Want to attack every day with the latest UGA football recruiting info? That’s what the Intel brings at least four days a week. The play sheet today calls for a 1-on-1 video interview tandem post with the latest thoughts about the 2020 class from elite CB commit Jalen Kimber.
Jalen Kimber wants to play with Kelee Ringo.
That’s the nation’s No. 10 CB prospect for 2020 understanding how the game is played. He’s been the corner on the other side before on teams. It doesn’t matter how good he does his job if the man on the other edge of the field isn’t doing the same.
What is his goal now as a shutdown commitment (in more ways than one) for this class?
“Just to get the best recruiting class we can,” Kimber said. “I want to have the No. 1 recruiting class and I talk to a lot of people. I like to interact with some of the fans and stuff like that because I think it is fun and I like to do it. Really I am just trying to get the best players we can possible.”
It does sound like the same philosophy of “iron sharpens iron” that has become a staple for the Bulldogs under fourth-year head coach Kirby Smart.
For Kimber, that would be Ringo. He said Georgia defensive backs coach Charlton Warren has told him he plans to take two more defensive backs in this cycle.
Ringo definitely has one of those slots if he wants one. He rates as the nation’s No. 1 cornerback prospect for this cycle.
“Right now I am really working on getting Kelee,” Kimber said. “That’s who I am trying to get right now.”
Jalen Kimber on Kelee Ringo
Kimber considers himself to be a technician at the cornerback spot. The 6-foot-1 Texan will watch his own tapes with a critical eye. It allows him to appreciate what Ringo does on the field, too.
Ringo is not just a big cornerback at 6 feet, 2 inches and approximately 205 pounds. It is not just the 10.49 speed in the 100 meters either.
“Kelee is a lockdown physical big corner,” Kimber said. “He can run, too.”
Why does he think that Ringo is a player that the Bulldogs can really use?
“His technique is pretty good for his size,” Kimber said. “Like he can move. His feet look pretty good. I feel that once he gets into a program wherever he goes — hopefully Georgia — that is it going to be even better for his size and speed. I think his technique is already really good and it will then get even better.”
Kimber spied the pictures on social media with Ringo and the “Sunshine” snake. The reptile was once again a star attraction during the scavenger hunt weekend this month.
Kimber does not get down with reptiles. The task for the recruits that day was to pick up an item with a Georgia logo that was resting near the snake.
If he has faced with that task, he said he would want nothing to do with the snake. Or any snake.
“I can’t do that,” Kimber said. “Uh-uh. Nope.”
But what if it meant Ringo would join him at UGA?
“I probably would have done that,” Kimber said. “But other than that? No. Nope. Uh-uh.”
Bet you didn’t know this about Jalen Kimber
These few items will stretch beyond the fact he’s known as “Boogie” to friends, teammates and loved ones.
“I was a dancer when I was little,” he said. “I guess I liked to get down.”
The Stanky Leg. The Shoulder Lean. Everything.
The Mansfield Timberview standout (Arlington, Tex.) earned the nickname “Boogie” from his father. Well, he has since carried those moves over to the field and the testing arena.
That’s why his recruiting stock continues to climb. There was a time earlier this year when his prospect rating was right around the nation’s No. 20 overall prospect at the position.
He was once rated as the nation’s No. 236 overall prospect earlier this year. That overall rating is now all the way up to No. 150.
Kimber will also check in as the nation’s No. 10 overall cornerback for 2020. That number should likely rise prior to his senior season.
Why? Well, check out the Opening testing he provided earlier this year.
- 4.47 laser time in the 40-yard dash
- 6 feet tall and 170 pounds
- 4.0 showing in the pro agility short shuttle drill
- 40.8-inch vertical leap
Kimber has set his sights on improving all of those measures at the Opening finals out in Texas in June. He wants to crack that 4.3 range on the laser in the 40. If he can go below that 4.0 in the shuttle drill, then that would also be a sign of all the constant work he puts in every day to get better.
He has a constant daily schedule. With time allotted for training and work just about every day.
The rating spikes here came after a breakthrough junior year. Kimber recovered nicely after a lost sophomore season. He broke his collar bone in the same place two times in a short span during spring practices and then fall camp.
“As far as on the field and football goes, that was the lowest of the lows for me with those back-to-back broken collarbones,” Kimber said.
His doctors described it as a fluke injury. His bone structure and density were rated as strong.
It left him with only three games as a sophomore. Yet he bounced back from that injury with a strong spring practice showing leading into his junior season and some strong junior tape.
Kimber feels that Georgia is just starting to become a place where DBs can start out and get recognized. Deandre Baker’s rise at UGA to Jim Thorpe Award Winner to NFL first-round draft pick got his attention.
He has actually trained growing up with current Bulldog J.R. Reed, too. Those two have worked on their games with Dallas-area trainer Clay Mack.
The 4-star Georgia commit also has a good relationship with Chicago-area 4-star WR A.J. Henning, too. Henning plans to be at UGA this weekend on an official visit.
Kimber said that Henning told him about his previous unofficial visit to UGA earlier this year. He said that Henning told him there was just something “different” he noticed about the program during that trip.
Jalen Kimber has four goals up ahead
Kimber was asked to jot down what his current goals are right now. He seems clearly self-motivated and his drive and ambition are easy to pick up on along the course of any conversation.
Those are:
- Become the nation’s No. 1 cornerback for 2020
- Win a state title in Texas at Mansfield Timberview
- Weight in at 180 pounds before he leaves for UGA in January
- Keep his promise to his beloved grandmother
“Boogie” plans to keep that promise.
It goes back to his roots in Chicago and a very special lady. That would be his grandmother Renee Kimber.
Kimber said he cannot recall a time when she was not smiling.
“She passed three years ago right before I moved down to Texas,” Kimber told DawgNation earlier this year. “I made a promise to her. I am going to keep it. That is the main reason why I play football.”
If she was still feeding him these days, he might already be at 180 pounds. He’d have that goal.
“She loved to cook,” Kimber said. “Man, she could cook. She really could cook.”
He keeps those memories close to his heart before every game. The future kinesiology major will say a prayer before every game.
“Then I will look up to the sky and talk to her,” he said.
Kimber essentially promised her he was going to make it in football. Then he would move her out of Chicago.
“She wanted me to move her,” Kimber said. “I don’t think that was a place where she really wanted to live if she had the choice. She wanted me to help her and get her out.”
In his eyes, that vow now extends to his grandfather. His name is Art Kimber, Jr. His father also has that same first name.
His grandfather is a perfect example why Veterans Day should always be held in the highest regard across America. He sacrificed for his nation and a Purple Heart, pair of Vietnam service medals, a Bronze Star, and a Presidential unit citation serve as vivid examples of that.
“Now I am just doing that for my grandfather as well because he lives in Chicago,” Kimber said.
If he makes it as a professional football player, that will be his main source of motivation.
“That would just mean everything to me,” he said.
Check out his junior year tape below.
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