How the Clemson game helps Georgia recruiting going forward | Before The Hedges

The Open [Music] [Music] [Music] go well hello dog nation and welcome to the before the hedges recruiting show brought to you by Kroger I'm kayy Manel with Jess and tell Jeff my question to you is very simple how about them dogs it looked pretty good huh I mean the biggest contrarians will take that obviously it's a great way to start little Pro tip here Clemson folks better than you thought I don't know how much a big deal we made out of it but on their front lines they have a lot of 2020s 2021s 2022 five stars four stars top rated guys I mean those were that was a veteran beefy offensive and defensive line I see your point and I hear you but unlike Clemson's offense on Saturday we actually have a lot going on on today's show let's show you what we' got going on on before the hedges brought to you by Kroger starting with we're going to do a review of the Clemson game how does that help ug going forward and then now we're wrapping up on the 2025 start to start talking about the 20 26s the top targets and who's going to be on the scene this week for Tennessee Tech then five key targets coming out of the Clemson game for our quick five this week then we're going to do a man cells details VI viral class plays as well as our dog of the week then we're going to flash back do a new segment this is our time machine we're going to take a look at Malachi Starks how he ended up at Georgia then of course our before the hedge of Staples our question of the week and the 2025 class breakdown now before we get to all of our main points here I do think it's important to know at the top of the show we have great Bo Walker finds a place to play news Bo Walker is going to be able to play high school football this year at Raven Gap this is huge for them he needs this playing time before he gets to Georgia yeah uh for everybody that's kind of around my age it's Bon no's eligibility uh Kaye cuz um there was a there was a window there for a hot minute where I didn't think the young man was going to have a senior year of course bo uh fourstar running back committed to Georgia out of Cedar Grove state champion after his freshman and Junior years you see him rolling it up right there against Savannah Christian and uh his offensive coordinator took the head job at Stockbridge this year and the GHSA kind of took look at that because Bo had enrolled in Stockbridge maybe mere weeks days prior to the announcement of his head coach former offensive coordinator becoming the head coach at Stockbridge High School it was kind of that Bonafide move you can't follow your coach and be eligible and he had went through the appeals process and it looked like unless he moved out of state or if he played in a private school Association he wasn't going to have a senior year and that's sort of what happened kind of he's playing for Raven gap which is up in gun Stockton territory in Northeast Georgia and it's Raven Gap and they play oddly enough in another state the North Carolina Independent Schools Association that's the same Association that five-star Tennessee commitment uh David Sanders jior plays in and uh he is now on the roster he is ready to go uh tonight no excuse me Friday night pardon me for that one just excited about getting Bo coming out of the stable and finally getting to have a senior season Kaye I don't care if he's playing in the Cube League or the Weekly Reader League a young man deserves a senior season and now bu Walker is going to get that yeah I agree and I was glad to see that he ended up at Raven Gap because I do feel like this is a program that's still going to have him be College ready like Cedar Grove or stock Bridgewood yeah they play it's interesting the eligibility rules obviously it's not the Georgia High School Association uh Raven Gap plays in a league that kind of allows 18 19 20 year olds midyear transfers European transfers there's some folks that come over from Europe and boot up a uh college football career because they they don't have football in Europe and they might be 19 and 20 years of age and can't play high school football regularly but they can for Raven Gap all right so in my mind Georgia won on the field this week but they also won in terms of the recruiting battle I mean just so many principles from the Clemson game are wins great game great crowd great adjustments all The freshman that played vs Clemson are factors that I think would be desirable for a recruit to see especially in an AP Top 25 matchup ranked game I think what you're going to see here here is there's two numbers that that jump out to most recruits number one 13 and 18 let's face it Georgia a big bad boy on the recruiting Trail they face a lot of negative recruiting and a lot of the the the the typical speech they hear is man you're not going to play it Georgia you're going to have to sit and watch a couple years you're not going to get on the field Georgia plays 13 true freshman against the number 14 Clemson Tigers they also play another five red shirt freshman 18 total freshman play in that game of course KJ Balden one of the things I've been talking to recruits about and they noticed not only freshman get on the field you see KJ Balden right there highlight City but also they they look ready to play Nate Frasier made made a great impact on the Georgia offense and not only are the dogs rolling them out there but they're rolling them out there in a way that they can be an impact player right there and you know Nate Frasier KJ Balden those are the Freshman everybody was talking out of that game yeah mentioned third freshman ug put this up on their social media 13 true freshmen earned their spikes in the win against Clemson that's a beautiful graphic I love that they're buying into the idea of like okay we've got to put this out there for the world because as you mentioned negative recruiting such a factor I feel like people are going to do anything that they can to go against Georgia including well you're a freshman you're never going to play there you're going to have to wait out your time but Georgia proved them wrong here are the 13 true freshman that played in Saturday's game of of course you mentioned KJ Balton who played the first drive of the game Nate Frasier well we know what he did in that game but there were also a variety of others I think the two that I was really excited to see out there at the same time especially because I know theyve become such good friends over time since committing to Georgia is the linebackers and Chris Cole and Justin Williams yeah that's a good one we have uh we kind of saw them and Chris got a little bit more run than Justin but I think everybody if you were watching that game you were pointing at your TV when Justin Williams on his first snap was basically shot out of a cannon and blasted Phil mafa with it solo tackle for loss a lot of guys got in there if you look at that list KJ Bolden played the most uh and then you've got Nate Frasier who had the biggest impact played the second most and then you see Ellis Robinson got some run in there probably the third guy and then you saw a lot of names in late chony Bowens had the last three carries of the game practically Joseph Jonah joh Jordan Thomas both got in a little bit earlier Jordan's actually a defensive lineman right there uh and then you saw like you said earlier A joh Williams Cole in the last Drive of the game when Georgia was really chewing on the clock you saw col Hinrich you saw chony Bowens you saw Daniel Calhoun but also you saw big jaw and I don't know we've got we've got some images of that but I'm gonna tell you Kaylee I'm guilty no I'm guilty I mean everybody's guilty of this right did first of all it's down there you got the jazz hands first with Nate Frasier but let me tell you something folks there's a picture in there where it looks like Ja jaer Jackson is at the picnic around his kids because it looks like Uncle jaw is seven feet tall and everybody else looks like fifth graders around him um that was a picture I saw I took a couple pictures of it you've got one one side of the one side of the image where you've got 6'7 Jamal Merryweather the other side you got 6'4 Colton Hinrich look at there's your picture right there I mean Kaye look at that they're like can I get some change can I get the coin machine can I play an arcade game crazy boy do I have something for you I have set on this all week so I could tell you this in this exact moment so after the game I actually went and filmed Dabo Sweeney's postgame press conference he was a little bit late I will say a little bit maybe an understatement but I was listening to the Clemson media members around me and the two guys behind me were talking and one says to the other hey man did you see him out there who could they be talking about he goes the big one jazir Jackson I don't know if he plays a meaningful snap all season long but just looking at the guy I'm terrified that was music to my ears that was the highlight of the entire press conference for me that needs to go in man sales details right there that was some good stuff right there and I mean here's the thing guys he's an odity he's a sideshow he's a Marvel it's like you know the Carnival Barker step right up and see the 6'1 offensive tackle but guys he's actually going to play he was a left tackle not a ride at Georgia and then a little other cool thing that showed some trickeration on Georgia's part you you know when Georgia tries to sneak their tight ends into the game but they they turn tight ends they turn tight ends and offensive lineman in tight ends we've seen that many many years they put this crazy Jersey on on Big J jaeri was actually wearing 85 for a lot of times because there was a chance if Georgia went short yardage but fortunately Clemson never gave him short yardage but they were going to sneak him in there throw that 85 Jersey on him on a power set and go to town on that left or right side of the line here's my thing we talk about how this helps moving forward and it's not just that The Freshman got playing time in my mind it's who they got playing time against this isn't UT Martin this isn't Tennessee Tech this isn't a group of five SCS opponent this is a top 25 AP ranked team that the Freshman got to see in game one in my mind that's what helps them the most of all I mean this is a week that kind of starts the ball rolling a guy like me knows they have four games of Eligibility if they see the field in four games anything after four games they burn their red shirt I think Georgia's going to burn a lot of red shirts on a lot of these guys you see Bowens right there again he had like three carries for seven yards six yards I believe there's big job there's Georgia Tri Wear that 85 they have a different jerseys for him because they have 85 then they have his traditional 64 and I'm going to tell you I watched him in pass Pro he was going up and it was just like I I I swear Kaye if they're making another Jurassic Park movie they need to P big jaw and there is one of the heroes of the movie cuz that guy is ginormous all right Jeff one game down many games to go but throughout this entire season we want to remind you that Kroger has your easy wins for game day just like Georgia had an easy win against Clemson on Saturday you can score snacks Sweets and More for tailgates and your watch parties especially with this first ug home game coming up this weekend I know you guys are going to need tons of stuff for all of your killer tailgates so Kroger has you covered on all of your tailgating needs this summer make sure to stop by your local Kroger this week or visit kroger.com so you're not the one at the tailgate that's wondering you're behind make sure to check out Kroger here on before the hedges all right Jeff I've been so excited to get to this I've been with you doing the show whether it's behind the scenes or in front of the camera now for two seasons I saw the Early look at 2026 class 2024 class go through see the 2025 class they're coming to an end and now it's time to start talking about the 2026 classes before we get to the way too early targets let's go ahead and remind you who we have in the 2026 class as of right now starting with five-star quarterback Jared Curtis this year two games played 484 yards six touchdowns on the Year and no interceptions I think when I look at this my question to you is is this few commits this early in the season is that normal or is this to be expected in this new college football era I think it's about normal especially normal for The New Normal there Kaylee you got and listen I'm glad the reason why we wanted to do this guys is we're not going to sell you we're not going to sell you basically spam and call it stake this is a weekend where you're going to see a lot of 2026 come in this is you're not going to have the major Marquee official visits those will happen in October when Georgia plays bigger names in the SEC but this is a week where Georgia let me just use a southern term they love up on the 2026 they make them feel like VIPs and maybe a little bit of 2027 too this is a weekend where you're going to see a lot of those names come to Georgia sit up close in the West End Zone section and start to feel like a priority of course you're going to have your commitments there those die hards as well and a sneaky thing about this weekend Kaye I think folks are going to like the 2:00 kickoff you know people don't like the 12:00 kickoff because they don't get enough tailgate action and then 3:30 that means you're going to be in Athens when it's dark and it's going to be a long day but I think 2 o00 might be a nice little sweet spot for the tailgating folks you got to take advantage this is the only time they will have a home game this month in the month of September and I think that's why you'll see maybe a little bit more recruits than normal for Tennessee Tech yeah and you mentioned it being the only game this month of September now a game like this I'm not saying that we're not going to completely fill the stands but since it's the first one that we're going to get for quite some time I actually think it works in the favor even though Tennessee Tech is that first opponent think it's going to be good for the 2026 is to see a good home game atmosphere that everybody's kind of been itching for yeah let's say let's say this you can talk about the opponent whatever you want to say but when it's the first game of the year and people have been itching since last no November and even since last April for the last of anything it's special to be in Sanford it's special to be in Athens on a game day to walk around and feel that little bit of chill in the air when you're sweating a little bit and then you feel that fall coming down the track I think that's one of the best things about it and let's face it there listen Georgia played UT Martin in the home opener last year and nobody cared and I think this is a week where uh you're going to get some folks in the stands you going to get feeling real cozy and everybody's going to watch the dogs do what they do and I think a great time will be had by all all right Jee I think it's time I think we need a little a little drum roll ad do on the chair here we're going to go ahead and show you the top way too early top targets for the 2026 class now before we get to any of the names on this list I do want to ask you based on the positions that we saw in 2024 and 2025 what position groups are really needed to be focused on in the 2026 class yeah good question uh you're going to see uh Georg is going to go heavier at running back this year I think it's going be harder for Georgia hint hint to recruit the elite five-star defensive tackles in 2026 based on what they're expected to do in 2025 and I think this is a year where they'll actually go back and go get three more really good linebackers uh because I don't think they'll get three really good linebackers in this in this class the current 2025 class because they've done so well in 2023 2024 and 2025 and also a disclaimer you guys that are maybe looking ahead and like got a little peak of that as sneak preview uh that they're not in numerical order I was going to mention that but they they might as well be cuz if somebody sees that first name in alphabetical order they're like yep that's the number one guy that would I would agree with that I could not agree more when I first saw that it took me a second to put together that they were not numeral but I think that this is just a small glimpse of what we might see when the actual list Dro because funny enough festar Tyler ainson is at the top of the list of course the linebacker out of Grayson High School and Loganville Georgia and last week when we were talking about the visitors list for Clemson Georgia I asked you who was the most important person on that list you didn't say justice Terry you didn't say Elijah Griffin you said the most important person was Tyler ainson do you think that when you release the real ones that this might stay true with him at the very tippy top I can only think of a couple names like it you know what they say the cool kid say he's not top three and I'm not talking top two or top one you know I think Tyler would be a great start the one thing that you want to do is you want to put like this you know kind of like oversized Prospect but Tyler's such a good football player it makes me kind of pause that because let's face it those rankings are based on feeding the NFL draft and Tyler's not going to be a combined Warrior although he'll test very well but a combine Warrior means that he's 6'4 and 245 lbs uh what you're just going to have is a really productive uh big ball of hay with I love this line they had about Renee Curran back in the day with a magnet in his forehead for the football uh that's what Tyler Atkinson is he told me after the game visit went well visit went great here's one cool thing he said I loved watching my guys my gu Hunt is what he referred to there and his guys were KJ Balon his guys were Jaylen Walker and his guys were Michael Williams he loved everything about it he loved the way Georgia was prepared he loved the way Georgia made the adjustments in the second half and Mr Tyler ains is doing a lot of acting up already and dare I say it had 197 tackles as a sophomore and he's even better as a junior is there anybody else on this first page that we can expect to see at the game versus Tennessee Tech on Saturday I don't think so uh these are really kind of the top list here Jackson cwell is going to come he's already scheduled out this young man his dad was an Olympian um he's already got his list scheduled out for the entire season that's very very very productive very efficient Jordan Carter you're hearing a lot of love there he's wearing a lot of love for Auburn recently there's a position eval there he's probably going to be a defensive tackle defensive end not an edge where he's currently rated Derek Cooper another guy that could be plays all over can play some safety Corner Georgia likes him as a running back Devin Carter at Douglas County get used to that there's already two names in Douglas County on that list he's a five-star wide receiver that's the son of FSU and NFL first round pick Dexter Carter uh Devon's a brilliant playmaker Coley really wants him a lot right there so if we go to our next page there's one I put a big old Star by him too many similarities here okay you've got a five-star named Brock who is also a tied end who I think UT is Utah correct correct from the West Coast yeah I mean let's just go ahead and sign him right now I mean listen he's a number two Titan in the country Georgia is on him uh I think Georgia's ideal Titan class would have Brock Harris in there and listen we know that heartley fella his ideal class usually ends up being the actual class um some cool things here I don't know the average person will pick it up um Pierre Dean he's out of Clemens North Carolina that is starting center Jared Wilson's younger brother and he is a monster he is a masterer he's got the Wilson family feet speaking of Bloodlines ikina OKO out of Garner North Carolina that is the younger brother this guy's a five star of Nam de o the Georgia freshman defensive lineman defensive tackle in this class uh these are some way too early guys but you got to like where every time they go visit their brother and watch their brother play college football that is also a big recruiting visit for Georgia aen was on nand's official visit to Georgia and Pierre has probably been going to Georgia to watch his brother for the last two or three years and I think that's where Georgia is really well positioned yeah so it looks like we have some sibling love going on here cuz it also applies to this page right there second name on the list fourstar defensive lineman Carter lucky I don't know how much more Legacy it gets than the lucky family his brother his dad I believe his uncle as well I mean he almost seems like a Sho wi but I do feel like this is one that we're going to have to wait out because I know he wants to explore other options from what I've seen I also love the fact that you already have a USC commit on the way too early top six targets usually we don't see those until like the end of the year but I I got to get your Insight on why he's already won on this list so Georgia might take the lunch money from Lincoln Riley a little bit early here with this one uh lockart get this Dante Williams was a key figure in how uh he lockart and Dante Williams that was a key figure in how he committed to USC get this coach Williams and lock cart's dad grew up together so you think they know about hey I'm going to shoot you straight this is how it is this is how this guy will get coached uh Jordan gidron right there the number one player in South Carolina he was in the dome he was in the bins excuse me on Saturday he really loved it he really loved how Georgia threw the ball around got receivers involved he really liked how Georgia has a premier passer and Carson back can't say that a lot we don't normally hear that a lot from Elite wide receiver targets and then this one right here is nir McCoy at Buford um NASCAR is what they call him he is his safety Kaylee let me tell you something give me a safety out of be for for any day of the week this guy was watching KJ very closely this is a guy that wants to walk in lock step with kind of what KJ's path has been he's already doing that at Buford he's already going to be in Athens on Saturday so that's a young man when all is said and done I've always felt Georgia had a really great shot with nir McCoy even if KJ Balin went to Ohio State or Florida State but now you've got KJ KJ thriving KJ prepared freshman playing early I think things the cards are starting to line up pretty strong early way too early ma'am right now for a guy like nir McCoy and a lot of guys on this list so to sum all of this up this might be a tough question if you have to think on you can you've seen different classes come and go but I do feel like with every year that comes through there's sort of like this theme or something that they do better than the others from what you've seen from the 2026 class not just commits but maybe even some of the guys that we put on that list what is it about the 2026 class that you like well here's the first thing and you guys are going to like it you're going to like it maybe a lot more than neutral objective journalist Jeff here but this is the time now when every recruit you talk to has only known Georgia as a dominant program like these young men listen they got another year before they graduate but now when we go back three four years 2021 2022 2023 24 really since they've been plugged into football as an outlet for their education in their future um Georgia has been the Top Dog in college football and that's what you get with a lot of these guys the standard is the standard they know the Georgia way and really all they know is Georgia beating up everybody being better than everybody Kaylee since these young men have been in high school Georgia has only lost two football games so that is really telling for a lot of these kids dog Nation I want to remind you that even if you can't be here with us Wednesday nights at 7:00 you can still take us with you on the go and listen to us on our dog Nation Podcast feed whether list on Apple Spotify your go-to list and listen to us in the car on your way to work you can listen to all of our dog Nation shows on the dog Nation Podcast feed I know you guys probably think that we forgot but we don't forget anything between the two of us it's quick five What Clemson visit thought of UGA's win time all right guys time to put your fives up because this week we're going to look at five key targets coming out of the Clemson game weekend starting with Justice Terry did you get a chance to talk to him what were the Vibes radiating off of him and the dogs went against the Tigers so first of all he told me that uh he wanted to give Georgia his first look this fall before he goes and sees everybody else and now is the time I know this has been a Rosy show so far and kayle's folding her papers and everything looks like Global Domin here for the dogs I'll give you something to worry about for all you guys in your inner msons Justice is going to be at Alabama this weekend why would that worry any of us he's going to be he's going to see them they're going to play South Florida and then he's going to come around in two more weeks and he's going to see Georgia versus Alabama and Tuscaloosa so he's going to get a very big dose a strong dollop of that Dixie Land Delight so maybe Georgia can counteract that with a big win on September 28th all right next name on the list is someone that you might bers sync he was a part of the 2025 class at one point it's running back Tay Harris who out of Cedar toown now at Clemson commit former ug commit however I like that we're mentioning him again because we still only have one running back in the class with Bo Walker I feel like this is a guy that Georgia fans would not be disappointed to see again come back on that commits list so the thing with Tay he does everything for Ceder toown he rushes I think he had four carries and four touchdowns somehow with what he did all around uh allpurpose on this past Friday night so he was at mercedesbenz on Saturday for the Clemson game he was sitting in the Clemson section Georgia likes him as his safety primarily and he's saying all the right things and I again this young man has been through an up and down because I believe if Georgia wouldn't have lost communication with him when they transferred from the new defensive coaches with uh obviously with uh Coach T Rob and obviously coach Williams I think if Georgia wouldn't have lost communication he probably might still be committed to Georgia but he's committed to Clemson CL Clemson took advantage in the interim but George is still recruiting him heavy they're still coming after him they still want him to be in the class and Kaye he recently told me last week that uh he's got to take it day by day now he pushed out a tweet right after the Clemson game I'm going to be objective and fair and balanced here where he said 100% committed uh going to be part of the solution going to be part of the fix going to be part of that but he's told me he realizes that uh Signing Day is still in December and Georgia is going to give him a lot to think about and that rule with Clemson you know you can't take visits while you're committed he believes that's a rule that's still a rule under dbo well Georgia is not going to be um deficient in that area because Tay's been to Georgia so much he knows everything he needs to know about Georgia he just needs to feel that that relationship is right now I'm not getting everybody on the flip watch but I think it's really intriguing what's going on right now with Tay Harrison Georgia I'm so excited for this next name because it's somebody that we haven't talked about in a couple weeks it seems like and that's Usman Crome still stand by the fact that he's one of the best players I've ever seen play with my own eyes Middle Georgia kid running over everyone running all over the field so 247 has him crystal ball to Auburn but his most recent visit was to ug I don't want to count Georgia out just yet but I had to ask you what's going on so good stuff right here let's make sure we we present all the facts as we know them to be uh usmani just saw Clemson excuse me just saw Auburn this past weekend he saw him score more more points than they ever had in program history against Alabama A&M but he told me he expects to be in Athens on Saturday so he is going to make his decision in September and Kayla I think Georgia which was now maybe strongly in the top three might be top two considering Florida state was the other school uh that's a whole new show guys we have to talk about that a little bit later we're g to get there but like uh Georgia is going to get I feel like its last look and uh this one of those things where I I think he's going to feel like a priority he's probably going to be like the uh wine and dine Target I'm just trying to use that of course he's not going to have any sort of alcoholic beverages but he's the guy that's going to be SM smoed uh this weekend and he's coming up on a decision he is a prolific back in in the state of Georgia but sometimes those crystal balls they do ring true and when a guy takes a visit to a team that was kind of perceived as his leader and then uh things go well crystal balls come out of that if he does choose Auburn I think it's going to be very interesting because that was a team that was for the longest time way out of the running there Kaylee for uh usmani Creo him and his mother had to warm themselves back up to Auburn I think Hugh frees and that staff have done a really good job of kind of coming out of nowhere in his recruitment next thing mon our list somebody that we've talked about a lot in recent weeks the defensive end out of North Atlanta Chase Linton once a ruers commit now decommitted he was a visitor at Georgia Clemson I imagine he liked what he saw he really liked what he saw kayle lot lot of reports out there Chase Linton will not be in Athens this weekend he's told me that he will be in Athens next for his official visit on October the 11th that's when a lot of teams are lot of lot of these prospects are kind of lining up he was very impressed by Georgia he was impressed by the way they their Edge rushers and their passers they got after the quarterback he was impressed by the way Georgia played defense and that defensive style so I would say George's chances were definitely enhanced by what he saw in the bins on Saturday and he is already planning a big official visit next month we've got one more name for you here on our quick five that's going to be bra cow who's still committed to recers another one that's taking it day by day I wonder how his day went on Saturday had a great day he loved the defensive line he loved the way Georgia rotated a lot of guys on the defensive line especially when Georgia was a little defensive line poor throughout the game uh really impressed by Georgia he's a guy that I don't expect to be there this weekend but he will come back in October I believe Georgia will get an official visit even though that has not been uh publicly cast in stone yet but I think Georgia will eventually get a a seismic visit where it's going to determine whether or not he does become a dog he's going to do that for a big game and I know the Sanford Stadium crowd will be ready but those are kind of the big names as you'll see in the top Targets later that we wanted to make sure we did a heat check on them right now coming out of the huge Clemson win and that's going to be our quick five you can goe put your fives down cuz now it's time for man cel's details got a lot yes the viral class plays from this week it's getting to the point where Jeff sends me a bunch of them and it's it's difficult to even choose which ones go on the board especially because even our defensive commits are making so many plays the first one I don't know how it's going to get much better than this Jeff's going to let you in on the story Viral highlights from UGA recruits and Dawg of the week our first play of the week comes from Mason short you see the shadow right there I'm just going to let Jeff walk you through it so this was a play and you know sources tell me that there was a little chippiness going on on this drive so basically you guys know the scene in Blindside Tak him to the fence post or whatever oh yeah well it looks like uh Mason wanted to take him out to the deepest stretches of cow pastures in Colombia County you see him right there drive blocking a guy listen his hands are inside he's showing great ability he doesn't hear he's showing great technique he doesn't hear a whistle yet he's going to keep blocking him and he pancakes him I think there's going to be a tattoo of a chain link fence on that young man from grov toown right there uh coach Barrett Davis at Evans we got to know him a little bit when we went down there for his Georgia on My Mind commitment day he he used the term rck your scale Kaye to determine the type of blocks that Mason short has made in his career he gave this one an eight and a half or a nine considering what he did and really you want to talk about eliminating a guy from the play Mason certainly did that what a play for Mason short makes you excited for what's to come speaking of what's to come our next viral class play comes from wide receiver Talon Taylor you see him in this corner right here it's going to replay for you number one watch him I don't know why but I just had like a flashback of the Colby young catch from g day just like how high he gets up there he had three receptions for 73 yards and two touchdowns on the night for the Vikings so his mother Venus she calls this TNT the connection between Talon and his quarterback you see that the young man there both have the word t the letter T in their first names and I got to ask you know I'm sure they looked at this on the film and if there was a Mr coach 30 for high school football this might be Davis that was trying to cover him right there but you got to keep that young fella in front of you especially in the Red Zone brilliant debut for Talon Taylor like you said he had three catches and two of them went for touchdowns all right moving on our next one is going to be tied in Elias Williams I mean I just we could we could just make him a permanent spot every week we're getting all sorts of highlights for him 11 receptions 159 yards for a season best in a 5229 win he's becoming one of the Staples of manel's details each and every week haly I'm going to tell you this he had 11 catches in a game uh this past weekend I believe it was against Broward I don't know if he had 11 catches in a month in their wing offense a year ago he's literally open every time you see you get a touchdown you see watch him go get go up and get that ball right there he's literally Mossing young men each and every week uh Camden is 3 and0 off to a great start can't wait to see Elias in person as we get down to South Georgia for a game uh this fall but I mean look at that running stumbling bumbling coming at you you don't want any of that if you're the if you're a safety or poor quarterback I mean he's got a whole head on number two right here I feel bad for the kid look at this you could literally do coach 30 on this he's just not an athlete he thinks you're better than you are you got the arm sleeve on right there there's Davis there's Jenkins and everything I mean literally when you're when you're lined up against Elias Williams right now you you know I say you get postered in the NBA where you're literally right for man sales details when you're when you're lined up against Elias this year all right our next one another guy who seemed to have become a staple in this section of before the HED is brought to you by Kroger a defensive player John tavius wman we've got two clips for you look at this ball here K Kaye this is a strip fumble right here Kaye see the ball just go up right there it looks like it looks like the Bellagio in Vegas just popping out of nowhere into the air like that's the way you teach it get that ball in the air and I don't know we we we got lots of great uh uh sales account Executives here at dog Nation we might need to sell some permanent real estate and man sales details for joh tavius Wyman the 2026 quarterback commitment he is also going to be in Athens this weekend and just when you thought it could not get any better we got one more highlight from him it's an interception he's got a force fumble and an interception on the night you see him up right there in the corner go up and get that ball oh my gosh Jeff the fact that we have this many defensive highlights is such a great sign to me I mean Kaye and listen the stuff that hits the Cutting Room floor now for John tavius there's like an explosive run there's a guy where he breaks a guy's ankles there's a great another explosive when he's in the open field on a kickoff return I mean literally they are plus highlight plays from tavius each and every week all right and our last play for the week is going to come from five-star linebacker Zaden Walker out of Sly County he's got the little circle around him there so you can see what he's got going on you know this is a big thing I want you to watch this fil here's his interception he takes it back about 35 yards I believe he has a tremendous day that we will catalog in a second but this is big for him cuz he's playing inside linebacker a lot of the stuff you've seen from him previously in his high school career he's playing out on the edge he's playing a rush a defensive end kind of drop in type thing and a mic look maybe a Jack in but he knows he's going to be an inside backer at Georgia and that's what he's getting those game Reps for right now schuman's giving him his blessings Schuman is teaching him everything he needs to know he's being Obi-Wan Kenobi to uh Zaden Walker not Luke not Luke Skywalker so you got a good thing going there the more that Zaden plays his senior year as a as a linebacker in the Box the better off he'll be when he gets to Georgia and it's it's because of what you're seeing right here that Zay and Walker has to be our dog of the week K's cing see it right [Music] [Applause] there dude put the chains on him that was too good right there dog of the week all right Zaden Walker this week's dog of the week said five-star linebacker out of Sly County don't get it confused because I know it doesn't look like that nine tackles on the week one and a half tackles for loss one interception one two-point conversion 135 yard kickoff return five catches for 64 yards Jee when I was making this I had to add more bullet points so I could add more to the slide that's how dominant he was in this week's game on not just the defensive side of the Ball but the offensive side of the ball as well and Kaye look at this you know that's a six-star night from you just gave him out six stars for everything you do I'm not sure if he also liked everybody on the team's Instagram post cooked the hot dogs and then also put and also made the power raid pregame with just that special mix of salt and fruit punch as well you want to talk about doing it all now we must be dutiful here and report that uh Sly actually lost 60 to 35 in this game but certainly Zaden Walker the future Jedi linebacker for Obi-Wan Schuman uh he certainly did his part I mean just linebacker after linebacker after linebacker I can't believe we got CJ Allen raayan Wilson you got Justin Williams Chris Cole now you have Zaden Walker I mean Schuman save some for the rest of everyone not really but that's one of one of the things a lot of national media types when they were watching the game uh this weekend they're just like whoa Georgia at linebacker looks totally different than everybody else I think the carry-on where you still have a guy like schile mundon who was a 2021 five star getting ready to get his check next year from Roger Goodell in the NFL foot in the National Football League when you can add him with raayan Wilson and then you've got CJ Allen and then you got Jaylen Walker mixed in there a little bit on some snaps and then also you bring in the young kids Chris Cole and Justin Williams it's just an accumulation of resources that no other program has all right let's switch it up here on before the hedges brought to you by Kroger we're going to do something new here on the show it's called time machine [Music] Before The Hedges Time Machine all right Jeff walk me through it what is time machine well first of all give our Graphics guy rais CU I mean let's give a hand for Ace Cody cha we've had that thing ready to go for like weeks and I had seen it in a couple weeks and still I'm just giddy watching it but like he said give me my money he said give me my money so we're going to go in the way back machine we're going to call it the dog Nation time machine I'm going to tell you guys a little bit about how Malachi Starks came to be a dog and I mean this is first of all you want to talk about living right Kirby Smart did not know how great it was this was the week of March 25th 2021 folks we were in the throws of covid I I was going back through my my voice recordings and my reporting from Malachi Stark's commitment day and you can hear the muffle of everybody was wearing a mask at that time and it seems like such a different time ago so that's why we're doing the time machine I got some Stakes for you you ready for this oh I'm ready um Malachi Starks did this for his dad father Larry Starks 53rd birthday uh during the presentation uh when he eventually chose Georgia uh our own Cody Chafin let's just give him all the flowers today uh he got the crowd at his commitment ceremony uh to sing Happy Birthday to his dad now if that wasn't enough Kaye we got more the only person that knew was basically Kirby Smart he chose Georgia over Clemson Alabama was also in the mix but it was Georgia versus Clemson there and Malachi did not tell his father or his mother what he was going to do so we have another one of those vein of nobody knew and it was the 53rd birthday present for his father Larry Starks oh and you want to get a little bit more a little bit more seasoning on top of that story three days later he had been in Question of the Week contact with Jaylen Walker Jaylen Walker also had the same two finalists Georgia and Clemson and three days later Jaylen Walker chose the Georgia Bulldog so when you think about this team now and the Synergy between before the hedges in recruiting and the present day roster well we're going to be talking about these guys that we're talking about right now making big plays for the dogs two or three years down the line and one more thing about this which shows you how long ago it was Kaylee when he committed to Georgia the thing was I want to bring national championships to Georgia that was back when Georgia had not won a national championship yet that was March of 2021 nobody knew that Georgia had a national championship coming down the track later that season and Not only would Malachi see one as a Georgia commitment and then as a sinee but then he would get one in his freshman season in Athens as well and guys that is your time machine for Malachi Starks before we get to our question of the week I do want to do our high school Spotlight game what's the high school game in the state of Georgia everybody should keep an eye out for this week Jee good one this week it's got major dog Targets in 2026 I'm talking about Douglas County versus Langston Hughes uh funny little story the show's so loaded this week that we didn't have we get a chance to talk about Florida's demise and what happened when they were hosting recruits but dantro Glover was actually at the Florida game last week he was like he was like let me see what these Gators are all about you if you if you ever not want to worry about a Georgia commit visiting someone else dantro Glover the Georgia commitment off interior offensive line commitment very solid verbal commitment he was at that travesty which was the the Florida Miami game on Saturday look we've we've held off on Florida we've held off on Florida State but it's time for the question of the week here on before the head where we're finally going to get to address some of these things this is our before the hedges question of the week simple you only have two options but it might be one of the toughest decisions you have to make all day because the question is which ug recruiting Ral is off to the worst start a Florida or B Florida State I know it's a tough one Jeff but you've had all week to reflect on it well maybe since Monday I would like to hear your thoughts I I think I'm like crying right now just how like I'm so happy this is the question can we get the Kaye C cry cam going right here dude the downfall of Florida state was not on my bingo card but it has brought me more joy in the last week and a half than I've maybe had in the last month and a half oh my word aming Kaye bless your heart bless your heart um now this is a tough one cuz it's like do you want to kick the dirt on the Gators or really Florida state has probably been that one school that's more in Georgia Thorne on the recruiting Trail see KJ Balden see Kevin W see CJ Wy um this is a tough one but what I have to say here is I have to go Florida for the simple fact that norvell's got $78 million in his buyout $84 million in his buyout he's not going anywhere there's not going to be a program reconstruction coming down the track uh they'll get to play some ACC teams they're better than dju will actually complete some wide open balls to some wide open receivers against the Dukes and Wake Forest so the Maryland of the world I believe uh but Florida this was one of those Florida had to get in the win column for them to get to four five wins this year and seeing as how they struggled against Miami mightily with basically they invited everybody inside the Sunshine State to come get a look at these brand new Gators I think it's going to be really really tough for Billy Napier going forward and what we already knew was going to be really tough I think it just got a lot tougher can I can I give you a thought here on the show um I'm definitely thinking more in the long term than in the short term even though that's not the question but here's here's been my thoughts when I saw this question actually thought that Florida State might be in a worse off position because Nik Mike Norvell still has so much time left now he's got time to fix it but if you don't like what you see as a recruit now at least you know that mid by midseason or the end of the season Florida could have a shot at taking another coach and I don't think that Florida is going to risk like they did with Napier or Dan Mullen or M Wayne where they didn't come from already notable programs I think that they're going to have to go out and hire a big name so when that happens I think that could actually be better for Florida than Florida state who's going to be stuck with Mike Norvell for some time they are but the one thing I noticed about Florida is I don't think they fundamentally recruit the way they should to win in the SEC what I mean by that is they don't recruit the lines of scrimmage they've got a pretty decent class even though it's not decent for the SEC but they don't have any offensive linemen in that class and they have a lot of skill guys and a lot of you know guys that put points on the board but they don't have guys that either keep those guys out of the end zone or or basically get them to the end zone and you know this is one of those where if you're rooting for your two worst Rivals I mean the other thing about Florida is like I said before I don't see them going head-to-head with Georgia for any recruits over the last year two much less the next year or two and I think this is a season that's going to set them back a significant amount um and they'll hit the reset button on their recruiting uh going forward dog Nation that's our question of the week please let us know what you think and the comments now it's time to do our our Staples this week it was the 2025 Class Breakdown Dr Dre and Snoop these are the things that makes the show go round these are weekly slides starting with class breakdown offense we'll go through it super quick last week informed you guys fourstar quarterback Ryan Montgomery is going to be out with a season ending injury fourstar bow Walker super super stoked for him that he gets to play a senior season of high school football and then actually got the chance to watch Juan Gaston Jr I mean it's no doubt when you look on that field you know just looking at that line what kid has committed to Georgia he is huge uh play in the hits right here obviously great news from Bo Walker Thomas blackshire also had about 12 catches last week they played Oceanside Christian Academy out of uh the Charleston area that's home of Monroe freeling they actually lost 16 to 15 but Black Shear had a big season debut day Talon Taylor's already made our program with his two touchdowns Tyler J Williams had another big game uh playing as well Landon Rolan he was off last week I believe I think they fa they faced Clark Central on Friday we've mentioned Elias Barbour was the dog of the week last week Cortez Smith we've already had Mason short and dantro Glover uh sound bites in our program taking a look at our defensive side of the ball uh Stefan Shivers Brentwood Academy you saw him he was in the Dome on in the Benz on Saturday liked what he saw Zaden Walker did not make it to the Benz on Saturday I believe he will be in Athens for Tennessee Tech this weekend uh looking across the list there you got jonte Gilbert had another interception last week Todd Robinson only had a mmortal type day at quarterback for Vala this past weekend Jaylen Morgan and Rashia Johnson jayen Morgan actually I believe had an interception and caught a touchdown pass or at least a two-point conversion uh last week for his team in Rockville all right take a look at our recruiting snapshot 22 commits fourth nationally 12 on offense 10 on defense nine out of state 13 inate three five star commits three within the top 50 seven within the top 100 eight within the top 150 13 within the top 200 17 in the SEC footprint five commits beyond the SEC footprint offensive players among five highest rid commits three and then our offensive players among the 10 highest rated commits is five now let's go ahead and take a look at our top targets usually it gets Slimmer but we had to add one this week and I just thought it was really ironic that our addition our last minute Edition for this week's top targets is FSU commit Kevin win Jeff Kaye I think I'm going to try and see if I can get you crying again uh because look at number five there that's a gator flip potential and look at number six that's a seminol flip potential right there uh I'm going to tell you something Kaye that I don't think most would classify as amazing news but I've done my projections and I don't think Georgia will finish with the number one class this year if you take them clearing the board here with all the top targets I think they come just shy of where Ohio State is right now uh in terms of the national recruiting rankings but folks do not focus on where the the recruiting ranking is this time you want to focus on number number one there number two there maybe like Georgia if Georgia sweeps the board with these remaining targets where I think uh obviously three to five of these four to six of these is likely if not possible uh this is going to be a dgd recruiting class and it's going to be the stuff that stalks the roster you see right there up in section 117 right there uh in the Mercedes Benz Stadium that's where they parked a lot of the Georgia commitments right there and also the top targets you see that guy right there uh that is Elijah Griffin pretty easy to spot the number one top Target on the list look at that people know who Elijah Griffin and he's getting shouted out right there from the people up in the uh the very nice seats right there he was standing up a lot he was watching a lot he was actually pretty close to Justice Terry as well Ethan Barbour was basically right in the middle of the two of them right there and right there that is your number one top Target for the class obviously wearing some Georgia gear he didn't have to look too far in his closet to find that one like I'm not that worried about it Jeff like Nick satman said you can spend 20 $20 million on a class but you got to spend it on the right one so if we're not at the number one spot not too worried about it but let's go to our just off the list fourstar safety Tay Harris back on the list love to see I'm glad that he's get getting some attention again on the chef look at all this you've got Boston College Bama a junior college Target you've got Minnesota this is a time I wanted to just spend a minute and talk about Shane Marshall Shane Marshall has set his official visit to Georgia uh for October as well and the reason why Zaden Walker lost 60 to 35 last week is because of Shane Marshall at Irwin County he had four touchdowns he galloped up and down the field showed it he's a little bit more ready for the SEC than the Big 10 in Minnesota right there and he's a guy that's moving up the board did does Georgia go get a second running back in this class we shall see but we know this Shane Marshall is making it a problem for them to think about hey how badly do we need another running back in this class Shane Marshall is certainly playing like he's good enough to play at Georgia right now we mentioned Tay Harris earlier in the show I think that's worth watching Jeff to wrap this whole show up I want to get one more sel's Intel give us your final thoughts whether that's what you saw last Saturday what you expect to see this Saturday or maybe just one last piece of news on any of the names we talked about give us one less in tell us Intel uh this is the only thing people want to know about did Georgia do better with Elijah Griffin and Justice Terry that answer is yes did Georgia enhance their stock that answer is yes um you know what is it the rich get richer will the dogs get even more dogs I feel more comfortable saying that because what's happening here in Georgia in the 2025 class everybody's going to look at it a little bit differently because it's like how much is left how much W how much wood is left to chop how much meat is left on the bone well you see right there is Georgia going to maybe try and get another receiver are they going to try and flip a safety I think right now besides Terry and besides Griffin everything else is just going to be Cosmetics to an already Powerhouse Juggernaut robust class all right dog Nation thank you for joining us here on before the hedges brought to you by Kroger I'm kayy Manel with Jeff SEL thanks for joining us on our new 700 PM start time tonight again still listen to us on the dog Nation Podcast feed and we'll see you right back here next [Music] Wednesdays important