Want to attack every day with the latest UGA football recruiting info? That’s what the Intel brings. This entry offers the first substantial DawgNation read on 5-star 2023 EDGE defender Lebbeus Overton of Milton High in Metro Atlanta.
Lebbeus Overton has been a name to know for over a year now in the 2023 class.
He was christened the nation’s No. 1 prospect for the 2023 cycle prior to his sophomore year and he did nothing but flatter that lofty early evaluation. The 6-foot-4, 269-pound rising junior definitely looks and plays the part of the nation’s top recruit.
There are a host of times where numbers stand out for a big-time recruit. The quick game read here for Lebbeus “LT” Overton certainly applies.
Check these out:
- 4.0: We keep the main thing the main thing. That’s his approximate GPA so far in at Milton High. He’s an early riser and a self-starter by every account,
- No. 1 overall: Where he’s rated overall in the 2023 class by both 247Sports and the 247Sports Composite rating.
- 1.000: That’s his 247Sports Composite rating. It is higher than every other prospect ranked in the 2022 cycle except for 5-star Ohio State QB commit Quinn Ewers.
- 21.5: That’s the robust number of sacks he had as a sophomore last season.
- 2: That’s the number of Power 5 programs his parents played for in college. His mother was a scholarship volleyball player at Kentucky. His father was an offensive lineman at Oklahoma.
- 7A: That’s the classification he plays at in Georgia. That’s the highest classification in the Georgia High School Association.
- 7A: That’s the classification he stars in basketball as well. Milton just won the Class 7A state title in basketball. Overton was a key contributor.
- 7: It sounds like there are seven schools currently slotting high in the mix for Milton. The top group might be very crowded with the likes of Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, Southern Cal and Texas A&M. Georgia, Notre Dame and Oregon are also showing up a lot in his public comments regarding his recruiting.
- 3: That’s the number of dual-sport offers he’s received to play basketball and football in 2021. While there’s no such thing as a scholarship for both sports, it does earmark the ability to play both in college. He’s recently announced dual-sport offers from North Carolina, Ohio State and Stanford.
- 2: His father, Milton Overton, is the athletics director at Kennesaw State University in Metro Atlanta. Milton Overton has an impressive resume in athletic administration. It will include a substantial work history at two schools that are flashing high with his son’s recruiting. That’s Alabama and Texas A&M.
- $25 million: At Alabama from 2009 to 2015, his father provided oversight for $25 million in budgets and equipment, while producing $6 million in new revenue-generation and cost-saving initiatives. His duties included stewardship of the trademark licensing program for intercollegiate athletics at Alabama.
- 1: In somewhat of an unorthodox move, he says that’s how many coaches at UGA are currently recruiting him. That’s special teams coach Scott Cochran. Cochran, as a shrewd reader might guess, has ties to the Overton family from his time in Tuscaloosa. His father worked for the mighty Crimson Tide from 2019-2015.
Here’s a quick look at what Overton can do on a random practice day.
Scott Cochran pulls the recruiter sled with “LT” for UGA
When Lebbeus Thomas Overton had a huge media exposure opportunity last month at the Under Armour All-American Game camp, he said all the right things.
“LT” said great things about Alabama, Clemson and Texas A&M. Ohio State websites reported the nuggets they found about their program. The same thing took place with North Carolina and Notre Dame, too.
In spite of his age, he already comes across as a composed speaker. Overton also said a lot of very nice things about the Georgia program, too.
But what struck this correspondent as unique was what he said Georgia was not doing.
Georgia is not making sure this 5-star hears from every member of the staff. Overton said Georgia’s primary recruiting push comes from just one man. That’s the aforementioned Cochran.
“I’m not going to say it is a horrible feeling but Scott Cochran has been on me like white on rice,” Overton said. “He’s making sure I build that relationship with him.”
Overton said Cochran is “crazy.”
“But his crazy is in a good way,” he said. “He’s an awesome person. He makes sure he is like getting the job done. He always keeps it 100 with you and he’s especially on you about the school, too.”
The only other big impression he’s gotten from UGA so far was when Kirby Smart landed a helicopter on the grounds of Milton High when coaches could be on the road. Or in the air in this case.
What is looking for in an ideal school fit?
“I’m just looking for a good family relationship,” he said. “A family-based college that makes sure they are treating everybody right and giving opportunities to everybody who deserves it.”
When visits open up in June, he’ll look to start out with the closest big boy option.
“Probably Georgia,” he said. “They are always a great program. They are always in the top. So I’m definitely going to go over there”
It will be early, but it will be a foundational trip for his relationship with the Bulldogs.
“I just want to figure out how their staff is, how their players are and just how everything is,” Overton said. “Really just how everybody is so I can start building that relationship soon.”
What is going to help him break down what stands out about all these schools?
“Definitely the family-based schools that communicate with me the most,” he said. “That makes sure they put the time and effort in talking to me. You know building the relationships. It is all about relationships to start out with. You get to find out more about a school later on down the path.”
He wants to keep his recruiting process “open” for the time being. As he should.
“To be honest, it is amazing to have all these college coaches talking to you,” he said. “It might get annoying at some times, but it is just a blessing because not everybody is going to have this kind of opportunity.”
Check out a snippet of his recent interview with DawgNation below.
LT Overton: Breaking down the dual-sport offers
Lebbeus Overton will be able to enroll early in January of 2023. Bet on that being somewhere prolific. That’s the plan.
The curiosity here is which sport will he report to first. Spring practice in March? Or straight-to-conference play on the basketball team?
He wants to pursue both.
“Every dual-sport offer I get is the best feeling in the world,” Overton said. “You don’t get too much of those. I mean look at all of the college football players for all the years like Julius Peppers out of North Carolina. He was an amazing player in the NFL. He played football and basketball. I see myself going down that path.”
Georgia has not offered Overton in basketball. He said that was not the case on March 21 at the Under Armour camp.
“Not yet,” he said. “But I think if I start communicating with those coaches then I will have that opportunity,” he said.
If that has changed, he has yet to announce a dual-sport offer from the Bulldogs on his social media accounts.
Coachspeak: Milton’s Adam Clack on Lebbeus Overton
Milton’s Adam Clack first saw Overton playing basketball in the winter of 2020. Overton had transferred from Bessemer Academy in Alabama. DawgNation first saw his film when he was at the strong Alabama Independent Schools Association program.
Overton was already a “Dude” then. But Clack noticed the way he moved on the court and felt he would be an “instant impact” player in Georgia’s Class 7A later on in the fall.
“I didn’t know how good but I knew he would be really good,” Clack said of his early first read on the skill set for Overton.
Clack was right. He was really good. But he never likely saw him being 21.5 sacks good.
Or the MaxPreps.com National Sophomore Player of the Year good. He saw every sign of that during the first few weeks of fall camp.
“Polish is a scary word because he’s got a long way to go before he’s a polished player,” Clack said. “But he is polished for a young player. But when it really dawned on me that this kid is a different level of different was when we also played him at tight end as well.”
Every player on the Milton roster will have a primary and secondary position. They will even practice that. Clack also coaches the tight ends. Milton made the move in the second week of fall practice to commit to installing everyone into their secondary positions for a two-day period.
“He was able to do stuff in those two days at tight end that should take a really good player about two months to pick up,” Clack said. From the way, he could run routes or catch a ball or work a combination block with a tackle and work up to the second level. Or bucket step and reach block on the outside zone and bury the defensive end. It was almost savant-like.”
“You just tell the kid to do something that may be new to him and he just goes out and does it. He also does it very well.”
Clack brought up the Cherokee High game from last fall. That was the de facto region championship game. In the midst of it all, he thought for a second and wondered why didn’t see Overton doing even more damage.
“You were used to hearing LT’s number called out a lot more,” he said. “By the end of the game, he still had two sacks and three tackles for losses or something like that.”
Clack brought up that relatively modest night for Overton with a member of his staff afterward.
“He said ‘Coach they are literally triple-teaming him,” Clack said. “They are committing two linemen and then the running back would lay a shot on him to slow him down. Honestly other than just running away from him or doing something like that nobody consistently blocked him one-on-one all year. Or anybody who tried to block him with just one guy was in no way successful at it.”
Despite all of the considerable hype here, there’s something beyond that he points to.
“The most encouraging things are not his size and his physical ability,” Clack said. “The really encouraging things are what’s between his eyes and in his heart. He is always trying to get better and wants to be pushed. As I talk to these guys that are recruiting him, I tell them the quickest way to turn him off is to sell him on some type of fluff.”
“He wants to go whoever is going to make him the best and he wants to be pushed that way. He takes care of himself and gets extra work after practice. Or he gets up early to get things in or get his nutrition right.”
Overton is not a holdback prospect. Clack said he just turned 16 earlier this year.
“There were days where we will do one-on-one with him at tight ends versus our best defensive backs and safeties and he will go up and make a one-handed catch in the back corner of our end zone,” Clack said. “Then just watch him on the basketball court and go up and put one down.”
The stories just keep coming.
“Then I remember our first game of last year when we played Johns Creek and they have a really good left tackle,” Clack said. “LT literally took that tackle about four yards deep on roller skates into the running back to make a play. We were also playing an Etowah or a Peachtree Ridge last year. Not sure which. They both have the same color jerseys, but he kind of did that Jadeveon Clowney dip-and-rip to get underneath somebody. It looks like he is four inches off the ground and then he comes up and makes the play in the backfield. He just has so much athletic ability.”
Clowney. That’s the name that keeps coming up when he talks to recruiters and scouts about Overton.
“I just don’t know how big he is going to get,” Clack said. “Right now he is your prototypical edge rusher kind of guy but, shoot man, you harken back to the Reggie Whites. That truly big ‘3’ technique guy that is just so powerful and explosive. He’s already 265 pounds and it is not like he is sitting around stacking up calories.”
“He plays basketball for a state champion level team and we have to slow the kid down. He dang near goes so hard and so often in training he never lets his body recover. He may already be naturally 280-plus pounds with his body right now if he wasn’t already playing basketball.”
SENTELL’S INTEL
(the recent reads on DawgNation.com)
- Brett Thorson: The novel Australian story behind a “cheeky” commitment day to UGA
- BREAKING: Australian punter Brett Thorson commits to UGA
- Jordan James: The newest member of “RBU” breaks down why he’s a Bulldog
- BREAKING: 4-star RB Jordan James commits to the G
- WATCH: Jalon Walker breaks down Glenn Schumann’s “drip” and why he chose UGA
- BREAKING: All-American LB Jalon Walker has made his college decision
- BREAKING: Priority 5-star ATH Malaki Starks has made his college decision
- AJ Harris: Guided by his faith, elite CB AJ Harris will not slow play his decision
- Nation’s No. 1 DT Walter Nolen already says UGA will get an official visit
- Under Armour camp: The 11 quick-as-a-hiccup updates for UGA recruiting
- Kayin Lee: Elite DB prospect breaks down a “dream school” offer from UGA
- Huge recruiting weekend for official visitors lining up for UGA in June
- Tony Mitchell: Nation’s No. 1 CB for 2023 has felt that “home” feeling about UGA
- Nation’s No.1 RB Branson Robinson shares his deep connections to UGA
- De’Nylon Morrissette: Why the elite WR was ready to commit and might still be able to
- Georgia commit Pearce Spurlin III breaks down slick catch and two-sport potential
- Priority target? Gunner Stockton thinks Oscar Delp would be a good roommate
- Malaki Starks: A DawgNation Sunday read on a vital UGA recruiting target
- Amarius Mims: The legacy he left behind on Georgia high school football
- WATCH: 2021 signee Dylan Fairchild wins the 7A state heavyweight wrestling title
- Big Bear Alexander: When you know this 5-star’s real story, you will be proud
- WATCH: Gunner Stockton’s feet are planted; He says he’ll graduate from UGA