Georgia
Why 4-Star Offensive Tackle Recruit Josh Petty Chose Georgia Tech Over Oregon Ducks
Out of the 2025 recruiting class, four-star offensive lineman Josh Petty was committed to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, but he delayed signing once the Early National Signing Period began on Wednesday. Suddenly, Oregon along with the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Florida State Seminoles seemed to be contenders to flip Petty away from Georgia Tech.
However, Petty eventually signed with the Yellow Jackets on Thursday, ending any chances of a flip. The elite offensive lineman recruit spoke to
“The bigger piece for me was the consistency. A lot of teams are very weird about recruiting and they’ll go off and on and they’ll have moments where they’re on you hard and then they’re off. But I just knew Tech wanted me hard and they’ve been recruiting me consistently, showing me the same things and their actions have spoke with their words this year and it’s kind of great to see that program come together and get a good season like this year,” Petty revealed to GBP Sports on Wednesday.
The Oregon Ducks landed recruits like five-star cornerback Na’eem Offord, five-star safety Trey McNutt, five-star wide receiver Dallas Wilson, and five-star quarterback Jaron Keawe-Sagapolutele. Ducks coach Dan Lanning’s pursuit of Petty might have been a little greedy, even for Lanning. getting greedy during the early national signing period.
Petty, a 6-4, 255-pound recruit, made an official visit to Eugene on June 14. With offensive linemen Ajani Cornelius and Josh Conerly Jr. possibly moving on after this season, some future spots in the trenches are opening up.
According to On3’s recruiting rankings, Petty is the nation’s No. 42 overall prospect, the No. 3 interior offensive lineman, and the No. 7 recruit from the state of Georgia.
High-level offensive tackle prospect with outstanding functional athleticism fostered by impressive two-way snaps… Lean with ample frame space for adding mass… Quicker off the ball on offense than defense, but flashes surprising linear closing speed in pursuit… Motivated drive blocker who also climbs to second level with relative ease… Naturally high center of gravity but cognizant of leverage firing off and engaging defenders.
– Gabe Brooks of 247 Sports on Petty
Currently, Lanning has signed four-star Douglas Utu, four-star Ziyare Addison, four-star Zac Stascausky, four-star Alai Kalaniuvalu, and three-star Demtri Manning out of the Class of 2025 to help void the gap in Oregon’s offensive line next season.
Another Oregon target that is considering a flip is 2025 four-star tight end Andrew Olesh out of Southern Leigh in Central Valley, Pennsylvania. Olesh has been committed to the Michigan Wolverines since July 8 but is open to switching to either the Ducks or the Penn State Nittany Lions.
With the last day of the Early National Signing Period coming on Friday a commitment from Olesh could push the Ducks into the No. 1 spot in the 2025 recruiting class. According to On3, Oregon’s recruiting class in 2025 is currently ranked No. 2.
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Kirk Fordice-like Rick Jackson is sounding a whole lot like Daniel Kirkwood Fordice as he tries to be elected Georgia’s next governor.
Fordice came out of nowhere — actually, Vicksburg is somewhere but you know what I mean — in 1991 to become a two-term Mississippi governor.
He had money but nothing like Jackson, a billionaire businessman who’s also trying to emerge from nowhere politically to win Georgia’s top office.
“The establishment hated Trump, because they couldn’t control him. They are going to hate me,” Jackson says in an ad for Georgia’s Republican Primary on May 19, sounding like one of my favorite Mississippi governors — Fordice, because of his unpredictable personality (he could vilify or charm you, all in one sentence), not his politics. He died in 2004 of cancer.
I stood by a cafe entrance one morning, waiting to cover a Fordice speech. When he appeared, I stuck out my hand to shake his. “I’m not shaking your damn hand. You’re part of the problem down there (referring to the newspaper),” he told me, smiling and moving on.
Jackson rose to become one of economic giant-Georgia’s wealthiest people. He came from Atlanta’s rough midtown area, ending up in the foster care system. He left college due to poor financial circumstances.
The 71-year-old Jackson wormed his way into the dynamic city’s business scene in the late 1970s, mostly of the healthcare variety with mixed success before starting a workforce staffing and services company and later an antibiotics manufacturing plant. He turned those businesses into billion-dollar enterprises.
“It’s God’s money,” he said in rural Blakely, and he’s been charitable with it.
Jackson doesn’t try to hide his vast wealth. His family lives in a 48,000-square-foot mansion at Cumming, a place of nearly 100,000 people near Atlanta in Forsyth County, which once promoted its almost all-white population as a virtue.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist Bill Torpy recently wrote that Jackson will spend a ton of his own money in seeking another mansion, the one occupied by Georgia’s governor. Torpy noted that present Lt. Gov. Burt Jones was once heavily favored to win the primary race, but he’s fallen behind Jackson’s bold money bid.
“The one-time front-runner in the Republican primary (Jones) has been relegated to No. 2, the result of a $100 million Mack truck running him over.
Rick Jackson, a billionaire healthcare tycoon, a man with a sly smile and reptilian gaze, is the guy driving that truck,” Torpy wrote.
The GOP field includes Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger, who spurned Trump’s demand to find 11,780 votes that would’ve allowed him to win Georgia in 2020.
Fordice was effective with some bombastic rhetoric during his run for governor, but I don’t remember it reaching the histrionic level employed by Jackson. In a major ad blitz, often referencing (Georgia college student) Laken Riley’s murderer, Jackson promises that unauthorized immigrants committing violent crimes will be “deported or departed … any questions?”
In another ad, Jackson growled, “Like President Trump, I don’t owe anybody anything, and like you, I’m sick of career politicians.”
Fordice spent only $1 million to get himself elected Mississippi’s governor. He somewhat sneaked up on the establishment, riding no escalator to the first floor of his Vicksburg concrete river mats-contracting office to declare his intentions. Who could ever forget his announcement seeking the governorship that ran on page 5 of the Clarion Ledger?
Recent polling ahead of Georgia’s May primaries for governor shows the eventual Republican nominee faces a strong Democrat in the November general election, most likely former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. That’ll require another whole pot of money.
— Mac Gordon, a native of McComb, is a retired Mississippi newspaperman. He can be reached at macmarygordon@gmail.com.
Gulfstream recently announced a $5 million investment in Georgia education, welcoming students and leaders to its Savannah headquarters.
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