visit for June 23.
We haven’t come across too many prospects with that level of forward thinking. The 4-star All-American also posted pics from that May visit that included a photo illustration of an X-Ray with what was depicted to be a ‘Dawg lurking below the bones.
That was a sign of things to come there.
“Georgia was better than what I expected it to be when I was coming in on the plane,” he said looking back on that visit in May. “I don’t even know if I can explain it. I can only say that from the tour that Georgia is different from other schools. Different. It is a good place. Very cool place. They are elite and I need to be elite. Yeah, so Georgia is different.”
Tray Scott made the right first impression on that May visit. It set the table for the commitment joys to come.
“My favorite part of my Georgia visit was definitely getting time to spend with Coach Scott and watch some film on how to improve my game,” Jonah-Ajonye said. “I literally spend like 20 minutes with him and I felt like I literally left Georgia as a better D-lineman than I was when I first came in.”
“So just imagine what three years or four years would do there.”
There were a few other moments on that first trip that “definitely elevated” Georgia’s shot to sign him.
“I walked into the facility and they have just this huge word on the wall and it just says win,” he said. “That was one of them. Then I go into the D-line room and coach Scott sits me down and teaches me their entire defense in the span of three minutes. Then he quizzed me on it an hour and thirty minutes later and I passed. I was like ‘Yeah, this might be it’ and then as we are watching the film and he’s teaching me all that Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith are doing. It was the Tennessee game. They were playing hurry-up so I’m just watching and I’m learning and then he just educated me so fast. I’m retaining all this knowledge and I’m like ‘Oh yes, this just might be it’ with everything.”
Joseph-Ajonye plans to enroll early. He aims to wear No. 99 in Athens and he invites DawgNation to now reach out to him on social media.
“The first thing is I’m always available,” he said. “If they have any questions, please just ask me. I love to interact with fans. I don’t even like to call them fans. I like to call them supporters because that’s what they are.”
SENTELL’S INTEL
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