The Georgia Bulldogs hit the jackpot within the trenches with their 2025 recruiting class — as all of their prime 4 recruits within the class got here alongside their defensive entrance — together with five-stars Elijah Griffin, Isaiah Gibson and Zayden Walker.
Of the bunch, Griffin was the headliner, as he was a top-five recruit within the Class of 2025 and a key pickup that’s staying in his house state, quite than pursuing different severe contenders.
So what in the end pushed the Bulldogs excessive?
“Truthfully, the rationale I selected the College of Georgia wasn’t due to the soccer facet, it was the event key. Me as a person and as an individual, you recognize, that’s what performed a key function into my resolution,” Griffin mentioned whereas taking part in occasions for Underneath Armour’s All-America recreation on Jan. 2. “Understanding that you’ve a coach like Coach Scott to place, you recognize, guys that play your place into the place you wish to be sooner or later, I imply, this speaks volumes.
“You understand, he’s executed it. He despatched guys to the subsequent degree. And, you recognize, these guys are doing nice. Devonte Wyatt, Jalen Carter, Nolan Smith, you recognize, all these guys, they’re doing phenomenal within the NFL. So to have that coach to teach you, and I imply, that simply speaks proof is within the pudding. In order that’s just about it.”
Griffin additionally had a longstanding relationship with head coach Kirby Sensible, who started recruiting the standout defensive sort out all the way in which again in eighth grade.
“Coach Sensible [was with me] all through this complete course of” Griffin mentioned. “All of it sort of began in eighth grade for me. You understand, all through this course of, he has not modified. He has been the identical particular person as he was in eighth grade to this point. You understand, he’s all the time informed me to simply hold the primary factor the primary factor. Focus and you might do something you place your thoughts to.”
Griffin and the 2025 recruiting class are anticipated to be vital components for the Bulldogs, not solely as freshmen however all through the subsequent three to 4 years. And it helps that the group has already begun to forge a bond earlier than even attending to campus.
“JJ Hanne coming in, we discuss [a lot], and [me and] Isaiah Gibson, we go a great distance seeing one another on visits years again, from our freshman yr as much as our senior yr, taking USC [and] Miami visits collectively, and, you recognize, we discuss on a regular basis,” Griffin mentioned.
Whereas the star defensive sort out is worked up to hit the sphere as quickly as potential, Griffin understands there’s work to be executed, beginning with the burden room.
“Truthfully, from what I anticipate [from my freshman year], I anticipate a number of power and conditioning from Coach [Scott] Sinclair,” Griffin mentioned. “Numerous studying the playbook, a number of learning and a number of simply dialing in and preserving the primary factor the primary factor, [and] simply having tunnel imaginative and prescient. That’s what I anticipate.”
A scheme-independent participant that may play a number of roles, Griffin is able to take the torch as the subsequent elite defensive lineman to come back out of Georgia, hoping to observe within the footsteps of a protracted line of first-round picks forward of him.
