Class of 2018 QB
(Photo from Joe Milton/Twitter)
A couple of months ago, at the beginning of March, we looked at the 2018 recruiting class and focused on whether or not the Bulldogs would be taking two quarterbacks. At the time, Georgia had 11 offers out to the both Pro-Style and Dual-Threat QBs. Three of the Peach State’s top QBs had offers but were also committed to programs out of state with Justin Fields to Penn State, Emory Jones to Ohio State, and Trevor Lawrence to Clemson. While Fields, Jones, and Lawrence are still committed to those respective programs, there have been addition offers and some new developments in Georgia’s 2018 quarterback recruiting.
NEW OFFERS
The Georgia coaching staff has been very active evaluating and sending out new offers to quarterbacks since National Signing Day on February 3rd and the Bulldogs’ spring football practice didn’t stop their recruiting efforts. Since looking at the 2018 quarterbacks in March, the most recent offer to Central Gwinnett High School’s Jarren Williams, a 2018 Dual-Threat QB out of Lawrenceville, GA; who was offered on Thursday, May 4th.
While there is a lot of talk about the before mentioned Justin Fields, Emory Jones, and Trevor Lawrence, don’t sleep on Jarren Williams. 247Sports has him as the No. 17 Dual-Threat QB prospect for 2018. His recruitment has been all over the place recently with a commitment to the Kentucky Wildcats on April 14th and then de-committing on April 24th, an off-campus visit from Florida State, offers from Alabama, Florida, and now Georgia. So, what are UGA’s chances here?
Many fans who follow college football recruiting and are familiar with the state of Georgia high school football have wondered when Williams would get an offer or if he would get one, and now, since he has received an offer from the Bulldogs, the question is are they too late to the ‘party?’ I don’t believe so. While the Dogs certainly have some ground to make up here given that Williams had 22 other offers before theirs, it’s 9 months to go till NSD 2018. Regardless of the reasons for taking so long to offer Williams, I’m not sure if Georgia can slow play him anymore. They cannot wait to see if they can flip Fields, Jones or Lawrence and then hope Williams is waiting in the wings.
On the day before Jarren Williams’ offer, Georgia offered Theo Day, a 2018 Pro-Style QB out of Dearborn, MI who plays for Divine Child High School. 247 Sports ranks him as the 17th best Pro-Style QB prospect in the country. The 6 foot 5 and 204 lbs rising high school senior has over 13 offers so far and is currently committed to Michigan State. The Bulldogs have also added offers to some West Coast gunslingers in Tyler Shough out of Hamilton High School in Chandler, AZ, and Cammon Cooper out of Lehi High School in Utah. Shough is considered a top-25 Pro-Style QB and Cooper is ranked by 247Sports as the 29th best Pro-Style prospect. Both QBs were offered within a week of one another with Cooper being offered on April 20th and Shough on April 25th. Shough has 19 offers while Cooper has 15 currently.
Of course, Georgia is not just targeting Pro-Style QBs out west. Back on March 14th, the Bulldogs offered another top-10 Dual-Threat prospect in Adrian Martinez. The 6 foot 2 and 200 lbs rising high school senior plays for Clovis West out of Fresno, CA. Martinez had originally been committed to California since November of last year, but he chose to reopen his recruitment and de-committed from the Bears on April 25th. He has over 25 offers and is considered a lean to Oklahoma and Tennessee at the moment.
AS THE GUNSLINGER TURNS
With those new offers since March 2nd, Georgia now has 16 offers extended to quarterbacks for 2018. The Bulldogs are leaning more towards the Dual-Threat type prospects with 10 of the 16 offers while they have six to Pro-Style QBs. So, where does that leave the University of Georgia football program when it comes to 2018 quarterback recruiting?
Back in March, I felt like the Bulldogs stood a good chance to land a commitment from Drakereon Joyner, a top-10 Dual-Threat prospect out of Fort Dorchester High School in North Charleston, SC. He is scheduled to announce his decision next month on Sunday, June 18th. While I still think Georgia is in the thick of the race for Joyner, Clemson and South Carolina have the momentum here at the moment and are the two schools to beat, but in reality, with Clemson’s QB depth and Trevor Lawrence committed for 2018, I think he ends up putting on the South Carolina hat in June.
Another quarterback that has gotten a lot of attention is Olympia High School’s, Joe Milton. The Orlando, Florida native is considered the No. 10 Pro-Style prospect in the country, but he is a very athletic Pro-Style prospect who could just as well be labeled as a Dual-Threat guy. I still think Georgia is in the mix for Milton, but the home state Florida Gators are just as much. And it has become a three-school race with Michigan gaining a lot of momentum in Milton’s recruitment. Good news for Dawg fans is that Milton did come up and visit Athens for G-Day … a week after he also visited Michigan. He hasn’t set a date to announce his decision, but at the end of April, he stated he was close to a decision and that it could come in the next couple of weeks. That means we are 11 days deep into that two weeks; so, I expect him to announce at any time. If I were to predict which school he would choose, it would most likely be Michigan.
If Joyner and Milton commit elsewhere, then what direction will Georgia go? I think they will put on the full-court press for Jarren Williams and there is some smoke of the Bulldogs flipping Penn State commit Justin Fields. I would also keep an eye on James Foster, who visited Athens for G-Day on April 22nd, which was just a few days after he committed to Missouri on April 18th. Bossier City, Louisiana Dual-Threat prospect Justin Rogers is still undeclared, but I think the two schools to beat here are TCU and LSU, and Baylor just offered as well.
I think Georgia’s best chances for a Dual-Threat prospect stand with flipping Fields or getting Jarren Williams to commit. For an athletic Pro-Style, I would say it comes down to Milton if they can find a way to beat out Florid or Michigan. If not, there is Cooper or Shough. While I still think the Georgia coaching staff wants to take two quarterbacks for 2018 to have some depth at the position next year, especially with Jacob Eason entering his junior season and a potential candidate to leave early for the NFL, their main focus appears to be bringing in a Dual-Threat guy. If push comes to shove, they could get a Pro-Style preferred walk-on as their 2nd quarterback in the 2018 class.
Here is a list of the sixteen quarterback offers for 2018 from the Bulldogs.
UGA 2018 QUARTERBACK OFFERS
Dual-threat (10)
GERRY BOHANON
CLASS: 2018
POSITION: No. 12 Dual-Threat QB
HT, WT: 6 foot 3.5, and 211 lbs
SCHOOL: Earle High School
CITY, STATE: Earle, AR
STATUS: Undeclared
# OFFERS: 13
NEWS: UGA offered 02/01/2017.
JUSTIN FIELDS
CLASS: 2018
POSITION: No. 1 Dual-Threat QB
HT, WT: 6 foot 3, and 220 lbs
SCHOOL: Harrison High School
CITY, STATE: Kennesaw, GA
STATUS: Committed to Penn State on 12/01/2016
# OFFERS: 40
NEWS: UGA offered 11/18/2016.
JAMES FOSTER
CLASS: 2018
POSITION: No. 13 Dual-Threat QB
HT, WT: 6 foot 3, 213 lbs
SCHOOL: Sidney Lanier High School
CITY, STATE: Montgomery, AL
STATUS: Committed to Missouri on 04/19/2017.
# OFFERS: 15
NEWS: UGA offered 02/25/2017. Visited UGA for G-Day on 04/22/2017.
EMORY JONES
CLASS: 2018
POSITION: No. 2 Dual-Threat QB
HT, WT: 6 foot 2.25, and 193 lbs
SCHOOL: Heard County High School
CITY, STATE: Franklin, GA
STATUS: Committed to Ohio State on 07/29/2016
# OFFERS: 21
NEWS: UGA offered 02/27/2016.
DAKEREON JOYNER
CLASS: 2018
POSITION: No. 9 Dual-Threat QB
HT, WT: 6 foot 2, and 200 lbs
SCHOOL: Fort Dorchester High School
CITY, STATE: North Charleston, SC
STATUS: Undeclared
# OFFERS: 15
NEWS: UGA offered 03/15/2015. Joyner annoucning decision on June 18th, 2017.
ANDRIAN MARTINEZ
CLASS: 2018
POSITION: QB – No. 7 Dual-Threat QB
HT, WT: 6 foot 2, and 200 lbs
SCHOOL: Clovis West High School
CITY, STATE: Fresno, CA
STATUS: Undeclared
# OFFERS: 25
NEWS: UGA offered on 03/14/2017. Martinez decommitted from Cal on 04/25/2017.
JALEN MAYDEN
CLASS: 2018
POSITION: No. 11 Dual-Threat QB
HT, WT: 6 foot 2, and 215 lbs
SCHOOL: Sachse High School
CITY, STATE: Sachse, TX
STATUS: Undeclared
# OFFERS: 20
NEWS: UGA offered 02/09/2017. Mayden listed top-5 as Baylor, Louisville, Miss State, Nebraska, and Tennessee on 04/04/17.
JUSTIN ROGERS
CLASS: 2018
POSITION: No. 6 Dual-Threat QB
HT, WT: 6 foot 4, and 205 lbs
SCHOOL: Parkway High School
CITY, STATE: Bossier City, LA
STATUS: Undeclared
# OFFERS: 27
NEWS: UGA offered 01/30/2017. Rogers visited TCU on 04/08/2017
DORIAN THOMPSON-ROBINSON
CLASS: 2018
POSITION: No. 3 Dual-Threat QB
HT, WT: 6 foot 1.5, and 195 lbs
SCHOOL: Bishop Gorman High School
CITY, STATE: Las Vegas, NV
STATUS: Committed to UCLA on 04/23/2017
# OFFERS: 26
NEWS:
JARREN WILLIAMS
CLASS: 2018
POSITION: No. 17 Dual-Threat QB
HT, WT: 6 foot 2.5, and 211 lbs
SCHOOL: Central Gwinnett High School
CITY, STATE: Lawrenceville, GA
STATUS: Undeclared
# OFFERS: 23
NEWS: De-committed from Kentucky on 04/24/2017. UGA offered on 05/04/2017.
Pro-Style (6)
CAMMON COOPER
CLASS: 2018
POSITION: No. 29 Pro-Style QB
HT, WT: 6 foot 4, and 202 lbs
SCHOOL: Lehi High School
CITY, STATE: Lehi, UT
STATUS: Undeclared
# OFFERS: 15
NEWS: Visited UGA on 04/20/2017 and the Bulldogs offered Cooper on his visit.
THEO DAY
CLASS: 2018
POSITION: No. 17 Pro-Style QB
HT, WT: 6 foot 4, and 204 lbs
SCHOOL: Divine Child High School
CITY, STATE: Dearborn, MI
STATUS: Committed to Michigan State on 02/16/2017
# OFFERS: 13
NEWS: UGA offerd on 05/03/2017.
TREVOR LAWRENCE
CLASS: 2018
POSITION: No. 1 Pro-Style QB
HT, WT: 6 foot 6, and 196 lbs
SCHOOL: Cartersville High School
CITY, STATE: Cartersville, GA
STATUS: Committed to Clemson on 12/15/2016.
# OFFERS: 24
NEWS: UGA offered 07/19/2015.
TANNER MCKEE
CLASS: 2018
POSITION: No. 5 Pro-Style QB
HT, WT: 6 foot 6, and 219 lbs
SCHOOL: Centennial High School
CITY, STATE: Corona, CA
STATUS: Undeclared.
# OFFERS: 20
NEWS: UGA offered 01/11/2017. Visited UGA on 03/31/2017.
JOE MILTON
CLASS: 2018
POSITION: No. 10 Pro-Style QB
HT, WT: 6 foot 5, and 220 lbs
SCHOOL: Olympia High School
CITY, STATE: Orlando, FL
STATUS: Undeclared
# OFFERS: 25
NEWS: UGA offered 02/24/2017. Visited UGA on 04/22/2017 for G-Day.
TYLER SHOUGH
CLASS: 2018
POSITION: No. 20 Pro-Style QB
HT, WT: 6 foot 4.5, and 187 lbs
SCHOOL: Hamilton High School
CITY, STATE: Chandler, AZ
STATUS: Undeclared
# OFFERS: 19
NEWS: UGA offered on 04/25/2017.
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