Brenton Cox has made his college decision. His recent trip to UGA to G-Day did not bear fruit.
He’s bolting from the state of Georgia to play for Urban Meyer at Ohio State. The Stockbridge High standout shared his decision on social media on Tuesday evening.
That’s another big get for the Buckeyes and a big loss for a player that Georgia had been recruiting at least as hard as any other school trending back to last September.
The nation’s No. 2 strongside defensive end prospect per the 247Sports Composite looked past a preferable location and a family chock-full of Georgia fans to pick Ohio State. The 6-foot-5, 250-pound prospect had told DawgNation in the past UGA was a dream school he had growing up.
The rising senior rates as the nation’s No. 43 overall prospect for 2018. The Stockbridge High standout shared his decision on social media on Tuesday afternoon.
Ohio State quickly turned Cox over the last month. He took a visit back in March that turned his recruiting process around. He no longer needed to wait until well into his senior season or possibly after it to make his choice.
That will be important because Cox plans to enroll early in January of 2018.
What this means for Georgia recruiting
It is a big loss for the Bulldogs. When ranking Georgia’s Top 5 targets for 2018, he belonged up in every possible scenario.
The decision continues an alarming UGA trend when it comes to in-state recruiting for this cycle. Georgia has now missed on the commitment of six of the state’s Top 10 prospects (per the 247Composite rankings) for 2018.
A deep dive through those rankings doesn’t reveal a lot of hope. The best-case scenario for UGA among that Top 20 seems like the program might eventually sign 3-4 prospects out of that current Top 20.
That’s a stark contrast to what the program did in building the nation’s No. 3 class for 2017. The Bulldogs signed five of the state’s Top 10 prospects and 12 of the state’s Top 20.
Georgia currently only has two commitments for the Class of 2018. This is another indicator that the Bulldogs will have to pull top talent from outside the state to produce a Top 5 class like they did a year ago.
That said, the Bulldogs already have the nation’s No. 3 class for 2019. Georgia has four commits in place for that cycle. That class has a pair of 5-star commits rated among the nation’s Top 10 prospects in Nolan Smith and Jaden Haselwood.