Daijun Edwards is rated the No. 20 running back in the Class of 2020 by 247Sports. The 5-foot-10, 203-pound rising junior has been at least a co-starter for Colquitt County since his freshman season.

Those two sentences make for a very stout evaluation.

Packers coach Rush Propst feels Edwards has more potential than any running back he has had in his 30-plus year career. Edwards is already as good as any back he has had, he says. Former Auburn fullback Brandon Johnson would be the only true comparison.

“Edwards is probably the best back I’ve ever had,” Propst said. “I’ve had a lot of good-to-very-good backs, but I’ve never really had that stud back.”

Edwards fits that latter term.

Propst coached Georgia great Nick Chubb during an all-star event while he was coming up in high school. The seven-time state championship coach said Edwards already reminds him of Chubb from his high school days.

And he likes Chubb more than his Starbucks white chocolate mocha with two extra shots of white chocolate plus one more of espresso. Don’t get that wrong.

Propst simply sees a lot of common traits.

“I think that Edwards might be a little ahead of Chubb at that point of time where I saw him in that all-star game,” Propst said. “Now, I really loved Chubb in that all-star game. I was so impressed with Nick. He would want every extra practice rep during the inside period of practice for that all-star game. Always finished downhill and every rep strong. I loved Nick Chubb. He was always sneaking his way back into every drill. I think Edwards can be that type of back, too.”

Name dropping the No. 2 all-time leading rusher in SEC history brings us to another parallel.

“Georgia fits my style as a pounder,” Edwards said. “Well, that and then really as a running back that can do everything. Block. Catch the pass. Get the ball and run. Georgia fits me well for that. Tennessee does, too.”

The Bulldogs are his top school. How big is that lead?

“I’d say about 60 percent,” said Edwards, who also holds offers from Auburn, Penn State and Tennessee.

How Daijun Edwards feels about UGA

Edwards also likes the way that UGA alternates its backs. Everyone runs fresh.

“I think my game is a mix of a little bit of Nick Chubb and a little of Sony Michel,” said Edwards, who grew up rooting for Florida State and Georgia.

The Bulldogs now recruit him harder than any program. Credit assistant Dell McGee here.

“I like Coach [McGee] a lot,” he said. “I would describe him as a cool guy. He is going to be straightforward with you. From the start.”

He said the Bulldogs were his first offer, McGee recruiting him since his freshman season. It’s his best relationship with a college recruiter.

“It means something that Georgia was my first offer,” Edwards said. “They got the jump on everybody.”

The majority of his college interest right now would lean toward playing for Kirby Smart and McGee at Georgia.

Edwards holds a smaller sense of intrigue for Florida State but hasn’t gotten that offer yet. The rest of his interest is scattered across a handful of major programs.

Edwards has been to see both Georgia and Tennessee so far this year.

He wants to major in either business management or sports medicine.

“I’m looking for academics first,” Edwards said. “Then I’m looking for an offense I can fit.”

Edwards might be a candidate to commit at G-Day this month, but that might be too early. Propst said he’s asking too many questions about other schools right now to be ready to make a decision like that.

“My hope for Daijun Edwards is that he is such a good kid that I hope the recruiting process does not contaminate his ability to be a good football player and a good team player and a good leader for us,” Propst said. “I’ve seen it happen so many times. I just hope he stays humble, stays himself and just puts blinders on to all the glitz and glamour of that recruiting stuff.”

The scouting report on Daijun Edwards from Rush Propst

Not a burner. But football fast. Watch the short, choppy steps through the hole. Now see his vision as he spots the green grass during the play.

Those things all stand out when watching Edwards on tape. Propst said he runs like he is sliding on his feet, but then he pops up and explodes downfield.

“Edwards is a true, true, true running back,” Propst said. “He can tote it 20-25 times per game and keep getting stronger and better with each carry. I classify him not as a breakaway back or a big power back. I classify him as a high-sustain back. He sustains his energy, his power and his ability to make plays through the whole game. He wears them down and becomes very effective as the game gets late in the third quarter and the fourth quarter.”

Check out his sophomore film below. It will provide the reasons why he gets a message from McGee or special teams coach Scott Fountain about every other day.

“Georgia is my lead school because of what they do and the fact that they offered me first and it was my school growing up,” he said. “That’s why.”

Edwards will time right at 4.6 seconds in the 40-yard dash, power clean 305 pounds and squat 490.