This Sentell’s Intel rep on Georgia football recruiting has the latest with 5-star LB Tyler Atkinson. He ranks as the nation’s No. 1 LB and the No. 7 overall prospect for 2026 on the 247Sports Composite. The On3 Industry Ranking has him as the No. 1 LB and at No. 9 overall.
It has been interesting watching the recruiting attention for 5-star LB Tyler Atkinson this month. The guy who’s known for chasing down every ball carrier is now the one getting chased every day by recruiters
Atkinson and his family hosted Georgia defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann in their home on Wednesday night.
“Coach Schu and I talk about everything,” Atkinson said back on November 20. “They really want me to be there.”
This month was crucial for every power program to get in front of Team Atkinson. NCAA recruiting rules allow coaches off-campus for almost all of January for needed face time with priority targets during this contact period.
Recruiters were able to visit freely for 28 of the 31 days this month. Every school is maximizing its road time before a contact dead period begins on February 1.
Georgia is one of three schools to have gotten an in-home with the nation’s No. 1 LB for 2026. The Atkinsons have also hosted Ohio State and Tennessee this month.
But it seems like any and everybody has been in to see Atkinson.
The nation’s No. 1 LB was set to take his first unofficial visit to Oregon just last weekend. Until Atkinson was feeling under the weather.
Oregon’s Dan Lanning didn’t sweat that detail. He audibled on getting to host Atkinson in Eugene by flying to Georgia this week just to meet with Atkinson.
It was made known that Lanning’s cross-country visit to Georgia was just to see Atkinson. No other in-state targets. Oregon defensive coordinator and LBs coach Tosh Lupoi was also with Lanning. That’s a pretty good measure of how wanted Atkinson is by the annual national title contenders across the country.
We’ve seen a lot of high-stakes recruiting battles over the years in Georgia. Especially with the 5-stars.
But this one feels different. In a lot of ways.
Different not just because of how big of a priority the 5-star LB is in Athens. While the LB room is flush with more stars than a travel sports Mom’s Starbucks account, he could be a vital piece for future UGA defenses.
That’s for the culture fit he’d add to the locker room for all the reasons laid out in this DawgNation story.
It is also different because of these coaches and each staff putting in the work. It is a page out of the old-school playbook for wooing a 5-star. The road trips. The helicopter landings.
That’s even though many in this day and age feel that big-boy recruiting is now a yellow brick road paved with NIL dollars. Not long-lasting relationships.
That’s another measure of how this recruitment might be different. We’ve been told countless times that the highest bidder will not win the chase for Atkinson. He values development and relationships as other priority pieces to his decision.
To put it simply, the school that writes the biggest check will not win this recruitment unless they have very big checks in the relationship and development boxes, too.
It also seems like he’s being recruited like a 5-star QB. That’s probably what 475 career tackles, 93 QB hurries, 79 TFLs and 31.5 sacks in three seasons will do for a prospect.
DawgNation’s count has now seen four helicopters land at Grayson High School this month to see Atkinson and the rest of a stacked roster for the defending GHSA Class 6A state champions.
Everybody has been in to see Atkinson. It has gotten to the point where he’s tried to steer visit windows away from his daily weight training workout period with his team.
He aims to never miss that time with his team. No matter who is stopping by.
A recent online report ranking the top 10 coaches in college football provides a good illustration of the roll call of elite coaches.
The following coaches on that Top 10 list have all stopped by this month:
- Ryan Day (Ohio State)
- Josh Heupel (Tennessee)
- Dan Lanning (Oregon)
- Kirby Smart (Georgia)
- Dabo Swinney (Clemson)
It would have been seven, but visits from Kalen Deboer (Alabama) and Steve Sarkisian (Texas) had to be rescheduled because either Atkinson or one of those head coaches was under the weather. That makes sense, given the many cases of sniffles and flu-like symptoms across the country this month.
There have also been visits from the following head coaches:
- Mario Cristobal (Miami)
- Hugh Freeze (Auburn)
- Mike Norvell (FSU)
- Lincoln Riley (USC)
The chase is definitely on. This month, Atkinson told DawgNation he plans on “dropping a Top 5 or Top 6 soon” to help pare things down.
“When it comes to my final decision, I really want to make sure I get it right because I’m going to give that program my all just like I do at Grayson and I want to know that the school I pick will give me their all, too.”
SENTELL’S INTEL
(check on the recent reads on Georgia football recruiting)