This Sentell’s Intel rep on Georgia football recruiting has the latest with 3-star Waylon Wooten at Grayson High School. He’s the nation’s No. 112 DL and No. 1019 overall prospect for 2027 on the 247Sports Composite. The Rivals Industry Ranking has him as the No. 95 DL and No. 974 overall.
Waylon Wooten said this week he just knew. It was about two weeks ago when he knew he was ready to make his college decision.
Florida. Georgia. Ohio State. Purdue.
Those are the finalists for the two-year starter at Grayson High. He will share his decision at 5 p.m. this evening in a ceremony that will be streamed live by 247Sports.
Wooten is not quite at the 6-foot-2 mark. He weighs 310 pounds and has the sort of arms Mr. Fantastic or Stretch Armstrong would value. He’s also the most respected player in the locker room for one of the top programs in the nation.
“Waylon Wooten is the heart and soul of our football team,” Grayson head coach Greg Carswell said.
Georgia was his dream school growing up. Ohio State was the program he pointed to as his leader at one point in his process. Most felt his decision would ultimately come down to those two schools. Regardless of what his star ranking might say.
The 3-star had been considering a July 4 commitment, but moved that up to a ceremony at his home this evening. The clever invitation to that event says the party will take place at Wooten Stadium.
There were four scheduled official visits to those top schools, but after his public commitment today, there will be just one official visit to his new team.
That says a lot about Wooten.
“I just came off my labrum surgery in January,” Wooten said. “Then, just a couple of weeks ago, I got cleared to start back training and weight training. To me, I think the best thing I can do for myself is find out where I’m supposed to be. What’s real. Where my feet are supposed to be and where God told me this is where I should go.”
“I feel like it is just time for me to put in a lot of work to get ready for my senior season.”
He’s going to use the next five weeks to make up for lost time in getting his strength in that shoulder back to where it should be. Rather than taking official visits all across the country.
“He’s just totally committed to the process,” Carswell said. “Completely. I’ve probably never coached a kid as committed to the process. And not the process of getting recruited or the process of going to the college. But the process that I have to work my butt off each and every day to even have the opportunity to find my way on the field when I get there.”
When Wooten shares that commitment later this evening, he said that it will shut down his recruitment. He’s very much at peace with this accelerated timeline.
“God told me to go ahead and make your decision,” he said. “I feel like I know where my feet need to be at. I believe in the system that I will be going into. I feel like the coaches believe in me, and overall, I feel like they’ve just got a good staff and a family atmosphere. How they took my mom and me into their program ever since I was a much younger kid.”
Wooten shared his take on his finalists:
- Florida: “They’ve been in the mix for a long time. I’d say they were up there. They offered right around the same time Georgia offered. I will say how many times I’ve been up there is insane. They really, truly value my skills there. Florida actually has a good plan for how they would use me and how I could fit in.”
- Georgia: “Kirby [Smart] man. That’s my Dawg, man. I feel like out of all the schools, he was one of the first ones to come get me when I was in the tenth grade. I will say Kirby [Smart] and I have a real good relationship with him. That’s a one of none. Stands alone. That’s a dream school for me.”
- Ohio State: “Man, O-State is O-State. They came in and really believed in what I had to offer to their table. With Ohio State, it is just the development piece of how they come in and get kids that are not the biggest names, but turn them into the top prospects in the NFL Draft.”
- Purdue: “The family-type atmosphere is up there at Purdue. I feel like coach [Kelvin] Greene is a great D-line coach. I feel like [head] coach [Barry] Odom has a great plan for what he wants to do at Purdue. I feel like that’s a great staff.”
He’s something of an anomaly given his 6-foot-1-plus frame. That’s not the blueprint that garners offers from big boys like Georgia and Ohio State, but he makes up for it with his long arms. His wingspan has been measured by college coaches at 82 inches.
That makes him play like the typical 6-foot-5 defensive lineman.
“It is my motor that I play with and just my arms,” Wooten said. “I feel like I can come off the ball with good arm length, knock people back and they are going to have a real problem with me. Can’t nobody stop me once I get going.”
Wooten will be able to graduate this December and enroll as a mid-year signee in January of 2027. His junior tape is embedded below.
