Want to attack every day with the latest UGA football recruiting info? That’s what the Intel brings at least four days a week. This play sheet offers up a report on the just-completed official visit made by major UGA target Lewis Cine.
Lewis Cine visited UGA over the weekend. It marked his third trip to campus and his first time inside Sanford Stadium for a regular season game.
His previous trips had been to G-Day and to the West End Zone expansion “reveal” in late July.
Those went well. How did this recent visit go? He said it surpassed every expectation he had coming in.
“The visit went great overall,” Cine said on Monday. “First class hospitality. Great football. It was hot. Very hot. But I definitely enjoyed it.”
The 6-foot-3, 190-pound safety from Trinity Christian (Cedar Hill, Tex.) rates as the nation’s No. 3 prospect for his position. That will also slot him as the nation’s No. 59 overall prospect on the 247Sports composite rankings.
If you are just getting up to speed with Cine, please check out the following:
There was one big takeaway point he shared about Georgia after his visit. It was something that was relayed to him by Georgia defensive coordinator Mel Tucker. If he chose the Bulldogs, Cine feels he can play a role that combines some of the best elements of what both J.R. Reed and Richard LeCounte III currently do for the Bulldogs on the back end of their defense.
It will just come from a much larger frame. But that wasn’t what stands out to Tucker about the 6-foot-3 Under Armour 2019 All-American.
“He likes the way I play,” Cine said. “But what coach Tucker really said to me was that he kind of liked the way I carried myself. That’s one thing he really pointed out. He said I had the skill, the talent and the size. I have the speed but he loves the way I carry myself. I’m not cocky. I don’t talk too much. I just come to work on the practice days and on gameday. He said a lot of the recruits he has met don’t carry themselves the same way that I do.”
The biggest selling point for UGA with Lewis Cine
The subject heading for this specific sub-category is self-explanatory. We will get to that matter in short order. Cine did NOT figure out what he likes the best about UGA over the weekend.
Cine already knew that heading into his official.
His answer? The coaching staff.
“I really have a great relationship with the coaching staff down there,” Cine said. “Great relationship with coach [Mel] Tucker. Everyone really. I would say overall that 1) I’ve created a great relationship with them and; 2) I think in my opinion their scheme and how I would fit in there is [important.] I am very physical. My playing style I think I would fit in there perfectly fine. In the [Georgia] defense, when I talk to them they show me a lot of spots where I would be able to play and show how versatile I am.”
But his major selling point wasn’t directed entirely toward Kirby Smart and Tucker. His answer will go deeper than that.
It traces to two young coaches-in-training who used to play safety at Georgia.
The young UGA staffers have impressed Lewis Cine
Smart and Tucker make millions of dollars to do what they do. The life’s blood of the program is the recruiting effort. When asked about his approach and ideals Smart often mentions the secret is getting the best players.
Smart and Tucker should recruit like they hold black belts in that discipline.
Yet oddly enough, some of the most stirring comments from Cine complimented a pair of the youngest members of the staff.
Those thoughts were specific to student assistant (defense) Nick Williams and graduate assistant Bacarri Rambo (defense) and what they do for the program.
Those two former UGA safeties have made a strong impression on Cine from meeting him on campus.
“Nick is going to work man,” Cine said. “I’m telling you if Nick doesn’t get promoted [to an on-field assistant position] something is wrong. Something has to be wrong. Because Nick really goes to work. I talk to Nick and he wants to make it somewhere. Move up the ranks. Really make it somewhere in this college game and this coaching thing. The thing is Nick will be recruiting his tail off and that’s what I like about Nick. You can tell he cares and that all of this means a great deal to him.”
Rambo was a sixth-round pick in the 2013 NFL Draft to the Washington Redskins. He spent four years in the NFL.
That was after an All-American career in Athens. The current graduate assistant still ranks as the co-leader for career interceptions (16) as a Bulldog.
“Rambo is more of a chill relax guy,” Cine said. “Calm. Laid back. Rambo doesn’t have the energy that Nick has but Rambo is just a straight-forward guy and will keep it real with you.”
Those two gentlemen can speak from experience about what it is like to play on the back end between the hedges in Sanford Stadium.
“The first thing Rambo asked me was who do I put my game after,” Cine said.
Sean Taylor was his reply.
“He said ‘Well, bro this is the perfect spot because I can develop you into becoming a great player like him’ and the one thing he said is that he had the most picks at Georgia and he wants me to break it.”
The Hurry-Up: Lewis Cine official visit edition
There’s a new segment on our DawgNation “Before the Hedges” weekly recruiting special where we try to answer as many questions from viewers as we can in five minutes.
That show airs at 3 p.m. every Wednesday on the DawgNation Facebook page.
In the spirit of that, we’ll cover several easy topics with Cine regarding his official.
- What he wished he could have put on his IG or Snapchat: He got it. His favorite clip was the “smoke” that enveloped the Bulldogs as they took the field from the west end zone.
- What did the commits tell him: They didn’t lean on him, but he spoke at length with Rian “Trouble” Davis and 5-star RB commit John Emery. He also spoke with 4-star JUCO pledge Jermaine Johnson and 5-star DT Travon Walker.
- Did the fans notice him: “They did,” he said. “They just said Commit to the G.”
- The best thing he ate: “I ate a lot of chicken and a lot of wings.”
- Favorite part of gameday: The game itself. That would include “The DawgWalk.”
- Favorite UGA tradition he learned about: The various chants he picked up in the stadium.
- What Kirby Smart said: “Georgia is not for everyone,” he said. “The one thing is he is going to love me. But also he is going to coach me hard and will want to bring out the absolute best in me. That’s the one thing he kept ‘100’ at all times with me.”
- What he learned from the players: J.R. Reed shared a lot of information with him. “Just a smart safety. He’s really a leader in the secondary. I had to talk to him. Ask him about the defense. Chop it up about everything. The campus life and all that.”
- Something that surprised him: The crowd. “If you are an away team, it is really tough. The crowd is really engaged in the game.”
- Did he meet Herschel Walker: “I did. I took a picture with him. He’s in great shape man. Makes no sense for him to look that good at his age.”
- Did he meet Ric Flair: No.
- Biggest remaining question about the potential fit: He covered them all.
- What did his father Andre Cine say about that OV: “After the visit, he just told me that he really really liked that visit,” Lewis Cine said about his father’s review. “I wish to go back one day. That’s what he said.”
The competition for Lewis Cine as it stands now
Cine will commit approximately 10 days from now, if not sooner. Which teams are still in it?
He’s now been to Texas and UGA three times each. The senior safety also took officials to Michigan, Penn State and Texas. His final official will be to Florida next weekend.
The Nittany Lions also loom large given his roots growing up in Boston.
Cine moved to Texas from Massachusetts to play for Trinity Christian. It meant he could get coached by some NFL vets, including Hall of Famer Deion Sanders.
It seems to me that both Penn State and UGA have been recruiting Cine consistently the hardest dating back to late March.
He was asked to break down the major selling points for each school.
Michigan
- “Michigan is getting some dogs for commits but you already know me,” he said. “I don’t follow the group. But one thing I do like about Michigan is the schemes that Don Brown makes up will put you a physical player like myself to make plays and really go all-out physical on an opposing team and the person across from me.”
- “Plus the other side with Michigan is when a football player doesn’t want to pursue the league afterward or just wants to get a great job after college they can do that. The alumni base there is really huge.”
Penn State
- “I still hear from them on a daily basis,” Cine said. “A text here and there. I think in a way they feel like yeah these Southern schools are really putting the pressure (on me) so they have to do a little more.”
- “Penn State is close to Boston. It would be great to be closer to what I am used to. I like proving things to people. I like proving people wrong. For example, when I was up north a lot of recruiters or coaches were saying he is a Northern kid or this-and-that and they don’t really play any competition. I said ‘Okay’ and came down South and definitely proved all of them wrong [in Texas] with my first game and making 26 tackles.”
- “I’m still keeping that going … I just like proving people wrong. I feel that if I go to Penn State I would also be proving something to people that think ‘Yeah Big 10 is good and all’ but I would say they also overlook Penn State and the entire Big 10 in general.”
Texas
- “The lifestyle down there,” he said. “Laid-back. Cool. Chill but also it is really big-time and you can’t go wrong living in Austin and playing football there. You are getting a world-class education plus business down there is booming. That will only put me in the best place there for life after football.
Florida
- “Florida did have a late entry [to his decision] but they said once I visit that I will really get the feel for the whole swamp life and the whole Florida game in a way. That’s one thing I am looking forward to seeing.”
What’s next for Lewis Cine?
It is also worth noting that both LSU and Oklahoma have also started to contact him frequently of late. The Tigers also recently extended a scholarship offer late last month.
Cine plans to take his official to Florida this weekend. That will start on Friday. He will take that two-day visit and then come home. It would not be surprising to see him share his commitment approximately two days later.
He plans to release his decision through the same company that produced the video for Demetris Robertson. That would be Alabama-based Chimin’ In Media.
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