Georgia football may have found its next great inside linebacker with Nakobe Dean. He may be a freshman but could make some serious noise this season.
One of the biggest grabs for Georgia football’s 2019 recruiting class was Nakobe Dean out of Horn Lake, Mississippi.
Coming out of high school, Dean ranked, on 247Sports, as the No. 19 overall, No. 2 inside linebacker and No. 1 Mississippi prospect in the 2019 class.
As a senior, he recorded 127 total tackles and six sacks. Throughout his entire high school career, Dean had 222 solo tackles, 390 total tackles, 55.5 tackles for loss, 17 sacks, and six interceptions. He averaged 7.8 tackles a game.
What a lot of people fail to realize is that Dean didn’t start playing football till he was in ninth grade.
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He had 49 total tackles, 36 solo and 25 assists, 8.5 tackles for loss, two sacks, one interception and averaging 4.1 tackles a game as a freshman.
Dean increased his stats to 67 total, 27 solo and five assists, two tackles for loss, two interceptions and averaging 5.6 tackles in his sophomore season.
While he didn’t increase his TFL’s or record any sacks that year, he did increase the number of interceptions and tackles.
His junior season is when it all came together for Dean. He recorded 147 total tackles.
Ninety-five of those were solo while the other 52 were assists. Dean averaged 12.3 tackles a game and recorded 25 tackles for loss.
He had nine sacks that year and almost averaged one a game.
So between his sophomore and junior seasons, Dean doubled his tackles and then some. He increased his on-field performance by 80 tackles.
Those numbers are some of the most impressive out of high school that I have ever seen.
My point is, once Dean gets the playbook down at Georgia, he will take someone’s spot on the football field. He has a tremendous upside to him, and Dean knows how to utilize his body.
I talked to him during his recruiting process, and he impressed me with not only his football skills but his speaking skills, his intelligence, and sheer love to compete.
Dean told me last summer that he would like to have a Pre-Med major. You have to have so much dedication, and honestly, you have to be extremely smart to be Pre Med.
Another area that someone has to be extremely smart, the inside linebackers on the field. If you look back at what Roquan did in 2017 and how he commanded the defense like a general, that is what I see in Dean.
However, I think that Dean with three-to-four years under Kirby Smart and his coaching staff could be better than Smith.
Now it’s hard to compare Georgia’s first Butkus Award winner to a true freshman, but they resemble each other. I looked for Smith’s high school stats, and well MaxPreps let me down by giving me only his junior season stats.
However, as a junior, Smith recorded 36 solo tackles, 79 total, five sacks, and two interceptions. He averaged 11.3 tackles a game.
Looks similar, doesn’t it? While Dean had better stats than Smith as a junior, it’s still similar. They were both the guy on the football field in high school.
Regardless they’re not the same guy, and there is no telling how he will develop while at Georgia.
Could he be the next Butkus Award winner for the Dawgs? Absolutely, but only time will tell if it will happen.
However, I will say that I think he sees the field before the end of his freshman campaign. As smart as Dean is and as hungry he seems to be, he very well could take someone’s spot.
In all honesty, I would love to see him and Monty Rice form a bond and become defensive generals for Georgia. These two could dominate and get Georgia’s defense to take over this season.
Not a lot of people will agree with me, but Georgia’s defense lacked something last season through the linebacker area. It wasn’t talent; it was a general. I think that Dean is that guy.
Dean will be the guy that is smart enough to know where every single guy on the field needs to go, and he will put them there.
I’m calling it now, Dean will be the next All-American for the Bulldogs and will leave Georgia holding some records. 2019 is just the start of the havoc he is about to wreak, and we will hear his name as a player to watch for years to come.