UGA’s newest offer has named the Bulldogs as one of his co-leaders.
Blake Gilikin is a punter from Westminster School who earned a scholarship offer from UGA after attending Mark Richt Camp on Thursday.
Punter Blake Gilikin with his mother (Special)
“I pretty much have a top three, and those three are even right now — it’s Georgia, Penn State and Northwestern,” Gilikin told the AJC on Friday morning.
At the UGA camp, Richt wasn’t able to personally observe Gilikin because he was entertaining other recruits. So the Bulldogs staff filmed the punts for Richt. Gilikin was asked to called UGA special teams coach John Lilly later in the day.
“I wasn’t really surprised about the offer because I knew I had done really well,” Gilikin said. “It was awesome because I grew up watching Georgia for my entire life. I’ve lived in Atlanta for 17 years. Of my six offers, it’s the closest to home. It would probably be the easiest for all of my family to get to the game. It was really great to get it.”
Gilikin has a 4.0 GPA and has only made one B in his life (an 89 for one semester of English). Last year as a junior, Gilikin averaged 39.7 yards on 43 punts, including five punts of 50 yards or mote. He also had 19 punts downed inside of the 20-yard line.
He also has a twin brother, Tyler, who is his long snapper at Westminster. “We started together in seventh grade, and we’ve never had a punt blocked.”
Was Gilikin tempted to commit to UGA on the spot? “Not yet,” he said. “My parents weren’t with me. So I really want to get them back up to visit, which is probably going to happen sometime next week.
“I want to go back over there with my parents so we can find out more about the school, and sit down and talk with Coach Richt. I want to find out more about the academics, and see the facilities.”
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