Want to attack every day with the latest Georgia football recruiting info? That’s the Intel. This rep has the latest with another packed weekend of June official visits in Athens.
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Georgia hosted 12 of the nation’s top 100 overall prospects last weekend on official visits. That figure included seven recruits holding that elite 5-star ranking. While the ‘Dawgs hosted those seven 5-star targets, we counted up the number of 5-star recruits that 15 of the nation’s top college football programs were hosting.
Those 15 big-boy schools hosted 10 total 5-star recruits.
It was every bit a massive weekend for the ‘Dawgs with six commits and one future commit (Justin Greene) making up the 16 total visitors. That left nine prospects that Georgia remains in the hunt for. The ‘Dawgs look to be right in the thick of things with six of those remaining visitors from last week, including a pair of 5-star DLs in Justin Scott and Williams Nwaneri.
Does that mean Georgia took its best shot last weekend with a big official visit weekend?
Hardly. They do things differently in Athens than the preference at Clemson.
The ‘Dawgs will host a list of another 13 official visitors starting this afternoon headlined by a trio of in-state prospects with that coveted 5-star ranking. Buford safety KJ Bolden and defensive lineman Eddrick Houston make up two members of that trio.
We’ve seen Houston as one of the two most important potential signees in the 2024 class at UGA Georgia for well over a year now. The other one of those would be 5-star QB commit Dylan Raiola.
5-star Parkview WR Mike Matthews Jr. is the third prospect with a 5-star ranking in town this week.
Bolden and Houston were the Nos. 1 and 2 top remaining top targets for the 2024 class on the weekly DawgNation “Before the Hedges” program this week. Bolden actually moved up to the No. 1 spot for the first time in our weekly overview of the 2024 class in Athens.
Here’s a quick comparison between this weekend and last weekend:
- Last week’s official visitors: Seven 5-stars; Five of the nation’s top 15 overall prospects; Nine top 50 national prospects; 12 Top 100 national prospects; Six commits; 16 total official visitors
- This week’s official visitors: Three 5-stars; Three of the nation’s top 15 overall prospects; Five top 50 overall prospects; Six top 100 overall prospects; Five commitments; 13 official visitors
Perhaps the biggest difference is that this week’s guest list features three prospects in Bolden, Houston and Matthews that are from Georgia and ranked among the nation’s top 15 overall prospects. This was supposed to be the weekend for the 5-star homegrowns to visit.
Georgia did not host a single 5-star official visitor from the Peach State last weekend.
5-star LB Sammy Brown was also supposed to be in town this weekend for his official. Give Clemson credit there for nailing down his commitment last weekend and getting him to shut down his recruitment. The Georgia flavor continues on this week with a pair of committed in-state prospects in town in 3-stars Malachi Toliver and Sacovie White. Those two gentlemen are from Northwest Georgia.
Jalen Heyward, a 4-star safety commitment, will be in town this weekend. He’ll be joined by Missouri 4-star TE commitment Jaden Reddell and 4-star QB commit Ryan Puglisi. Nitro “Showtime” Tuggle is one of the fastest-rising WR prospects nationally and he’s another commit in town this weekend.
There’s another element that adds a little bit of spice to this weekend. 4-star RB Nathan Frazier from Mater Dei in California will be in town this weekend on an unofficial visit. Frazier should be seen as part of the best possible anticipated close for UGA in this class at the RB spot.
Frazier has seen his rankings spike. The 5-foot-11, 205-pound home run threat now ranks as the nation’s No. 5 RB and the No. 76 overall recruit on the 247Sports Composite. When Frazier finished his junior season, he was the nation’s No. 195 overall prospect on that same scale. He’s also risen from being seen as the nation’s No. 94 overall prospect back in April.
The best part there is Frazier plans to save his official visit for later this season. He’s also planning to commit at some point over the summer.
This weekend’s slate of official visitors compares nicely to the first weekend of June in 2022. That’s when the ‘Dawgs hosted four prospects with a 5-star ranking (247Sports Composite scale) and a total of eight prospects that were ranked among the nation’s top 100 recruits.
That was seen then as the biggest OV weekend ever at UGA in Smart’s time. Until last week.
Given the weight of prospects in town this week, the importance of this weekend certainly feels a lot more substantial than just another big official visit weekend in June.
There will be a slight lull next weekend comparatively speaking before the scheduled June 23 visitors arrive. That weekend already features another stout guest list with two more 5-star official visitors and a total of four top 100 overall national prospects.
When this weekend’s visits wind up on Sunday afternoon, the Bulldogs will have hosted 34 of its NCAA-allowed 56 official visitors since May 19.
This week’s “Before the Hedges” streaming program on DawgNation’s platforms devoted another good chunk of the show to this weekend’s official visitors.
Let’s take a look at each side of the ball for this weekend below.
Georgia football recruiting: Checking out the weekend officials on defense
The defensive group for Georgia this weekend features a pair of 5-stars and four prospects ranked among the nation’s top 100 overall recruits. That’s four of the six official visitors that are ranked that highly this weekend, including four prospects ranked among the nation’s top 60 overall recruits.
New Jersey 4-star DL Jordan Thomas is the lowest-rated defensive target in town this weekend. He’s still rated No. 108 overall nationally.
Here’s who is expected to be in town on the defensive side:
| Player | Rankings |
|---|---|
| 5-star S KJ Bolden (Buford, GA) | No. 1 S/ No. 8 overall |
| 5-star DL Eddrick Houston (Buford, GA) | No. 4 DL / No. 15 overall |
| 4-star EDGE Jordan Ross (Vestavia Hills, AL) | No. 5 EDGE/ No. 38 overall |
| 4-star S Jaylen Hewyard (Rockledge, FL) (UGA) | No. 3 S/ No. 58 overall |
| 4-star DL Jordan Thomas (Ramsey, NJ) | No. 14 DT / No. 106 overall |
Georgia football recruiting: Checking out the weekend officials on offense
With the class specifically, the focus will always be on the offensive side. The big-time playmakers are being sought to one day make Georgia as tough to deal with on offense as it is on defense.
With a pair of big-time QBs in this class, there should be a line of skill prospects wanting to play with those guys.
The Bulldogs have the nation’s top-ranked class for both the 247Sports Team Composite scale and the On3 Team Rankings. They currently have five offensive prospects among their 10 highest-ranking commitments at this time.
This weekend will also have an Elite 11 QB participant in town with 4-star Ryan Puglisi. He has continually shut down any talk of him flipping. He has no problem being in the same class as 5-star QB Dylan Raiola because his heart is set on being a Georgia Bulldog.
It will be good to have another signal caller in this class this weekend with all the offensive targets expected in Athens. It is also worth pointing out that five of the weekend’s six commitments in town for official visits are slated to play offense in Athens.
| Player | Rankings (247Sports Composite) |
|---|---|
| 5-star WR Mike Matthews (Lilburn, GA) | No. 3 WR/No. 9 overall |
| 4-star TE Jaden Reddell (Raymore, Mo.) (UGA commit) | No. 3 TE/No. 55 overall |
| 4-star QB Ryan Puglisi (Avon, Conn.) (UGA commit) | No. 12 QB/ No. 137 overall |
| 4-star RB Chauncey Bowens (N. Palm Beach, FL) (UF) | No. 12 RB/ No. 202 overall |
| 4-star OT Ethan Calloway (Mooresville, NC) | No. 19 OT / No. 208overall |
| 4-star WR Nitro Tuggle (Bradenton, FL) (UGA commit) | No. 32 WR / No. 224 overall |
| 4-star OL Fletcher Westphal (Leesburg, VA) | No. 24 OT / No. 265 overall |
| 3-star ATH Sacovie White (Cartersville, GA) (UGA commit) | No. 54 ATH / No. 570 overall |
| 3-star OL Malachi Toliver (Cartersville, GA) (UGA commit) | No. 81 OT / No. 967 overall |
Perspective check: What is everyone else doing this weekend?
We offered up a perspective check with the official visitors last weekend. That’s where we offered up a quick glance at the type of weekend visit lists that the other national college football titans were hosting.
We wanted to offer another alternate way to put this weekend’s Georgia’s official visitors into perspective. That’s by offering a quick-hit way to look at the most important and interesting targets in town this weekend.
- The “Flip potential” official visitor: 4-star Florida RB commitment Chauncey Bowens
- The “Closing Time” official visitor: 5-star safety KJ Bolden
- The “Swiss Army Knife” official visitor: 4-star safety Jaylen “AP’ Heyward (UGA commit
- The “Got to really nail it” official visitor: 5-star DL Eddrick Houston
- The “Here’s how much we put the ball in the air” official visitor: 5-star WR Mike Matthews
- The “DGD” official visitor: 4-star QB Ryan Puglisi (UGA commit)
- The “No. 1 prospect at his position” official visitor: 4-star TE commit Jaden Reddell
- The “under-the-radar really big trip” official visitor: 4-star Alabama EDGE Jordan Ross
- The “Might have the best career in Athens” official visitor: 4-star WR Nitro “Showtime” Tuggle (UGA commit)
- The “3-star and don’t care one bit because he’s a player” official visitor: 3-star ATH Sacovie White (UGA commit)
- The “Need him to win in the trenches” OV: 4-star DL Jordan Thomas
SENTELL’S INTEL
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