Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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52 OCT. 31, 2020 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY LOU SOMOGYI O ver the past 20 years, no state has made a greater ascent in Notre Dame's football recruit- ing than Georgia. In the same way Florida became a prime new targeted area for the Fight- ing Irish in the late 1980s and early 1990s to "catch up to speed" on the football field, Georgia has now taken on that mantle in the past several years. The current 2021 recruiting cycle alone features four-star wide receiver commits Deion Colzie (Athens) and Jayden Thomas (Atlanta) — the No. 107- and No. 145-ranked recruits na- tionally by Rivals — plus tight end Cane Berrong (Hartwell). Among the three commits in the 2022 class so far is tight end Jack Nickel from Milton, Ga. Since 2018, nine stu- dent-athletes from the Peach State have verbally pledged or signed with Notre Dame, not including 2018 safety Derrik Allen, who is now with the home state Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. In the five recruiting cycles from 2018-22 in which 31 states plus Ger- many have been represented among those Irish players, California also has had nine. New Jersey (seven), and Il- linois (six) likewise remained fertile areas during that span. Helping train the trio of Colzie, Thomas and Berrong is former Uni- versity of Georgia wideout Terrence Edwards, whose 3,093 receiving yards with the Bulldogs from 1999-2002 set an SEC record, while his 204 catches were second all time. When asked by BlueandGold.com recruiting insider Mike Singer whether he envisioned three of his top pupils all attending Notre Dame, Edwards couldn't help but laugh. "I wouldn't have believed it," he replied. "I've been with JT and De- ion since they were in middle school, and Cane came on board last year. … They're great kids who come from great families. Notre Dame is a perfect fit for these three young men. "They take their schoolwork very seriously and they know that you need to be set up for after football. It's not going to last forever. Having a degree from Notre Dame means a lot to them. It's a perfect off-the-field fit for them as well … [Brian Kelly] puts his players in position to be successful on and off the field." Perhaps not so coincidentally, this year's Halloween afternoon outing at Georgia Tech marks the first time since 1942-43 the Fighting Irish visited the Peach State for a regular-season game in back-to-back years, having played at the University of Georgia in Athens in September 2019. Georgia natives who made impacts last season were Freshman All-Amer- ican safety Kyle Hamilton (Atlanta), tight end Tommy Tremble (Norcross) and running back C'Bo Flemister (Wil- liamson), whose five rushing touch- downs as a sophomore were the sec- ond most on the team. Hamilton already is an All-America candidate as a sophomore, while Trem- ble also was the team's top pass catcher during a 4-0 start and highlighted as a premier blocker on the edge. Prior to 2014, only 31 players from Georgia had seen game action at Notre Dame. However, since 2001, that num- ber has dramatically escalated. In the 14 recruiting classes from 2001-14, Notre Dame signed a mini- mum of one player from Georgia in 11 of them, with exceptions coming in 2007, 2009 and 2012. Beyond the "Big Three" of Califor- nia, Florida and Texas, this state, along with Louisiana, might be the most coveted for big-time talent. It's never going to be easy recruiting in SEC ter- ritory, but reeling in one per year in talent-rich Georgia shouldn't be unre- alistic either. Here are our top 15 Notre Dame players from Georgia. Note how most are from the past 20 years. 15. Kyle Hamilton (Atlanta, 2019-current) It's not too early to include him already after his sterling debut last year in a part-time role which GEORGIA On nOtre Dame's minD Peach State becomes 'the new Florida' in recruiting efforts Kyle Hamilton burst onto the scene in 2019, leading the team with four interceptions en route to Freshman All-America honors. PHOTO BY ANDRIS VISOCKIS