Leonard Warner, a 2017 4-star linebacker from Brookwood High School, was being heavily recruited by UGA earlier in the season, but the coaching changes have cooled things a bit. Warner hasn’t heard from new coach Kirby Smart and is taking a wait-and-see attitude.
“I think it’s really interesting,” Warner told DawgNation Tuesday about the hiring of Smart. “It makes me want to wait a little bit to see how he does next year.”
The Brookwood linebacker was one of the state’s star players taking part in Tuesday’s Elite Junior Classic at McEachern High School, a game which pits the top juniors in Georgia against one another.
Alabama, Smart’s former stomping grounds, is part of Warner’s Top 5, alongside UGA. The junior linebacker said Smart’s departure from the program, and former UGA defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt’s arrival, didn’t cause much change to the status quo.
The change will, however, impact the culture at UGA, and that’s something that has Warner intrigued.
“I’m interested to see Georgia with a new culture,” he said. “It could be cool to be a part of something new.”
Warner is rated as the nation’s No. 9 outside linebacker and the state of Georgia’s No. 20 prospect in the 2017 class.