Want to attack every day with the latest Georgia football recruiting info? That’s what the Intel brings. This entry is about the latest feat made by 5-star in-state Georgia commitment Deyon Bouie out of Bainbridge.
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Deyon Bouie said this weekend that he remains “locked-in” to the UGA commitment he made back on November 1 on his mother’s birthday. He also plans to return to UGA at the earliest possible opportunity he can be on campus on June 1.
“It is the first day of camps again,” Bouie said. “The new facility. I want to be the first one to see it.”
Bouie also reports he’s “105 percent” recovered from the off-season knee injury which cost him his junior season at Bainbridge High School.
That’s about the three most welcomed updates DawgNation can deliver at this time about the third overall commitment in the 2022 class. The 6-foot, 185-pound rising senior ranks as a 5-star recruit, the nation’s No. 2 ATH and the No. 29 overall prospect in this cycle. (247Sports Composite ratings)
He is on track to graduate early and enroll at UGA in January. Bouie ranks as an athlete because of his vast agility, speed and quickness and his ability to make plays with the ball in his hands on offense.
That said, it is expected that his primary position in college would be at cornerback.
That’s the good stuff. There’s also an element of concern for Georgia fans to pay attention to. Bouie does plan to take his official visits to rival SEC schools like Alabama, Florida and others.
He is also planning to take an unofficial visit at sometime in June to Texas A&M. Bouie said he is being recruited to give Texas A&M a look by former Georgia staffers James Coley and Nick Williams.
Coley is as good as it gets as a recruiter in the SEC. Williams has also already earned that status and those two do go back a very long way.
At first glance, the visit to Texas A&M should be seen as a nod of respect to Williams. Williams, a Bainbridge native himself, also went on to play and coach for the Bulldogs. He recently left UGA for a defensive analyst position on Jimbo Fisher’s staff.
“Coach Coley and I had a connection when he was at UGA,” Bouie said. “We had a great connection. So it is really him and coach Nick now recruiting me over there.”
Williams extended the Georgia offer to Bouie way back in 2018. That was shortly after Bouie’s Bainbridge Bearcats won the GHSA state title during his freshman year.
“I feel like it is another opportunity,” Bouie said. “When Nick was at Georgia, he was basically my recruiter coach. He was recruiting me hard. So now he is in Texas and is treating me the same way as he was doing at Georgia. So I’m just going to check it out since he was my recruiting coach at Georgia. So I will check it out at Texas A&M and see what it is about.”
How does Williams leaving UGA alter the strength of his commitment to UGA?
“Well, I’m still locked-in,” Bouie said. “That’s because Coach Kirby [Smart] and I have a great relationship, too. For coach Nick, it was like a business decision. To take care of his family and leave. For me, it is like a business decision for me. To make the best decision for my future with where my commitment is at.”
Deyon Bouie: What keeps him “locked-in” to his commitment to UGA
Bouie said he is not planning any official visits this summer. That trip to Texas A&M will also be an unofficial visit at this time.
Alabama is also getting an unofficial visit on June 14. His official visit to UGA will likely come in the fall, he said.
“During the season,” he said. “I want to get the game atmosphere on game Saturdays. Be there for the games around the players. Hang out and get to know those guys.”
What keeps him “locked-in” to UGA?
“Family ties,” Bouie said. “Like even since coach Nick left, that benefits him and his family. But with everyone there and with everyone in my life it is still the same love. Everything is still going with Georgia. That same love. It is family.”
His best relationship at Georgia is now with Smart. He’s also starting to get to know first-year defensive backs coach Jahmile Addae.
“He’s a pretty solid guy,” Bouie said. “He’s really taken on that role that Nick played in my recruiting. Being great to me. Showing me that he really cares and he really wants to be able to coach me.”
Bouie said he gets a call or message from the UGA staff every day. Just checking in. Wanting to see how he’s doing. They also recently wanted to know when he is going to come up in June.
“My family is all Georgia,” Bouie said. “I hear them say ‘You are fixing to go to Georgia so you have to do this and that’ and they are just motivating me every day to be ready to play at Georgia. It is all about the G and that brand and protecting the brand and all.”
Every prospect decides on their level of commitment and what that will be. Some shut it all the way down. They won’t talk to other schools. Others will maintain the lines of communication but they will not visit any other schools.
These prospects all have the freedom to choose their path. Probably now more so than ever after having not stepped on campus for a visit in the last 15 months because of the pandemic.
“It feels like I am engaged but not married,” Bouie said. “That’s how it is with me.”
What will it take to get him to reconsider that engagement to UGA?
“It is a business thing,” he said. “They will have to offer me better than the best.”
Why is Georgia still his best opportunity to go play college football? For that, he still has a lot of business reasons.
“Position wise all the DBs are leaving,” he said. “We’re bringing in more DBs. Basically, I’ve just got to compete with my class coming in for a spot to start as a freshman.”
He’s also very tight-knit with the 2022 class. Bouie cited relationships with Big Bear Alexander, Marquis Groves-Killebrew, De’Nylon Morrissette, Gunner Stockton and Tyree West.
Who does Deyon Bouie want to see at UGA?
Bouie’s answer to the above question has a high degree of difficulty. That would be 5-star FSU commit Travis Hunter out of Metro Atlanta. That is not happening. Hunter’s commitment seems as unlikely as any UGA flip candidate in the last six years. At least.
Hunter is also trying to get Bouie to flip to FSU.
It sounds like he’s looking forward to that June 1 return to UGA. He’s been told by the UGA staff to be ready to eat.
“I’ll see all the players camping out there again,” he said. “All the other recruits and commits are going to be there again. We are all going to bond together. We’ll have a sitting food session and a cookout.”
He’s excited by the class that is forming in 2022 at UGA.
“We already have the No. 1 class,” he said. “That’s crazy. Right now as I think of it, I think that’s a national championship team and a national championship class.”
Bouie’s mother, Maria, serves our nation as a sergeant in the National Guard. Yet she is a single parent. She remains the No. 1 motivation in his life.
“Seeing her work so hard just makes me work even harder,” he said. “Seeing her get up to go to work at 6 a.m. and I’m going to get up before school and go to work, too. She gets up at 5 a.m. and calls and wakes me up. She gets me going. I’ve got a great motivational system with her and other people in my life.”
He considers Smart to be “a father figure” in his life. That’s because he’s also known the Georgia head coach for a long time, too.
“He tells me what to do and what not to do and gives me a lot of advice,” Bouie said. “Basically how to move around and the right people to settle with. To stay out of the wrong crowds. Like a father figure to me. That’s how I put it.”
The knee injury cost him a year, but it also advanced his game, he said.
“The stuff I am doing now I wasn’t doing before,” Bouie said. “I rehabbed differently. I train differently now. I run differently. I feel differently. I am a different player now.”
SENTELL’S INTEL
(check on the recent recruiting reads on DawgNation.com)
- 5-star LB Jeremiah Alexander outlines his June 3 visit to UGA
- California OL Earnest Greene III plans to take a visit to UGA
- Amari Sabb: Georgia offers the younger brother of 5-star ATH Keon Sabb
- WATCH: Georgia WR commitment De’Nylon Morrissette breaks free for a 99-yard TD
- Nation’s No. 2 TE Oscar Delp hints at a strong family connection to UGA
- Georgia legacy Marcus Washington Jr. will also be a Bulldog
- 5-star UGA commit Malaki Starks win the Georgia state long jump title
- Jalon Walker named Gatorade North Carolina Player of the Year after his junior season
- Brock Vandagriff named Gatorade Georgia Player of the Year for 2020
- Jalon Walker: All-American LB commit reflects on his “Chip” win
- Georgia loses yet another recruiter to Texas A&M
- All-American LB commit Jalon Walker set to play for North Carolina state title
- Azeez Ojulari: His two NFL Draft days covered the longest 26 hours of his life
- De’Nylon Morrissette: 4-star in-state WR prospect chooses UGA
- The Big Bear Alexander: 5-star DT is “rock-solid” with his UGA commitment
- Aaron Bryant: 2022 DT target already slobbers like a Bulldog
- Marcus Washington Jr.: Legacy defender with 4.4 laser speed picks up big UGA offer
- Recruiting ranking updates led to a new highest-rated UGA commit for 2022
- Georgia football freshman report: Red 28, Black 23
- Raymond Cottrell: Georgia is the team to beat for top 70 overall 2023 prospect at WR
- Budding Malaki Starks and Jalon Walker friendship will be one to watch
- Elite California OL Earnest Greene III has unique family ties to Georgia
- Addison Nichols: Elite OL truly has an All-American resume
- All-American OL Tyler Booker explains why UGA made his final five
- Nation’s No. 1 RB Branson Robinson shares deep connections to UGA
- Malaki Starks: The vital DawgNation read on a 5-star anchor commit
- Bear Alexander: When you know this 5-star’s real story, you will be proud
