Want to attack every day with the latest Georgia football recruiting info? That’s the Intel. This rep has the latest with 4-star EDGE Gabe Harris out of Valdosta High School. He ranks as the nation’s No. 8 EDGE and the No. 105 overall prospect for 2023 on the 247Sports Composite ratings.
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Gabe Harris is one of the priority defensive targets for Georgia in the 2022 class. He took a recent visit to UGA two weekends ago.
“It was great,” he said. “I got along with all the new coaches on the coaching staff. I messed with some of the same coaching staff from last year.”
New OLBs coach Chidera Uzo-Diribe has made a quick impression.
“That’s my boy,” Harris said. “We talk about almost every day.”
That’s a prime reason why Harris has already locked in his official visit for the first weekend in June. Count on seeing Harris in Athens on June 3.
“Coach Diribe is like a big brother,” Harris said. “If he tells you anything, it is going to be right. He’s going to tell you only things that are right. He’s not going to sugarcoat it. He’s going to keep it real with you about what is going on all the time.”
The 4-star EDGE says the first-year UGA coach from Colorado has let it be known he wants him in Athens.
“He’s very confident in me becoming a Bulldog,” Harris said. “He said he loved my tape. He loved how I play and he thinks I am very athletic.”
Clemson, Florida, Georgia, FSU, LSU, Ohio State and Texas A&M are the schools he is chiefly considering at this time. He plans to take a trip to check out the Aggies very soon.
“Those are the schools off the top of my head that have been consistent so far,” Harris said.
The future sports management major has visited both Florida and Georgia recently.
“The Georgia visit was awesome,” Harris said. “I am not going to lie. I love the way they practice. The energy is there. They are working on building another national championship team. I’m looking forward to seeing what they do this fall with that.”
The nation’s No. 8 EDGE said he plans to make his decision prior to his senior year. Look for him to take his officials over the summer.
“I feel like after the summer is over with then everything is going to be settled by then,” he said.
How does he feel about the chance to play in Athens?
“Georgia sits pretty high with me right now,” Harris said.
The vibe he gets from the staff is probably the best thing he likes about the Bulldogs.
“The coaching staff most definitely,” he said. “That’s the number one thing I like about Georgia. Then it is how they work. They work with 110 percent every day. That’s what I want to be around. People that will push me to get 110 percent effort out of me every time. Then they have the coaches that give that 110 percent coaching effort, too.”
Gabe Harris: The scouting report on the nation’s No. 108 overall prospect
Shelton Felton, the head coach at Valdosta, coached Big Kat Bryant and Quay Walker at Crisp County High School. Then he went to coach at the college level at Akron, Chattanooga and finally as the outside linebacker coach at Tennessee.
That’s the position Harris plays.
In short, he knows what a big-time damage dealer looks like at the outside linebacker position. His perception of Harris sounds just like a college coach.
“He’s a pretty young man,” Felton said. “I can tell you that.”
He’s not talking about magazine covers there.
“When he first came to the school with his Mom, he was about six-foot-four and a half,” Felton said. “Every bit. He’s about 240 or 245 pounds. He looks the part. He’s big. He’s athletic. I knew a little bit about him. Never really seen him in person until then, but he has it.”
“He’s just got to fine-tune his mechanics and he’s going to be a really good one.”
He discussed his best college position fit.
“I think Gabe can be an outside boundary linebacker and also a ‘4i’ technique on the defensive line,” Felton said. “He can be not as good, now I’m not going to say as good as Travon Walker, but he can fit that mentality as far as a freak athlete and just being able to move and change directions.”
Harris has a big frame. When he gets into a college weight room, his frame will be able to hold another 15 pounds comfortably.
“But I think he is going to be an outside linebacker at the next level,” Felton said. “I see him as a ‘Jack’ or as a ‘Buck’ at the next level.”
The second-year head coach at Valdosta hasn’t seen Harris on the football field in pads or a helmet yet. Just in conditioning and in the weight room.
“Just in workouts and the classroom, the young man comes here every day and works,” Felton said. “He wants to be great. He wants to be good. His goal is to graduate early. He is doing everything he can to graduate early and he works his butt off every day.”
Harris moved to Valdosta from Thomas County Central.
“When I first came here I could already tell that Valdosta is just turned up a notch so I had to get with the program and adjust,” Harris said. “But now I’m up there with the big dogs now. Coach Felton has done got me right. So basically my senior season is really going to be something.”
He hopes to show more speed and technique in his game. Getoff. Takeoff. Dropping into coverage. Look for him to flash in all of those areas this fall.
Harris credits the work he’s already done in the Valdosta offseason program for that.
“He’s thriving in it,” Felton said. “He’s getting stronger and he’s getting bigger.”
Felton feels Clemson, Georgia, Texas, Michigan State, Florida State, among others, are the ones that are recruiting him the hardest.
“They love his size and his ability to move,” Felton said.
Harris is called “G4″ by his teammates. That fits his jersey number and something that is big, long and sleek that covers a lot of ground quickly.
“Off the edge, I am pretty hard to block and I come with some speed,” he said. “I can also drop and cover.”
He also wears the No. 4 jersey to round out a very solid nickname choice.
Georgia was also recruiting Harris hard last year. Former defensive coordinator Dan Lanning was on him hard. Harris made it up to Athens to check out three games in 2021.
The next SEC visit in mind for Gabe Harris
Harris will be at another SEC program this weekend. That will be at Texas A&M.
“I got a good relationship with coach Nick Williams and with Jimbo [Fisher] over there,” Harris said. ‘The last time I went down there I had a blast. I’m going back to check that out again.”
Harris will be on that official visit with 2023 Georgia commit Pearce Spurlin III. That’s the current plan.
“You could tell he was always a Georgia fan,” Harris said. “He grew up one.”
Harris can relate to Georgia coach Kirby Smart. They are both from the 229 area code in South Georgia.
“He’s from Bainbridge High School,” Harris said. “That was our rivals as I used to play at Thomas County. That’s still a rival for us here at Valdosta.”
He said he will remember the way Georgia trained its pass rushers from his last visit.
“Coach D was coaching them up,” Harris said. “He was just talking to them about certain moves that you use. He was giving them good tips. The boys were taking notes. Everybody is very dedicated in there in that room at Georgia. I saw that. They applied those moves during the pass rushes I saw in practice and all the outside linebackers and the edge rushers did well using those moves.”
SENTELL’S INTEL
(check on the recent reads on DawgNation.com)
- Tomarrion Parker: Why Georgia still leads for the elite prospect over Alabama and Ohio State
- Jamaal Jarrett: He recaps his ‘didn’t want to leave’ recent trip to UGA
- Cover 4 on Georgia football: How many Bulldogs will get picked in the first two rounds?
- Jamaal Jarrett: Why Tray Scott calls the 4-star DL ‘Biiiiigg Yoooouuunng Maaaaall” with good reason
- “They loved it” was the report back from the family of 5-star QB Arch Manning
- GET READY: 4-star Florida CB Antione Jackson becomes the first 2024 UGA commitment
- Georgia legacy commit Pearce Spurlin III shares an insider’s view of the big recruiting weekend
- Arch Madness: 5-star QB Arch Manning headlines a big list of unofficial visitors in town
- 5-star gunslinger Dylan Raiola is in town today, shares what he loves the most about the ‘Dawgs
- Jalen Hale: 5-star junior WR has “great” first unofficial visit, says UGA is now in line for an OV
- Dylan Raiola: The 5-star QB who plays with Jesus Christ on his goalpost
- The next Georgia basketball coach needs to do recruit a lot better in this one area
- Georgia sends out an impressive early offer to 8th-grade LB Tyler Atkinson
- Aliou Bah: How UGA was able to sign the stout 2022 OL
- The number of Bulldog legacies in the 2023 class is astounding
- The injury rehab for All-American DT signee Christen Miller sounds very encouraging
