Elite OL target Sedrick Van Pran gets the aux cord as DJ for a day at UGA, enjoys another visit

Let’s open up another chapter here in the unique way UGA recruits elite players. Yet if we do leave it at that, it must also be summarized as an “eye-opening” or “amazing” visit for elite Louisiana OL prospect Sedrick Van Pran.

Notice how a position was not specified. That’s because the Bulldogs have not pinpointed a position either. Sam Pittman likes the fact Van Pran can snap a ball, but also work well at guard or center. (See: 5-star OT recruit Cade Mays and the 2018 season.)

“Coach Pittman thinks that I can be a heck of a center,” Van Pran told Dawgnation after the visit. “But also he does like the fact he can throw me elsewhere on the line. He kind of likes me because I have the ability to snap the ball but he kind of wants to use me as a Swiss Army Knife wherever he can use me and plug me in along the future.”

Van Pran is a different dude. The operating system between his ears cycles on what he thinks. Not the way others expect him to think.

It makes him one of the more original fellows in this class. Not just the nation’s No. 2 center prospect on the 247Sports Composite ratings.

Van Pran doesn’t feel location matters more than the “best fit” in his decision. He aims to be a graphic designer when his days of playing ball are up. He’s savvy enough to realize he pushes other very large men out of the way so he can pull in a four-year degree. At the least.

This visit was highly unique because Kirby Smart let him be the DJ for a UGA practice day. He got to play his favorite “hype” song.

He was also told by Smart he was at the apex of the board for the combo guard spot. Look for the Bulldogs to try to sign 2-3 elite tackles and another pair of combo OLs in the 2020 class.

The Sedrick Van Pran requested lyrics go like this:

What song did he give Smart?

Van Pran has a lot of favorites right now. He could have put his finger on another track or two, but for some reason, it was “Amazing” by Kanye West that popped in his head.

“It does get me pretty pumped,” Van Pran said. “Just the lyrics and the mellow beat it kind of levels me out.”

Those hooks blared to kick off Georgia’s practice on Saturday. It was an example of how Kirby Smart listened to what Van Pran had to say earlier in the visit.

“That was unique,” Van Pran said. “I can honestly say that nobody has ever paid that much attention to detail. Honestly, it was just crazy. He didn’t have a pencil or a pen or notepad or anything when I told him that.”

“For him to remember that two hours before practice and then you know the time it takes for him to make something like that happen and tell the guys to play that song first. It is kind of crazy.”

UGA pancaked a Sedrick Van Pran perception

To hear Van Pran tell it, Georgia has long been “in it” for his recruiting process. The Bulldogs are coming hard, but he feels like other schools have shown more overall interest.

He hears from a few schools daily. Those are not the University of Georgia. Van Pran said the frequency there comes about once a week. Maybe a little more.

So he made the trip to Athens with the notion in his head that other schools wanted him more for their offensive line room. Needless to say, he did not leave Athens feeling that way.

“I would say [the visit] was an eye-opener,” he said. “Kind of makes me evaluate and solidify some of the things that I want in a school. But we could go with ‘amazing’ as well to describe the visit.”

It started with the song.

“I was flabbergasted,” Van Pran said. “I was like ‘Wow, he really played that song that I just told him earlier.’ It was crazy. It was like a surreal moment. He paid attention to detail because I’ve never experienced something like that before.”

When they met later that day, Smart pointed that out. He asked if Van Pran noticed he played that for him.

“I was like ‘Yeah, that was the first song played’ and he was like ‘Yeah, that was just attention to detail I wanted to let you know that I was listening to you’ there,” Van Pran said.

The Bulldogs kept impressing him with the details throughout the visit.

“It definitely let me know Georgia is serious about me,” he said. “Georgia definitely wants me. I am a priority for Georgia and coach Pittman. It definitely kind of puts something in the back of my head if I am ever ready to commit early, then you know possibly ‘Hey, look at this here’ with this school.”

The message was sent here. In person.

“Other schools are still pursuing me harder than Georgia,” he said. “Definitely. But just being on campus, Georgia they definitely showed the most love out of all the schools. I can honestly say they made me feel like I part of the family. Even the tour guide. Everybody definitely showed a lot of love so it was very good. It was good.”

His co-favorite part of the trip was sitting in on the UGA offensive line room for meetings.

“They have very unique meetings,” Van Pran said. “It is very unique and it seems to work because they are really high energy and they seem to have a lot of fun in their meetings but then they are all business when it comes to business.”

“That was one of the better moments for me on the day.”

The things to know here after the Sedrick Van Pran visit 

Let’s keep it real here. LSU didn’t originally covet Van Pran for its 2020 class, but they did finally drop an offer for him on Jan. 29.

It will loom large here. Even though a school like UGA offered Van Pran way back at the tail end of last summer.

Van Pran has also now made his second unofficial visit to UGA. The first was back on Sept. 1 for the Austin Peay game.

How hard will it be to pull Van Pran from his home state Tigers?

“I want you to take this as humbly as possible because I like to think I’m a humble guy,” Van Pran said. “But I like to think I’m a little bit different of a recruit so at the end of the day I don’t really prioritize playing at home. Now if LSU is the best place for me, then, by all means, I am going to LSU.”

“I want to be at the best place for me and my family. I don’t think that playing at home should be the biggest factor in going somewhere because at the end of the day [Georgia] is still an SEC school and everybody in the SEC has that real love and real support.”

Cortez Hankton has also had a role so far in recruiting Van Pran to UGA. (Sedrick Van Pran/Special)/Dawgnation)

He does not plan to make his commitment until next February. That will be the traditional signing day.

Georgia is building a bridge over three states here, though. Or at least efforting to.

Cortez Hankton is well-respected in New Orleans and the state of Louisiana. He’s the recruiter on the staff for that state.

Then there’s this Pittman guy. He definitely doesn’t need a spotter when it comes to heavy lifting like this. Pittman has convinced Van Pran that UGA is what it says it will be when it comes to his recruiting.

The Bulldogs do plan to kick up their feet and stay a good long while during his process. Georgia has told Van Pran that they will inform him as the board fills up.

Van Pran has an official visit planned in April to Oklahoma. That might be his only spring official.

After that, it is his team. Period.

He plans to win his last game with Warren Easton in December. The big brunt of his recruiting journey and legwork will have to come after that. The man has a strong set of priorities here.

“I will have a month and a half after that to take official visits and kind of narrow down my final schools,” Van Pran said. “I think February will be the best bet for me because I will be so focused on trying to win state for my school.”

He said “it is in the works” about taking an official visit to UGA. The Bulldogs are a contender for that. He said it would not be a bad idea at all to take an official back to Athens.

“It is truly a great place,” he said.

But when asked why he didn’t post any pictures with Pittman from the trip on his social media, he didn’t sweat it.

“It is not a biggie for me with that,” Van Pran said. “I’m pretty sure that it won’t be my last time up there. If I really wanted to get a picture with him, I can always get a picture.”

He hasn’t started to narrow down schools. Look for him to begin to start to whittle those options down into a top 10 or a top 12 format.

His last visit prior to the UGA trip was to check out LSU earlier this month.