Georgia football: who is Arik Gilbert, no. 1 Peach State prospect

The best player in the Peach State for the 2020 class already has a great relationship with the Georgia football coaches.

It’s about time for Georgia football to turn its full attention towards the 2020 recruiting class. Kirby Smart and his staff will seek to once again sign most of the top-notch prospects in the Peach State. At the moment, the best player in the state of Georgia is Arik Gilbert. He’s also ranked no. 8 by 247Sports Composite and as the no. 1 athlete in the nation. But one kind of athlete is Gilbert?

In short, he’s a big athlete from Marietta. He towers at 6-5 and weighs 248 pounds. There’s only one other athlete in the top 10 of that group even close to him in size. But when it comes to his recruitment by Georgia and most other schools, there isn’t any mystery about where he’ll play in college, he’s most likely going to play tight end. Gilbert has a good relationship built with Smart and Dell McGee. But now that Georgia has new tight ends coach Todd Hartley, that’s another connection the coaching staff needs to built to secure Gilbert’s commitment.

He’s pretty much everything you want from a receiving tight end. He uses every bit of his 6-5, near 250-pound frame in the open field. He makes the tight coverage catches by using his body to block defenders from getting to the ball, and then he’s very difficult to bring to the turf. On a few plays in the video, defenders had to just get him out of bounds because he’s so hard to tackle.

But he’s also more than what you expect from a tight end, which is to be expected since he’s listed in the databases as an athlete. He shows that athleticism in the open field. Using his power is always a last resort to pick up a few extra yards. Before that, he uses speed and quickness to save his body while he gains chunks of yards.

In the video, you can see him receiving a lot of catches in the flats and turning them into positive plays. That’s another key for Georgia who doesn’t keep fullbacks on the depth chart. If the Bulldogs are deep at tight end, Gilbert can play some snaps as a fullback and become a factor in heavy sets.

As far as what Gilbert needs to work on, it’s hard to comment on his size because the video is from last season. You’d have to see him play right now to judge that. But in the video, he looks smaller than 248 pounds, so it seems he bulked up through the winter. The video doesn’t feature him as a blocker, so it’s also hard to comment on that. But he wouldn’t be ranked no. 8 overall by 247Sports Composite if he wasn’t a guy scouts thought could play as a freshman. This is a name Georgia fans should keep in mind. Any time you see his name in a headline, you need to read the story. he’s a big time player the Dawgs could certainly use.