Georgia football: who is Jamil Burrough, best defensive tackle in Georgia

Georgia football has a monstrous defensive tackle committed for the 2020 recruiting class. In Athens, he’ll likely move to nose guard.

Kirby Smart and the Georgia football coaching staff are well into their recruiting of the 2020 class. The Bulldogs already have three players committed, one of which could certainly be the nose guard of Georgia’s future. He is Jamil Burroughs, the no. 4 defensive tackle in the nation and the no. 55 player overall from McEachern High School. But who is Burroughs and how does his game translate to Georgia’s 3-4 defense?

Burrough’s game is tailor-made for the 3-4. If the recruiting databases included nose guards, Burrough’s would be listed there instead of as a defensive tackle. Like all good nose guards, he’s a block occupier. Gets out of his three-point-stance with urgency and takes on multiple offensive linemen instantly, allowing the defensive end and linebackers a cleaner route into the backfield.

But Burroughs is only projected to be a nose guard based on his size. He does have experience as an edge rusher in McEachern’s defense. He shows some surprising quickness at times. But typically, he’ll get in the backfield with a bull rush. Though it’s hard to say how much of that quickness will translate to college against bigger and better offensive lines, while Burroughs himself will continue to get bigger.

But Burroughs doesn’t need to get too much bigger. He told Dawgnation that Smart offered him a scholarship after he told him how big he was. Just looking at photos and game film of him, he already appears to have SEC size. Burroughs and Smart go way back. He was a fan of Kirby when he was at Alabama and initially wanted to go there. Burroughs wants to play for Smart and will follow him wherever he goes, which is great news for the Bulldog Nation because Smart isn’t leaving any time soon.