LITHONIA, Ga. — It was one of those things that nobody ever bothered to ask. Well, when someone did they learned something very interesting.
Broderick Jones, the 6-foot-6, 300-pound tackle prospect from Lithonia High School, committed to Georgia. Like awhile ago.
Jones and the Lithonia coaching staff estimated that he made two commitments to Georgia. The first was to offensive line coach Sam Pittman. Jones and his mother committed to coach Kirby Smart again in mid-March.
“I know it has been over two-and-a-half months,” Lithonia coach David Edwards said. “I know it has been.”
Georgia was his first offer. Jones rates as the nation’s No. 6 tackle prospect and the No. 35 player overall for 2020 by 247Sports. He has yet to attain a composite rating.
According to Jones and his coaches, the Bulldogs were gleefully happy to accept his commitment.
Jones has been to UGA about “three or four times” since he committed to the Bulldogs.
“It was just a shock,” Edwards said. “It was total shocks. He was like, ‘Are you for real?’ And that was the first time I have ever seen Sam Pittman not have a thing to say and he couldn’t say anything. He just started stuttering like a cartoon character. Like a cartoon character.”
Assistant coach Robert “Ham” Hamler came up with that character.
“Like Yosemite Sam,” Hamler said. “Sam Pittman was very happy. He was so happy that it sounded like stuff was coming out of his ears.”
The Lithonia assistant coach brought up the voicemail he received from Pittman.
“He was saying ‘thank you’ and ‘thank you’ and ‘thank you’ and ‘you just made my day’,” Hamler said.
Jones summed up the decision neatly.
“First off, it is close to home,” he said. “Then I just like the coaching staff. The coaching staff is great. Energetic. Alive. It is just like they treat me like family and I just like that feeling I have at Georgia.”
Why Broderick Jones chose Georgia
Jones talked about making a second commitment to Smart a few weeks after notifying Pittman.
“My mother and I told him, actually,” Jones said. “He was excited.”
Edwards described it in a similar fashion.
“He couldn’t speak either,” Edwards said. “Both of those guys were just in shock.”
Jones described the commitment as very solid. He said the only other school that would have any shot at flipping him over the next two years would be Alabama.
That was his dream school growing up. But not even the Crimson Tide are recruiting him the way that Georgia does right now.
“Nobody recruits me harder than Georgia,” Jones said. “If they keep recruiting me the way that they are now, then there’s no way that I will not go to Georgia.”
Jones was at the Under Armour Atlanta All-America camp at Roswell on Sunday. Jones, 16, looked like one of the best prospects at the camp. When it comes to long-term potential, it looks like Jones has as bright of a future as any prospect in camp.
“The biggest things I hear from the college scouts are quick feet,” Edwards said. “The second thing is his balance. He has the feet and the coordination of a defensive back. Just great feet. Then the third thing is his patience. You have got to be able to wait for a defensive end to make a move on you and see what he is able to do.
“He just has that great natural amount of patience to be a great pass blocker.”