Want to attack every day with the latest Georgia football recruiting info? That’s the Intel. This rep has the latest with 5-star safety KJ Bolden. He ranks as the nation’s No. 1 S and the No. 7 overall prospect for 2024 on the 247Sports Composite ratings. The On3 Industry Ranking has him as the nation’s No. 1 safety and the No. 8 overall recruit.

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KJ Bolden said quite a few intriguing things on Wednesday at the first annual Georgia High School Football Media Day at the IBEW meeting room in downtown Atlanta.

Was it real? Or was it just some prime 10th-hour recruiting drama with a decision coming up in less than two weeks?

The 5-star did say “Go ‘Dawgs” a couple of times back and forth jibing among his Buford teammates. The ‘Dawgs are one of his finalists and he said that he’s been to Athens “about 16 times” during his college recruiting process.

We did hear from a key source yesterday to expect the Bolden decision to be seismic. It will add more players to the commitment board of most likely Alabama, his childhood dream school Florida State, Georgia or Ohio State in the 2024 class.

But it will also attract younger players from the state of Georgia to the 2025 class, too. That’s what the nation’s No. 7 overall prospect (247Sports Composite) will do for any program.

Bolden shared a lot of his thoughts at the event, including the following:

• He said his head “is all over the place right now” with his recruiting.
• “You know I’ve got my boy Dylan (Raiola) recruiting me every day,” he said. “So you know how that goes. Got all the schools still coming at me the same way.”
• “It is starting to heat up. I am starting to get in my head kind of a feeling where I want to go.”
• He will address the pros of each school when making this decision. He said the schools at the top of his list have very few cons, if any. He will look at schemes, NIL, playing time, life after football and being able to help his family out.
• “I feel like I have a decision in my head and I will be coming out with it soon.”
• “Georgia has definitely made me a top priority,” he said. “I think I have went on a visit like 16 times. I think I heard that the other day. It is crazy. They definitely have made me a top priority every time I go up there.”
• Smart, Fran Brown and co-defensive coordinator Will Muschamp always sit Bolden down and talk about the defense and how they are going to use him.
• “Georgia is definitely a top priority for me and they definitely make me feel like a top priority.”
• It doesn’t sound like NIL inducements from a program’s collective will sway him. Getting a big sum of money to choose a school on the front end isn’t what he is focused on. “I really look at it like money later,” he said. “Getting to college is a big goal. But the main goal is getting to the NFL. That’s where the long-term money comes at. I just feel like right now money I feel like is short-term. I don’t really like [ I will] choose a college based on short-term money.”

Those were some telling nuggets, but the strongest opinions he had centered around Georgia coach Kirby Smart. He said that “Coach Kirby” has a meeting with him every time.

There are few recruits that Smart has recruited so hard for so long quite like Bolden. The investment here from the now two-time national championship coach has been vast.

But what Bolden had to say about Smart yesterday reflected that something genuine and tangible has grown from all those interactions. '

When asked what would be the biggest reason why he would choose Georgia, the first thing he had to say involved the head coach of the Bulldogs.

“Probably just playing for Kirby Smart,” he said. “You know he is going to be there for a real long time. He’s a great coach. I feel like he and I’s relationship are like no other. I feel like with a head coach that I don’t have any other relationship with a head coach like his.”

Why does he feel that way?

“His is just like a different flavor,” Bolden said when addressing that relationship with Smart. “At the end of the day, he is going to be your coach but he is not really trying to seem like your coach. He’s trying to be like one of your friends. You can talk to him on a daily basis. Like a brother or something like that. That’s how I really sometimes look at him when I am talking to him.”

Have you subscribed to the DawgNation YouTube channel yet? If so, you will be able to see special 1-on-1 content with key 2024 prospects like Daniel Calhoun, Dwight Phillips Jr., Dylan Raiola and Sacovie White.

5-star safety KJ Bolden will make his collge decision known on August 5. (Jeff Sentell/DawgNation) (Jeff Sentell/Dawgnation)

The big secret: How KJ Bolden plots for his decision to go down

Bolden has an idea to veil his final decision in secrecy up to the big day.

His two parents are very involved in his life. But he doesn’t plan on telling them. He said on Wednesday that he doesn’t even plan on telling the coaches and head coaches that are recruiting him.

“I’m trying to figure it out right now,” he said. “I might tell them, but I don’t know yet. I really want it to be a surprise. I don’t want anybody to know. Even the school I am going to. I really don’t want them to know.”

“I just want to commit and everybody figure it out that day.”

That includes his inner circle and family.

“Nobody will know,” he said. “I am just going to be the only one that knows. Me and probably like my cameraman or something.”

That would be his videographer and editor for the commitment video he is planning. Bolden is expected to share his decision via a live-streaming ceremony on the On3.com YouTube channel.

SENTELL’S INTEL

(check on the recent reads on Georgia football recruiting)