Shazz Preston: The 2022 4 Star Receiver Discusses His Offer From Georgia
COVID-19 has brought most of the sports world to a standstill, but the machine that is college football recruiting rolls on. Sure recruits aren't able to visit and coaches can't go on the road to schools and homes of recruits, but the recruiting arms race is still in full force. Phone calls, text messages, FaceTime, Skype calls, you name it. If there is a way to reach recruits that stays within NCAA regulations, it is being utilized.
Shazz Preston, a 4-Star wide receiver in the class of 2022 has received a flood of calls and texts during this unique contact period. Georgia offered Preston on March 19th. While Preston says he is, "extremely thankful" for the offer and is trying to just, "enjoy the recruiting process and take things day by day", the Georgia offer isn't totally unexpected.
Shazz and Georgia Wide Receiver Coach Cortez Hankton have a relationship that goes back a few years. "I've known Coach Hankton for a while now. He recruited my older brother when he was at Vanderbilt. Once he went to Georgia, he invited us to camp and I got to go through drills for him and stuff. So he and my family have had a good relationship and it's just kind of grown from there," said Preston of his relationship with the UGA wideout coach and his main recruiter.
Older brother Shawn Preston ended up at Mississippi State and plays safety for the Bulldogs of Starkville. Hankton is hoping to bring the younger brother into Athens though and it's easy to see the reasons why.
Shazz is a chain mover, plain and simple. Ever watch the New Orleans Saints, which happen to be the NFL team in Preston's home state, and notice that whatever the distance, on critical downs Drew Brees always seems to find Michael Thomas right at the line to gain? That's the type of awareness and toughness that Preston brings to his St. James High School team.
Time and time again, when watching film of Shazz you will see a receiver that is in tune with his quarterback, knows the spot to get to on the field, and has a knack for making highly contested catches. Preston humbly told the Bulldog Maven, "A lot of credit goes to my quarterback and my coaches. They trust me and give me chances to make plays. I just am proud of that and know I have to go make a play. But, yes my quarterback is amazing and we just know what to expect from each other."
As a sophomore Preston helped lead St. James to the 3A State Championship in Louisiana and then expectations for this season are no less lofty. "A repeat. We want to win it all again! I personally want to be a leader this year. We had a lot of freshmen that got to play a good bit last season but will have to take bigger roles this year. Some other sophomores that will be juniors like myself too. As someone who played a lot and was part of that, I want to lead and help us do it again in any way that I can," shared the 4-Star wideout.
The battle for Shazz Preston is just getting started really. Georgia will be right in the heat of it throughout it seems. However, LSU (home state school) and Mississippi State (older brother attends), along with a host of Power 5 schools will be contending for the versatile and talented receiver from 'The Boot' as well.
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