How good of an athlete is Malik Herring? Take this as an example with the 4-star defensive end from Mary Persons High School.
Herring, who will attend Saturday’s UGA Dawg Night prospect camp, tore his ACL during a basketball game while trying to dunk as a freshman. Minutes later, Herring returned to the game.
Malik Herring (StudentSports.com)
“I didn’t know I tore my ACL,” Herring told the AJC. “I went back into the game and I was fine. They took me into the tunnel and I was making cuts and everything, so I got back out on the court.”
The 6-foot-3, 255-pounder finished the game while playing on a torn ACL. But, wait, it gets crazier. A week or two after the knee injury, Herring did the unthinkable.
“My best friends and I would go to the football field and work out and they were saying to me ‘dang man, you probably can’t backflip anymore.’ I was like, ‘man, I can do it right now.’ And once I said that they were trying to stop me by saying not to make the injury worse. But, I did it anyways.”
“I guess my parents are going to know about that now,” he laughed.
It's not surprising that Herring did these amazing athletic feats considering he is rated as the state's No. 7 overall prospect for 2017.
He has early offers from UGA, Alabama, Florida State, and Auburn, among others.
Here are five things you need to know about Herring:
1) No contact with UGA coaches: Herring told the AJC that he has not talked to UGA coaches in two months, and he isn't happy about it. "It kind of makes me wonder if they really even want me, but then again, I understand it's a long time before I graduate. But in my mind, I'm thinking they don't want me. I have been wanting to visit, but I haven't had a chance and I think Dawg Night will be one of my few chances to go."
2) His last visit to UGA: Herring attended UGA's junior day back in February. "That's when I got offered. The campus, facilities and coaches were great. Before they offered me, I wasn't getting much love from the coaches."
3) He has a theory for why UGA coaches showed no love: "I think it's because of the knee injury I had. When I came back to play, I didn't play much because (my coaches) wanted to save me for the playoffs."
4) Herring loves Auburn: One of the main factors in order to get his commitment is to show him love. Auburn has done just that. "Oh my God. Big Cat (recruiting weekend in late May) was great. It was such a fantastic event to me. The coaches were great. I had a freaking ball out there."
5) Package deal: Herring is good friends with Westlake's Jaden Hunter, who is a 2017 4-star linebacker. They want to play on the same defense at the next level. "You can say that," Herring said."We want to play college ball together. We've known each other since sixth grade. We started playing basketball together and we hung out a lot and both of us love football. I would call him my brother; we just have different mothers."
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