4-star LB discusses his transfer to McEachern, gives recruiting update

Joakim Gouda, who’s seen by many college coaches as the top linebacker in Georgia this year, has a new home.

The 4-star LB spent the first three seasons of his varsity career at South Paulding. Gouda, who saw his former head coach at South Paulding not retained after the 2025 season, has transferred to McEachern.

On the surface, it seems like a power move to a stronger program. McEachern won as many games last season (10) as Gouda did during his freshman, sophomore and junior seasons at South Paulding.

According to Gouda, that’s not the case.

“It wasn’t me for real,” he said. “My mom wanted to move and originally we lived here. It was closer to her job and then our lease ended. She wanted to move. It ended up working out perfectly. You know it is a good program here.”

He’s noticed a difference with the blue and gold.

“A real culture,” he said. “A real standard. How hard everybody works and the competition. The people I go against. They all really want it. They are no different and the same as me when it comes to that.”

He sees state title potential in his new team. The Indians will now also benefit from a potential all-state player in Gouda.

“His physicality stands out,” McEachern coach Kareem Reid said. “He’s an experienced guy who’s played a lot of football so having him step in alongside another experienced linebacker we have here, I think it is going to do wonders for our defense and just the overall leadership of the team.”

The 6-foot-2, 230-pound rising senior averaged 11.1 tackles per game as a junior and finished with 100 stops. He added two sacks and one TFL in nine games.

“When I saw his film, I was super-excited honestly,” Reid said. “He’s a national recruit for a reason. So as a football coach, you’re excited to add another talented player to your roster amongst the other talented kids that we already have here. We were really good last year, but I think it’s going to make our defense that much better.”

Jacksonville State signed senior 3-star LB Brayden Matthews out of McEachern after the 2025 season. Gouda will take over for his spot.

“We had a kid who had a lot of production last year and he’s definitely going to make sure there’s no drop-off for us leading into 2026,” Reid said.

Gouda has also been busy on the recruiting trail. He’s been to Auburn, Florida, Notre Dame and Texas of late over the last few weeks.

“I’ve been going to where my top five is at,” he said.

He’s set to return to UGA this weekend. Gouda will visit Florida on April 11 and will make another trip to see Texas on April 18.

Alabama and Auburn round out his top five. He has set up official visits with all of those schools except the Crimson Tide. His official visits look like:

• May 29-31: Georgia
• June 4-6: Florida
• June 10-12: Texas
• June 19-21: Auburn

“They have all shown me that they really want me pretty bad,” he said.

Gouda visited UGA earlier this year in January for a “Junior Day” and also for another March visit. What will this upcoming visit be about?

“I’m just trying to get down there to see if I can really see myself being there for three to four years,” he said. “Just getting to know everybody.”

Georgia defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann has built a strong relationship with him.