Georgia Football Freshmen Faces: CB Kelee Ringo
Our Freshmen Faces series opened last Thursday with the Kid from Clovis, Calif., Kendall Milton. However, as physically impressive as the 6-foot-2, 227-pound freshman is, Kelee Ringo takes the cake for physical traits.
He's 6-foot-2, and every bit of 205 pounds. Ringo is a bona fide 4.35 guy in the 40, has run a verified 10.43 in the 100-meter dash and we heard prior to the shutdown of track out west, he was breaking into the 10.3 range.
Simply put, he's the highest-rated defensive back to ever sign at Georgia for a good reason: Players like this aren't made every day.
Ringo is already turning heads on campus during voluntary workouts because he's as athletically gifted as any athlete on the football team as just a freshman.
Even in an extremely crowded cornerback room at Georgia with players like Eric Stokes, DJ Daniel, Tyson Campbell and Ameer Speed, Ringo will battle for playing time early this fall because he's just that good.
At the Adidas All-American practices this spring, Ringo was as dominant in one-on-ones as any corner could possibly be. He ran in lockstep with the nation's top wide receivers and at times almost seemed uninterested and untested. That is until he was matched up against Arik Gilbert.
Gilbert was the Gatorade Player of the year for a reason. He's the most physically impressive talent in the country. At 6-foot-5, 240 pounds he's entirely too fast to be guarded by linebackers, and he's too big and strong for corners. Ringo was the only player in one-on-ones that gave him any issues.
I compare him to Patrick Peterson. Granted, Peterson is essentially a lock for the Pro Football Hall of Fame and was one of the best corners in college football history, but that's the type of talent that is evident with Ringo. Peterson was the original big-bodied corner. At 6-foot-2 and built like a safety with world-class track speed, he paved the way for much larger cornerbacks.
Here's the film comparison between the two:
It's going to be tough for Ringo to beat out Stokes or Daniel at either corner, but the fact of the matter is, he will get playing time this fall. And enjoy him while he's in Athens, because he likely won't be in college very long before he's off to the first round of the NFL Draft.
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