Elijah Jeudy: Another big name from Philadelphia to know with the 2021 class

Want to attack every day with the latest UGA football recruiting info? That’s what the Intel brings. This entry is about another big name from Philadelphia for the 2021 cycle. That’s 4-star pass rusher Elijah Jeudy. 

The talented graphic artists that support the Georgia football program and its recruiting effort have hit a lot of homers the last few years. It makes sense here to highlight a recent edit created for 4-star pass rusher Elijah Jeudy. It touched all the bases.

It probably even circled the bases. Check out the home run edit below.

Jeudy is at the forefront. There is also a pair of Bulldogs in D’Andre Swift and Mark Webb.

What do they have in common besides being rated among the nation’s top 175 overall football prospects?

They are all from Philadelphia. With Georgia’s recruiting efforts across the 50 states these days, it certainly means something. Especially given what Swift and Webb have been able to accomplish at UGA.

“It is a lot there,” Jeudy said. “It does mean a lot. Like now those two guys are like hometown heroes right now. It means a lot for me to be in that same picture there with them.”

A kid from West Philly can go and play and thrive in the SEC at Georgia. That’s what Swift and Webb have done.

“They set the bar for around here,” Jeudy said. “If you go off to the SEC like they did, you have got to show off and ball. Exactly that.”

The embedded tweet was shared by Jeudy’s father. (He happens to have another superhero body double physique. Just like a few other recruits over the past few years, too.)

How does Elijah feel about Georgia right now?

“Georgia I can’t even explain it,” Jeudy said. “It feels like home. It is not too far from home. So it is like that and they make me feel like a priority. So that plays a big role in all of that.”

The quick things to know about Elijah Jeudy

The 6-foot-3, 242-pound rising senior plays for Northeast High in Philadelphia.

Check out his impressive junior film below.

Make sure not to miss that strip sack against Swift’s former team. Jeudy made a big play against St. Joe’s Prep.

Jeudy ranks as the nation’s No. 12 weak-side DE and the No. 170 overall prospect for the 2021 cycle on the 247Sports Composite ratings. This young man wants to set an example for future players in Philly.

But he also wants to represent his family name.

“My family motivates me,” Jeudy said. “Where I was born I grew up in West Philly so it is not too good of a place to live down there. I play football to help my family have a better life.”

He credits his father. Check that picture out again. Clifford Jeudy had to be a zero technique or a defensive tackle.

“My Dad,” he said. “He’s the one who got me into football. He actually played arena football for the Philadelphia Soul.”

Elijah Jeudy and his mother and father definitely enjoyed their January “Junior Day” visit to UGA. (Elijah Jeudy/Courtesy photo)/Dawgnation)

Elijah Jeudy: Why he wears the No. 16 jersey

Jeudy also plays with another purpose on his mind. That’s evident by the choice of No. 16 for his jersey.

“Last year I lost my aunt,” Jeudy said. “So that No. 16 means a lot to me right now.”

It is personal. Her name was Carla Jeudy. She was just 36 years at the time of her passing. The family was told by the doctors it was due to natural causes.

“That number 16 represents the year of my life that I lost her at,” he said.

He will look to wear that number for as long as he can. He can certainly continue to do that throughout his college career. Provided no one else has it on the defensive side of the ball.

His college decision path is also connected to his aunt’s memory. He has something in mind to honor her as well, but that is being affected by the global health crisis at this time.

Jeudy was supposed to take a key unofficial visit to Texas A&M this month.

“It affects my process a lot,” he said.

His official visit timelines will likely just get pushed back. To him, this is a minor inconvenience to the most convenient path for his process.

“I get it,” he said. “I respect it. They are trying to keep us safe and healthy.”

“I still have my senior year to get through my official visits,” he said. “It will still be good.”

“I wanted to make [his college decision] in June,” he said. “But if my official visits and the official visits end up getting pushed back, I might just end up committing on my aunt’s birthday.”

He wants to do it around the time of her funeral. That was July 11.

“I want to do it before my senior year so I can have a clear mind and be able to focus on football,” Elijah Jeudy said. “Instead of focusing on schools and recruiting. I want to focus on football, my coaching staff and how I play the game and how I contribute to the team.”

Carla Jeudy was his father’s sister. He lost her last summer.

“She meant a lot to me even though I wasn’t able to see her as much as I would have liked to,” he said. “Even when she wasn’t around, it was just good vibes from her. She was a lovely person and when she’s in the room, she could just light up the room.”

When he thinks of his dreams in the game, his faith comes through. What will he be like when he’s 35? What does he want after he buys his folks a big house?

Does he want a 13-year career in the league?

“Of course,” he said. “I pray that I can still be healthy for that long to play that long.”

If he doesn’t play that long, he can see himself in coaching. He will aim to help others.

Which schools are in it right now for Elijah Jeudy? 

Jeudy certainly comes across as a young man full of purpose. There are not a lot of schools weighing heavily on his radar at this time.

“The schools I plan on taking my official visits to are my top schools right now,” he said. “It will be LSU, Georgia, Penn State, Oregon and Texas A&M.”

He ripped those off matter of factly. A lot of his peers aren’t able to come up with one or two likely officials at this time. But Jeudy has even seen all of those schools already. The only exceptions there are LSU and Oregon.

“For me and my Dad when we go on visits we look around and say what we like and then we come back to it,” Elijah Jeudy said. “Basically there is a little chart that I have in my phone. It is like the ‘pros’ and ‘cons’ of the schools. The schools that have more of the ‘pros’ I will put them in one area and the more ‘cons’ will go in the other areas. I go then to the ‘pros’ and make my lists of schools to see out of those.”

Elijah Jeudy ranks as a 4-star recruit and as the nation’s No. 170 overall recruit on the 247Sports Composite ratings for 2021. (Elijah Jeudy/Courtesy photo)/Dawgnation)

He visited Georgia for the first time in January.

“The visit to Georgia it was fun,” he said. “It was nice. They showed a lot of love. I was able to meet a lot of the staff and a lot of the players. We were there for a while. I forgot what time we left. We were just in there talking.”

Dan Lanning, the Georgia defensive coordinator, is his primary recruiter.

He even sets up as a potential position coach if he were to sign with the Bulldogs.

“We call and talk probably twice a week,” Jeudy said. “Then with Snapchat, he sends me a chat of a lot of the stuff they are doing with the team. He contacts me a lot.”

The other schools on his list will check a lot of those same boxes.

“I would say that it is between Georgia or Texas A&M as far as which school contacts me the most,” he said.

How did Georgia first catch his eye?

“It was when they first started sending me mail,” Jeudy said. “I was starting to feel like they really wanted me so they kept sending me mail and they ended up asking me to come down for a visit. The coach came to my school and offered me and I was just starstruck so I went down for a visit. That’s how it all started and how Georgia ended up getting in the race.”

Georgia sees him as a hybrid edge defender. Jeudy said the staff sees him dropping back and putting his hand in the dirt. He already has an idea of what he likes best about the chance to play at Georgia.

The keyword there is play.

“It is the way they do things with the rotations,” he said. “The way they get their guys in the game and keep them coming in fresh playing a lot of guys and then it is the way they treat their players. They treat their players like they are one of their own. Like their sons.”

Jeudy is not able to enroll early. His school system does not allow it. He did say that he has already qualified to meet the NCAA’s initial eligibility requirements.

“I get mostly As and Bs in school,” he said.

You asked for it. We hear you. Our weekly live DawgNation “Before the Hedges” recruiting show is now up on Apple podcasts. Check it out. 

Elijah Jeudy said that he couldn’t come up with any ‘cons’ at this time right now about UGA. (Elijah Jeudy/Courtesy photo)/Dawgnation)

Elijah Jeudy: What does his mother think about UGA?

The Georgia approach has actually made an impression on both his parents. Jeudy said his father really likes both Georgia and Texas A&M. Those two schools are battling it out for his father right now.

Elijah feels his decision is basically “all over the place” when it comes to those schools with all the “pros” on his list.

But that unofficial “Junior Day” visit also caught his mother’s attention. It was worth the question, but she does not go by a “Haitian Supermom” tag on Twitter.

According to her son, Kia Jeudy is pretty hard to impress.

“It really is hard to impress her,” Elijah Jeudy said. “But that Georgia visit shocked her. It blew her away. It was like she fell in love after that first visit. I say that because before he was obsessed with Penn State but I think that Georgia changed her mind.”

What were the ‘pros’ with Georgia on Jeudy’s list?

Jeudy is an introspective student-athlete. He even loves to go bowling among his friends.

Recruits don’t often notice the way that Georgia’s practice fields are designed to be a blur of constant motion. No development time is wasted with multiple fields repping 1s vs. 2s and 2s vs. 3s and the entire range of combinations among the team.

“Nobody is watching,” Jeudy said. “Everybody is constantly practicing and getting better every period. Nobody is standing around.”

His teammates call him “Mayhem” and with good reason. Did you see that film? He is somebody who must be game planned for coming off the edge.

He plans a major in sports marketing. He has his eye on business ownership. Jeudy sees himself as being an entrepreneur in the sports apparel industry.

Given that topic, he had a unique thought about putting on the Georgia jersey for the first time.

“Uh, with that man,” he said. “It was a good feeling. When I put in on, everybody kept saying that I looked like an actual player for the team. It felt good.”

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