Want to attack every day with the latest Georgia football recruiting info? That’s the Intel. This rep has the latest with 4-star OT Michael Uini. He ranks as the nation’s No. 8 OT and the No. 130 overall prospect for 2024 on the 247Sports Composite ratings. The On3 Industry Ranking has him as the nation’s No. 10 OT and the No. 150 overall recruit.
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Michael Uini (Ooh-Nee) is six feet, eight inches and about 325 pounds. That’s with his socks on.
The 4-star OT from Texas is ranked as the nation’s No. 8 OT. He’s clocked the 40-yard dash in 4.95 seconds.
He’s known as “Big Mike” around Copperas Cove High in Texas, but he’s going to be another talented OL in Georgia’s offensive line room. “Big Mike” will feel right at home.
There are a lot of big dudes on that collective depth chart.
Uini chose today to reveal his choice to become the next member of the massive human earthmover club that comprises the Stacy Searels offensive line in Athens.
Georgia scours the nation for prospects built like Mike. Especially in the 2024 recruiting class. Uini now joins 6-foot-8 Marcus Harrison and 6-foot-6-plus Malachi Tolvier as the three current OL commits in Georgia’s current class.
The back-to-back national champions earn the commitment from a Top 10 national OT prospect for this cycle amongst a stacked group of contenders that included Alabama, Clemson and Michigan.
He’s a massive human but is still a talented athlete. For those that know offensive line terminology and training techniques, he was responsible for breaking a 2-man “Crowther” blocking sled this spring.
This was a hit that flipped the sled. That’s a very rare and difficult thing to do.
There was a pre-game drill in the sixth week of last season where Uini was working a simple one-step “punch” drill on a 6-foot-1, 240-pound senior defensive end where that instruction of skill, leverage, power and timing lifted that teammate off the ground and into the air.
It was not done with any ill intent. This was against a teammate right before a game.
His teammate’s feet came off the ground. His head hit the turf first. It was a “wow” moment for a head coach that has spent his nearly 30-year career as an offensive line guy.
“I’m 50 years old,” Copperas Cove head coach Tony Johnson said. “It takes a lot to get me to jump. That was a ‘Holy Crap’ moment. That was Micheal Jordan hitting the shot against the Jazz with five seconds left. That was a ‘Holy Crap’ moment for me for sure.”
Check out the junior film below for Uini here:
Michael Uini: The one-year transformation that led him to Georgia football
The decision here came down to Alabama and Georgia. That is the pinnacle of college football for a lineman that still looks to be a little bit raw on tape.
But that is understandable given where he was about a year ago at this time.
He was part of a program that ran Wing-T football until the new staff arrived for the 2022 season and underwent a drastic move to the “Spread” or a more multiple-set offense.
“He still needs to be developed,” Copperas Cove head coach Tony Johnson said. “I will say that. I don’t think that Mike is a guy that can come in right away and play, but he might. He might, but I will tell you, it is hard to express to somebody that doesn’t see him from day to day but if you saw where he was two Februaries ago you would be blown away by how this kid looks now and how he moves now and what he does.”
The college recruiters that came around Copperas Cove in the spring of 2022 were floored to see his progress this spring. He took a quantum leap in his game under a new coaching staff. Searels and OL coach Eric Wolford at Alabama said the said thing. The Michigan line coach was there, too.
“They would come back in my office and go ‘Unbelievable coach’ and ‘Unbelievable’ from what he looks like and how he moves from a year ago,” Johnson said. “They said ‘What have you done?’ to get him to where he is now. Literally multiple Division One line coaches looking at me and saying that and you know what it is not me.”
“It is a little bit of me and it is a lot of bit of Mike and who Mike is.”
“Mike is a guy that has got two parents. They are retired military. They have served time in the Gulf. Multiple tours of duty. They are very hardened and very dedicated and a real strong family-oriented people. They are Samoan on top of that so that makes it even more of a family-oriented bond there.”
“He gets discipline at home. He gets a work ethic. He gets this is how you get better. He just needed someone to come in and show him. The other piece of that is he takes coaching. You don’t know me, but I am a bit of a hard ass. He takes that hard coaching and he absorbs it.”
“Some coaches I think are scared to coach the prima donna kid. They are scared to coach the guy that is getting all of the attention because they don’t want to make them mad or they will transfer to another school and leave. Man, I am in his ass constantly. His own line coach is in his ass constantly.”
This Under Armour All-American just takes coaching. He’s elevated his game substantially in a year because of it. It was like all the lights turned on. Uini got violent. He learned to pass block and do it well. The big thing he needed to do was work on his pass protection. That’s logical coming out of a Wing-T system.
“In my 30 years of coaching, it is probably the most amazing one-year transition that I have seen in any player,” Johnson said.
This is a worker here. He has not missed a single summer strength and conditioning workout at Copperas Cove unless he was leaving for a college official visit.
“He is committed,” Johnson said. “He’s not at Gold’s or not with a private trainer. Or that he’s too big-time and going down to Austin to one of those indoor facilities to train with former NFL linemen. He doesn’t do any of that. He stays with us. I think that’s a piece that gets lost in this thing. That’s how much he loves his teammates, how much he loves his coaches and how much he has bought into what we do.”
The bend is showing now. So are the feet. He’s always been a gifted athlete because of his basketball background. He knows where his hands fit, what his hand placement is and how to remove a defender from the play once he gets his hands on them.
That’s where he has gotten a lot better. There’s a story going around where he was working out on a treadmill during his official visit to Athens. That was to help offset all the filet medallions and steak dinners that he’s been eating on his official visits this month.
Uini is expected to take another substantial leap forward in his senior season. He will be an early graduate and will be able to enroll early in Athens in January of 2024.
The All-American OL has the balance, footwork, bend and agility to project to be either a left or a right tackle in Athens based on his development under Searels.
Johnson feels that the proper development will lead him to the NFL. That’s because he considers Uini to be a highly-intelligent young man.
If he listens to his coaches and stays healthy, he feels he has a bright Sunday future.
“I think you’re talking about a guy that in three or four years that should be shaking Roger Goddell’s hand, “Johnson said.
Georgia football recruiting: What this means for the 2024 recruiting class
There are a few things to take a look at here. The first of those is that he becomes the 22nd public commitment for a 2024 Georgia football class that already ranks No. 1 nationally for all the major recruiting services.
Check out the official visits here: Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Florida and Michigan. That’s a pretty stout group.
He can also play the left or right tackle position. It takes a special athlete to play that left tackle spot. They almost need to be an oversized power forward from the basketball court.
“I totally think he is a left tackle,” Johnson said. “All the way. To what you just said, he’s Karl Malone. He can move. He can pivot. You should really watch him play basketball. He’s a great mover.”
He’s the third offensive lineman in a class that could go six deep. Uini is also the 12th member of the class that will play on the offensive side and the 14th out-of-state commitment in the 2024 class.
Uini adds to a strong collection of top talent. With this decision, the ‘Dawgs now have commitments from 15 players ranked among the nation’s top 150 recruits in this class on the 247Sports Composite ratings.
He’s also the first undecided OL target that Georgia hosted on an official visit over the last two months to go with the ‘Dawgs. Georgia hosted 11 of the nation’s top OLs on official visits over the last six weeks in Athens.
4-star North Carolina OT Ethan Calloway chose LSU earlier today, as expected, but he did give UGA an official visit.
There are five more major UGA targets set to make their decisions by July 12 of next month, beginning with 4-star in-state priority Daniel Calhoun.
There’s also an emerging Polynesian pipeline that is forming in this year’s class. When Dylan Raiola chose UGA back in May, he was believed to be the first player of Polynesian descent to join the Bulldogs since Kawika Mitchell in 1998.
The staff in Athens has long wanted to add players of Polynesian descent to the program. That’s something that they have noticed at other schools in the South. Once Tua Tagovaiola came to Alabama, that’s where more Polynesian players started to follow him to Tuscaloosa.
Uini’s family bloodlines are Samonan. It appears that Raiola and Uini will be the first players of Polynesian descent in Athens since Mitchell in 1998.
Marques Uini: File this one away for the 2026 recruiting class
Uini has a younger brother, Marques, that is in the Class of 2026. He will be the starting left guard next to his brother this fall.
Marques Uini has a recent offer from Michigan. The expectation is that every offer in the country will likely follow suit.
He’s almost as strong as his big brother is now. Marques is already squatting 550 pounds at this time. The little brother already benches and squats what his older brother squats.
That’s because the previous staff at Copperas Cove didn’t emphasize the strength and conditioning that Johnson’s staff does now.
“Marques is going to be a special one, too,” Johnson said. “You and I will be having the same conversation again in three years if I am here about him possibly going to the Bulldogs, too.”
“He’s better than Mike actually given their ages. To be honest with you.”
There’s a great story here to file away for the future. That’s what happened when Johnson asked Marques about what his career goals and dreams were for his future.
This was during a spring home visit that he does with the families of his players.
“He looks at everyone around the table and says ‘I want everyone to forget who Michael is when I’m done’ and I went ‘That’s a freaking great answer’ and he works like that,” Johnson said. “They love each other, but you can tell that there is something there that he wants everyone to forget who his older brother is when he’s done playing, too.”
Marques Uini is 6-foot-4 and 270 pounds right now. He’s not taller than Mike was at the same age.
File that one away.
“He’d be a perfect guard,” Johnson said. “He’d be a great guard for the Bulldogs.”
SENTELL’S INTEL
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