*** We start off this edition as we do every war room- do not hint at anything posted below on social media, post online anywhere, or go around sharing this in your group messages. ***
Whether it be local recruits beginning to reassess the situation on The Flats, recruits in the central and south part of the state giving the program a second look, or even those outside of the state lines, everyone is taking notice of what Georgia Tech has been able to accomplish lately.
Given the time between now and the Early Signing Period (which begins on December 20th) a lot of Georgia Tech’s top targets are already “verbally” committed elsewhere. Due to that, things are going to look a little bit different this War Room. I will avoid saying the ole “they are going to wait for the portal” as much as I possibly can. For some positions, though, it seems almost more likely that they add via the portal than via the 2024 class.
Let’s get to it..
Kicking things off, let’s talk about the defensive line and where things stand on that front. After losing EDGE rusher C.J. Jackson last month to LSU, Georgia Tech has spent a considerable amount of time surveying the landscape for a potential replacement.
Mill Creek’s KingJoseph Edwards had emerged earlier in the week as a possible target, and JOL confirmed that there was significant communication between the two sides. Edwards is coming off a visit to Boulder and the University of Colorado, a trip in which many around the industry believe he made a silent commitment to Deion Sanders.
Georgia Tech seems to have caught wind of that, as well as some potential character issues that have stalled his recruitment and prevented him from committing to other schools that were his leader previously in the cycle.
Said one source in the Hoschton area who happens to be an Auburn fan: “Edwards is the football version of Jahki Howard. You don’t really know what you are getting with him, but the upside of the player has some coaches ready to say f it and see what he can do at the next level.”
Another name to know, despite not yet holding an offer, is Eduwa Okundaye from the state of Texas. The Arizona commit could be next up.
A lot closer to Atlanta, Westover’s Ryan Jenkins is another name for Georgia Tech fans to know down the stretch on the EDGE. Jenkins is committed to USF, and earlier in the process held a ton of offers from P5 programs, including GT.
While not a consolation prize by any stretch of the imagination, Jenkins would be a solid flip if they decided to go that route.
Wrapping things up on the EDGE is long-time commit Jordan Boyd, who my sources keep telling me is still in contact with Florida State. Boyd has said all the right things and done all the right things (including a solid senior campaign) but if he does end up taking an official visit to Florida State, DL coach Marco Coleman, head coach Brent Key, and the rest of the staff will have a decision to make.
That’s where the transfer portal is going to make things interesting.
Switching things up to defensive end, and this is where there are the most options remaining on the DL. Uncommitted, that is. While Georgia Tech would love to flip long-time top target Amontrae Bradford, they have their eyes on Lowote Jurkin from Weiss HS in Texas.
Jurkin will be at the Syracuse game next Saturday night, and from there depending on the results of the visit and face-to-face meetings with coaches, an official visit could be up next.
The same thing could be said, regarding an official visit being up next, for Favour Awodoyin of Oak Ridge in Texas. While his recruitment has been quiet in the last few months, his play has been anything but.
Arizona State has offered already, and nearly every P5 school in Texas is giving Favour a closer look going into the end of the HSFB season.
GT is the leader for Awodoyin, but there’s a lot of dust that needs to settle before any decisions are made on either side.
He has a lot of interest in the schools that are closer to home, and GT has a few targets that they are looking to see what happens with.
One of those targets? Chicago-area DL Mikeshun Beeler, who is looking to lock in a visit date for one of the last two homes games. Remember that name.
Another name to remember? Nathan Jennings from Clemens HS in Ala. He is currently committed to South Alabama, but has started to pick up some significant P5 interest in the last handful of weeks. The main issue with Jennings has nothing to do with his character or his performance on the field. His biggest issue involves pens, pencils, and backpacks.
DE commit Trashun Griffin was vocal earlier in the season about the defense’s shortcomings, and now that things are trending in a different direction, his tune has changed a bit. Rather than watch the UVA game last weekend, Griffin and his family made a trip to Knoxville to see Tennessee take on a fierce UConn squad.
Griffin has also been on Alabama’s campus several times this season for gameday visits as well. He holds offers from neither school, yet at least. Griffin has been the only commit in the 2024 class that I am aware of that has not been active in terms of working to recruit others to join him. I know of multiple key members of the class that would not know who Trashun is without a nametag.
Of the schools that have offered Griffin, Mississippi State is the one that sources in the state of Alabama believe to be the biggest threat. Other offers could come.
Griffin is expected to be at the UGA game, though it would not shock me the way things are trending if he and Georgia Tech were no longer together by that point. Time will tell, especially if he starts scheduling OV's to any of these other schools.
Switching gears to defensive tackle, and in-state targets Lendric Barber (Ola) and Justin Terrell (Rome) have emerged as the top two targets at the position. With Landen Marshall already committed, the staff have been able to be rather picky about what to do with DT recruiting.
While Terrell may now be a top target, earlier in his recruitment when GT was racking up the commits and climbing up the team rankings, my sources tell me that GT was on top for Terrell if they chose to be. They invested their efforts elsewhere, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Terrell committed to NC State, and for the most part has been locked in with the Wolfpack ever since. With his senior season winding down, and the next chapter of his life nearing, has been listening to GT in recent weeks. His relationships with the recruiting staff have been a big factor, and while that will not be a deciding factor in terms of a commitment, if that is what pushes him to take the trip from Rome to GT they have done their jobs and then some.
The recruitment of Lendric Barber is much more unknown at this time, with his offer being as recent as it was. He has shown a ton of upside this season, and has already upgraded once going from being committed to Coastal Carolina (and initially being ranked in Zeek Biggers 5.2-5.3 territory) to flipping to Cincinnati. Time will tell what the GT offer does to his recruitment, though I doubt they would have offered if they didn’t think they had a shot.
Beyond those two, it gets pretty hard to name guys that could really emerge in the next several weeks. Grayson’s Nasir Smith is a true project type, but I’m not sure Georgia Tech would be a place for that project to be put together.
Outside of Smith, it is all about the transfer portal…
Whether it be local recruits beginning to reassess the situation on The Flats, recruits in the central and south part of the state giving the program a second look, or even those outside of the state lines, everyone is taking notice of what Georgia Tech has been able to accomplish lately.
Given the time between now and the Early Signing Period (which begins on December 20th) a lot of Georgia Tech’s top targets are already “verbally” committed elsewhere. Due to that, things are going to look a little bit different this War Room. I will avoid saying the ole “they are going to wait for the portal” as much as I possibly can. For some positions, though, it seems almost more likely that they add via the portal than via the 2024 class.
Let’s get to it..
Kicking things off, let’s talk about the defensive line and where things stand on that front. After losing EDGE rusher C.J. Jackson last month to LSU, Georgia Tech has spent a considerable amount of time surveying the landscape for a potential replacement.
Mill Creek’s KingJoseph Edwards had emerged earlier in the week as a possible target, and JOL confirmed that there was significant communication between the two sides. Edwards is coming off a visit to Boulder and the University of Colorado, a trip in which many around the industry believe he made a silent commitment to Deion Sanders.
Georgia Tech seems to have caught wind of that, as well as some potential character issues that have stalled his recruitment and prevented him from committing to other schools that were his leader previously in the cycle.
Said one source in the Hoschton area who happens to be an Auburn fan: “Edwards is the football version of Jahki Howard. You don’t really know what you are getting with him, but the upside of the player has some coaches ready to say f it and see what he can do at the next level.”
Another name to know, despite not yet holding an offer, is Eduwa Okundaye from the state of Texas. The Arizona commit could be next up.
A lot closer to Atlanta, Westover’s Ryan Jenkins is another name for Georgia Tech fans to know down the stretch on the EDGE. Jenkins is committed to USF, and earlier in the process held a ton of offers from P5 programs, including GT.
While not a consolation prize by any stretch of the imagination, Jenkins would be a solid flip if they decided to go that route.
Wrapping things up on the EDGE is long-time commit Jordan Boyd, who my sources keep telling me is still in contact with Florida State. Boyd has said all the right things and done all the right things (including a solid senior campaign) but if he does end up taking an official visit to Florida State, DL coach Marco Coleman, head coach Brent Key, and the rest of the staff will have a decision to make.
That’s where the transfer portal is going to make things interesting.
Switching things up to defensive end, and this is where there are the most options remaining on the DL. Uncommitted, that is. While Georgia Tech would love to flip long-time top target Amontrae Bradford, they have their eyes on Lowote Jurkin from Weiss HS in Texas.
Jurkin will be at the Syracuse game next Saturday night, and from there depending on the results of the visit and face-to-face meetings with coaches, an official visit could be up next.
The same thing could be said, regarding an official visit being up next, for Favour Awodoyin of Oak Ridge in Texas. While his recruitment has been quiet in the last few months, his play has been anything but.
Arizona State has offered already, and nearly every P5 school in Texas is giving Favour a closer look going into the end of the HSFB season.
GT is the leader for Awodoyin, but there’s a lot of dust that needs to settle before any decisions are made on either side.
He has a lot of interest in the schools that are closer to home, and GT has a few targets that they are looking to see what happens with.
One of those targets? Chicago-area DL Mikeshun Beeler, who is looking to lock in a visit date for one of the last two homes games. Remember that name.
Another name to remember? Nathan Jennings from Clemens HS in Ala. He is currently committed to South Alabama, but has started to pick up some significant P5 interest in the last handful of weeks. The main issue with Jennings has nothing to do with his character or his performance on the field. His biggest issue involves pens, pencils, and backpacks.
DE commit Trashun Griffin was vocal earlier in the season about the defense’s shortcomings, and now that things are trending in a different direction, his tune has changed a bit. Rather than watch the UVA game last weekend, Griffin and his family made a trip to Knoxville to see Tennessee take on a fierce UConn squad.
Griffin has also been on Alabama’s campus several times this season for gameday visits as well. He holds offers from neither school, yet at least. Griffin has been the only commit in the 2024 class that I am aware of that has not been active in terms of working to recruit others to join him. I know of multiple key members of the class that would not know who Trashun is without a nametag.
Of the schools that have offered Griffin, Mississippi State is the one that sources in the state of Alabama believe to be the biggest threat. Other offers could come.
Griffin is expected to be at the UGA game, though it would not shock me the way things are trending if he and Georgia Tech were no longer together by that point. Time will tell, especially if he starts scheduling OV's to any of these other schools.
Switching gears to defensive tackle, and in-state targets Lendric Barber (Ola) and Justin Terrell (Rome) have emerged as the top two targets at the position. With Landen Marshall already committed, the staff have been able to be rather picky about what to do with DT recruiting.
While Terrell may now be a top target, earlier in his recruitment when GT was racking up the commits and climbing up the team rankings, my sources tell me that GT was on top for Terrell if they chose to be. They invested their efforts elsewhere, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Terrell committed to NC State, and for the most part has been locked in with the Wolfpack ever since. With his senior season winding down, and the next chapter of his life nearing, has been listening to GT in recent weeks. His relationships with the recruiting staff have been a big factor, and while that will not be a deciding factor in terms of a commitment, if that is what pushes him to take the trip from Rome to GT they have done their jobs and then some.
The recruitment of Lendric Barber is much more unknown at this time, with his offer being as recent as it was. He has shown a ton of upside this season, and has already upgraded once going from being committed to Coastal Carolina (and initially being ranked in Zeek Biggers 5.2-5.3 territory) to flipping to Cincinnati. Time will tell what the GT offer does to his recruitment, though I doubt they would have offered if they didn’t think they had a shot.
Beyond those two, it gets pretty hard to name guys that could really emerge in the next several weeks. Grayson’s Nasir Smith is a true project type, but I’m not sure Georgia Tech would be a place for that project to be put together.
Outside of Smith, it is all about the transfer portal…
