Want to attack every day with the latest Georgia football recruiting info? That’s the Intel. This entry is about the move made last week by 4-star CB Kayin Lee to decommit from the Georgia football program.
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Kayin Lee has always had a sense of faith and family about him. He just always tries to do things the right way.
He comes across as an old soul. The junior cornerback has ever really cared for rankings or stars or when or if he might get the right All-American game invitation.
Deacon Johnie E. Williams Sr. never met a stranger. He retired after 27 years of service in the public school system and loved to talk about bowling, his family and the Dallas Cowboys.
Lee called him “Pop.”
The 6-foot, 180-pound junior picked up a “dream” offer from UGA in December of 2020. It even seemed like the Bulldogs were quickly going to be the pick there.
Lee waited until last September to commit to his home state team.
Yet sometime after Georgia won the national championship, that pledge didn’t feel right anymore. He thought about it. Thought about his other options.
He also saw the position coach he committed to accept the same position with the Miami Hurricanes. Lee realized he made his decision too soon.
“It wasn’t too hard,” Lee said. “I mean it came with a lot of thought and all that. It was just a decision I had to make.”
Then he did something that his “Pop” would’ve been proud of.
In a move that’s not as common as most might think, he called up Georgia coach Kirby Smart and told him that he had to decommit from the 2023 class last week.
“Just to keep it real,” Lee said. “I was man enough to commit to them so I can be man enough to tell them that I was decommitting also. I thought it was the best way to go about it.”
What did Smart have to say about that?
“He was really just telling me to take my time,” Lee said.
Lee can cover 40 yards in 4.45 seconds. He’s physical. Smart. Tough. Technical. Fast. He’s an adept tackler in space and makes plays on the ball.
Georgia lost a player in its class that fits the profile of its championship program. He’s ranked as the nation’s No. 17 CB and the No. 144 overall prospect on the 247Sports Composite, but the film and production will slot him a lot higher than that.
He was his region Defensive Player of the Year as a sophomore. That was on roster filled with future Power 5 players. Lee was an impact defender on a state championship team last fall at Cedar Grove, too.
Can he make the plays in the big moments? Most definitely. The 4-star defender had two interceptions in the state title game back in December.
Lee wasn’t worried about the DB room at Georgia. The best-ever class of defensive backs in the Smart era that the Bulldogs just signed didn’t sway him.
He can be taken at his word for that. He’s the type of player that rises to the talent in the room around him. Not shy away from it. He’s a worker. A talented one at that.
“I really had to look into more things,” he said. “I was seeing more of the bigger picture. It was just a decision I had to make.”
Kayin Lee: Where does he go from here?
Lee said he will be patient with his next decision. It sounds like he’d be comfortable with waiting until the early signing period in December to both commit and sign. He will be an early enrollee out of Cedar Grove.
Georgia is still a contender. He said new defensive backs coach Fran Brown has already reached out.
“Georgia is still in it,” he said. “Coach Fran and I have already talked multiple times. We’re still building a relationship also.”
Brown has already made a quick impression.
“Pretty straightforward,” Lee said. “He’s about letting you know what’s real and what’s not.”
There are a few possible March visits lining up. He mentioned a possible Ole Miss trip on March 5 and a couple of heavyweight programs. Ohio State was a major contender for him last summer. It sounds like the Buckeyes will get a return visit this month.
“It is Oregon and then Ohio State or then it is Ohio State and Oregon,” he said. “One or the other.”
Visits as an uncommitted prospect were something he realized he needed. There probably was not going to be a lot of strong interest from major programs for a Georgia prospect still committed to UGA.
“I just wanted to be able to experience everything the right way,” he said.
His phone has been “very crazy” since he opened his recruitment up. There are new schools in the picture.
Addae is now recruiting him at Miami, along with the entire Hurricanes staff. Lee said he been talking to Arkansas, Auburn, Pitt, Michigan, Michigan State and Tennessee over the last week since he backed off that UGA pledge.
His former high school coach, Jimmy Smith, has been the running backs coach there under Sam Pittman for the last two seasons. Former Cedar Grove standout Jadon Haselwood also just transferred to play for the Razorbacks.
This wasn’t a matter of him not feeling prioritized by the staff at UGA.
“This was more about me going on my side of things there is what I would say,” Lee said.
SENTELL'S INTEL
(check on the recent reads on DawgNation.com)
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