Jahmyr Gibbs
I Will Take My Talents To…
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
With the Early Signing Period in the rearview mirror and bowl season over, the last big day for college football before spring practice is National Signing Day.
With many of the top recruits from the 2020 class already signed, who is left for the top programs to pick up on Wednesday, February 5th?
Five Star Running Back Zack Evans is the number 1 running back in the class of 2020.
By far the wildest recruitment of the 2020 cycle. Evans signed a LOI (Letter of Intent) with the Georgia Bulldogs back in December, got cold feet, and asked to be released from his LOI.
Georgia obliged and now Evans is back on the market as an extremely talented athlete with some off the field issues.
This recruitment still seems very cloudy through, as Evans has left a lot of coaches guessing. This is shaping up to be a Tennessee, Ole Miss and Georgia battle. Alabama, Florida and LSU have rescinded their offers over the past few weeks. My Pick: Georgia
Four Star Safety Avantae Williams backed off his early commitment to the Oregon Ducks back in December.
Williams is the 9th ranked safety in the 2020 class.
He is a hard-hitting safety that can cover a lot of ground. Williams’ recruitment is a battle between Miami, Florida and Georgia. My Pick: Florida
Four Star Offensive Lineman Sedrick Van Pran has been committed to Georgia since August.
Van Pran has taken official visits to Alabama and is scheduled to be at Florida this weekend.
With the departure of former Offensive Line coach San Pittman, Van Pran seems to have opened up his recruitment. It would be shocking if Van Pran is not a Bulldog come National Signing Day. My Pick: Georgia
Four Star Running Back Jahmyr Gibbs has been committed to Georgia Tech since May.
After a very strong senior season, Gibbs has received offers from Ohio State, LSU, Georgia and Florida.
While Florida and Ohio State have put on the full court press, Gibbs will stay firm to his commitment. My Pick: Georgia Tech
Four Star Athlete Damarcus Beckwood has hopes of playing college football and basketball.
The 6-foot-4, 220 pounder is a versatile weapon on offense playing both wide receiver and tight end in high school. This is a battle between Tennessee and Florida. My Pick: Florida
February 5th marks the final day of the 2020 recruiting cycle. National Signing Day will still be important as there are a couple highly touted 2020 high school prospects that remain uncommitted.
And there will always be the few flipped prospects that make headlines on National Signing Day.
Since Dan Mullen’s time at Florida, the Gators have used the transfer portal to pluck talented players. The Gators have landed four star Van Jefferson and Trevon Grimes in Mullen’s first year at Florida.
Last season, the Gators landed five-star defensive end, Brenton Cox.
This season is much different, the Gators signed a pair of five stars in running back Lorenzo Lingard and wide receiver Justin Shorter. Both players have applied for waivers with the NCAA.
Kirby Smart used the portal to add quarterback Jamie Newman. Newman has one season of eligibility and should be the front runner for QB1 for the Bulldogs.
Can Newman do what Joe Burrow did for LSU?
Building the Hive
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The college football season is almost over but one aspect never ends, recruiting. The early signing period was last month and signing day is in February. I want to look at a team that is making a splash in recruiting in 2020, Georgia Tech.
So far, the Yellow Jackets have the 26th ranked recruiting class in 2020. Under Paul Johnson, they routinely finished almost last in the ACC. This is a major improvement by them after head coach Geoff Collins’ first season. They had a rough year finishing 3-9 but they are attracting better talent.
The first player I have to mention is four-star wide receiver Bryce Gowdy. By now, I am sure you heard his tragic story. The talented Deerfield Beach, Florida native took his own life and was hit by a freight train December 30.
He was supposed to start classes at Tech this week. He was an honors student that graduated early but suffered from mental-health issues and homelessness. This was a big loss for the program and I’m not referring to on the field.
One of the best running backs in the state of Georgia, Jahmyr Gibbs is a hard commit. Gibbs played for Dalton High School and in 11 games this past season he rushed for 2,554 yards, 40 touchdowns and averaged 11 yards per carry. The four-star recruit played in the All-American Bowl last week.
Four-star dual threat quarterback Jeff Sims from Jacksonville, Fl played in the Under Armour All-America Game. Sims is 6’3, 205 pounds and very athletic. He was initially committed to Florida State before he signed with Tech.
There is another QB from Florida that signed with GT, three-star recruit Tucker Gleason. Gleason played for Plant High, which is a very good program. He 6’3, 220 lb. pro style quarterback.
Collins is recruiting the state of Florida very well and more specifically the Jacksonville area. Four-star cornerback Miles Brooks played at Trinity Christian Academy. Brooks is 6’2 so he has great size for the position. He also had offers from Alabama, Auburn, Virginia Tech and Ohio State.
Brooks has an official forty time of 4.52 and a 35.3-inch vertical.
It is interesting to see players come to Tech that were also recruited by major programs. Under CPJ you would see guys and the other teams recruiting them would be Wofford and Middle Tennessee State. The best offer they had was from GT so that is why they committed.
Defensive End Jared Ivey from North Gwinnett High School is another four-star. He’s 6’6, 225 pounds so he has prototypical body for the position. In the 2019 season, he wreaked havoc with 80 tackles, 32.5 tackles for loss and 20 sacks. He also broke up four passes and has a forced fumble.
Wide receiver Nate McCollum is also a Georgia native from Dutchtown High (Hampton). He’s a small receiver (5’11) but he is very fast, running the forty in 4.41 seconds. He’s also a stand out in baseball and we will see him on the diamond at Georgia Tech.
There are seventeen more three-star commits in this class. They are getting faster and more athletic at every position. We will see if these players can turn the program around in year two under Collins.
