Want a daily lap through Georgia football recruiting? That’s what the Intel will bring at least five days a week. We’ll cover the news and which way this 4-star like Dameon Pierce might lean plus add some perspective to help fans figure out what it all means.
_____________________________________________________
Dameon Pierce, the nation’s No. 6 RB prospect for 2018, can really tote a football. Even though he’s still just another high school kid.
The video gamers of his generation know what it means to hit the reset button. Want to start over? Hit reset. The Bainbridge High star is doing just that with his recruiting.
“Due to a recent conversation with my Mom, I’m right now back at square one in my recruiting process,” Pierce said. “I didn’t take enough visits before I committed to Alabama. It stands out to me now that I need to take more visits and weigh my options. So that’s what I’m doing right now.”
Square one? Does it mean that he has de-committed?
That answer is no.
“Alabama is my frontrunner seeing as I’m still committed,” Pierce said. “But before I decide to go to another school, I need to have that change of heart before I decide where I know want to go.”
How strong is his current commitment to the Tide?
“I’m not sure I can answer that right now,” he said.
How does UGA stand stack up for Dameon Pierce?
He just took a trip to G-Day. It was the second of back-to-back weekend trips to Alabama and UGA. That said, Alabama and Georgia aren’t recruiting him the way Auburn or Florida are.
“I wouldn’t say (Georgia is) recruiting me very hard right now but they are saying they want me and they need me to be in their program,” Pierce said. “I stay in touch with them.”
Kirby Smart grew up in what is now the 229 area code. He’s also a very famous Bainbridge alum. But that seems more of a coincidence than a key factor.
It also doesn’t have to do a whole lot with his recent trip to G-Day. Pierce said he barely had much face time with both Smart and UGA running backs coach Dell McGee.
The 4-star prospect said he still enjoyed it.
He felt his mother Shameka Rogers really did, too. His mother would later go on to tell him that Georgia was her top school.
Pierce is just not as certain. That’s probably why he needs that reset button.
It sounds like things changed for him after that last Alabama visit. The Crimson Tide has Costco-depth at his spot. They need RBs like Metro Atlanta needs another road to buckle.
But that wasn’t it either. The main reason why is that his recent trip to T-Town wasn’t a great one. It felt like a drive-thru visit.
“My mom she wasn’t really feeling Alabama,” he said. “She wants to go back up there and further evaluate. Obviously, she loved Athens. So that is an iffy situation right now.”
He expanded on that. That was when they went over for a scrimmage.
“They toured us around the athletic facility but she didn’t get to see where the dorms were at and where all the educational aspects were at,” Pierce said. “That’s all she had to say on that. It was an incomplete visit in terms of the presentation. She didn’t get to see everything she wanted to.”
A mother’s role in a decision like this one can never be overstated.
“It wouldn’t say that she is the greatest factor for me, but she is a deciding factor more than anything,” Pierce said. “If I like a school and she doesn’t then she wants me to go where I want to go. But she does put her input out there. I want her input in there. The best-case scenario is I like a school and she likes the school and we are both comfortable with the distance and the educational value it provides.”
His mother’s opinion really makes him think more. She’s his sounding board.
Why Mom likes UGA
Rodgers is quite cozy with Georgia’s location.
“She also likes the facilities and how the coaches are,” Pierce said. “They are just very friendly. She saw how they all fit in talking to all the players. She just liked the good time she had there at G-Day.”
The depth at UGA isn’t quite at Alabama’s level for 2018. Pierce realizes Nick Chubb and Sony Michel are NFL-bound after this year. That leaves Brian Herrien, Elijah Holyfield and D’Andre Swift.
He is aware of Georgia’s status as a major contender for 5-star RB Zamir White, too.
Pierce still feels UGA offers a better chance to play faster that what the Tide has stacked up.
“Georgia is a great school and they would provide a running back there with great opportunities to go play at the next level,” he said. “I also feel good about earning my degree from there.”
Pierce said Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Florida State and Georgia were the teams that are in the mix for his decision. He stated he felt so comfortable that he would not need to take an official visit to UGA.
“They might get one but since my Mom already likes it so much and they’ve already shown her pretty much everything on an official that visit wouldn’t be so important,” he said. “I might take my officials to the schools which my mom has concerns with and needs to learn a lot more about.”
It wasn’t his best-ever visit, though. He said his trip to FSU’s “Junior Day” this spring was the ultimate for him. But his mother didn’t make that trip with him.
“FSU showed me everything from where I would be playing at from Doak Campbell and they brought me back down to my everyday life,” Pierce said. “My personal life. That’s where my everyday life would be. The student dorms. They just showed me a lot of things I usually wouldn’t pick up on any other visit.”
His mother’s Top 3
Pierce pointed out that he had three offers when he committed to Alabama last year. He has 18 now. That’s why he now regards that as a hasty decision. He regrets not including his mother in his recruiting process before this year.
“In her words, her Top 3 right now for her are Georgia, Florida and Alabama,” Pierce said. “That’s how they present themselves and the overall aspect of each school. Not to take anything away from any of these other schools but Georgia presented itself very well to her. That’s why she put them at her number one. She said presentation-wise and showing us everything she just liked the way Georgia went about it. That stood out because she didn’t like the way Alabama presented itself to us on her first trip there. She loves the school but she would’ve liked for Alabama to present everything to her better.”
Does he feel like a priority to Alabama?
“I was thinking about that the other night,” Pierce said. “You know honestly it is in a gray area for me there. I am prioritized by Alabama. I feel that. But maybe not as highly as one might expect.”
He offered a reason why he felt that way. Pierce said he hears from Auburn and Florida every other day. At least. But he maybe only hears from Alabama, FSU and Georgia every 10 days.
The 5-foot-10, 205-pound prospect won’t be able to enroll early. He also plans another trip to Georgia. Soon.
“I’m comfortable there,” Pierce said. “I’m going to go just to go back down there. I enjoyed it. I’ll go back to Georgia just to go. I’ll probably go back sometime this summer.”
He’s not sure when he will have his decision squared away again.
“I want to focus on my high school team with this,” Pierce said. “At the end of the day, that’s my first priority. But hopefully sometime in the near future. Hopefully sometime within the next two months.”