Georgia Recruiting: Two 2022 Playmakers to Know
CALEB BURTON
A rising junior from Del Valle, Texas, Caleb Burton has already made his mark in his first two years of high school football. In his first two seasons, Burton has racked up over 1500 yards, 18 touchdowns, and is averaging an eye-popping 18.47 yards per reception for the Cardinals of Del Valle High School. All of this has earned him many prestigious scholarship offers, including one from the University of Georgia back in early March of this year.
In a recent interview with Dawgs Daily on SI.com, Burton talked about his mindset toward his early recruiting and football success. "My dad always told me to stay humble and stay hungry and that's what I'm trying to do. It's an honor and it's nice to have all of these colleges wanting me and recruiting me, but I know for me the ultimate goal is to get to the NFL and to be great" said Burton.
On his relationship with Georgia, Burton shared, "I really like Georgia and the wide receiver coach, Coach Hankton. Ever since he offered, I've been able to touch base with him once a week, or at the most two weeks, and just kind of build that relationship. And that's something that I want to do, build that relationship, because I know I definitely want to visit Georgia when all this (pandemic) is over."
That visit will be important for Burton. The Texan said that one of the main factors in his recruitment going forward will be seeing first hand the relationship between the players and the coaches. Also, in addition to getting familiar with Hankton and wide out coaches of colleges pursing him, Burton desires to build a relationship with the strength coaches and development staff at the college. "Those are the people I'm going to be spending the most time around and the ones that will be the most involved in my development and helping me reach my goals" said Burton.
Burton is a receiver that easily creates separation and displays excellent body control with the ball in the air. Admittedly, Burton is a little light right now and will probably have to add some more weight as time goes on, but at already 6'0" he has the frame to pack on more. The 2022 wide out is dynamic with the ball in his hands and has shown the ability to stretch the field and track the deep ball and also is great in the screen game and is very elusive. Look for a monster junior year out of Burton.
JORDAN JAMES
Murfreesboro, Tennessee's Oakland High School is home to 4-Star running back Jordan James. James is a versatile back who possesses speed and quickness, but is also durable at 5'9" 200 pounds. James received an offer from UGA in the beginning of May and also has the interest of other traditional college football powers such as Alabama, Tennessee, Florida State and Penn State just to name a few.
James was well aware of the significance of the Georgia offer and their history with running backs. The talented 2022 ball carrier stated, "It means a lot! They're a well respected program, especially for running backs. It's an honor to be recruited by a school like Georgia." Dell McGee, naturally, was the coach that James received the scholarship offer from and the Tennessee native is looking forward to growing that relationship and getting to know the UGA running back coach better.
In terms of his overall success so far, James described it as, "honestly just a blessing. I would have never pictured myself in this position so early. I'm just blessed to have all of this interest from these top end programs." One reason that James feels that all of the attention has come his way is due to the variety he brings to the table in his skill set. "I'm not just a certain type of back. I can do things a lot of different way. I can show power, speed, agility, can catch it coming out of the backfield. I've got a lot of different things I do and all are things I want to continue to improve on and get better at" said James.
James is going to look very hard at the history of the programs that are recruiting him in terms of their use of running backs and their success at the next level. "Who produces the best running backs? That's definitely going to play into my decision" shared James. One would figure with Georgia's track record and often touted reputation as RBU, the Dawgs will be in great shape with James in that department. Names like Walker, Hearst, Davis, Smith, Gurley, Chubb, Michel, and Swift are hard to ignore when it comes to performance at the collegiate and professional levels.
James aspires to mold his game after current New York Giants and former Penn State star running back Saquon Barkley. The NFL standout is definitely a jack of all trades and can hurt opponents in a variety of ways. When watching James there are definitely elements of his game that strike you as similar to Barkley as both are very difficult to tackle in a 1 on 1 situation, both can stop on a dime and accelerate in another direction effortlessly, and each lethal in the screen game.
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