Want to attack every day with the latest UGA football recruiting info? That’s what the Intel brings. This entry will detail the latest on the recruiting journey of 4-star Georgia WR De’Nylon Morrissette of Brookwood High in Metro Atlanta. 

CARROLLTON, Ga. — De’Nylon Morrissette is about as candid as it gets in any interview setting. He thinks like his route tree. He gets right to things and there is very little wasted motion. Or words.

He said when 5-star QB Gunner Stockton made the decision to commit to Georgia this year, it made a profound impact on the way he now views the program.

“He just has that effect to the game,” Morrissette said of Stockton. “He doesn’t really have to talk. It is just his overall presence to me that changes the whole game to me. The way he plays and competes will affect his whole team.”

That has not changed. When speaking to Morrissette at the Youth Passing League Southern Showdown this weekend, he let loose with the following self-assessments of his recruiting:

  • He said back in February it might not be too long with his decision. That still holds true even though he’s watched other All-American in-state prospects pump the brakes on their process. 
  • “My Mom and I were talking last week,” Morrissette said. “I was fixing to commit at the end of March or early April but now I think I want to wait until I take my official visits. But I still might end up committing before. I really might.” 
  • “I think I know where I want to go,” Morrissette said. “I’m pretty sure. I think if I take all my officials it might end up changing my mind so I want to wait.” 
  • “At first I was messing with Georgia a lot, but since Gunner committed that really boosted them way more on my list,” he said. 
  • Morrisette said he already has four of his four likely official visits planned out.
  • What is his new timeline? July? August? “If I don’t decide before that, I don’t know,” he said. “As soon as I take my official visits I’m going to commit. Probably within two weeks of that.” 
  • He does plan on taking all five of his officials. What are the chances he does so while already committed to another school or before the dead period lifts? Is that like the chances of converting a 3rd-and-18? Or a 3rd-and 8? “Probably like a 3rd-and-8,” he said. “Probably like that. I think I’ve already got my mind made up but it is again just me wanting to take it slow. I don’t want to make the wrong decision taking it too fast.” 

Why was he about to make a commitment at the end of this month or in early April?

“A few weeks ago I think I had my heart set on a school but then some more stuff happened,” Morrissette said. “Some more players started talking to me to say to keep my options open and then more coaches started calling me every day. That’s why I think I am going to wait and be patient and not try to rush it all.”

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Where did De’Nylon Morrissette visit before the pandemic?

The 4-star WR ranks as the nation’s No. 30 WR and as the No. 226 overall prospect in the 2022 cycle on the 247Sports Composite ratings.

He has been on a handful of visits. That includes “a bunch of times” to Georgia and a few times to South Carolina prior to that aforementioned dead period in mid-March of 2020.

That travel history will include one visit apiece to Alabama, Florida and Maryland. Georgia Tech has also gotten a few visits.

“I’ve been to check out pretty much all the SEC schools down here and a few ACC schools,” Morrissette said. “I’ve been to USC and UCLA, too.”

When the dead period lifts in June, he has a good idea of what his official visit itinerary will look like.

“I know three of them right now and I’m pretty sure I know four of them probably,” he said. “I can say I am taking one to USC definitely, Georgia definitely, Florida definitely and Georgia Tech. I haven’t figured out my fifth one yet.”

He has a good option for his first official in June.

“I was talking to Gunner and all of them about Georgia,” he said. “Georgia wants us to take all of our official visits together so it might be Georgia.”

Morrisette is always full of joy about his recruiting. The twist and turns do not affect him one bit.

“No sir,” he said. “These options are all great. Blessings. I’m just enjoying it.”

Did you know the weekly DawgNation.com “Before the Hedges” program is available as an Apple podcast? Click to check it out and download it. 

De’Nylon Morrissette said that he basically has four of his five official visits figured out so far for June. (Jeff Sentell/DawgNation)/Dawgnation)

De’Nylon Morrissette on Gunner Stockton

There is a play on Morrissette’s Instagram page from back in the eighth grade. It took place at a national Football University All-Star game down in Florida.

We’ve heard many things from other top-tier prospects in the 2022 class about how Stockon made a big impression on them that week. Morrissette and Stockton have now been playing together for years, but it stays on his mind.

“It was like I caught a 70-yard bomb,” Morrissette said. “That was probably the best play we’ve ever had. It is still on my Instagram right now. Go see it. A 7o-yard bomb.”

He will still keep that video reel on his Instagram when he is 30 or 40.

“For sure,” Morrissette said. “Definitely.”

Stockton has said he’s not going to be over-the-top about playing with certain guys this fall. He will give them their respect and their space.

“I’ve kind of already been through the process and everything,” Gunner Stockton said last week. “I know how it is. I remember how it is. I don’t want to have anyone bugging me 24/7 and I just don’t want to be that guy. I didn’t want to be that guy.”

He remembers how stressful the process was for him choosing between Georgia and South Carolina and then reversing that decision after a coaching change.

“I kind of know how to talk to them and not be a jerk about it,” Stockon said.

When Morrissette heard about that perspective, he laughed. For probably four seconds. It was just another moment of a candid interview. It appears that since those two go back, that Morrissette gets to hear Stockton just lay it all out there.

“I’m not going to say too much but I can see that he wants to play with me a lot,” Morrissette said. “He wants me to play with him a lot.”

Morrissette also noted his Brookwood teammate Marquis Groves-Killebrew and Stockton have been a real tag team in his ear. Groves-Killebrew is also on their Hustle, Inc. 7-on-7 team and he was the first UGA commitment in the 2022 class.

“Marquis has been on me ever since he committed to Georgia,” Morrissette said. “Every day. Non-stop. We go to the same school and every day I see him it is ‘Go Dawgs’ and ‘Go Dawgs’ and ‘Go Dawgs’ out of him.”

He said Georgia has done a good job of showing him what the offense currently is and what it can be with Todd Monken.

“So every Tuesday coach Todd [Monken] and I get in on offensive meetings on Tuesday and we just go through where I would fit in with their offense,” he said. “It looks good from what we talk about it every week and where it is going to go. I like their offense a lot actually.”

De’Nylon Morrissette said he has a meeting with Georgia offensive coordinator Todd Monken every week to discuss the Georgia offense. (Jeff Sentell/DawgNation)/Dawgnation)

Sifting through the contenders for De’Nylon Morrissette 

There are a lot of peers doing some recruiting on Morrissette. He made that clear with his thoughts regarding Groves-Killebrew and Stockton.

But he also said that’s a reason why USC is in the picture for a lot of prospects from the state of Georgia. Morrisette likes the Trojans, along with All-American DLs Christen Miller and Mykel Williams.

“I will mess with USC a lot,” he said. “They stayed in contact a lot during the season. I mess with them a lot actually. It is really more of the players out there right now that are committed to USC that talk to me. But the coaches talk to me a lot, too. I talk to them at least one time every week.”

With still another 11 weeks of the dead period still to go, he says that peer recruiting right now is vital.

“I believe that player recruiting is a major part of it,” he said. “Because we see each other almost every week. We see each other every 7-on-7 tournament or anywhere we go. We can only talk to coaches over the phone or over Zooms. I think player recruiting is a major part of it all right now.”

What he is looking for has not changed.

“I am looking for a college that makes me feel like I’m at home,” he said. “Somewhere that I can fit into the system and somewhere that is going to make me a better person off the field than the player I am on the field. Somewhere that is going to get me right for after football business-wise. All of those factors will determine it.”

There’s always been the notion to watch for Alabama with Morrissette. While that may have been the case a while back in his recruitment, that piece of Intel needs an update.

It isn’t so much the depth chart. Just watch the tape. Morrissette will perform and be physical and do all the little things to get on the field wherever he goes.

This is not an athlete that will let early playing time or some big names influence his thinking or back him off his best possible choice.

“It is really more about how the coaches communicate with me,” he said. “The coaches from Alabama talk to me, but they don’t talk to me that much. I can’t really force them to talk to me.”

What would be the biggest reason why he would choose UGA?

“Aw, man,” he said while he started to gather up his thoughts. “Dang.”

It was about the only tight Morrissette has ever been tight-lipped after a question.

“I don’t really know what to say or how to answer that question,” he said. “It is just Georgia. I mess with them a lot so. I just like Georgia a lot.”

He said that Florida, Georgia and Georgia Tech are the three schools that are hitting him up the most at this time. Check out that impressive junior highlight tape for Morrissette below.

Have you subscribed to the DawgNation YouTube channel yet? If so, you will be able to see special 1-on-1 interviews with Jake Fromm, Gunner Stockton and Brock Vandagriff. You will only be able to find it on the DawgNation YouTube channel. 

SENTELL’S INTEL

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