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The recruiting dead period is now over, and 'tis the season when college coaches can hit the trail again for visits with prospects. It's also that time in the 2015 recruiting cycle when coaches have a pretty good picture of where they stand with various prospects, and where they stand in terms of roster slots. Most juniors have made their decisions about whether to stay or go pro. Most of the guys buried on the depth chart who want to transfer have made their feelings known. Many high school prospects have gotten in grades from the first half of their school year and have likely taken their standardized tests.
All of those things combined mean that coaches can now, with some degree of certainty, make last minute offers to those prospects they weren't so sure about offering before. Georgia's no different in this respect. We'll be highlighting a couple of the players the Bulldogs have recently offered in the coming days, but I wanted to start with a really interesting case. Prince Tega Wanogho, Jr. is a Nigerian exchange student who moved to Alabama with designs on playing basketball. However, when he saw fall practices for football occurring before the 2014 season he got curious, and decided to try out America's favorite sport. The results are encouraging:
Let's be honest. This kid's technique is truly dreadful. I mean his pad level is bad, his footwork is worse, and he hasn't quite figured out that you have to keep running even when the play appears to have gone away from you. Raw would be an understatement. But the play at the 2:30 mark shows you precisely why Georgia, LSU, Auburn, and most every other major football program in the southeast has offered him and will gladly take his commitment. You can't coach Wanohgo's size/speed combo. That's a 6'8, 240 pound high schooler chasing down running backs from behind. That just doesn't happen very often. He's got the build of a juvenile grizzly bear and the speed to match.
After a redshirt year to figure out exactly how the game of football is played he'll be unleashed on the SEC. Initially his American guardian (also an assistant football coach at his high school) thought that Wanogho would graduate in 2016. However once the slide rules and abacuses stopped humming, it became apparent that he would be a member of the class of 2015. That's ratcheted up the recruiting pressure exponentially, especially for a guy who doesn't know a lot about the game itself, much less where the schools recruiting him are located.
My money's on Auburn to finish the drill here. However, with Coach Pruitt's connections to the Alabama high school ranks (and national title rings), Mark Richt's sales ability, and Georgia's proximity to Elmore, Alabama (about a 3 and a half hour drive), Georgia's got a shot. And if you're going to throw a Hail Mary offer on the recruiting trail this time of year, Wanogho is the kind of guy you throw it to. Stay tuned, this one is likely to come down to the wire. Until later . . .
Go 'Dawgs!!!