Want to attack every day with the latest Georgia football recruiting info? That’s the Intel. This rep has the first DawgNation story on unrated in-state TE prospect Amir Jackson of Portal High School in Southeast Georgia. He’s not rated by anyone. Anywhere. But that will quickly change.
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There are times in the dedicated day-to-day and hour-by-hour coverage of Georgia football recruiting that it feels like the scenes from a futuristic sci-fi classic of a generation ago.
“The Matrix” keeps scrolling code. The ‘Dawgs offer a top national prospect. Georgia coaches visit a certain school by helicopter. The Bulldogs are going to get a visit from a 5-star or a highly-touted 4-star that ranks among the nation’s top 100 recruits.
A recruit chops his top schools to a top 10 or a top 8 and the ‘Dawgs are in there. They might even be on top.
Those are all feats for other elite programs, but those are not fist-pumpers given the level Kirby Smart and the recruiters on his ship operate at. The red pill he offers is playing for a national championship team. The blue pill is to get drafted in the first round.
It seems like lately that both pills lead down the same rabbit hole after moving to Athens.
And yet then there is an offer like the one extended to unrated TE prospect Amir Jackson earlier this week. That one pops out like that lady in the red dress from the training program.
This Jackson offer is uncommon. The reasons why are quite numerous:
- He’s 6 feet, 5 inches and 218 pounds. He also averages 13 points and nine rebounds per game on the hardwood for Portal High.
- Jackson plays for Portal High in Southeast Georgia. He’s another #DSGB with the potential to be another great 912 Dawg in Athens
- Nobody has ranked Jackson from any site or national recruiting service but that will quickly change
- He was just offered a scholarship to play tight end at Georgia. That carries it with a significant distinction
- Jackson said that he played most receiver this year for Portal High. Once he started getting doubled and bracketed all the way, his coaches started getting the ball out to him on bubble screens.
- It is believed this offer to Jackson is one of the very few extended by UGA to a player at Portal High near Statesboro in school history, if not the first.
- “Coming from where I come from, this offer means a great deal,” Jackson said. “You just don’t get a lot of recognition playing football coming where I come from.”
- Take a look at the photo up above. See how close Jackson is to the rim. We just don’t see many athletes like that manning the tight end position. Except maybe at UGA
- Ace recruiter Todd Hartley extended an in-state offer here for the class of 2024. That’s because Georgia already needed a tight end of this class. The recent commitment and signing from unique 2023 recruit Walker Lyons certainly opened up the chance for Georgia to now take a 2024 tight end in this class to pair with 5-star Landen Thomas
- When it comes to TE evals for the last several years, that man Hartley does not miss. He’s better at that than Beth Dutton is at making enemies.
- Jackson had 22 catches for 428 yards and four touchdowns last fall, including four scores. That was good for an average of 19.4 yards per catch. He did so while also starting both ways at safety. He had 71 tackles, two forced fumbles with an interception in 2022.
- Prior to this offer, the major schools recruiting him were the likes of Georgia State and Troy. Florida had also recently got him on campus and had jumped into the mix.
- Why did the ‘Dawgs offer? Just watch his HUDL highlight film embedded below. The three-sport athlete (basketball, football, track) takes a bubble screen and breaks tackles and surges upfield for a 55-yard score on the first clip. He looks like “Neo” along that play. Just missing the trenchcoat.
- The big SEC offers could come off just that one clip. That’s enough. But there’s a clip of him making a key open-field tackle flying up from his safety spot. There’s a leaping scoring grab where he Mosses a pair of defenders on a jump ball. We could go on and on. The tape does.
This offer completely transforms his recruiting outlook. He couldn’t believe the DMs and interest from other coaches he got once he announced his 13th offer was from the two-time defending national champions.
“This offer means a lot,” Jackson said of the Georgia offer. “With them, it basically means that they are somewhat of a receiver. To make plays. Just a little more blocking than a receiver. But you’re the same thing as a receiver. You’re there to make plays. Basically.”
Check out his junior film.
What went through his mind when he got the offer?
“Man, I didn’t even have time to react,” Jackson said. “To be honest, everybody went crazy. I was at school at the moment. Everybody went crazy. But once I got to myself, I was like ‘Wow’ after it all happened. I was like ‘I just got an offer from Georgia’ today.”
The really cool part about this offer to Amir Jackson
It is certainly not yet known whether or not Jackson will be a Bulldog. It is so very very early in his process. He has never visited UGA before, much less been to a game at Dooley Field inside Sanford Stadium.
His only other trip to Athens was for basketball for an AAU game. But this offer has garnered him a new nickname of “Mr. D-1″ from friends and teammates.
The other name he had prior to that probably best belongs on an elementary school playground.
Jackson shared a story of watching the Bulldogs play TCU in the national championship game this year.
“I was watching,” he said. “But I turned it off after the first quarter.”
He now has an offer from the two-time defending national champions.
“I wouldn’t have believed you if you had told me that one of those teams from that game was going to offer me this year,” Jackson said. “Well, I guess TCU maybe. Not Georgia.”
He hails from a family of Georgia fans. But he walked his own path growing up. He was a huge fan of the Oregon Ducks growing up. The chrome helmets and swag colors were one thing. The fast-paced way they played the game was another.
That said, he realizes this offer will now jump-start his recruiting.
“I think it turns it up on a whole another level,” he said. “Being it is Georgia and the back-to-back national champions. But to be honest, I thought it would have exploded once I got Kentucky or Florida. But once I got Georgia, I got a bunch of DMs and a whole bunch of new people and new schools wanting to recruit me.”
Jackson now joins Statesboro defensive back Kam Mikell as key names to know from the region for the 2024 class in Athens. Mikell has been a Georgia target for some time. He has already taken a few trips to check out UGA and the Bulldogs went to watch him play basketball in January.
He had a slow start in recreation league football. Jackson just didn’t know how to play. He had to learn how the game. The second-oldest of eight siblings has been timed at 4.6 seconds in the 40-yard dash.
“I never imagined it going this far,” said Jackson, who has six brothers and one sister. “With a Georgia offer now. I didn’t think I would get this far.”
Why did Hartley offer Jackson?
“He said because of my athleticism and my ability to make plays on the ball,” Jackson said.
The unrated athlete from the Coastal Empire now plans to visit UGA in March. We can’t wait to see what happens from there.
SENTELL’S INTEL
(check on the recent reads on DawgNation.com)
- Dylan Raiola: The 5-star QB says the ‘Dawgs play “a different breed of football”
- Duce Robinson: The “very underrated” family connection between the 5-star and Georgia football
- BREAKING: The nation’s No. 1 cornerback prospect Ellis Robinson IV is now a ‘Dawg
- Duce Robinson: What a Todd Monken move might mean plus what he’s thinking about his decision
- Jamal Meriweather: Class of 2023 OT commit reflects on his official visit and bright future at UGA
- BREAKING: Electric RB prospect Dwight Phillips Jr. commits to Georgia football
- Ellis Robinson IV: The genuine reason why the nation’s No. 1 junior CB will commit on February 1
- Sammy Brown: Why the LB depth that’s built up in Athens is actually a plus for UGA
- Colin Simmons: The 5-star EDGE breaks down an “amazing” first trip to UGA
- Remembering Chandler LeCroy: She was NEVER not smiling
- Dylan Raiola: Why a “gold standard” Georgia football program now has a strong chance with the nation’s No. 1 overall prospect for 2024
- Eddrick Houston: The 5-star priority target recaps his national title celebration visit
- BREAKING: Elite class of 2025 OT Micah Debose commits to the G
- BREAKING: Elite class of 2025 in-state DL Justus “Jay” Terry commits to the G
- What we’re hearing on the national championship celebration recruiting weekend in Athens
- Remembering Devin Willock: Remember the life of a gone-far-too-soon championship Bulldog
- PHOTOS: Georgia football welcomes 5-stars and elite recruits to the national title celebration
- Colin Simmons: The nation’s No. 1 EDGE for 2024 previews his first UGA visit this weekend
- WATCH: Bill Goldberg steps in to congratulate Peyton Woodyard on committing to the G
- All-time great DGD Nolan Smith shares why the second championship means more for him
- Jordan “Big Baby” Hall: The story behind his viral “Money Drop” moment at the All-American Bowl
- BREAKING: Nation’s No. 2 junior safety Peyton Woodyard had made his college decision
