Want to attack every day with the latest UGA football recruiting info? That’s what the Intel brings. This entry offers the latest update on 4-star pass rusher Quintin Somerville from Saguaro High School out in Arizona.
Quintin Somerville had a plan. The move was to honor a very special lady in his life and wrap up his college recruiting journey well in advance of his senior season.
That’s not happening anymore. COVID-19 has turned the tables on that. It sacked that plan. That’s usually what Somerville does.
He will no longer be making his college commitment on June 20. That was the day he teed up to celebrate his mother’s birthday.
“That’s definitely a casualty,” he said. “I don’t think that I can even take one visit before that date. We are kind of pushing that back, but I know that day will be special for my mom no matter what.”
Somerville had it lined up that he needed about three months of research over the spring to be prepared to make his college decision. When all our lives return back to normal and the colleges open back up for recruiting visits, he estimates that he needs about two or three months to still get that research in.
“I’m not sure about anything anymore,” Somerville said. “Everything is up in smoke right now. We’re trying to get it done before the season. If it has to be pushed back like to August or September, then committing then would be best. But I’m not sure when that will happen.”
Michigan is scheduled to receive his first visit when things open back up again.
“The only one I have like planned 100 percent is the University of Michigan,” he said. “We kind of have a date set way out but they are not sure either. They are trying to map it out there and a lot of these other schools just have absolutely no idea what is going on.”
Somerville said he knows of three schools that will get official visits at this time. Those are Georgia, Michigan and Washington. He has yet to visit Washington yet.
He’s recently released a top 8 which included a mixture of schools across America.
There are a few schools still out West that are on his list, but it certainly seems like he is trending toward playing football in the Eastern Time Zone.
It has to do with his 6-foot-3 frame, his 245 pounds and the way he plays football.
“I don’t think it is a given yet,” Somerville said. “But it is kind of how football is right now. Just the landscape of football. There’s not too much space for a defensive end that fits my playstyle out west. Everyone just kind of figures that it would be best for me to move east with the defenses they set up out there.”
Somerville is not going to rush to a decision, but he said that he could confidently commit to a school today if he had to.
“Oh yeah,” he said. “But it would have to be one of the places I have already visited. But if I had to do that, I could.”
The quick-hit things to know about Quintin Somerville
What is the best thing he likes about Georgia right now?
“Definitely the way that their defense is,” he said. “Coach [Dan] Lanning likes to get after it with his outside linebackers and he’s going to play a lot of them. I think he said he played four or five guys like in the rotation last year. There’s definitely an opportunity there and they get it done. I think they had like the top defense in the country as well last year. That’s definitely a place where I would obviously want to go.”
Check out his film. While he has the skill set to set the edge as an undersized SEC defensive end, the Bulldogs do view him as a weak-side OLB in their odd fronts.
He’s the common “Jack” in the Georgia scheme. That’s lined up outside the tackle an extra yard than a typical weak-side end and he will be up.
“They think I am that weak-side guy,” Somerville said.
He’s played every position in the box on defense for his Saguaro High (Scottsdale, Ariz.) SaberCats except for middle linebacker. So he can do it. But there’s a spot that aligns best where he would wreak the most havoc.
DawgNation has published two articles on Somerville previously. Those are good ways to catch up on all things Somerville, but we will also provide a brief index here:
- Somerville carries a 3.8 GPA in the classroom
- The rising senior had 29 tackles for losses and nine sacks last season. His Saguaro High team had won six consecutive state championships in Arizona prior to the 2019 season.
- Ranks as the nation’s No. 4 strong-side DE prospect for 2021 on the 247Sports Composite ratings. That places him as the nation’s No. 70 overall recruit. The pure 247Sports national ranking lists him at No. 49 overall for this cycle.
- His older brother, Jordan, was a graduate assistant at Arizona State last year. He’s now the recruiting coordinator and receivers coach at New Mexico. That’s an impressive career climb for a 24-year-old coach. He still calls his younger brother “Fathead.” Everyone else refers to his as “Q” and that’s been that way for his whole life.
- Plan on his older brother being there for any pivotal official visit. It is a unique twist to his story with an older brother as a position coach in college football. He will serve as his Jedi Master Yoda on this recruitment. “My brother actually said that I’m not going anywhere unless he gets to see it.”
- Arizona does not have spring football. They do not practice in pads, but do go on air for four days a week for a month. They then have a spring game which is a 7-on-7 event and that also includes a “Big Man Challenge” for the linemen. That is just shirts and shorts. The brutal Arizona weather and the 100 degree plus temperatures might have something to do with that.
- Somerville is also the Saguaro High teammate of 5-star Georgia signee Kelee Ringo. Ringo just signed with Georgia in December among the 2020 recruiting class
- When he was just six years old, this 4-star had an uncommon reaction to watching Georgia games on TV. He remembers big catches from A.J. Green and dreaming about what it would be like to play in that stadium.
- When he got that Georgia offer, it prompted one of the most unique social media reactions we have seen in years. At least since Kirby Smart became the head coach at UGA. That’s why Somerville and his family quickly took an unofficial visit 16 days after that offer to check out UGA.
- Check out that offer tweet. It is unique in its own right. It gains even greater context when it pertains to a young man growing up out in Arizona.
Quintin Somerville: How a top 50 prospect quarantines
Somerville reports that his home in the Phoenix/Scottsdale Metro area just went under COVID-19 lockdown yesterday. They’ve been out of school for most of this month, but just started their online digital learning last week.
He saw a few close friends and went on a big food run. What has he done so far to get through all of this?
“Video games and it would have to be working out inside,” Somerville said. “It would have to be working out and exercising after that. That’s what I have become accustomed to. My mind doesn’t really focus on anything else and just getting the stuff done I need to get done. To take my mind away from all of this stuff.”
His top three video games at this time are: 1) Fortnite; 2) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare; 3) NBA 2K20
His daily routine will also include talking to coaches. COVID-19 means basically that every recruit is getting the 5-star attention these days. Everyone is a top 10 recruit.
“Coaches are contacting me three times as much right now,” he said. “It is every day now. They have nothing to do as well.”
Those recruiters tell him their lives are all about recruiting calls and meetings.
“They say it is a whole lot of meeting about recruiting stuff,” he said. “I guess it is good for a lot of them if they really need a good 2021 class because they will have a lot of time now to recruit for it.”
Somerville said he has not had a chance to play any video games with recruiters yet.
“I hope I would get a chance to because that would be a blast,” he said.
Georgia and Michigan: Sounds like a battle is brewing here
Michigan is being pitched by one of the strongest recruiting relationships that Somerville has on the trail. That would be defensive line coach Shaun Nua.
Nua, now in his second year at Ann Arbor, is the first thing that comes to mind when he thinks of the Wolverines.
“He was one of the first people to ever recruit me throughout this whole journey,” Somerville said. “He’s been there since the summer before I even started high school. He’s been there recruiting me and kind of helping me through this process. That’s kind of one of the first recruiting people I have ever met. We’re always going to have a really good relationship. That’s one of the very first things I think about when I think of the University of Michigan.”
Nua played at BYU and then spent four seasons in the NFL. He coached the defensive line at Navy from 2012-2017 and spent the 2018 season at that same post for Arizona State. He was hired away to coach the defensive line at Michigan in January of 2019.
He still needs to see what a day in the life of a typical Michigan football player. What’s the word that comes to mind when he thinks of Michigan?
“Its the energy,” Somerville said. “They are always ecstatic about things. Just loving football. Loving everything that is going on in the city. The future of their program and they have a bunch of stuff going on. They are just happy about it. I love the energy up there.”
Somerville visited Ann Arbor for the Michigan spring game in 2019. He was able to meet the coaches at a restaurant in town.
“We went over there for dinner and coach Harbaugh was incredibly happy to see me,” Somerville said. “He was there with his chicken wings and a glass of milk. Obviously I thought that was weird but it kind of shows you his true character and how he carries himself. He’s a different guy, but he will love to coach you and he’s a good dude.”
FSU coach Mike Norvell is the most involved in his recruiting. Norvell has known him since his time at Arizona State to Memphis and now to his new job with the Seminoles.
“I’ve known him since I was 11 years old and it feels like he has been recruiting me ever since then,” Somerville said.
Washington stands out because of how the Huskies “get after it” and the way one of Saguaro’s former players progressed during his time in that program.
“They just send a lot of players out of there to the NFL,” he said. “That’s something I like to see.”
He’s wanted to visit that program since he was a freshman.
Quintin Somerville: How’s that UGA relationship building?
He’s been in contact with defensive coordinator Dan Lanning and graduate assistant Nick Williams.
“I’ve been talking with coach Lanning and coach Williams about a possible unofficial visit to get out there during all this time,” he said. “That might even turn into a [official visit] now. Originally the plan was if I commit to Georgia I would just take an [official visit] during December or during the end of the season to kind of get out to a game and spend some time with the coaches right before I get onto campus.”
“But now I think that is going to change. We’ve kind of just been talking about what is going to happen in the future and all that stuff. I’m kind of talking to them almost every day just kind of chatting it up and talking about life.”
The original plan was to take an early official at the end of May or early June. If Georgia became his choice on June 20, then that official visit would be available for later down the road in December.
“The dates where we might be able to visit for an official might be pushed back to when that official visit time might happen,” Somerville said. “It might be during the season or December. I’m not really sure. If the calendar matches we might just have to take an official out there and not an unofficial and not waste any time.”
The good vibe from his first visit to UGA is still there.
“Yes, sir,” he said. “That’s definitely going to be one of my final schools.”
Why? It has a lot to do with the first word that comes to his mind when he thinks of Georgia.
“Oh my gosh,” he said. “I don’t even know how to describe that place.”
He tried to.
“Definitely you just kind of get butterflies in your stomach just walking around that place and seeing everything,” he said. “I mean immediately when we got into the city you could just kind of feel it. When obviously you drive by that big ol’ stadium, my jaw just dropped. I was shook. The walking around the facility and meeting all of the coaches just gave me butterflies.”
“It was like ‘Wow I am actually here’ when I was on that trip. That’s definitely one of the most memorable visits I have ever taken.”
Georgia seems to still have his sister’s vote. His younger sister, Lauren, also made the trip. She’s a high school sophomore and a student athletic trainer at Saguaro High School.
She got to meet Georgia’s Ron Courson. He can certainly be described as the Herschel Walker of athletic trainers in all college football.
“Oh my gosh,” Quintin Somerville said. “She’s in love with that place.”
When he gets back to Georgia, he will look to chop up his film and get on the board with Lanning. That’s the one thing he didn’t accomplish on his first visit.
When they were supposed to do that, he said that Lanning just spent all that time learning about him and his family.
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- Nation’s No. 1 CB Tony Grimes had three UGA visits set prior to COVID-19 outbreak
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- Devin Willock: The 2020 signee and the surgical scooter which rolled him to UGA
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- Donovan Edwards: Priority 4-star RB feels UGA ‘probably’ gets an official visit