Is Georgia Really Out Of It For Edoga?

Georgia scheduled a big recruiting weekend for this past Saturday's Auburn game and the electric atmosphere combined with a big win may ultimately pay dividends. Over the summer we told you that the Georgia coaches were still pursuing 5 star USC offensive line commit Chuma Edoga. Edoga was one of dozens of bluechip visitors for the Auburn game, and he was obviously having a good time. By Sunday rumors had begun to spread that the big guy from McEachern might have decided to switch his pledge to the Red and Black.

On Monday a series of recruiting analysts began switching their 247Sports crystal ball predictions on Edoga to Georgia, including Rusty Mansell, Jake Rowe, Shannon Terry, and our own Bud Elliott. While predicting the decisions of 18 year old kids is a hazardous business, these guys have posted excellent records forecasting where recruits end up. Bud for example has been right approximately 75% of the time. And while some of those were guys whose commitments everyone knew we're coming, when several well-connected recruiting experts change their call all at once, it's a good indication they had reason to do so.

Then almost as soon as the rumors began Edoga came out to squash them. On Monday evening he told several recruiting sites that his commitment to Southern Cal is firm, that he considered Georgia briefly but ultimately determined that Athens was not the place for him and that he prefers Southern Cal's location in LA. He now says that he will be shutting down his recruitment entirely.

While I thought it was fairly likely over the summer that the distance to L. A. would dissuade him and that Edoga would flip, enough time passed that I had begun to think it was unlikely. But this is an awful lot of smoke for there to be no fire. It sounds like either a) Edoga is one of those kids who tells every coaching staff he visits what they want to hear, b) he didn't want word of his flip to get out just yet, c) He was caught up in the moment, flipped his commitment, but then reconsidered after things calm down a bit, or d) flipped, then got back on board with the Trojans after his recruiting coach (former UGA DL coach Chris Wilson) talked to him. The whole "Athens is not the right place for me" bit sounds a little like the remnants of this type of conversation. That's the great thing about college football recruiting. It's like a soap opera where no ones gets recurrent amnesia and marries their stepbrother 7 times.

Edoga may say that his recruitment is over, but it is pretty clear that he was at least interested enough in the Bulldogs to keep listening to what they were saying so far. In truth I don't expect the rumors regarding him to completely die off anytime soon, and perhaps until National Signing Day. A commitment from Edoga would move Georgia even closer to the top spot in the recruiting rankings. But even if he does not end up in Athens, Georgia still has one of their best recent offense of line hauls already salted away, and is probably the leader at this point for talented offense of tackle Chidi Valentine-Okeke.

Since we wrote about him over the summer, Chidi has transferred to Faith Baptist Academy in Ludowici and been reclassified academically to be a member of the class of 2015. However Sage Hardin may be the only 2015 commit who clearly projects at guard (as Edoga would) rather than tackle. Bottom line, I don't think this one is over yet, and you have to give the Bulldog coaches credit for putting their best swing on the ball. Until later...

Go 'Dawgs!!!