Georgia Football 2018 recruit: Tight End John FitzPatrick

How did he end up at UGA?

Despite having a relatively low ranking, FitzPatrick was a wanted man. The rating websites didn’t rank him that high because of the system that he played in in high school. That involved him doing a lot of blocking and not a lot of pass catching. So those services didn’t push him up the boards even though he’s a physically impressive prospect.

But the offers that he got would suggest that coaches like him a lot. He had nearly 40 offers from schools including pretty much the entire SEC and some as far out as the Pac-12. FitzPatrick also had offers from some Ivy league schools as well including Harvard and Yale thanks to a very high GPA.

In the end, it came down to Georgia and UCLA. FitzPatrick’s sister lives out in LA so he would have had family out on the west coast. But he decided to stay close to home and play for the Bulldogs. Tight End coach Shane Beamer had a lot do with Fitzpatrick’s decision.

With Chip Kelly now in LA, that decision looks even better. Kelly is an innovative coach, but he doesn’t use the tight ends in the same way Kirby Smart does. Fitzpatrick should fit in really well at Georgia thanks to his size and physical play. He did not enroll early and should head to Athens in the summer.