Georgia Football Recruiting: Must-Have Targets in 2021 Defense Edition
1. James Williams, S - Opa Locka, Florida
Emlen Tunnell, Paul Chrause, Kenny Easley, Steve Atwater, Kam Chancellor. The idea of a BIG safety is not foreign to football. Except, they haven't been this big. Williams stands 6'5, 225 pounds.
Unquestionably the nation's top safety, Williams has as high a ceiling as any prospect in the country in 2021. The thought I have watching him on film is likened to how I felt watching Darnell Washington play tight end at 6'7". People that size shouldn't make the plays they do.
Williams is asked to play center field safety in South Florida at THAT size. He has the required ball skills to remain in the back end, and the playmaking ability after he inevitably creates a turnover is exceptional. You've now got a 6'5, 225-pound ball carrier attacking your offense... not good. The hot comparison these days is Isaiah Simmons, and get used to it. These towering talents running amuck in secondaries and space are on the way. In fact, they are already here. Williams prefers to stick at Safety, however.
2. Tony Grimes, CB - Virginia Beach, Virginia
The evolution of the game of football has created two primary and essential needs — someone who can throw the football and someone that can cover those people he's throwing to. Think about it, for twelve straight years from 1972 to 1983, from Johnny Rodgers to Mike Rozier, the Heisman trophy went to a running back.
Flash forward a few decades, and 12 of the last 14 Heisman trophy winners have gone to quarterbacks. There's no wonder since 2017, Smart's first full recruiting class, he's taken fourteen corners in four recruiting classes. Now, he's attempting to take the nation's top corner in back to back classes, and the Virginia Beach product is a proponent of playing with an elite player like Ringo. In an interview with Dawgs Daily, he said the following of the potential to playing with Ringo:
It would be sick! That is the kind of thing I want when I go to college. I want another corner that I can play on the opposite side from or on the same side (at another secondary position) and just lock people down from there."
Barrett Carter, LB
3. Barrett Carter, LB - North Gwinnett, Georgia
Just like the evolution of the game has changed the priorities? Well, it's changed the body types too. 6'2" 250-pound linebackers are no more. They look a lot like Barrett Carter now. 6'1, 220 pounds. One word, JUICE. Lighting quick first step with elite top-end speed. You've got to play well in space and have the required ball skills to cover. Just all kinds of twitched up.
I mean, he scrapes well at LB, he covers well when asked to line up outside, he even shows an advanced pass-rushing skill set when lined up on the edge. The on-field I.Q. appears he displays is off the charts. In a defensive system that asks their linebackers to do as much as Georgia's Carter is the next must-have type of player there.
The only problem is, Carter's best friend and teammate, Jordan Hancock is off to Clemson. Though, Carter is high on Georgia as well. Telling our recruiting analyst, Blayne Gilmer in a recent interview:
I'm needed there and that is good to hear and it makes you think a little bit. They didn't sign any, well they signed 1 outside, but they want me inside they didn't sign any inside linebackers. So, like that's always good to hear from like a depth standpoint. I don't want to go in and just sit for like 2 - 3 years so that's good to hear for sure
4. Smael Mondon, LB - Dallas, Georgia
Think about this. In a day and age where every young prospect is off to camps, and on social media promoting themselves, there are still players that put on such a show on Friday nights, where they become 5-stars. Smael Mondon is all about business, and business is good. 6'3. 220 pounds and like all of the aforementioned, he's as positionless as they come.
It's not always a bad thing to not know where to play a guy, and change that thinking into where do I GET to play that guy? As in, what are all the ways I can use those incredible skill sets to stop the offense? Mondon wouldn't mind playing with alongside Barrett Carter either.
I had watched his highlights and knew he was a great player and then I met him at UGA on a visit and he was really cool. We also spent some time together at Auburn. He's definitely somebody I'd like to play with." Mondon on Carter
5. Nyland Green, CB - Covington, Georgia
6'2, 185 pounds with the potential to get even taller and heavier very soon, Green is as big as they come at the corner position. And like Williams' preference to remain at Safety, Green is adamant about sticking at corner at the next level.
He's right when he says "you don’t see too many 6’2/6’3 corners in the league like that or in college. You really only see guys around 5’11. I like to play press, but I can play off. But with so long, with me in press you have to get around my wingspan to get vertical. So, that’s kind of hard for a receiver”
I personally think he's just better at Safety because he's been asked to do both, but either way, he's elite at both and it's splitting hairs at this point. He will excel at either position. As for Georgia's chances, when I spoke with him back in March prior to the shutdown, he said he was primarily focusing in on Clemson and Georgia.
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