This Sentell’s Intel rep on Georgia football recruiting has the latest with . He ranks as the nation’s No. 22 LB and the No. 203 overall prospect for 2025 on the 247Sports Composite. The On3 Industry Ranking has him as the No. 25 LB and at No. 225 overall.
Christian Gass has a big choice coming up next week.
He already knows what team he will choose. That will be the Georgia Bulldogs. With the pick of any school in the country, he’s taking the homestate Dawgs.
Of course, we’re talking about the new EA Sports College Football 25 video game. Not his July 20 college commitment decision.
It all came about as an innocent question to Gass. Really.
“Whoa that’s a good question,” he paused first before answering. “I’m not going to lie. I’m going to play with Georgia. I can say that for sure. Colorado. I’m going to play with Tennessee, uh, who else.”
The way the internet works his answer will be taken too seriously by the fan bases at Georgia, Tennessee and USC.
Probably. Yeah, most likely.
That question wasn’t what his current leader was. Gass said he hasn’t made his decision yet and he doesn’t even have an idea yet in his back pocket that he will keep to himself.
To clarify, he said the first team we will play with will be the homestate Georgia Bulldogs. Even though he didn’t grow up a fan of any certain school.
Why was Georgia the first school?
“I mean that’s a big Dawg team,” he said. “That’s the team I’ve been watching all my life. Yeah, for sure. That’s the team I am definitely going to play with first. Um, I’ve got to play with ‘Bama. Georgia versus ‘Bama. One of my friends has got to play with them.”
He didn’t have that dream school, but really started watching a lot of college football over the last year. He now watches it more than the NFL.
What does he like best about Georgia? It has to do with a standard the he sees in Athens.
“Honestly it is just real genuine love,” he said. “Just knowing that they hold themselves at a high priority. I can just learn from all the guys that are there now and a coach that has been there for years and just having that history of linebackers. Just knowing that I can continue to learn and just put my foot in the ground and get to it.”
Tennessee remains a major factor here in this decision. He cited a lot of strengths and positives about the way the Vols have conducted their pitch to join their program.
What does the 6-foot-3, 219-pound rising senior hope to find in the perfect school?
“Position-wise I want to play ‘Stack ‘backer and EDGE,” he said. “Life after football and just having that real genuine love and that feeling.”
How does the relationship with Georgia defensive coordinator and LB coach Glenn Schumann stack up here? Is it genuine?
“Most definitely,” Gass said. “Schumann tells me all the time he’s going to shoot me straight. He’s not going to tell me or sit here and tell me that I am going to play. He’s not going to tell me this this and that. But he is going to tell me he’s going to teach me and I’m going to work hard and he’s going to make me a better man.”
USC is definitely in the mix here. Gass said that. But it does sound like Georgia and Tennessee are the two schools that are drawing most of his final thoughts here.
“It is more so them two,” he said. “I am leaning more towards them for sure.”
He feels that both UGA and UT are genuine. He feels like a top priority to both.
“The real constrast is I feel like is their schemes,” he said. “Every scheme is really the same but there’s different things to learn. The roster is a little different. All those things. It is really hard to contrast but it is just one is Georgia and one is Tennessee. They have their differences.”
Christian Gass: The things that stick out about this 4-star LB prospect
Gass has only played LB for one full high school season. This fall will be his second season.
He played in a 4-2-5 look last fall.
He will shift to a base 3-3-5 front for his senior season. Check out what he put on tape last fall for Eastside High below.
Look for that play early in that tape where he’s in middle of the field in the endzone. Covering a running back in the playoffs. He breaks up the play.
“At that size,” Eastside head coach Jay Cawthon said. “To cover a little running back straight down the field. To jump up and do that. That’s pretty impressive.”
That’s his football DNA. What does he hope that tape says about him?
“How fast I play and most defintely I want them to see physicality,” he said. “That’s definitely I want them to see. If they don’t see that then, then I’m definitely doing something wrong.”
He made a lot of plays on that tape. Perhaps the one play he didn’t make also says a lot about him.
That came last fall against Jefferson High. There was a key play where he met 5-star LB and multiple All-State pick Sammy Brown at the goal line.
It was a snap from the 1. Or just inside the 1. Those two future college starters met at the hole. It was an initial stalemate, but the savvy and highly-athletic Brown twisted toward paydirt for the score.
“It is crazy because I can’t go nowhere without my friends saying something about the play,” he said. “But it is good on me because that makes me want to go harder. When that play happened, my coach told me before that play to ‘Meet him at the hole’ and I thought I wasn’t as close.”
“So when I met him I was like ‘Boom’ and then he rolled off of me.”
He maybe gained a half-yard on the play. But Brown got enough.
“Christian has no fear,” Cawthon said. “He fears nobody but he respects everybody.”
“Last year was really his first year playing varsity football. He didn’t play much his sophomore year. His ceiling is so high.”
The other thing to know about Gass is where he’s from. Eastside is the home of former Bulldog Eric Stokes Jr. Stokes is revered around Eastside and the vibe around Gass is much the same.
They both have never had anything handed to him. They come from hard-working families, too.
“Christian came out of nowhere hear for us,” Cawthon said. “As a freshman, we had him as a safety. He could run.”
“It is a lot like the Eric Stokes story. We didn’t know what the hell he was. We moved him down to defensive end his sophomore year and he’s one of the hardest workers that have every come through this program. He’s one of the most humble kids. He cares about his teammates.”
“He’s the number one student-athlete you would ever want on your team. He doesn’t even have a tardy on his record. If we had a hundred of him [on our team] we wouldn’t have to be out here. They’d do all the practicing themselves.”
“He’s just that type of kid. He’s a worker. He’s worked to get everything he’s got.”
He’s really just a baby in football terms. Still so much to learn.
“But he’s got an 83-inch wingpan,” Cawton said. “He’s a spongue as well when it comes to football.”
Christian Gass: The one other thing to think about here
There was one other subject to explore here given his final group. It is nothing revolutionary to say that every program in college football is associated with NIL these days.
But the Trojans and Volunteers have traditionally made those fiscal resources a bigger part of their recruiting pitch over the years that the Bullldogs.
Or at the very least it is much more publicized.
How much will NIL play a role here in the final decision for Gass? Will it be a major factor?
“I mean, to be honest, it is not really a big factor,” Gass said. “I’m going to be honest. Of course, you want to get paid to play. You know, who don’t want to make money while they are in college and save that money and do what they have got to do with it? But its not really a big factor for me. I wanna definitely be able to make some money and be able to save that and at least help my Momma out. It plays a little part.”
“Not too big a part, though.”
SENTELL’S INTEL
(check on the recent reads on Georgia football recruiting)
