This Sentell’s Intel rep on Georgia football recruiting has the first DawgNation read on 4-star California wideout Vance Spafford. He ranks as the nation’s No. 14 WR and the No. 97 overall prospect for 2025 on the 247Sports Composite. The On3 Industry Ranking has him as the No. 16 WR and at No. 111 overall.
California junior WR Vance Spafford will be visiting Georgia football today for Mississippi State.
Put that in the Ron Burgundy “very big deal” file for the biggest recruiting visitors so far in Athens this year. Especially for the 2026 class.
Why? Well, there’s a whole lot of reasons why here.
Let’s start with the biggest.
- Spafford has been laser timed at 4.35 in the 40 and 10.69 in the 100 meters. He took on all comers and won the “Fastest Man” Challenge this past summer at the Under Armour “Future 50″ event at IMG Academy in Florida. Freshman RB Dwight Phillips and senior WR Arian Smith are the only two Bulldogs who are clearly faster than the high school junior.
Well, that’s debatable if that is actually the biggest.
- The 5-foot-11, 175-pound Spafford has put together ELITE production in his sophomore season and also already in his junior year. Spafford caught 83 passes for 1,576 yards and 22 touchdowns as a sophomore in 2023.
- He’s followed that up with 36 catches for 700 yards and another 14 TDs so far this season. That’s 19.4 yards per catch as a marked man out in California.
- Spafford is also on the same Mission Viejo team in California with 6-foot-3 cornerback Dijon Lee. Lee, a 5-star Alabama commit, is also expected in Athens today. The coaches at Mission Viejo love what they have in Lee, but they have also made it clear that Spafford gives Lee absolute fits trying to stay with him. That’s because nobody really guard him. They just tackle him after big chunk catches.
On second thought, that’s probably not the biggest reason why the Spafford visit should have DawgNation’s full attention today.
The biggest reason to pay close attention to Spafford’s visit today is this will be his first-ever visit to the UGA campus.
And yet somehow the Dawgs are already very much in contention. They are already right among his top schools heading into his weekend visit.
Why? Follow along closely to what Spafford told DawgNation this week to preview this visit:
- “I definitely feel like a priority for them,” Spafford said. “We’ve had multiple talks. They’ve all been nothing but positive. They are always checking in. It is probably the school I talk to the most. Which was very surprising to me because Georgia is Georgia. I think they reach out a lot. I talk to them the most and they are always very nice when I talk to them. It is always great talking to them.”
- “Well, I’m not going to give out all my secrets but they are very high,” he said when asked about where UGA currently sits in his recruitment. “I’m not going to tell you exactly how high but they are extremely high. I just love that they are the best. They play against the best. You get everybody’s best. It is the top of the top and I just am kind of going to this visit to just experience it and see if I could fit in their routine and regimen.”
- “I can’t wait to speak to and meet Kirby Smart. I think Kirby Smart is absolutely hilarious. I think he’s an amazing coach. I’m very excited to talk to him and see what he’s about and everything. I’m excited to show face to the coaches and talk to everybody and just kind of collect the vibe there.”
What would a great visit this weekend mean to Georgia’s chances to sign Spafford?
“Absolutely massive,” he said. “They have a big chance already and a great visit would just multiply it and put them out so far ahead of everybody else.”
It is overdue at this point to reference a sage decision made by Spafford’s mother when he was young. How did he get to be so fast? The answer was his mother Cathy Brouthers put him on game early. When he was in elementary school, she already had him working with track guys.
“If I’m being honest, it was a great plan by my mother,” Spafford said. “She had me do speed training when I was very young. So when I was very young, I was able to build the form and I had really good running form when I was really young. So then as I was getting bigger, I wasn’t worrying about if I was running right or if my running form correct.”
“My running form was already good. As I got bigger, I just added on strength and speed and just getting older and I feel like that’s what propelled me. And I’ve built that on a lot of God-given gifts.”
Looking for another reason to not sleep on this Spafford visit? There’s also this solid gold game film so far.
Vance Spafford: How has Georgia football already built a connection
Spafford hears from Georgia wide receivers coach James Coley, assistant receivers coach Cam Odom and player connections coordinator David Hill. Hill has really made a connection to Spafford.
There is a common thread here between Spafford and what former Georgia great Ladd McConkey did to spark the Dawgs during his time in Athens.
“Well, they love the Ladd McConkey stuff,” Spafford said. “They love that I’m like him. They say great things about me as a receiver and my speed. The thing that they love most is that I can play special teams. I’ve very willing to do that. I’m willing to block the punts. Block the kicks. Return whatever you want. I’m kind of willing to do whatever. I want to see the field as much as possible and as soon as possible.”
“That’s what I tell them. I’ll do whatever they want me to. If they want to throw me out there to run routes, too, then that would be even more of a plus.”
He embraces the McConkey parallel. They both have that same start-stop twitch that made McConkey so dangerous in the SEC.
Spafford is already faster than McConkey was during their junior years of high school. The North Murray marvel wasn’t clocking any 10.69s or 4.35s yet at that time.
“I think Ladd McConkey is very great and he’s doing really good in the NFL right now,” Spafford said. “I watch him when he comes on. ... I love the Ladd McConkey comparison. I think he’s great. I have nothing against that at all.”
Spafford said it would “be amazing” if he could have the type of career at UGA in the SEC that McConkey did and wind up as a second-round pick and a first-year starter in the NFL.
The cool part about the way that Vance Spafford is wired
Spafford has blocked two punts this year.
He has a unique perspective on those given that he’s scored 36 touchdowns so far across his sophomore and still-very-much-in-progress junior season.
“I am going to be a little bit humble here,” he said. “But catching the touchdowns for me is not like a big whoopty woo. I love blocking the punts and blocking the kicks and doing all the special teams stuff. I feel like it is a very unique thing. I feel like a lot of people undeestimate it and they don’t think it is very big. But that is such a big way to change the game in a way that people don’t expect it.”
If that sounds like this is the ideal Kirby Smart receiver target, then it should.
He doesn’t return the punts for his team this fall. That will be next year. He wants to block them this year. He will return the punts next year and he already returns kickoffs for Mission Viejo.
Spafford loves to be underestimated. He had a grandfather that played college basketball, but he would be the first member of his family to play college football.
“I just love to play football,” he said. “It is just what makes me happy. I love to prove people wrong. I love how everybody thinks that I’m a white receiver. I’m not really that big. I love to justto show them that even though you might say all this it is not going to be anything to me. I just like to show everybody I can really do anything. I don’t like to be told no like ‘you can’t do this’ or ‘you can’t be a jump ball guy’ and go out there and show everybody I can do everything you think I can’t do.”
How does he feel about playing in the SEC?
“Distance is not a factor at all,” Spafford said. “When I was getting bigger, I kind of realized I want to get out of California to play college ball. So [distance] is not a factor at all for me. I can figure out the traveling and all that. To be able to play on the big stage and to play in the SEC on the best team in the nation, flying into Athens from California will not be a big thing for me. Because I want to leave this state. I want to experience something new. I’ve lived here my entire life. I want to be very versatile in the way I live my life. I want to experience new things.”
When he won that fastest man among the 50 of the highest-rated junior skill guys this summer, he turned heads.
“I kind of do feel like a unicorn,” he said. “Because people don’t really expect that at all and I kind of take that as my advantage. All these DBs, they look at me when I go, if I’m just behind honest they go ‘He’s a little white kid’ and “He’s not really going to do anything’ and I take that as an advantage. I love the disrespect. It does nothing but make me feel good. I hope people press me so I can run a fade and just score a touchdown. It feels great.”
“I hate when people know what I can do because it just makes it a little harder. But I love the disrespect. Everyone can disrespect me all they want and please don’t think I’m good. All that stuff. I’ll take it all day because it makes me look amazing.”
He’s confident. Not cocky. It feels like the same ways that Deion Sanders used to be. Especially in the way that Travis Hunter is now.
But don’t think for a second he’s not earning his success. We’ve seen a lot of fast and twitchy guys who can fly but their route tree looks like the Charlie Brown Christmas tree.
That’s not Spafford. He puts in the time.
“I’ve spent countless hours perfecting my craft,” he said. “Still perfecting it. I will always be perfecting it. Just running routes for hours after practice. After a full practice, I’m like ‘let’s run some routes’ and just doing little things and then I’ve always loved the game of football. I love how everything works. I always try to be as smart as the quarterback. I want to know what they’re thinking. I want to know what they see and compare it to what I see. I want to know where to fit in the windows. I want to know everything about football. I’m still learning the pass protection. That’s about all I need to learn.”
“Once I get that down, I feel like you can test me on anything and I’d be locked in.”
SENTELL’S INTEL
(check on the recent reads on Georgia football recruiting)
