Nwaneri is set to announce his decision on Monday. Georgia, Oklahoma, and Missouri are the three finalists.
Nwaneri will not be picking Georgia. As things have evolved over the past couple of weeks, the NIL deals from Oklahoma and Missouri proved too much to pass up.
Based on what we're hearing, I'm predicting Missouri for Nwaneri. They have been the constant from both our sources and those for our guys over at the Oklahoma and Missouri sites. I think the Tigers are going to land Nwaneri's commitment this afternoon at 4:00 ET, although this one won't be over until the ink dries anyway.
Some will say, “Georgia missed on KJ Bolden, just allocate more of those funds to Nwaneri!” But Georgia’s problem, if you want to call it that, isn’t a lack of funds. Rather, it’s not wanting to spend exorbitant amounts of money on incoming freshmen at the risk of disrupting locker room chemistry.
Georgia was willing to go above its usual price point in an attempt to land Bolden. I would wager it will do the same with Nwaneri, especially because he plays a premium defensive position.
But Bolden’s number eventually soared too high for the Bulldogs to touch. I believe the same is occurring with Nwaneri. This recruitment isn’t going to be over on Monday, make no mistake, but I don’t believe he’ll end up at Georgia in the end no matter what.
The Bulldogs will keep hammering the development angle until he signs. UGASports is hearing that one close family member in particular is sold on that pitch from the Bulldogs. That should keep Georgia in it and involved until the end if nothing else.
So, who’s next? There are two names to know.
McCray is the guy the Bulldog staff will fully pivot to on the defensive front. At 6-foot-5 and 240 pounds, he would fit the 5-tech/EDGE hybrid mold the Bulldogs foresaw for Nwaneri.
Florida is the one who appears to be the main competition. Florida State, Miami, and Auburn round out his current top five. For the longest time, the thought would be that he would remain in-state.
Georgia certainly gave him plenty to think about on his official visit in June. The added heat with Nwaneri likely going elsewhere will add to that. A recent tweet indicated that he is considering committing in October. Georgia will continue to push until then, hopefully getting him back on campus as well.
Bolo Mboumoua, on the other hand, is still a relative unknown. Georgia offered him after a camp visit this summer. Shortly after he reclassified from 2025 to 2024.
It’s still early in Bolo Mboumoa’s recruitment, even more so given the reclassification. This recruitment is likely to go deeper into the fall. Georgia will have to try to get him back on campus, maybe for an official visit weekend, at some point.
Do I think Georgia would take both McCray and Bolo Mboumoa? My gut tells me no. But that could be something that becomes clearer later on, maybe even taking potential transfers out of the program into consideration as the calendar flips to December.
People have been raving about Allen to me all summer.
Before the game on Friday night, I spoke with one source close to the Buford program who said he thought Allen was the best receiver on the team. That’s a lofty statement for a Buford team that features KJ Bolden.
Allen lived up to that billing, dominating Jones County on Friday night. The young man is ELECTRIC with the ball in his hands even without the greatest size in the world.
There are going to be the typical Buford naysayers as they read this. To be honest, I can’t say that I blame you at the moment. After all, Georgia just lost on a kid who, according to some sources this week, was once silently committed to Georgia for over a month.
But there are a couple of factors in the Allen recruitment that I think provide a reason for optimism.
Georgia entered his recruitment relatively early. His biggest offers before the Bulldogs were Florida and NC State. That type of early belief means a lot to these kids.
Allen has also forged a genuinely strong early relationship with Bryan McClendon. McClendon is a metro Atlanta guy himself and connects well with kids in those areas. McClendon had a strong bond with Bolden as well.
Will Georgia land Allen? I don’t know. But I don’t think he should be unilaterally written off as another Buford kid who is never coming to Georgia.
Speaking of Buford….
When I was talking with Perlotte before the game the other night (he didn’t play due to an ankle injury), he had on a pair of Auburn shoes. When folks gave him a hard time about it, he said those were the first pair he grabbed as he left his house. Later, Perlotte complemented the shoes with a black UGA pullover.
We’ve all seen the social media presence from Perlotte in recent weeks. There has been plenty of flirtation with Alabama, Auburn, and Florida State to name a few.
In speaking with some sources around Buford, they insinuated that there might be LESS to that than meets the eye. Perlotte, it appears, is a guy who likes to lean into the fun of the recruiting process, trolling fan bases and the like. These sources would have you believe that making predictions off every statement and post from Perlotte is a fool’s errand.
In this business, you have to take these things with a grain of salt. Am I going to put my foot down and unilaterally state that there’s no way Perlotte backs off his Georgia pledge? Absolutely not. I still feel that there’s a pretty decent chance he opens things back up at some point. If he does, I’d keep my eye on Florida State. But it was interesting hearing those points of view from those who know Perlotte a little bit.
Harris is an interesting paradox. He’s always been a really nice kid when I’ve interviewed him. In speaking with him in person after the Cass/Cedartown scrimmage, Harris spoke so softly I could hardly hear him.
On the field, though, the young man is a dog. He went straight after Sacovie White early and often, blocking the 2024 commit about 10-15 yards downfield and igniting a small skirmish after one early play.
Georgia wants Harris as a star and it’s easy to see why. He probably doesn’t have the length to play outside corner, but he has decent enough cover skills, good speed, and he will rattle your bones if you dare run at him. Harris has the tools to be a faster, more powerfully built Javon Bullard in my opinion.
Harris has earned offers from Miami and Tennessee since committing to Georgia. Others will surely follow. But just listening to the way he spoke about the love he has for the school and the coaches, I would be surprised if he ever backs off his Georgia pledge.
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White just gets better every time I watch him. His combination of speed, leaping ability, and shiftiness with the ball in his hands is a joy to watch. If he was two or three inches taller, he’d be a top-100 player in the country.
He told myself and another reporter on Thursday night that Georgia has still left the door open for him to play defensive back in college. White of course plays corner for Cass and plays it well.
Personally, I think White’s best position is and will be receiver. But the Bulldogs at least haven’t fully shut the door on putting him in the secondary. That’s notable given the current state of Georgia’s secondary class. Given that White is early enrolling, that’s a situation that will sort itself out next spring.
I’ll be the first one to own it when I’m wrong. I believed Peyton Woodyard would stick in the class, especially after Georgia missed on KJ Bolden. I was proven wrong (not for the first time, not for the last) when he flipped to Alabama on Tuesday.
In speaking with some current Georgia commits, however, it appears they had an idea this was coming. Woodyard’s decision did not take them aback. In fact, it appears he indicated his intentions to some of the commits.
What does that say? First, that high schoolers can do my job just as well as me. Second, it indicates that the Georgia staff probably had a decent idea it was coming as well.
That’s important with the Bulldogs having no safeties in the class and signing day about four months away. Time is of the essence to fill out the defensive back class. It looks like the staff might have already begun working on contingency plans even before Woodyard’s announcement went public.
