In-State Recruiting Update (12/27-29)
With some time off over the holidays, tons of college coaches have been out on the road recruiting. There is never a shortage of holiday events in Georgia, providing a perfect opportunity for in-state college programs to see quality prospects without travelling too far. College coaches in the Peach State have taken advantage of that- let’s take a look at who has been where.
To start, Georgia Tech has been picking up their recruiting efforts as of late. The Yellow Jacket staff recently offered one of the best 2021 prospects in the state in Matt Cleveland, just offered 2020 PG KD Johnson last night, and offered 2020 PG Deivon Smith this morning. GT also had assistant Julian Swartz come watch rising 2021 SG Logan Turner at the Big South Shootout at Duluth yesterday. Later on in the day, HC Josh Pastner watched 2020s Sam Ruzhentsev and Jordan Rawls of Hamilton Heights (TN), and then watched 2019 G Damion Baugh from Tennessee Prep.
To no one’s surprise, Tom Crean and the UGA staff have been recruiting very actively this winter. Crean stopped by the TOC at Wheeler on Thursday and then went to watch top target at Anthony Edwards the day after. UGA was included in Edwards’ top 5 that was released this past week and it seems that the Bulldogs are making a lot of ground with him. The only official visit Edwards has taken thus far is to UGA. On Friday, had multiple assistants taking in the action at Wheeler. Both Joe Scott and Amir Abdur-Rahim were there to watch, splitting time between both gyms. Prospects like Corey Walker, Deivon Smith, Ebe Dowuona, Cam Sheffield, and Brandon Harris were all playing in the TOC and have the attention of the Bulldog staff.
Not to be forgotten, the Peach Belt also had a strong presence over the past few days. GCSU made the rounds, going to the Lake City Classic, Big South Shootout, and the TOC on consecutive days. Augusta and Georgia Southwestern were also seen on the first day of the Lake City Classic before having to return for team practice the next day. Allatoona was loaded with solid prospects for the PBC. KJ Jones, Jaxon Etter, CJ Hood, Jehloni James, Ejai Washington, Rodney Smith, and Terrell Ard are all guys who shoud hear from schools in the conference this winter.
I think people should start to take notice of how UGA and GT are starting to go after prospects. Their activity could create some fun recruiting wars that we haven’t seen for a while. Crean’s reputation of being a great, aggressive recruiter is on display and Pastner is taking note that GT needs to capitalize on more prospects. It will be interesting to see who else each program pursues over the next few months.