Normally Teresa Belcher talks to her youngest son every day. But she hasn’t heard much from him lately.
That’s because Belcher’s youngest son is Jonathan Ledbetter and, in a metaphorical sense, he recently touched down on another planet.
Ledbetter is a four-star college football prospect from Tucker who recently matriculated at the University of Georgia as an early enrollee. So instead of kicking back and cruising through his final semester of high school, Ledbetter is trying to figure out how to get from an 8 a.m. tutoring appointment on South Campus to a 9 a.m. class on North Campus and get back in time for lunch and an early-afternoon workout.
“I’ve not really spoken with him,” said Belcher, who attended an orientation session with Ledbetter on Friday. “He was excited about getting to school, and catching up with mom (this week) was probably the last thing he wanted to do.”
Ledbetter is one of eight players — six freshmen and two transfers — who enrolled early at Georgia as members of the 2015 recruiting class. That’s considerably more than the Bulldogs had last year, when only quarterback Jacob Park arrived in early January.
The members of the early-bird club include two much-needed transfers at inside linebacker — Jake Ganus from UAB and Chuks Amaechi from Arizona Western College — and five other defensive players. In addition to Ledbetter, Georgia welcomed defensive linemen Michael Barnett of Dorchester, S.C. and Natrez Patrick of Mays High. Georgia also signed safeties Johnathan Abram of Columbia, Miss., and Jarvis Wilson of Tupelo, Miss. The only addition on offense is tight end Jackson Harris of Columbia, Tenn.
“When I look at those guys, I notice the length,” said Rusty Mansell, a recruiting analyst for Dawgs247.com. “All those guys and long and tall and are gonna be big once Georgia puts some more meat on them. The other takeaway is they’re this staff’s guys. They had a full calendar year to evaluate them and they’ve been hand-picked.”
Ledbetter was a big addition for the Bulldogs. The 6-foot-3, 273-pound athlete was a longtime Alabama commitment before Georgia swayed him with the lure of playing time. It didn’t hurt that Ledbetter’s older brother Joseph transferred in as a tight end last year.
“I’m ecstatic about that,” Belcher said of having her sons together at UGA. “I feel so fortunate that we had that opportunity. I’m very grateful to UGA and proud of the boys and looking forward to a great season.”
