Want to attack every day with the latest UGA football recruiting info? That’s what the Intel brings at least four days a week. The play sheet today calls for a 1-on-1 sit down with 5-star UGA signee and new student Nolan Smith.
Nolan Smith is a Georgia student now. Officially.
The nation’s No. 1 overall prospect for 2019 (per the 247Sports Composite ratings) has settled into Athens now. To hear him say it, he is “home” for college.
When was it going to feel like he was officially a Georgia Bulldogs? His answer was probably not quite what most might expect.
“Class,” Smith said. “Most definitely. I’m going to be an engineer and I’m into the engineering program. The engineering program is just starting up. It is nice. It is actually hard to get into. So I had to get accepted into the University of Georgia and I had to then get accepted into the engineering school. So that was just kind of a good thing and I was happy about that.”
“But I think most definitely the class on Tuesday that will open me up to finally being a Georgia Bulldog.”
The nation’s top prospect for this cycle should have a great career in Athens. That’s evident especially since he has competed against the nation’s top players in practice and on Friday nights for IMG Academy. He is a superior athlete in every facet athletically and he also has a superior work ethic.
Smith should help the Bulldog pass rush for years to come, but that is not his only focus.
“I want to succeed in the classroom as much as I want to succeed on the field,” Smith said.
He’s rooming with Nakobe Dean and Trezman Marshall right now in Athens. It is a four-room suite, but one of those beds will be left empty for this fall. That’s likely going to go to 5-star DT Travon Walker.
Want to learn more about Smith? Check out the interview in the featured slot above.
Doug Nester will not be a Georgia Bulldog
That sit-down with the nation’s top overall prospect bodes well for the future of the UGA program, but not all the news is good.
DawgNation has learned that 4-star OG Doug Nester is no longer considering Georgia. We had this news live on “Before the Hedges” yesterday. Nester, a longtime Ohio State commit, was considering Georgia and planning to take an official visit to UGA this weekend.
It appears the distance from home was too much. Nester loved Sam Pittman and appreciated everything about the way the Bulldogs and Pittman recruited him.
But it seems like the 2019 All-American Bowl travel was a stark reality to him. Nester doesn’t want to be too far away from home and his extended family. He has a lot of strong women in his family that he can look to as a “Mother” figure. That’s his Mom, his three sisters and even an aunt or two.
The plane travel from West Virginia to San Antonio through Atlanta convinced him that it would be too hard for all of that extended family to come him play on Saturdays on a regular basis. That’s something he has in mind for his college career.
Ohio State views him as a guard. Nester said that Pittman thought he could be a tackle for Georgia. That’s the position he wants to play in college. He rates as the nation’s No. 5 OG prospect and the No. 92 overall recruit on the 247Sports composite rankings for 2019.
He has a strong academic profile at that. Nester had never made a “B” in high school.
Did you see this week’s “Before the Hedges” yet?
It has been on Facebook for years now. The YouTube audience also continues to grow. But we had another edition of the DawgNation “Before the Hedges” live show.
It airs at 3 p.m every Wednesday. This week’s show carried that interview with Smith and shared the Doug Nester news. It also featured a 1-on-1 conversation with new Bulldog public commit Tyrique Stevenson.
Miss any Intel? The DawgNation recruiting archive will get you up to speed just as fast as former Georgia All-American LB Roquan Smith found the ball after the snap.