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Georgia's Top Players Continue To Narrow Lists, Make Decisions
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We are just one week away from the start of another Football Fridays in Georgia on GPB! Next Friday night we will kick off our 22-game schedule that will take you all the way to the eight GHSA championship games in December.
I will let you in on a secret: There are so many great games on the schedule for Sept. 10, we are going to wait until Saturday morning before we make our announcement. So be sure to check in on social media -- Twitter, Facebook, etc. -- and we’ll make our decision known there.
OK. Now let’s get to the top recruiting news around the state of Georgia for this past week.
Commitments
Seminole County 3-Star CB Nick Cull Commits to Ole Miss
The 6-1, 180-pound senior choose the Rebels over 21 other offers including Alabama, Florida, Miami and South Carolina. Ole Miss had been the first SEC program to offer Cull back in February and he had visited the Rebels twice over the summer.
Cull is ranked the No. 35 cornerback in the nation in the 247 Sports Composite. He became the 12th commitment in the Rebels’ Class of 2022 and made the announcement on his Momma’s birthday.
Johns Creek 3-Star ATH Terian Williams commits to Stanford
The 5-11, 175-pound senior choose the Cardinal over 40 other offers including Texas Tech, Kansas State, Penn State and Michigan. Williams plays offense and defense for the Gladiators and had 55 tackles and an interception last year. He’s projected as either a corner or safety at Stanford and will likely return kicks as well.
Williams joins Buford QB Ashton Daniels in the Cardinal Class of 2022 which is now ranked No. 2 in the Pac-12 and No. 14 in the nation.
Coffee 3-Star WR Maurice Turner commits to Louisville
The 5-8, 170-pound senior picked the Cardinals over 14 other offers including UCF, the only other program that he visited this summer. Turner had visited U-of-L in late June and became the program’s seventh commitment in the Class of 2022.
Turner’s recruitment had blown-up since March when he had only one offer until now, where he has 15 offers. Camping at East Carolina this summer, he ran a 4.2-second shuttle and broad jumped 11-feet, 3 inches. He’s also been clocked 10.98 seconds in the 100 meters. Turner was the Region 1-5A Athlete of the Year in 2020.
North Gwinnett Safety Jordan Buchanan commits to Purdue
The 6-1, 175-senior is the stepson of former Falcons star “Big Play” Ray Buchanan who was a teammate of Boilermakers Head Coach Jeff Brohm when the two played together at Louisville. Buchanan has six total tackles in the Bulldogs 0-2 start as North Gwinnett will look to turn things around when they play at Parkview tonight.
Hapeville Charter 3-Star CB Quantaves “Gumbo” Gaskins scheduled to announce decision this Sunday on his birthday.
The 247 Sports Crystal Ball is predicting Vandy for the 6-1,180-pound senior. Gaskins has six other offers including Georgia Tech and Kansas State. Gaskins was a quarterback earlier in his high school career and did not transition to defensive back until recently. Gaskins took an unofficial visit to Nashville earlier this summer and an official to K-State.
3-Star Hillsboro, Tenn., OT Justin Hood commits to Georgia
Now this guy is a big fella – 6-8, 340-pound senior and Justin has actually slimmed down. At one point he was hitting the scales at close to 400 pounds. I was talking to my friend Rusty Mansell of 247 Sports, and he said he is the most massive human that he’s ever been around.
The big key for Hood will be developing flexibility and ability to bend. Georgia believes if he can do that, Hood could end up being an NFL first-round draft pick. Hood picked the Bulldogs over 21 other offers including Auburn, Miami and Ole Miss, all of whom he visited over the summer.
The addition of Hood moved Georgia up to No. 3 in the nation in the 247 recruiting rankings. The Bulldogs trail only No. 1 Penn State and No. 2 Notre Dame and are now ahead of No. 4 Ohio State and No. 5 Alabama.
Follow the visits!
That’s what my buddy Barton Simmons, formerly of 247 Sports used to tell me. Barton is now Vanderbilt University’s Football General Manager overseeing player personnel and he plays an integral role in the Commodores scouting and recruiting. I learned a lot about recruiting from him. Barton would explain if you wanted to figure out where a prospect wanted to go to school, just count the number of visits he makes and where, and more often than not, the last place he visits is where he’ll commit.
So, with all that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the big-timers making big-time visits here September and remember this was something that prospects by-and-large, did not get a chance to do last season because of COVID.
Carver Columbus 4-Star Elijah Pritchett, No. 10 OT in the country lining up his September visits
The 6-6, 280-pound senior has 24 offers with Georgia, Alabama, Florida State and Southern Cal in his Top 4. This weekend Pritchett is scheduled to be in Tallahassee for Florida State’s game with Notre Dame. He also plans on visiting Alabama for the Crimson Tide’s game vs Mercer, be at Georgia vs. South Carolina and then Oregon State at USC.
Mill Creek 4-Star and nation’s No. 1 junior safety Caleb Downs lining up visits
The 6-0, 185-pound 11th-grader is also the No. 2 overall prospect in Georgia and the No. 8 overall prospect in the nation in the Class of 2023. Downs has 29 offers with North Carolina, Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, Notre Dame and Florida State considered his favorites. The Tar Heels maybe even more so than the others since his brother Josh is already a standout wide receiver there in Chapel Hill.
Downs told 247 Sports that he will attend two or three UNC games this Fall but this Saturday he will be in Charlotte for the Georgia-Clemson game and next Saturday he’s slated to be at Ohio State for the Buckeyes game vs Oregon.
Nation’s No. 1 Sophomore QB, 4-Star Jadyn Davis of Catawba Ridge, S.C., will attend Georgia-Clemson
Davis visited both Georgia, Clemson, Ohio State and Penn State this summer. He’ll be hitting a lot of the big games early in the season with plans to attend Oregon at Ohio State and Auburn at Penn State. Davis has thrown for 8 TD and more than 600 yards in his first two games of his sophomore season. Remember that Davis is a 10th grader, but he’s already been selected to play in the All-American Bowl – that’s after his senior year.
Best Story of the Week
Former Oconee County star Zeb Noland has been “promoted” from grad assistant to starting QB at South Carolina for the season opener
Zeb is the son of Warriors Coach Travis Noland, who has led Oconee County to the state final the last two years. Zeb thought his playing days were over after he left North Dakota State this spring and joined Shane Beamer’s staff at Carolina as a grad assistant.
But because of a foot injury to No. 1 QB Luke Doty and because Noland still has a year of eligibility remaining, he will take the snaps for the Gamecocks in their opener Saturday against Eastern Illinois.
Noland began his career at Iowa State before heading to North Dakota State where he backed-up Trey Lance until this past spring season, when he started because Lance opted out to get ready for the NFL Draft.,
Which just goes to show you, you just never know.
Remember you can stay up to date on all the state’s big recruiting news by reading this blog every Friday and by watching our GPB Sports Recruiting 2021 show every Friday. Today’s show will post online and via social media and next week we will be on TV in our weekly 7 p.m. Football Fridays in Georgia time slot on GPB for the rest of the season.
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