Georgia Recruiting Super Saturday: Dawgs flip Top 100 DL, get verbal from priority WR
By Brad Hodnett
The Georgia recruiting and coaching staffs seem to be hitting their stride as high school football in the state of Georgia is getting cranked up.
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On a night where many top high school teams had scrimmages, including a star-studded defensive battle between perennial powers Tucker and Stephenson, the Dawgs landed a 4-star wide receiver commit from Creekside High School in Jayson Stanley and flipped an overall Top 100 prospect from Tucker High School, in defensive lineman Jonathan Ledbetter, who previously had been committed to the Alabama Crimson Tide.
In honor of my brother Tre Tre Ive committed to The University of Georgia Love ya Bro gone but never forgotten. pic.twitter.com/NP2Ra3nFRY
— Jayson Stanley (@Itslilstanley) August 16, 2014
JUST NOW: #UGA has flipped 4-star DE Jonathan Ledbetter away from #Bama. He will join his brother in Athens.
— Radi Nabulsi (@RadiNabulsi) August 17, 2014
In adding these two in-state players, in addition to this week’s pledge from overall No. 2 player in the nation – Westover’s Trent Thompson – the Dawgs have moved up to a overall 247 Composite national recruiting class rank of #5.
Stanley, who will be a large target in Mike Bobo’s offense at 6’2″ and just over 200 lbs, also has track star speed, as he recorded a 10.83 100 meter performance at this year’s Westlake Relays for Creekside. In tweeting his announcement, the young star honored a former teammate, De’Antre Turman, who died tragically after an injury in a scrimmage on this date last year.
The Bulldogs secured 4 receiver letters of intent in its 2014 class, but South Florida prospect, Gilbert Johnson was not able to qualify academically. Isaiah McKenzie will probably be looked at as primarily a specialist early in this career with Georgia, and freshman Rico Johnson seems to have found a new home at corner back in Jeremy Pruitt’s first defense at Georgia.
With several upper classmen set to leave the program at the end of the 2014 campaign, there is a big push to restock the WR position, and with Stanley’s size and speed, he will be an important piece in this class’ inventory.
Ledbetter took a somewhat circuitous route to his Saturday announcement. After initially verbally committing to Nick Saban’s Tide team in late January of this year, the 247 Sports Composite Top 100 player took a west coast swing to visit several PAC-12 schools.
A sure sign that Georgia was still in the thick of Ledbetter’s recruitment, though, was when his brother, Joseph, joined the Dawgs as a tight end at the end of June. Since then, most have cast an eye back toward the recruitment of the top defensive lineman. With a member of his biological family now on the sidelines for the Dawgs, it seems certain that Ledbetter will remain a member of #Fam15.
QUICK NOTE FROM HIGH SCHOOL SCRIMMAGE
Before Ledbetter’s announcement, his present team, the Tucker Tigers had what was described as a mid season intensity scrimmage vs Dekalb County talent factory Stephenson Jaguars.
With future Division 1 talent all over the field, a defensive struggle ended with a 6-0 score with the Jags coming out on top. The only score of the game came from a defensive scoop and score by UGA verbal commit and 247 Composite Top 150 player, Chauncey Rivers.