Quintin Somerville: Nation’s No. 75 overall junior is on a big first trip to UGA

Want to attack every day with the latest UGA football recruiting info? That’s what the Intel brings. The play here is a good introduction to unofficial visitor Quintin Somerville. He’s on campus today for a big first visit. 

Quintin Somerville is one in about 1,440. That is what it certainly seems like today.

That’s not because he always has to eat a big Thursday bowl of pasta. Or make sure his gets in his Pedialyte and his pre-game nap after school on game days.

That 1,440 is not an out-of-the-blue number. Or his elite rating out of the 1,010,000 approximate high school football players in America for the 2019 season.

According to the quality databases maintained by 247Sports, that’s the number of combined offers Georgia has extended to football players since Kirby Smart arrived in 2016. 

There is some overlap there with offers from the previous staff, but the number for the last three cycles would be 1,021 potential offers since 2018.

Georgia has even offered dozens of prospects in the 2021, 2022 and 2023 cycles over the last two weeks.

But the thinking here is nobody had ever had quite the reaction that Somerville did with his offer. That might be the most excited offer tweet that DawgNation has seen in a good long while.

Somerville said he’s been dreaming of that Georgia offer since he was six years old. That’s intriguing, but let’s add a few quick layers of context that should bring even more hot sauce to the interest level here.

How does he feel about this trip?

“This is probably the most excited I’ve been for a trip this far!” he told DawgNation on Friday.

The plot thickens.

Check his junior tape. It looks like he spends as much time on the other side of the ball as do the referees for his high school games in Arizona.

He had 29 tackles for losses and nine sacks last season for a strong program. His Saguaro High team had won six consecutive state championships in Arizona prior to this season.

Quintin Somerville: Why he’s so interested is UGA

His interest level here is unusual. Even for Georgia’s new way of recruiting nationally to find the very best players for the program.

That was a lot of emotion for an offer tweet. But the geography takes it up another notch here.

How does a six-year-old in Arizona dream of growing up of playing at a place like Georgia?

“I knew who Georgia was and who they were since I was very little,” Somerville said. “Just watching college football growing up I just visibly remember A.J. Green catching passes for Georgia when I was a little kid. I kind of just dreamed of playing in that stadium. I just loved watching that in front of all of those fans.”

“That was big time. Coming from Arizona you don’t really see that on a weekly basis. So I just dreamed of playing there and playing in the SEC. That’s the best football.”

He has offers from LSU, Michigan and Ohio State, too. Those are now his biggest offers along with Georgia.

“The Georgia offer now is definitely making it a harder decision,” Somerville said when he was offered. “I have got to visit all of these schools to see where I might fit into their decision. But that Georgia offer was incredible. I wasn’t expecting that at all.”

“That’s definitely going to change some things going forward with Georgia now in there.”

Georgia defensive coordinator Dan Lanning offered him. So that’s the coordinator of the unit. Lanning will also be his potential position coach, too. That’s why he was mentioned in his recent on the way tweet.

Lanning delivered that offer with a little flair.

“It was kind of sly how he did it,” Somerville said. “He was just talking to me about if I was focused on one school or not and I said no. But then he just slipped in in there that I had an offer from Georgia and then started talking about their defense. I thought that was pretty funny.”

“A lot of coaches just try to do it the slick way. Just throw it in their subtly. He offered me and then went on there talking about the defense. He acted like it was just nothing.”

Somerville said he had to hit the pause button on Lanning with that thought train.

“I was like ‘Hold up coach can you say that again’ for me,” he said.

His reaction?

“My heart just sunk into my stomach,” he said. “I just thought that was incredible.”

Lanning made an impression, too.

“That’s one of the coolest coaches I have ever met,” Somerville said. “He is serious and straight-forward and he jokes around a little bit. That’s the kind of pole you want in your life. That’s the kind of people that you want to coach you.”

Somerville was already ready to say that he’d definitely give strong consideration to giving Georgia an official visit. That means he will have to take those in the spring.

That will be necessary because of a special commitment date. He plans to commit on a day to honor a member of his family. That’s coming up on June 20.

Quintin Somerville: A few more interesting things to know

The 6-foot-3, 235-pound rising senior plans to take a degree path in either engineering or business management.

“What will matter here with my decision is definitely my relationship with the coaches,” he said. “That will probably be my biggest one on the football side of things. Because I am going to be playing with and for these guys. If we build that strong relationship, I think it will be able to go somewhere. Especially with me coming likely so far away from home.”

“The other thing is definitely life after football. Not just how football can help me but my life after that as well. That will be big time.”

Ringo had his own slick way of letting him know about UGA.

“He said he was going to throw a fit if I don’t go to the school,” he said. “I thought that was funny.”

Aside from that, he kept it on the low.

“He’s kind of one of those guys that wants you to figure it out on your own,” Somerville said. “Like the guy who says later ‘what did I say’ and ‘I told you so’ when it comes to stuff like that.”

“So I have got to go see [Georgia] for my own.”

He said that Arizona State, Georgia, Michigan, Stanford, Vanderbilt and Washington are definitely in it for him at this time. When it comes to that, he’ll had a pretty sharp asset to use as a sounding board.

Somerville has a 3.8 grade-point average at Saguaro.

His older brother, Jordan, is now the wide receivers coach at New Mexico. He didn’t play college football and he is an on-field position coach for the Lobos at just 24 years of age.

He calls him “ugly boy” but that is an impressive accomplishment. Given his age and experience level. His older sibling is also the recruiting coordinator at New Mexico.

“We have this sibling rivalry here to see who can be the best brother,” Quintin Somerville said. “Ever since we started taking this football thing serious when I was in the eighth grade and figuring out which colleges I wanted to visit and stuff. He’s definitely gotten on to me a lot more.”

“He kind of just pushes me every day to be the best I can be. Sending me text messages. Having me work outs very early in the morning and all the little things that go into being this athlete that I am working to be. He’s definitely been with me every step of the way with whatever I need. Helping me with my film. All the little stuff.”

He was a graduate assistant at Arizona State last year. That led him to his new position at New Mexico. It would be the greatest upset in the history of recruiting, but the Lobos don’t have a chance there.

There’s a lot to like about Somerville. Not just his 305-pound power clean or 505-pound squat.

Don’t discount the Ringo factor here. If they’re being honest, a lot of players will often say they want to play with another guy. Everyone wants to find their own fit.

But this should help Georgia’s chance because of the geography of a move from Arizona. That will help offset the 1,923 miles which separate Sanford Stadium in Georgia from Saguaro High School in Arizona.

“Especially coming from out West with Kelee already there,” he said. “That’s big time. Having another person that that I know and I can confide with. That’s huge. That’s one of the things that I was looking for like people that will help me and be there for me along this journey.”

LSU and Nebraska are also recruiting him very hard, too.

Quintin Somerville has already checked out Nolan Smith’s film as an example of what Georgia is looking for from the OLB position. (Saguaro High School)/Dawgnation)