George Adeosun was one of state’s feel-good stories of the year in recruiting.
The Alpharetta High School offensive lineman was a “late bloomer.” He barely played as a junior, then came into his own as a senior and committed early to William & Mary. Then things went bonkers after his senior film was distributed to college scouts less than a month before signing day.
During the whirlwind finish, Adeosun got last-minute scholarship offers from around 10 schools. This is the stuff of legends. He took official visits to Oklahoma and Virginia, and was offered by UGA when he got on a plane for a trip to Arizona State on the Friday before signing day. (Adeosun came to UGA’s attention after the Bulldogs missed on Laremy Tunsil and didn’t have a backup plan. By the time UGA pursued Adeosun, it was too late for an official visit before signing day)
The 6-foot-6, 300-pounder ended up picking Virginia over UGA.
He talked about his recruiting experience with the AJC:
Funniest thing a college coach said to you during recruiting? “I think Furman takes the cake for this one. The offensive line coach told me if things didn’t work out after college, they have a high rate of females on campus. There was something I think he said about the median income of those women. He was like, if things don’t work out, you could always find yourself a rich girlfriend and marry her and, you know, live well. I was like whoa. I had never heard anything like that before but that always stood out to me as being pretty comical.”
If you were in charge of the NCAA, what’s a rule you would change about recruiting? “The coaching intervention during classes, I feel that could be turned down a little. It’s always good to see coaches, it’s always good to meet them. But I feel like there should be certain time periods throughout the day where recruits should be left alone to do academic work. Especially in my recruiting process, because everything was going so fast, I felt myself being overwhelmed a little bit in the classroom. I mean, I barely could stay on top of everything. Thank God that I was able to. It can be a little overwhelming when you’re trying to study for a test, or ask a question and get pulled to go to office (to meet college coaches).”
What school finished runner-up to Virginia? “That was probably for me would be UGA. Great academics, close to home, and also a very well-respected football program. To me, the University of Virginia, that stood out in terms of what I was looking for in a school.” Anything UGA could’ve done better? “There’s nothing I can really say about that, considering everything to me happened really late in the process. It was a blessing, and I really enjoyed the experience. But I don’t know if there’s anything else UGA could’ve done to make itself more appealing to me. At the end of the day, I had a clear goal in mind, and the University of Virginia just stepped into that role for me.”
Biggest recruiting rumor that wasn’t true? “I don’t know where this came from, but an Oklahoma news source said I ‘felt like a Sooner,’ and they could expect my commitment within a couple of days. I had no idea where that came from. I tried my best to deny it, but once a rumor like that comes out, a lot of people buy into it. Later in the process, I was lucky that the rumor kind of died down.”
Funniest thing that happened on visit? “I was at the airport going to Arizona State, and had (a recruiting reporter) call me and tell me that UGA offered me. That, to me, was the nail in the coffin as far as how crazy recruiting had been. I literally stepped on the plane to go to Arizona State, and I got a call telling me I had been offered by the University of Georgia. I was just stunned.” (Note: UGA had informed Alpharetta’s coach with Adeosun on a visit)
Hardest coach to turn down? “Mark Richt is a very good recruiter. He’s a very, very charismatic man. He’s very basic with his beliefs. When you talk to him, he doesn’t seem like he’s trying to recruit you. It’s a just a man who wants to have a conversation with you and a man who wants the best for you. I ultimately respect him for that. He seems like a great person. It definitely was tough to say no to his offer. It (the offer) may have come late, and I know a lot of people have taken that into consideration. As a person that I’ve talked to personally, I will say that he’s very good at what he does.”
Biggest secret you could only tell a few people? “I feel like this may echo the feelings of many other recruits: It was very overwhelming. I had two months, maybe two weeks, for what other recruits had two years to do. (Other recruits) had since their junior year to take their visits and do research. I had to manage it with a pretty hard high-school course load, weightlifting in the afternoon, and conditioning in the morning. It was just a lot for me. It was very sudden, and I was very happy to have the end result being going to one of the greatest universities in the world -- and having the opportunity to play football there. It can be very overwhelming, and sometimes I had to isolate myself from other people because I didn’t know whether they wanted to talk to me for me, or if they wanted to talk to the football player and convince him to go somewhere. I really had to isolate myself and make sense out of things.”
Most creative thing a college did to get your attention? “I guess, in terms of presentation, early on in the process, Furman did a really good job. I know it’s a smaller school, but during their presentation, they showed me this PowerPoint that had so many different statistics. And I had just come out of a statistics class. (The coach) was like ‘Oh really? You better take a look at this.’ He showed me this presentation with a whole bunch of statistic problems. And to me, that was very interesting. It was a very good way for Furman to make themselves known to a student who was interested in statistics. I thought that was very creative.”
Biggest regret in recruiting? “I may have listened to other people too much. It’s so easy to get caught up in the hype. You’re looking at the forums and you’re looking at the comments. You’re looking at what other people have to say about you. For a second, I forgot who I was. I forgot what I had done as an athlete to come this far. At one point, I doubted my abilities – I will say that. But at the end of the day, it’s about who you make yourself as an athlete and as a student. If you take the time out to do the work, and focus in the classroom, and do everything you’re asked and more -- you’re a great person. You’re doing your thing. But it’s easy to get caught up in whole publicity and hype. You start reading things, and things can get out of hand. It can get bad, but if you have an emotional support system like family and friends just to tell you no matter what happens, ‘We love you and we’re there for you’ – then everything should be fine.”
What school disappointed you the most? “I can’t say anyone in particular because I had everything come at me so late. Everyone that was recruiting me was recruiting me pretty hard. I mean, Purdue had to drop my offer in lieu of another kid committing. But in terms of disappointment, I don’t think there was ever a dull moment in my recruiting process.”
Your recruiting advice to high school juniors? “Stay calm. And I say that really because it’s so easy to get caught up in the excitement of one school or another school that you to disservice to yourself by not considering other options. You really just have to take the time and talk to your family and close friends because, at the end of the day, those are the people that are going to give you the best advice. If you go to random people and ask for advice, you may not get what’s best for you. But if you take the time out to sit out and think to yourself what you’re doing in this process – think to yourself about it as an athlete and a student, what do you want? You should just not to get caught up in too much excitement.”
Which college would you have considered more seriously if they had offered you earlier in the process? “I guess I could say UGA.”
In BYU, Georgia Tech will face a defense that is one of the toughest in the nation to score against and has a playmaking force in outside linebacker Kyle Van Noy.
Tailback J.J. Green said he can’t say for sure how many times he has heard “you’re one play away from playing” from Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo and running backs coach Bryan McClendon.
Here is a clue that your trip to sunny south Florida may not be a carefree vacation: You’re a football team, and you lose one of your starters during warm-ups.
If nothing else, Georgia has ensured at least one thing about its season. Regardless of where the rest of the schedule takes them, whether its to an SEC championship, a BCS bowl bid or a national title, there will be no claims from outsiders that this team received too many breaks and escaped health issues, no suggestions that the road to success was lined with lollipops and unicorns.
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