Can a top-five recruiting class nonetheless be below the radar?

If that’s the case, Georgia’s quietly sturdy class hit one other excessive notice Monday night at a significant place of want in towering Mount Nice (S.C.) Oceanside offensive sort out Monroe Freeling. It additionally got here in opposition to prime competitors, as Freeling picked the Bulldogs over introduced finalists Alabama, Clemson, Miami and Florida–in different phrases, extra of what many have come to count on of Kirby Sensible’s program on the recruiting path. 

Listed at 6’7″, 285 kilos, Freeling racked up greater than two-dozen scholarship gives earlier than a busy spring and summer season on the go to path. Whereas he hung out in Athens, even taking part in a scavenger hunt to seek out Sensible to cap pre-summer journeys, he didn’t take an official go to to UGA. As a substitute, journeys to Notre Dame, Florida and Miami on consecutive June weekends allowed for buzz to fluctuate between the three packages. 

Georgia, below new offensive line coach Stacy Searels, stayed within the thick of the race whilst Alabama and in-state Clemson pushed extra because the offseason wore on. Ultimately, the SEC East energy and reigning nationwide champions had sufficient to supply the SI99 recruit, ranked because the No. 42 general prospect (No. 4 offensive sort out) within the class of 2023. 

Freeling turns into the fourth offensive lineman amongst Georgia’s 19 verbal commitments and simply the second projected as a sort out, together with Fairburn (Ga.) Langston Hughes standout Bo Hughley. The most recent Bulldog additionally sits because the No. 6 SI99 recruit to select this system to this point within the 2023 recruiting cycle. 

SI99 Analysis

Already constructed like the trendy offensive sort out recruit, Freeling’s body is in nice form from a top, weight and size standpoint, particularly from a pass-protection perspective. However the place the Palmetto State native flashes most on tape is the place most prep linemen do, within the working recreation and on the contact level. For a prospect so tall, Freeling has little concern decreasing his heart of gravity and taking part in on a low airplane whereas shifting a defender in opposition to his will. 

In terms of the game’s hottest play name, Freeling has all of the instruments essential to become an elite go blocker. The size is immense, his base is decrease than one would count on given his top, and, maybe most significantly, he gives fluid and pure motion abilities besides. Scouting Freeling gives samples of the general athleticism on varied fronts, from clean transitions in his kick step, to nice extension, to even his work on the varsity basketball courtroom. 

Simply the largest competitor on the courtroom, Freeling works up and down the ground with relative ease. However when he anchors the protection, significantly in a zone look, the mix of footwork, spatial consciousness and response time when contesting performs within the paint proves spectacular. On offense, he gives a gathered bounce with the power to fend off hackers in ending off dunks and different performs inside. 

Again on the soccer subject, Freeling’s ferocity on the level of contact might help him stymie go rushers within the open subject. The punch has come a good distance courting again to his sophomore season, a promising signal within the projection recreation. Ditto for the pure working capability Freeling reveals on tape, capable of pull and lead performs in area in addition to he can work in the direction of the second degree on project. Within the day and age of run-pass possibility (RPO) soccer, his hybrid blocking power will assist him climb the depth chart because the endurance and redirecting approach develop with time. 

Projecting him into the highest 50 nationally was a long-term play by the SI employees, particularly contemplating there are not any plans to play basketball in faculty. The only-sport focus will allow Freeling to not solely add the burden essential to compete within the SEC but additionally so as to add power in enhancing the sturdy flooring he shows within the run recreation and extension departments. The technical elements of high-level go blocking will possible include time, as we now have seen sturdy progress in his consolation degree over the past 12 months throughout his ascent up recruiting boards of faculty packages. 

What it Means

Georgia has a top-five class and loads of targets nonetheless on the board at a wide range of positions, however offensive sort out wasn’t considered one of them. It illustrates why, mixed with the necessity on the longer term roster given appreciable turnover in personnel and training employees after two modifications in as a few years, this get looks like one of many greatest within the cycle for the defending champs. 

Freeling was one of many more durable recruitments to trace, given the heavy-hitting listing of contenders and the frequency of visits. Miami obtained him on campus twice this offseason, one thing Georgia did not get pleasure from with the Freeling household since a pair of journeys in 2021. Clemson, the in-state program, pushed because the offseason wore on, as did Alabama in being the final provide on the desk. The final journey of report Freeling took was, actually, to Tuscaloosa. 

After some slender head-to-head losses for Sensible versus his outdated boss, Nick Saban, it must be satisfying to sway the momentum UGA’s manner simply in time for the season. It hits more durable understanding the aforementioned Hughley, who dedicated to former place coach Matt Luke, is not probably the most rock-solid dedication on the listing. The one different sort out projection, Hughley was hosted at each Auburn and Nebraska for June official visits. Different packages might quickly become involved, too. 

There has already been one UGA decommitment alongside the offensive line with Alabama native RyQueze McElderry, an inside expertise who flipped to Saban in early July. Questions across the path of offensive line recruiting below Searles rose to an apex earlier than that time, however the wins in Freeling, in-stater Kelton Smith and Virginia native Joshua Miller because the summer season progressed proved sturdy optically. 

Now with Freeling, UGA has its headliner alongside the offensive line and it might probably swing for the fences with the No. 1 OT in America nonetheless undeclared in Samson Okunlola, who could have as lengthy a listing of finalists as Freeling did (together with overlapping contenders like Alabama, Miami and Florida). Whether it is so as to add alongside the inside down the road, Austin (Texas) Westlake lineman T.J. Shanahan, who took an official go to to Athens the primary weekend of June, may very well be a dedication candidate. 

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