News came out on Wednesday afternoon that UGA head coach Kirby Smart had offered a football scholarship to Mike Robertson, Jr. out of Savannah.
His father told DawgNation.com on Wednesday his son’s first offer actually came about “two or three days ago” but he wanted to hold on to the news so he could tell the eighth-grade running back on his 15th birthday.
You read that right. That’s for the Class of 2020. The middle school phenom is six feet tall and weighs about 175 pounds and has already clocked a 40-yard dash in 4.7 seconds. That’s a laser time.
Records for these sort of things are limited, but the offer could potentially be the earliest scholarship offer in UGA football history. The offer came straight from head coach Kirby Smart.
But there are different ways to look at it. Mark Richt discouraged early offers at UGA until Jeremy Pruitt arrived and those became necessary to keep up with everyone else who was recruiting the same elite talent. Grayson’s Owen Pappoe and Callway’s Keiondre Jones both got UGA offers this summer. Those stood out because they came in the summer after they completed the eighth grade. Dylan Moses, the nation’s top prospect for 2017, also received a UGA offer after a prospect camp in the summer after he finished middle school.
Thomson standout Christian Tutt also received a UGA offer in the summer prior to his ninth grade year. That was the summer of 2014, but Tutt was only 14 years and seven months old at the time. Jones and Pappoe also got their UGA offers when they were both approximately 14 years and nine months old.
Tutt still might be the youngest in terms of overall age, but Robertson is believed to be the earliest as far as grade level. It is possible that offers were extended earlier informally prior to Richt’s 15 years at UGA, but the chances of that are highly unlikely. Nobody was in the business of offering middle school football players before 2002, much less even in today’s fast-paced recruiting world.
It is a tremendous feat regardless. Mike Robertson, Sr. said Smart told him it was the earliest offer he’d ever extended to a football prospect.
“This is really humbling when all these things are already happening for your son,” Mike Robertson, Sr. said.
While he did repeat the fourth grade after enrolling at the challenging private school in Savannah, Robertson already looks every bit the part of what a good-looking SEC prospect is supposed to resemble as a high school sophomore or junior.
“He already knows Kirby Smart and (new UGA assistant coach) Glenn Schumann pretty well from the days when they were at Alabama,” Robertson, Sr. said.
Robertson carries the nickname “Young Lion” and he essentially played five games this year and was often taken out after the first quarter of blowouts. His father told Dawgnation this afternoon he averaged two-to-three touchdowns in each of those contests.
The middle school standout is the nephew of 5-star senior Demetris Robertson. He’s also from Savannah. Mike Robertson, Sr. also said Smart expressed the worry that some might make comments that this offer was a way to influence the Class of 2016 prospect.
Anyone who has seen Robertson, Jr. carve up a defense from the running back spot would laugh at that. Just check out the highlight reel below.
The news of the offer was first reported by 247sports.com’s Rusty Mansell.
Jeff Sentell covers UGA football and UGA recruiting for AJC.com and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Follow him on Twitter for the latest on who’s on their way to play Between the Hedges.
