This Sentell’s Intel rep on Georgia football recruiting has the latest with 4-star OT Joshua Sam-Epelle of Douglas County High School. He ranks as the nation’s No. 8 OT and the No. 67 overall prospect for 2026 on the 247Sports Composite. The Rivals Industry Ranking has him as the No. 8 OT and No. 48 overall.
DOUGLASVILLE - The best part of being around Joshua Sam-Epelle and his Douglas County team is listening to how everyone shouts him out at practice.
“Good block 6-9.”
“Not going to get past 6-9 there.”
“There’s 6-9 finding the cameras again.”
“Way to hustle 6-9.”
Sam-Epelle wears No. 51. Not No. 69.
That “6-9″ stuff is a nod to his over-the-top gifts in vertical measurement. Sam-Epelle is listed by all the recruiting services as a 6-foot-9 offensive tackle prospect in the 2027 class.
But he admits that he’s not even that tall.
“I was just down at the Dawgs on Saturday,” he said earlier this year. “I was officially 6 feet, 8 and three-quarter inches and 323 pounds.”
The failsafe to know when a prospect is really tall is when they roll back their own height just a little bit. That’s why every other recruit in America doesn’t mind seeing their listed height and inch or two higher than reality.
When it comes to Sam-Epelle, there’s been a lot of buzz and hype lately about him being very cozy with Georgia right now.
Sam-Epelle does not dispute that. He was back in Athens for the Ole Miss game and, as he had before, walked away very pleased with everything he saw.
“They are pretty strong on my list,” Sam-Epelle said. “I’m not going to lie to you. They’ve been there since my freshman year. They haven’t ever left me. A couple of schools have been there as well, like South Carolina, Tennessee, Florida State, and Ohio State. The Dawgs are in there, but right now they are looking pretty strong.”
The thing is, Sam-Epelle has consistently felt that way about Georgia. He was quite hype about the Dawgs after the Alabama game back in September, too.
“Electric, man,” he said after that game. “The atmosphere was crazy. I’ve never been to a UGA game that got that loud.
It was the craziest atmosphere he’d ever seen. It still is.
“I honestly do want to say so,” he said. “I think that it got real wild there. I can’t even lie. Especially at the start when ‘Bama had the ball to come out. It was rocking.”
When it comes to the Dawgs, the “love” Sam-Epelle brings up traces back to before his sophomore season. That’s when Sam-Epelle burst on the scene as the next big thing, only to see his 10th-grade year wiped off the slate due to a rough injury on Sept 6, 2024.
He tore his ACL and meniscus.
Some schools dropped off during that time. The Dawgs hunkered down. When he looks back on those times, Sam-Epelle said that sentiment and pursuit meant a great deal to him. It still does.
“That’s the one great thing about UGA,” Sam-Epelle said. “They were one school that started with me and never left. When I got injured, they stayed with me through it all. Even on my road to rehab and trying to get back on my feet, they were with me still when I was taking my visits and all down there.”
The Dawgs weren’t the only ones. Florida, South Carolina and Tennessee also hung in there.
“But UGA has been real real solid,” he said. “They’ve been there the most.”
That’s why when some folks wonder if Joshua Sam-Epelle is a wanted man by the University of Georgia, he already knows it.
“A top priority,” Sam-Epelle said.
That has never changed.
“It is a wonderful and humble feeling,” he said. “Just about two years ago, I came from nothing. No name. Just trying to grind to get my name out there to a prestigious school like UGA. UGA has wanted me. Made me feel like a top priority for them. It just made me want to stay as humble as possible and just work.”
When DawgNation spoke to him after the Marshall game earlier this year, he was looking to commit after the season. It appears that the timeline might move up.
What stands out to him about UGA the most is the program’s history at his position.
Georgia puts its starting offensive tackles in the league. Since Kirby Smart’s second team in 2017, the Dawgs have seen the following OTs selected in the NFL Draft.
- 2018 - Isiah Wynn (first round, drafted as an OG)
- 2020 - Andrew Thomas (first round)
- 2020 - Isiah Wilson (first round)
- 2022 - Jamaree Slayer (sixth round; drafted as an OG)
- 2023 - Broderick Jones (first round)
- 2023 - Warren McClendon (fifth round)
- 2024 - Amarius Mims (first round)
That’s five first-round offensive tackles across the last eight drafts. Sam-Epelle has been paying attention.
“It is just honestly the developmental aspect,” he said. “It is like undeniable. If you go to Georgia, you go out there for three or four years and put the work in and get the work out, you are going to go somewhere. It might not be the NFL, but with the connections you are going to build there with the alumni and the people around there, it is going to set you up for life after football.”
“And then if you are good enough and go to the league, it is going to set you up for life because you are going to be in such a good position, being that you came from Georgia from the developmental aspect of it.”
He’s noticed how much freshman OLs Juan Gaston Jr. and Dontrell Glover have been playing this fall, too. When he saw them starting against Alabama last month, that was big.
“It jazzed [Georgia] up a lot,” Sam-Epelle said. “Being that they come straight out of high school right now and make a huge impact, it just shows that you go to Georgia and you’re starting right now, then in a couple of years you are going to be a draft pick.”
“100 percent.”
Joshua Sam-Epelle: He’s had a strong junior year
If the 6-foot-8-plus Sam-Epelle does choose the Dawgs, there would be plenty of tackles impersonating California Redwood trees on the roster.
Georgia currently has eight players listed at 6-foot-7 or taller on the 2025 roster. (That’s a thought that probably needs to get passed around the locker room at Nashville Christian this week.)
“It is crazy,” Sam-Epelle said. “The way they can go ahead and just recruit these big guys like us is wild. I mean, you really don’t see this at any other school besides Georgia. I mean ‘Bama? Well, ‘Bama, okay. ‘Bama is the closest to us. Probably put Ohio State in it as well, but they are not going to get as big as ‘Bama and Georgia.”
Sam-Epelle is a left tackle for Douglas County. He’s been the starter there all season. That 85-inch wingspan is no joke.
“He’s been great in the run game this season,” Douglas County head coach Johnny T. White told DawgNation. “He’s always been good in the pass game because of his length and his athleticism.”
Nobody has beaten him in pass pro this fall.
“He’s so long, man,” White said.
Physicality hasn’t been an issue.
“He’s been a nasty kid from day one,” White said.
He’s the biggest kid that White has ever coached. That’s a coaching career that has spanned 30-plus years. Then you should see him jump rope.
“I had a kid that was six-seven when I was in Virginia Beach, but he wasn’t as athletic,” White said during a practice rep. “Not even close. Like, look at him right now. Look at No. 50 beside him. 50 is 6-foot-5, and Josh makes him look small. He makes everyone and everything look small.”
Steven McClendon works against Sam-Epelle in practice every day. He’s a 2028 prospect in his own right. The 6-foot-4, 220-pound sophomore sizes it up succinctly.
“When you’ve got strength, good feet and long arms together, he’s got everything,” McClendon said. “When you are going against him in practice, you’d better come to work because he’s going to put you in the dirt. Even if it is in practice.”
“You’ve got to come with your all going against him. When I get to the games, the games are easy after going against him.”
Check out the junior highlight reel so far.
Have you seen this week’s “Before the Hedges” weekly recruiting special on YouTube yet? Check it out below.
SENTELL’S INTEL
(Check on the recent reads on Georgia football recruiting)
