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 Daniel Calhoun. He ranks as the nation’s No. 6 OT and the No. 98 overall prospect for 2024 on the 247Sports Composite ratings. The On3 Industry Ranking has him as the nation’s No. 7 OT and the No. 116 overall recruit.
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The top offensive line prospect in Georgia is set to make his college commitment tomorrow.
Walton High School OT Daniel Calhoun is one of five remaining major OL prospects for Georgia in the 2024 class. Could the ‘Dawgs close with two, three or even four of those?
Calhoun’s pending choice is part of a potential avalanche of good news looming. Or a sidetrack of momentum for the 2024 Stacy Searels reloading of the offensive line futures in Athens.
Texas All-American Michael Uini chose Georgia on Friday. North Carolina target Ethan Calloway put on an LSU ballcap on that very same day.
Both took official visits and were recruited heavily by the ‘Dawgs. Those two were the starter kit of a parade that will see seven OL prospects that Georgia hosted for official visits make their college commitments between June 30 and July 12.
The next man up in that circuit is Calhoun on July 5. The 6-foot-6, 356-pound rising senior is a top 100 overall prospect and is widely regarded as the state’s top OL prospect for 2024.
He could be a post-Indepedence Day big boom that has Georgia fans feeling like Will Smith did after he throttled some aliens.
The priority Georgia football OT prospect has done all his officials. He’s been to Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Tennessee and Texas over the last month.
Team Calhoun has been in the deliberation phase since those OVs ended.
What will be key here?
“Just really trying to find a school,” he said last week. “See what my parents feel like. Who is going to develop me the most? That’s really it.”
The talking points are simple.
“Who develops offensive tackles?” Calhoun said. “Who is going to put them in the league? But also like the relationships between the coaches and the players.”
Calhoun has been talking to the ‘Dawgs a lot over the last month. That is to be expected.
The All-American has been a big target for this class for some time. He’s been in the front row of the West End Zone recruiting section at the end of his freshman and sophomore years. That’s when those sections were brand new.
He said last week he’s been talking to UGA “probably every day” leading up to his decision date. When Calhoun brings up the pitches he’s been getting from Georgia there, he’s also talking about 5-star QB commitment Dylan Raiola.
“Dylan,” Calhoun said. “He has been texting me every day.”
Raiola has been looking for personal protectors. Plural. He’s already got Malachi Tolliver, Marcus Harrsion and Michael Uini. The minimum height to get into that club is already 6 feet, 6 inches.
There won’t be much fanfare to this decision. There will be no school ceremony or live-streaming announcement during the holiday week. Look for Calhoun to simply drop an edit tomorrow.
Daniel Calhoun: How much have the official visits shaped this decision?
Calhoun said that he enjoyed his officials last month. He got out to see five schools that he already knew very well prior to taking those OVs.
“With the official visits you spend more time with the players and the coaches,” he said. “I’ve spent most of the time with the players. Picking their brains. How they like the school and stuff like that.”
Here’s a thought that will cause some consternation among DawgNation. When asked to rank his officials, he said that a soon-to-be former SEC East school had the best visit.
That was Tennessee.
“We were on the river,” Calhoun said. “That was hard.”
Truth be told, the ‘Dawgs might not even have had the second-best official. The Texas Longhorns put on a show that involved a lot of top-tier European sports cars. They had Lambos on the scene for his official in Austin. When the priority recruits heard those engines rev as they were walking by, it left quite an impression.
What sort of impression did the ‘Dawgs leave on him from that official visit? He said Georgia redshirt sophomore OL Micah Morris was a key influencer in terms of shaping what it would like to be a ‘Dawg.
“Really the whole offensive line really,” he said. “I always like to spend more time with the players and then talking to them.”
“They talk about development and coach (Stacy) Searels and coach (Kirby) Smart and how they develop offensive linemen,” Calhoun said. “Really like development really. That’s what they preach about.”
Calhoun said his decision had not been made as he headed into the holiday weekend. Calhoun is fortunate to have had two older brothers go through the recruiting experience and also the Power 5 football experience.
The nation’s No. 9 OT saw one brother head up to play for Minnesota in the Big Ten. He had another brother play for Wake Forest in the Atlantic Coast Conference. He’s fortunate to have been able to compare his pros and cons lists with two family members with that level of engagement with big-time college football and what to really look for.
The main ingredients for the decision here are simple:
- Development
- Relationships with the players and coaches
- The school itself and the academic benefits of that degree
DawgNation will be hunkered down waiting for this one on Wednesday.
SENTELL’S INTEL
(check on the recent reads on Georgia football recruiting)
