Georgia Football 2018 recruit: Safety Otis Reese

What type of player is he?

I think it’s pretty safe to say that Reese likes to hit people. If you haven’t seen him play and you’re just looking at his size and stats, stop. Click on the highlight video below and watch the guy. This is a player who really puts everything into tackles when he gets the chance. He’s the kind of guy who makes receivers worry about catching the ball over the middle of the field.

Players of his size simply do not play in the secondary these days. Reese is a legitimate 6-4 and is already close to 210lbs. It’s easy to see him getting to over 220lbs by the time Georgia’s S&C staff have got to work on him. If he’s actually able to carry that sort of size and still play safety, the guy could be an absolute terror.

But that is no guarantee. Watching the highlights, you’ll likely notice that there is barely any of him in coverage. That is an area he really needs to work on and it’s going to be necessary for him to stay at Safety. The days where you could play a safety just to provide run support are over.

If Reese can get better in coverage, he has the potential to become an incredible strong safety. He has the athletic ability and the mentality to really stand out at that position. The big question is going to be can he cover. If not, he might well end up having to move to a stack LB corp. Even if that were to happen, Reese will have value.

Reese is a work in progress when it comes to a starting position. But he is ready to come in and make an impact on special teams on day one. That remains a key focus for Kirby Smart and I expect to see Reese playing there early in 2018.