2021 Offensive Skill Targets Update For Georgia Football
WIDE RECEIVER
JJ Jones, a 4-Star wide out from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina announced his commitment to the University of North Carolina late last night. Jones was a receiver that UGA had pursued fairly heavily and one whom Georgia had broken into the top 5 for. However, even with the 6'3" 195 pounder committed elsewhere, the Dawgs have specific targets they are going after at receiver.
OBVIOUS
Deion Colzie, a product of Athens Academy just down the street from UGA, gets a lot of the publicity and headlines when it comes to speculation about receivers that may end up at Georgia, and rightfully so. He's practically in the Dawgs' backyard and the former Notre Dame commit is blessed with great speed and jumping ability in his 6'4" 193 pound frame. There has even been talk about Colzie committing to Georgia in the near future, but he's not the only coveted wide out on the recruiting board for Kirby Smart's squad.
IN GREAT POSITION WITH
A source close to the program says that the staff is in love with Malcolm Johnson Jr. and Marcus Burke. Johnson Jr. just told Dawgs Daily yesterday that his virtual visit with UGA on Tuesday went, "very, very well. I've been talking to Coach Hankton and Coach Monken and feel comfortable with them, but being able to see more and hear more about the university was big. I didn't know a lot about the school itself so that was important and I liked what they had to say. Of course I got to talk ball and scheme with Coach Monken on the Zoom call and that was great. It's exciting to see what they're wanting to do and how they will use players like me." The Alexandria, Virginia product alluded that a narrowing down of choices from his current top 12 could come soon and he had one more virtual visit to go through. That visit is with Florida.
Marcus Burke too is being heavily pursued by both Georgia and Florida. Burke stands 6'3" 180 and is out of Trinity Christian Academy in Jacksonville, Florida, the same school attended by 2023 UGA commit and running back Treyaun Webb. In conversations with Dawgs Daily, Webb has indicated that Georgia is pursuing Burke extremely hard and in other media outlets, Burke has openly commented on how Georgia and Florida are leading the pack for him at the moment. Burke is an excellent deep threat and does a great job positioning his body to give the quarterback more margin for error when throwing the ball.
GETTING KNOW BETTER - TO KEEP AND EYE ON
Xavier Worthy is a 4-Star receiver out of Fresno, California and he has announced that he'll be dropping his top 6 schools on June 1st and Georgia will have to fight off close to 20 schools to make that list. The speedster from out west possesses 10.5 speed in the 100 meter and feels that if track season had gotten to occur this year for him, as he recently told Dawgs Daily, he would have, "been at 10.2 or 10.3. I was feeling really good about the season."
Worthy is still getting to know Coach Cortez Hankton with UGA just having offered him on the 5th of this month. However, Worthy is set to talk with Hankton and Todd Monken on a Zoom call very soon. "I'm going to be getting on a Zoom with them very soon to find out more about the new scheme there and how I would fit into it" said Worthy. If Georgia makes the top 6 for Worthy, it'll be a good indicator that this budding relationship is advancing quickly. Also, Worthy acknowledged that fellow California native Kendall Milton has been in contact with him, talking up the positives of the Bulldog program.
Finally, worth noting, there is an absolute speed demon out of the state of Texas that Georgia has offered. His name is Caleb Johnson and he possesses a personal best of 10.0 in the 100 meters. Johnson could play receiver down the line somewhere, and who knows maybe even at Georgia if he ends up in Athens. However, in a recent conversation with him, Johnson told us that his offer came from Charlton Warren and they are interested in him as a defensive back at present time.
RUNNING BACKS
As for the running backs in the 2021 class, it's going to be a fight all the way to the end for the targets that Georgia has its eye on.
Donovan Edwards is hands down the prospect that Georgia covets the most. However, it is looking like it will be very difficult to convince the Michigan native to leave his home state as Jim Harbaugh and the Wolverines in Ann Arbor are in a very strong position in this recruitment. If you follow Edwards on social media you'll see him donning the maze and blue frequently.
Michigan State is also attempting to make a push to land the in-state 4-Star as well. Also, Edwards is similar in style to current running back commit Lovasea Carroll and in the past Georgia has liked to land a thunder and lightning type duo such as Todd Gurley/Keith Marshall, Nick Chubb/Sony Michel, and Kendall Milton/Daijun Edwards.
LJ Johnson could certainly provide the thunder to Carroll's lightning. LJ plays big boy football in the highest classification of legendary Texas High School football. He slashes through the line of scrimmage and is very effective inside the tackles while also possessing breakaway 4.4 speed. The Cypress native has a good relationship with Dell McGee but many believe that this recruitment is Texas A&M's to lose.
Another downhill runner that Georgia has a strong relationship with and that could end up being an excellent back to pair with Carroll in the 2021 class is Peach State product and Buford star back Gabe Ervin. Ervin dropped his top 5 yesterday and the Dawgs made the cut along with Duke, Arizona State, Michigan State, and Nebraska. Ervin is extremely effective in the pro style system that the defending state champions in Georgia run and he would bring a physical presence to the backfield with his 6'0" 200 pound frame. Several folks around the program at UGA have commented on how they really like Ervin as both a person and a prospect.
3-Star, Miami native Amari Daniels is also being recruited by Georgia, but many feel that he and LJ Johnson could end up being a tandem at A&M. Penn State is a heavy presence in his recruitment as well.
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