UGA assistants Kevin Sherrer (hat) and Mike Ekeler (right) are recruiting the Kansas 4-star (Rob Saye/Special to the AJC)
UGA defensive end target Xavier Kelly will be at "Dawg Night" on Saturday. Does the staff have a chance to convince the 6-foot-5, 255-pounder to come back for an official visit?
Nope. His mind is already made up about that.
“Georgia is getting an official visit this fall,” Kelly told the AJC. “They will be my first official visit for sure. That’s already done.”
The 247sports Crystal Ball indicator has Alabama heavily in the lead, followed by Nebraska, Florida State and Oklahoma. But it appears that the work of UGA assistants Mike Ekeler and Kevin Sherrer has made an impact on the Kansas defender.
Xavier Kelly (StudentSports)
The 4-star prospect also has a Georgia connection. He spent his freshman year at Windsor Forest in Savannah and still has “about a dozen” family members that reside in that area.
“Georgia will make this a hard decision for me at the end,” Kelly said. “They just need to continue to have a great football program that stresses academics. They just need to continue to recruit me the way they have. … I also like the way the depth chart at Georgia sets up to play right away.”
The Wichita resident will not participate at Dawg Night, but this will be his second visit to Athens this summer. He currently plans to come back for the Alabama game as his official visit, he said.
“Georgia is recruiting me to play the ‘Buck’ position,” he said. “I’ll be an outside linebacker and defensive end moving around a lot. I like that a lot. I play defensive end in high school, but outside linebacker gives me a chance to play in space. I would prefer to play the ‘Buck’ so I can use my size and speed all over the field.”
Kelly said he was clocked at 4.55 seconds in the 40-yard dash at one of the Nike qualifiers for The Opening. That’s part of the reason why he has 32 college offers.
The budding sketch artist will also be at Clemson on Friday. He released a Top 8 this summer that consisted of Alabama, Clemson, Florida State, UGA, Kansas State, Michigan, Oregon and TCU.
Kelly doesn’t plan on trimming his list anytime soon. He’s also not going to enroll in college early because he starts for his high school basketball team which won the state championship last year.
He also has something in common with major UGA target Mecole Hardman, Jr. regarding his commitment. “I might do like a silent commitment, but then make it public at the Army All-American game,” he said. “Hopefully I will know my final decision by December.”
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