This Sentell’s Intel rep on Georgia football recruiting has the latest with 5-star commit Kemon Spell. He ranks as the nation’s No. 1 RB and the No. 7 overall prospect for 2027 on the 247Sports Composite. The Rivals Industry Ranking has him as the No. 1 RB and No. 3 overall.
MCKEESPORT, Pa. -- The nation’s No. 1 RB prospect is currently committed to the Georgia Bulldogs.
Just how committed? Can anyone be committed in this day and age?
Spell is keenly aware of what some fans think of this February commitment. Check back in October and then in December. Then they’ll see.
“I’ve seen the comments,” Spell said. “I know what some are thinking. But I don’t react to them. That’s just not my place.”
Spell said he waited until he was sure about which school felt like home before he started talking money with schools.
“I have three checklist boxes that I go by with every school I go to,” Spell said. “I want to be coached hard. I want to be treated like family and the money is last for me.”
When he visited UGA two weekends ago, he wasn’t planning on committing, even though Georgia was the runaway leader in his recruitment. He was either going to commit in July or December of this year.
“I got there,” he said. “I got to see it all there, to see it was a great program. We sat down and went over the guys they got drafted, what they did through the season, the pro-style offense plays that the NFL runs.”
“I sat down and actually saw what Georgia is. It felt like home. I was being loved on every time I went there. And then after that, we had the money conversation. I told Georgia specifically I didn’t want any money conversations until I felt like I was home. And we just had that conversation before I left after that weekend when I committed.”
He got off the plane from his “Junior Day” trip and the lightning bolt just hit him.
“I was like, ‘Dad, it’s time. I feel like it is time. It is time to go to Georgia. I feel like it is the right place for me.’ It’s a great situation for the running back room, so we get off the plane and a couple of days after, we get on the phone with coach Kirby [Smart] and we make it official.”
He’s been cheesing hard on the Dawgs ever since his unofficial visit last season for the Charlotte game. How long has he been thinking about Georgia as the right spot for him in college?
“For a good three years now,” he said. “A good three years.”
When the Bulldogs were winning those back-to-back titles, he was watching on TV.
“They were winning,” he said. “I didn’t know what the program was like. I didn’t get down there. Once you get down there and see what it is like, I actually see why they do what they do on TV and why the program is ran like that and why they win.”
What was the biggest factor in the commitment? It wasn’t just running backs coach Josh Crawford. Or head coach Kirby Smart. Or the nole that Nate Frazier played showing him all things UGA on that “Junior Day” visit.
“It was the whole staff,” he said. “Overall. I want to go there and be loved by everyone. I’m not going to be in the same room as Coach Crawford all the time. I’ll be on special teams and be in a lot of different workout groups with different coaches. It’s not just one thing about Georgia. It’s the whole staff at Georgia that made me feel like Georgia was the right place.”
Kemon Spell: The 5-star is “home” in Athens
Spell had many mic drop quotes during a wide-ranging interview. This one ranks up there highly. It came after a question about what he wanted DawgNation to know about this commitment.
Should they take it seriously?
“I’m not going to Georgia for the money,” he said. “I’m going to Georgia to be a Dawg and win a national championship.”
Those paragraphs of intel were worth a trip to Allegheny County in the Keystone State this week. Past the Three Rivers that are currently filled with floes of ice in Downtown Pittsburgh. Past the Roberto Clemente Bridge.
Spell, who we learned this week has 10 other siblings, dreams of playing for the Dallas Cowboys one day. That’s because that was his father’s team growing up.
Emmitt Smith occupied a lot of real estate in fans’ minds a generation ago.
Spell’s current commitment is living not quite rent-free in the minds of DawgNation right now.
What else did DawgNation learn this week on an extended visit with Spell and his McKeesport Tigers? Here are the highlights:
- Spell says he’s “committed committed” to the Bulldogs. What does that look like? Well, he’s only got one official visit scheduled for this spring and summer. That’s to the Georgia Bulldogs.
- He will be at other official visits during that time, but they will all be at UGA. Spell plans to come down to Athens on other key OV weekends to help build the class.
- “I am committed committed,” he said. “I have canceled all my other visits to get down to Athens every week in June. Basically. So for all the fans out there, yes, I am ‘committed committed,’ and I love Georgia.”
- He said that he’d probably be committed to Georgia right now even if James Franklin never got fired from Penn State. That was the in-state school he was committed to last season.
- The running style parallels will be a work in progress. But to put it in the language that Georgia fans will readily understand, it is a mix of Nick Chubb’s bruising style with the suddenness of D’Andre Swift. Maybe throw in a top gear that Keith Marshall would appreciate, too.
- We asked him what he sees as he trains to be the best version of himself every day. “I feel like I have Jahmyr Gibbs speed,” he said. “I feel like I’ve got a Saquon [Barkley] body type and I feel like I run like D’Andre Swift.”
- Spell has his eye on wearing Nate Frazier’s No. 3 next season. Frazier, as most might gather, is expected to head to the NFL after his junior season this fall.
- The 5-foot-10, 212-pound rising senior has a lower half that belongs on an action figure. He generates a lot of power and speed from his upper body. That helped power him to 12.9 yards per carry for a WPIAL Class 4A state runner-up team a year ago.
- Most of the nation has no idea how well Spell can run routes and catch the ball out of the backfield. There have been glimpses of that so far during the early 7-on-7 season, but that might very well be one of the strongest tools in his toolbox.
- Spell, as one might expect, has a very impressive “why” for playing football. We will cover that in a future DawgNation story.
- Everyone who knows Spell calls him by his “Mizzy Head” nickname. That dates back to the nickname he picked up for his hairstyle when he was much younger.
- He’s had summer jobs training younger kids and working out with them every day. That’s why his lower half is so well-developed for a high school prospect at this time. That’s why he now works out every day and why he’s been clocked electronically at 4.36 seconds in the 40.
- Like most townships in the Pittsburgh Metro area, he comes from a community that was once thriving. Before all the steel mills and factories closed down. The school population is basically a fourth of what it used to be. The main streets of McKeesport have many empty storefronts.
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)
