This Sentell’s Intel rep on Georgia football recruiting has the latest with 4-star Jordan Smith at Houston County in Warner Robins. He ranks as the nation’s No. 8 safety and No. 95 overall prospect for 2026 on the 247Sports Composite. The On3 Industry Ranking has him as the No. 6 safety and No. 75 overall.
Georgia’s most recent commitment on Mother’s Day doesn’t take long to properly evaluate. The scouting report on Jordan Smith from Houston County coach Jeremy Edwards makes for a strong evaluation here.
The rankings have him rated as high as the No. 75 overall player in the country and as a consensus Top 100 recruit.
Multiple sources share he’s probably a lot better than that.
“He’s a football player,” Edwards said. “When I say he is all about ball, he’s not concerned with all the things that go into the recruiting game these days. That’s never been a concern of his. That’s never been something he’s even mentioned or talked about with anybody that comes through the doors.”
It is a show every day he puts on the HoCo helmet.
“He does things in practice that are not normal,” Edwards said. “That most humans shouldn’t be able to do. It is 12 months a year for him and non-stop football. That’s what you are going to get with it.
It sounds crazy, but the Houston County staff initially felt he might be a pass rusher earlier in his career.
“We were talking about it a couple of days ago,” Edwards said. “We saw him as an EDGE pass rusher because his get-off is so good. That’s early in his career, obviously, before we had a need at safety. He can do anything, but he’s going to work really hard at it, too.”
Check out his junior film below.
Smith is good enough that he can play down low in the box because he’s such a sure tackler, but he can also run with anybody. There are many times in practice where the offensive coaches would see the defense, know the call, see the matchups, and think they’ve got a big play dialed up.
Other scouting evaluations we’ve gotten from Middle Georgia coaches say that he could also play some cornerback on Saturdays.
“Then he flips his hips and turns and runs and makes a play on the ball,” Edwards said. “I was like ‘That’s not normal’ and ‘You’re not supposed to be able to do that’ and he gives our defense a lot of flexibility in what they are able to do with him and his skill set. ... If he’s not a 5-star, I don’t know what one looks like.”
Jordan Smith: The real good stuff to know about the latest UGA commitment
The 6-foot-2 Smith is the sort of player who flashes on tape no matter the opponent. Even for the coach of the toughest team in the state of Georgia for the last two years.
“Thought he was really really good,” Milton coach Ben Reaves Jr. said. “Definitely a guy we had circled to know where he was at all times. Incredible ball skills and a guy that we knew could house it any time he touched it.”
Smith is closing in on 200 pounds and just set a PR in the 100 meters during track season this spring.
“I believe it,” Reaves Jr. said.
That’s rolling for a defensive player with his size and length. When Houston County team faced Clarke Central in the state playoffs last fall, Smith took not one but two kickoffs back for scores.
He’s clocked a 4.40 in the 40 and pairs that up with a 3.7 GPA in the classroom.
That’s already checking every box for Kirby Smart’s Georgia powerhouse, but there’s more to learn about Smith here.
That came out while listening to what Edwards had to say about the last game of his junior season. It was right after Reaves and his future two-time back-to-back state championship team eliminated Houston County by a landslide 56-14 margin.
“We got beat in the Elite Eight by Milton and that Monday he and a group of other guys were standing at my door in my office like ‘Coach, can we have a ball?’ and ‘We need to work on things’ and you would think they would want to take a little break. We just had a long season, but he’s all about the grind. I just think he’s motivated to not only make his mark here, but in the future at the University of Georgia. It just drives him. Just playing the game.”
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Jordan Smith: Why he chose to play for Georgia
When Smith committed to UGA on Mother’s Day, he became the ninth member of the 2026 class. He chose that day to honor his mother, Michelle Northcutt, and also the other women in his family.
“I decided to go public with it on Mother’s Day just as a tribute to her for all she does for me that I don’t even have to ask for and also for my grandmother, all the mothers out there and all the women in my family that have poured into my life,” he said.
It was a moment to honor a special grandmother in his life who also passed away. Her name was Manuela Perez. That’s why there is an LLE 🕊️ in his Instagram bio.
“Man, she helped raise me when I was a baby,” Smith said. “I learned so much from her. She taught me my second language I learned and she really motivated me. She always had the biggest smile. She had the best smile. Even though when she would catch me doing something wrong, man, she was always there and smiling, saying, it would all be okay. That was really important for me growing up.”
The Dawgs will welcome Smith to the program come January as an early enrollee. He told DawgNation that he had silently committed to the program for a couple of weeks prior to the announcement.
Truth be told, this was expected.
“With it being in-state and the success and the relationships he’s built with the coaching staff there and Coach Smart, you could see [the connection] when he would come visit and just how they interacted,” Edwards said. “It was a no-brainer for him.”
He actually committed to UGA cornerbacks coach Donte’ Williams first. Why was it UGA over schools like FSU, Georgia Tech, and Tennessee?
“It just felt right,” he said. “Every time I went out there and made trips, I got closer and closer with the culture, man. Just like seeing the standard and the guys that are living by that. Their culture. I know that’s what I wanna be around. That’s where I want to thrive and how I want to excel.”
Williams knew first, but he also got to tell Kirby Smart.
“When I talked to Donte afterwards, he was like ‘Man I haven’t seen Kirby smile like that in a while’ so he felt good about it,” Smith said.
Smith grew up a Dawg in Warner Robins, but he also plays the safety position and has seen the recent track record at UGA for early playing time and fast-track development at his position.
Malaki Starks. KJ Bolden. He will be the first person in his family to go play Division I football, and he wants his name to fit in with those two success stories.
“It is really inspiring,” Smith said. “Being that they’re from Georgia. They are Georgia guys. I think it just says a lot to a lot of the younger guys that you can go up there and do that. You can make it to the next level, no matter really where you’re from, if you go play at Georgia.”
Every time he took a trip to a different school, he knew those programs would bring up the Dawgs.
“They usually brought up or mentioned something related to Georgia somehow or some way,” Smith said. “It has kind of always been in the back of my mind about committing to Georgia, and it really came to light not too long ago.”
Edwards had one final thought for what DawgNation can expect to see out of Smith in the red and black.
“I can’t find anything that you would just say you need to focus on this and address it,” Edwards said. “I mean’s he’s all as advertised. He is a special player, and Georgia’s got a phenomenal human being as well.”
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)
