Want to attack every day with the latest Georgia football recruiting info? That’s what the Intel will bring at least five days a week. The budget for Monday calls for a couple of thoughts from 4-star commit Azeez Ojulari.
What two targets does he feel UGA has to have? What kind of season has he had so far? Will his very talented brother, BJ, in the Class of 2020 follow him to Athens?
There doesn’t seem as if there’s much that Azeez Ojulari can’t do.
The 4-star UGA commit, a defensive end, has set Marietta High football school records in the weight room. He’s been named a U.S. Army All-American, played through a tough injury and even started two games at offensive tackle for his injury-depleted squad.
DawgNation hopes he will continue to be pretty good with his crystal ball, too.
Let me explain. Remember when Ojulari committed to UGA and was asked which players the Bulldogs still needed? Well, Ojulari had a message that included the name “Justin Fields” as one of his biggest priorities.
The Bulldogs put a big green emoji check to Fields’ name when he chose Georgia last month.
“Justin Fields worked out,” Ojulari said.
Who’s left? The next “Wolfpack” member from Marietta High still sees more wood left to chop on that recruiting front, too.
“That’s Jamaree[Salyer] and Trey Hill,” Ojulari said. “Those guys would be great. Those guys would make this class the best class ever. That’s it.”
Bulldogs fans will be hoping that winds up as another prophecy.
The 6-foot-4, 235-pound senior now power cleans about 340 pounds, bench presses another 345 and squats 500 pounds. He’s got the school power clean record and is now close to a record on squat and bench.
“He just keeps getting better and better,” Marietta coach Richard Morgan said.
Ojulari received his 2018 U.S. Army All-America jersey last Friday at Marietta High.
“This was all a dream two years ago for me,” Ojulari said. “I didn’t know any of this was going to happen. I just kept my head down and kept working. … It is truly an honor and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me. This is a true blessing. Now I just have to take advantage of all of it.”
Potential turns into elite production for Azeez Ojulari
Azeez Ojulari is both quite the specimen and player. It is hard to believe that he didn’t have an offer from Georgia or most of his big-time options at this time a year ago. The Bulldogs didn’t even offer him until spring practice earlier this year.
But look at him now.
“He’s been able to lead our team even though we had an injury at quarterback,” Marietta coach Richard Morgan said. “He led the defense and still kept us in games. He helped us win games.”
That was big. The Blue Devils lost future 5-star quarterback Harrison Bailey to injury earlier this year. He is expected to be back for the playoffs this week and a big road clash at Westlake. That’s one of the biggest matchups in the state.
Ojulari helped keep that season together with extraordinary efforts.
“He upped his level of play, whereas a lot of times when seniors get all these accolades they kind of take it easy,” Morgan said. “He didn’t do that. He’s upped his game and that’s why he is going to be ready to play immediately in college. He’s continued to get better.”
Morgan said before the season that Ojulari was maybe 50 percent to 60 percent of the player he could be. But his team has seen him strain to reach his limits as a senior.
“He’s there with the leadership, but he’s been more explosive and more dominant on the field,” Morgan said. “He’s got like 20-something tackles for loss and has been explosive off the line in the backfield. Not a lot of teams are throwing the ball against us so he doesn’t have the sacks, but he’s in the backfield disrupting stuff all the time.”
But there was more.
“When we had an injury at right tackle, he started at right tackle for us,” Morgan said. “For two games. He’d never played right tackle in his life. He played two games at right tackle and we won both. They were critical to our season. That just shows you what type of kid he is.”
He stacked up the big blocks and only gave up one sack as an amateur right tackle. He took part in every special teams play.
Ojulari never came out of the game for two straight weeks, even when he had a pulled groin.
“You just have to keep going,” Ojulari said. “I’m dedicated to this team and the playoffs and going for a championship run. I am just trying to play my heart out my senior year in my last season as a high school football player. Go hard every play.”
He smiled at the thought of how he jumped into the UGA class on Aug. 19. That was before this class really started surging.
“It is great,” Ojulari said. “We just keep getting guys. Really good guys. Really good guys and great players who also love the game. This class is just going crazy. There seems like no limit to this class.”
That spirit was evident when he learned that Adam Anderson, an outside linebacker from Rome, Ga., would join him at UGA. There wasn’t any worry whatsoever about his reps or his spot as one of the big pass rushers in this class when Anderson committed to the Bulldogs in October.
“That Wolfpack is going to be nasty now,” Ojulari said. “That Wolfpack is going crazy as well within this class. We are just going to keep stacking the elite guys up for our Wolfpack there, too. We are going to work with a great group of guys.”
Ojulari said Davin Bellamy and Lorenzo Carter have set the standard on defense for years to come.
“Watching those guys get after it every Saturday has just been amazing to me,” Ojulari said. “That has been great. It is just an honor for me to get a chance to work hard, practice hard, maybe fill their shoes and get a spot out there doing what they are doing.”
Could BJ Ojulari join his brother at Georgia?
News flash: Azeez Ojulari’s younger brother, BJ, is trending to be just as good, if not better, than his very talented older sibling.
It appears that “if not better” stuff is definitely not a longshot. Azeez, as he should, will do all he can to prevent that from happening, but the signs are already still there.
Ojulari is working on his younger brother to join him in Athens. He said he has told BJ that he could be the first member of the 2020 recruiting class for the nation’s top-rated team in the College Football Playoff rankings.
“But he is just taking his time,” Ojulari said. “He’s probably going to take awhile.”
But he’s working.
“He’s already whispering in my ear all the time about Georgia,” BJ Ojulari said. “But he knows that I am going to make the decision that is best for me. I know he did the best thing for him, but he knows I need to know what I have to do and choose the best thing for my life, too.”
How does the younger Ojulari already feel about Georgia?
“It is a great school both football and academic-wise,” BJ Ojulari said. “Right now they are on top and I am really looking at them.”
Which other schools are on his radar with the Bulldogs?
“Georgia Tech,” he said. “TCU, Florida and N.C. State. All of them.”
He said to look for him to follow a similar path as the one set by his older brother as far as the timing of his decision will go.
“Everything I’m going to do will be similar to what he did with his process,” BJ Ojulari said.
The UGA staff wants to see a Ctrl-V recruitment.
“They want me to come and see us, two brothers, playing together,” BJ Ojulari said.
BJ Ojulari’s bright football future
Morgan said Friday that the U.S. Army All-America folks would be back in two years for BJ Ojulari.
“He’s a freak and he starts at left tackle and defensive end for us and never comes off the field,” Morgan said. “He’s been the offensive player of the week for us twice as a lineman, and defensively he is second on the team in sacks.”
BJ is already taller than his older brother was at this age. He is already 6-foot-3 and 210 pounds.
The younger Ojulari is also a good basketball player, so he will be able to flash a lot of ability in space for the next two years in his brother’s old spot.
“He’s going to be exactly what Azeez is,” Morgan said.
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