Want to attack every day with the latest Georgia football recruiting info? That’s what the Intel brings. This entry is about the latest from 5-star DL target Mykel Williams of Columbus in the 2022 class.
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Mykel Williams saw all the bells and he whistles. His father, John Johnson, laughed at the nation that Georgia has a lot of eye candy for recruits and their families on visits.
Yet there were a few things that both said which cuts through all that $80 million that UGA spent on its new facility and has had to show off this week.
“The most impressive part for me was working with Coach [Tray] Scott and talking to coach Dell McGee,” Williams said. “Dell’s my guy.”
Williams didn’t have to camp. He could’ve been that street clothes 5-star on a visit. But one has to appreciate the mindset he had. He said he won all six of his approximate reps and felt he did well.
“I had to camp, man,” Williams said. “How could I not? Are you kidding me? I want to work with those coaches there and get better. That’s part of the process. If I really feel like I am going to come to play at a school, I am going to camp. I am going to do a private workout. I am doing to do some of that and see who is going to work with me and who would be coaching me.”
“Do I feel like I can play for this dude or do I not feel like I can play for him?”
He used the term “great” to describe how Tray Scott worked him out. The Hardaway High star said he could see himself playing for him at Georgia.
“He was really a great guy,” Williams said. “When coach Scott and I were working out, he would stop in the middle of the workout and telling why I was doing it and showing me how to do it. I liked that a lot.”
What Williams had to say here matters.
He’s a priority target at a premium position outside of his 5-star status. That’s why DawgNation has ranked him the top remaining undecided target for Georgia in the 2022 cycle since 5-star Malaki Starks chose Georgia in late March.
The 6-foot-5, 260-pound Williams had 17.5 sacks last year and is already an All-American, but he’s likely just scratching the floor of his college and pro potential. He’s so athletic that one SEC school viewed him as an elite OT prospect and not just a potential menace for even the most prolific of SEC defensive lines.
Johnson doubled down on what he saw and felt the most passionately about from their one-day trip to Georgia on Thursday. The two spent approximately seven hours on campus checking out the newly-retrofitted UGA facility.
“The most interesting part for me was actually the conversations,” he said. “Jarvis Jones. Logan Reed. Those are people that I know. I actually know Jarvis because he’s from Columbus, too. When he played AAU basketball, he was coached by one of my best friends. He and I just had a long deep conversation about this and that. Logan Reed. She’s been one of the primary recruiters as well as coach [Dell] McGee and coach [Tray] Scott. They are just good company. Good people.”
“It is a business trip in itself for us but when you can also feel comfortable that you can wind down. We didn’t talk a lot about football. We talked about a lot of different things. Kind of a family kind of feel to it. In the recruiting game, everybody tries to come off as a family. It may not feel like family, but they try to come off as family if you get my drift. It is genuine for me when I am at Georgia and when I am talking to the people at Georgia there is an authentic feel to it.”
Williams mentioned a few of those same UGA names, too.
“Really another big part was getting to chill with a couple of my good friends in the recruiting department in Logen Reed and Cam [Lemmons] at Georgia, too,” Williams said.
Every action was taken to make that trip feel special.
“As soon as we got out of the car they picked us up in like a little Infiniti truck,” he said.
What else did Mykel Williams really like about the new UGA?
That’s not to say he was immune to all of the stuff. Williams was keen to pick up on what has been a running theme with UGA’s new facilities.
That’s player recovery. Of the significant monies Georgia has spent, there’s an emphasis on restoring the player’s body after a practice or a game day.
“The fact that they are fixing to get the cryo chamber,” Williams relayed about what impressed him of all the new toys at UGA. “Now that’s something and that little saltwater thing, too.”
That “little saltwater thing” is actually a big thing. There have been at least a half-dozen players mention that so far in their facility reviews this week with DawgNation.
“There’s like a saltwater thing or a tub or pool that you lay down in for an hour and they said that it is like having eight hours of sleep for just laying in there,” Williams said. “Man, that’s big. It is huge. Most definitely. The way that new facility is set up to spotlight their sports medicine department. That is huge.”
Williams said that was the first thing he was going to tell his All-American buddy Christen Miller about when it comes to the new Georgia. Miller, who plays for Cedar Grove, spent the past two days this week up at Ohio State for an unofficial visit.
“The recovery aspect of the athlete is the best point that should be addressed,” Johnson said. “Especially for the athletes playing SEC football. It seems like Georgia is on the cutting edge on that part as well as producing on the field and preparing for the games and whatnot.”
The 5-star DL had to do the photo shoot, too.
“With the Savage pads and all,” Mykel Williams said.
Williams has visited Auburn, Florida and Georgia this week. He laughed when he took a question about how Georgia’s facilities now match up to those two schools.
But then he keenly shaped his answer the way a diplomat would.
“They handled themselves well,” Williams said. “They are up there. They are up there with all the facilities and all now. They are up there. They probably might have the best ones out there now. The best ones I have seen so far.”
How does he feel about the Bulldogs now?
“Georgia is still high on my list,” he said. “Along with a few other schools. Just got to see how the game goes. Just going to cycle through all of them and see which one is going to be my new home.”
He doesn’t know when he will be back at UGA. Williams said to look for him to take his official visit to UGA in the fall. As far as timelines go, he said he’s just trying to chill and take his visits for the time being.
“I am just going to see how all the schools are that I can play at,” he said.
Williams has scheduled officials to both Georgia Tech and Southern Cal this month. Kentucky is also going to get an official visit this month. That’s the current plan for the next three weekends.
Johnson found a way to sum up the new UGA in one word: “Impressive,” he said.
What message from Georgia really stuck with Mykel Williams?
Williams said he had a great conversation with Kirby Smart. He arrived around 10 a.m. on Thursday and was quickly ushered into Smart’s new palatial office.
Needed. Wanted. Have got to be a Bulldog.
McGee and Scott and Smart made sure he heard those things along the trip.
“They really just told me that’s where I need to be,” Williams said. “They told me I could come in and play a little bit of outside linebacker and defensive end. Just play the Edge. Just do what I have got to do.”
That’s interesting given that Williams is ranked on the 247Sports Composite as the nation’s No. 6 DL and the No. 23 overall recruit for the 2022 cycle.
Williams was appreciative of the chance to retire that laptop for a while. He called it a “blessing” to be able to park that Zoom recruiting.
“I don’t think there are going to be too many more of them,” he said. “Heck no. I’m not going to miss those.”
What’s the best thing that Georgia has going for it in his recruitment? He came back to his original thought and not a saltwater tub. Or a $12,000 locker. He didn’t even bring up the chairs in the lounge that will offer a hydro-massage.
“The best thing Georgia has got going for it right now with me is the people at Georgia and the relationships I have with the recruiting staff,” he said. “Just everything at Georgia with the relationships I have built. Especially with coach McGee. That’s my guy. Then with Logan and Cam and Coach Scott and Coach Smart. Really their whole staff. I’ve got a great relationship with everybody on their whole staff.”
SENTELL’S INTEL
(check on the recent recruiting reads on DawgNation.com)
- Official visit primer: Check out the eight big names at UGA this weekend
- Georgia football recruiting: Live updates from the first week back of visits
- Georgia football recruiting: Who’s visiting UGA today on June 3
- Georgia football recruiting: Who’s visiting UGA today on June 2
- Rewinding the first day of the “live period” for UGA recruiting
- Who’s visiting UGA on a busy first day back for on-campus recruiting?
- Big Bear Alexander will be in Athens on June 1
- Branson Robinson: The choir boy RB target than can run a 4.49 and bench press 410 pounds
- Deyon Bouie: The 5-star commit is still “locked-in” with UGA
- 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
Essential Intel
- Azeez Ojulari: His two NFL Draft days covered the longest 26 hours of his life
- The Big Bear Alexander: 5-star DT is “rock-solid” with his UGA commitment
- Georgia football freshman report: Red 28, Black 23
- Budding Malaki Starks and Jalon Walker friendship will be one to watch
- 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
