Want to attack every day with the latest UGA football recruiting info? That’s what the Intel brings. This entry offers an updated look at where one of the truly priority targets for Georgia in the 2022 class is at now with his college process. Deyon Bouie is as big a target as it gets for that cycle in Athens. 

Deyon (Pronounced: Day-On) Bouie’s freshman season ended with a whirlwind. He scored a touchdown in the state championship game which his Bainbridge Bearcats would go on to win.

Then he subsequently picked up a very deserving early offer from the University of Georgia.

He plays for the same high school team that Kirby Smart played for. Bouie’s mother went to school with Smart, too.

Flash forward almost two years to the fall of 2020. Bouie is moving is as fast as ever. That speed also seems to include his eventual arc on the recruiting trail. He’s just visited a very small group of schools as a recruit, but already has a group of top schools.

Deyon Bouie picked up his offer from Georgia in December of 2018. That was right after Bainbridge won the state title. (Jeff Sentell/DawgNation)/Dawgnation)

He recently told DawgNation that he has a top 7, but three schools have broken out of the pack.

Georgia is one of those schools. LSU and Oregon are the other two. Alabama, Auburn, Florida and FSU will round out his top seven.

His last college visit of any sort was to UGA for the Notre Dame game last fall. The coronavirus halted a planned March 14 trip to check out LSU and a return trip in Athens he had planned for April when the Bulldogs were starting up their spring practices.

Does he have a leader?

“I’d say that Georgia and LSU are really bumping heads right now with that,” Bouie said.

He added he has a solid commitment timeline plan in mind. He’d rather keep that private for now, but it seems within reason to expect that commitment by the end of his junior year. It could even be a lot sooner than that.

What does he like best about Georgia?

“The biggest thing I like about Georgia is how they bring you together with family-wise,” Bouie said. “I was like a rookie or like just a freshman with an offer and they will treat you on a visit like a senior who is committed and about to play there. With the same love and just like all the others. Just like you were already on the team. That what I like the most really. They have recruited me like I was already a part of the team since I was a freshman.”

Bouie said that LSU and Oregon have also treated him much the same way.

Marquis Groves-Killebrew will not just be pulling for the Bulldogs here. He is advocating for them. DawgNation recently asked him who would be the players he would want to play within the 2022 class during his time in Athens above all others.

Deyon “Smoke” Bouie was one of those. Marietta High All-American and Georgia legacy Daniel Martin was his other choice. 

“We’ve got a great connection,” Bouie said of Groves-Killebrew. “We talk on the phone about me committing to Georgia. We are talking heavily about it. We are wanting to start a foundation for our class at Georgia really.”

Deyon Bouie has picked up the nickname “Smoke” because he is so sudden on the field. (Deyon Bouie/Twitter)/Dawgnation)

Deyon Bouie: A quick Marquis Groves-Killebrew story 

Bouie rated as the nation’s No. 3 ATH for the 2022 cycle for the 247Spots Composite. That slots him as the nation’s No. 23 overall prospect for that cycle. What position does he think he will call his home in college?

“I really think defensive back,” Bouie said. “I like the aggressiveness that comes with defense. Now I like the aggressiveness that you can have on offense, too. But it comes easier to a player who is playing at defensive back.”

Groves-Killebrew thought so, too. He envisions the two of them clamping down the edges of the defense as the elite cornerbacks for Georgia in the 2022 class.

“Yes, sir,” Bouie said. “He got that right. It proves he’s been soaking it in what I have been saying how we have been talking on the phone.”

Could Georgia play some Cover Zero with those two guys on the edges? It would certainly be a temptation.

“Marquis would have his island and I’d have my island,” Bouie said. “The defense could worry about covering everyone else. The safeties could be in the box. They don’t want to worry about the receiver on the outside. Marquis and I will have them.”

He is constantly on Bouie with a strong ambition. Groves-Killebrew wants him to know that he wants to play together and he’s also asking him to spread that word.

“Everday he is texting me to tell others in our class that,” he said. “He wants me to tell them that ‘Georgia is the move’ with all that. Or we need to get others to get on the trail that we are on right now.”

Bouie said he is now up to 6-foot-1 in height. That’s about two inches taller than his 247Sports profile. His weight fluctuates between 176 and 180 pounds.

Check out his strong highlight reel. If it does not inspire repeat viewing and some instant rewinds, you must be missing everything. He’s got a unique burst up the field.

 

 The key things to know about Deyon Bouie’s recruitment

Bouie is largely being recruited by Smart and defensive graduate assistant Nick Williams. He said he calls up Smart and they will talk about four times each month. He’s in touch with Smart far more than he is any other head coach in college football.

Williams, as the recruiting coincidences again favor the Bulldogs here, also played for Bainbridge High and the University of Georgia.

Deyon Bouie was named a Max Preps Freshman All-American performer after he picked off five passes for a state championship Bainbridge team. (Deyon Bouie/Courtesy photo)/Dawgnation)

“They tell me to just come to join the trend and try to let Bainbridge take over UGA,” Bouie said. “Coach Williams will say that we are from the same neighborhood. You might as well come to join me. He also said that my Momma would love to see me and him together at Georgia and little quotes like that.”

Williams is an excellent recruiter and teacher who currently works with defensive line coach Tray Scott on the team. There have been at least five Bulldogs in the last three years who have told DawgNation that Williams was one of the most effective recruiters for the program along their process.

“I can give it to him,” Bouie said. “He is very good on the field coaching the players in practice and he is very good off-the-field with everything he does in recruiting wise for Georgia. When he says he is going to get certain players to come to Georgia, then he is going to get them.”

He was just on the phone with Williams and Georgia defensive backs coach Charlton Warren before his interview with DawgNation.

“They want me and Marquis to be the top ‘Dawgs in our class really,” he said. “They tell us to step up to the role and try to get all the top guys in our 2022 class there.”

Bouie wished he had the chance over the last six months to get to know the coaches of the schools which are recruiting him in person. That’s much better than building a relationship over the phone, he said.

Jeff Martin, the assistant personnel director at LSU, stays in touch with Bouie for that program. Defensive backs coach Corey Raymond is also in his ear.

“He was like telling me he liked how my feet work and how I can press and play off of my man,” Bouie said. “With the athletic ability that I have got.”

Check out that speed on his burst to the edge.

What does he do best on the field? Bouie breaks it down so very simply.

“I don’t let my man catch the ball,” he said. “That’s my main job really.”

Check out that touchdown he scored in the state title game back in 2018.

What is he looking for in his decision?

“What really matters to me is the community around the school,” he said. “If there is positive energy in the air, I will like it. If there feels like any negative energy and drama about things which will not help or benefit me, then I will not be cool with it.”

He remembers that Notre Dame visit with great clarity. He was also planning to check out Oregon in late March, too.

“The thing about that Notre Dame game was how the whole atmosphere changed when the stadium lights cut off and starting flicking on and off red,” he said. “Then also when Richard LeCounte came down and hit their tight end on third down. That really won the game after that.”

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

Deyon Bouie ranks as the nation’s No. 3 ATH and the No. 23 overall prospect for 2022 on the 247Sports Composite rankings. (Deyon Bouie/Courtesy photo)/Dawgnation)

SENTELL’S INTEL

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