Malaki Starks: 5-star ATH sets his commitment decision date

Malaki Starks knows when he will make his college decision. The 5-star ATH from Jefferson High school in Northeast Georgia found the right time and the right way to do it.

Those that have followed his career up to this point will be not be surprised. He has quite the reputation for consideration of others from taping his teammate’s ankles to the knee injury which led him to serve as an unofficial assistant trainer for a lost freshman season earlier in his career.

Starks, who DawgNation deems as the No. 1 target for Georgia in this cycle, will make his decision in front of his community, family and his teammates at the Jefferson Civic Center on March 25.

That’s his father’s birthday. The 6-foot-2, 205-pounder will honor his father Larry Starks by making his college commitment known on that day. There’s a special sentiment behind that.

“Just because my Dad means so much to me he does for me and it is a really big deal to him,” Malaki Starks told DawgNation.

Alabama. Clemson. Georgia. There’s one lucky school there that will be getting some kind of athlete.

He ranks as the nation’s No. 4 ATH and No. 29 overall prospect for 2022 on the 247Sports Composite ratings. His pure 247Sports rating has him as the nation’s No. 2 ATH and No. 13 overall recruit for 2022.

Malaki Starks: The contenders for a terrific all-around player

Starks, who was recently named the Georgia High School Football Daily Class 4A Player of the Year for 2020, had settled on a top three of Alabama, Clemson and Georgia during his junior year.

The expectation around this decision would be that those three finalists have not changed.

The rising senior finished his junior year while playing with a badly-injured thumb that barely allowed him to grip a football. He did not miss time even though he had surgery right after his junior year.

Starks still led his Dragons to a 14-1 season. That lone loss came to a very stout Marist team in the Class 4A state championship game. He had 172 carries for 1537 yards operating in a run-first and run-second type of offensive scheme for 1,537 rushing yards.

He averaged 8.9 yards per rush attempt while rolling to his 24 touchdowns.

The 5-star prospect was also lined up at safety for this Dragons, too. Starks had a brilliant game on the road in Savannah against Benedictine in the Class 4A semifinals. He ran 30 times for 321 yards with four scores. Now toss in a game-saving end zone interception and a passing touchdown in that contest, too.

He also added 569 passing yards, 11 touchdowns and four interceptions to his stat line through the air. This all took place in a season in which was playing cheerleader after the half in the clear majority of his 13 games.

There were eight games this fall in which his Dragons won by 30 points. A closer examination will reveal another five contests in which the margin of victory exceeded 47 points.

Check out the highlight reel of his 2020 season below.

SENTELL’S INTEL

(the recent reads on DawgNation.com)