the recruit: George Adeosun

Name: George Adeosun
Position: OT
Hometown: Alpharetta, GA
School: Alpharetta
Height: 6’6″
Weight: 301

24/7: 90, four stars; #26 OT, GA #27
ESPN: 77, three stars; #56 OT, GA #74, SE #327
Rivals: 5.4, two stars
Scout: three stars; #55 OT

Other offers: Oklahoma, Georgia, Arizona State, Tennessee, Georgia Tech, Missouri, Purdue, Kentucky

Just shy of one month after Signing Day, it’s time to wrap up the updates.  I’m punctual like that.  The last player in the class to declare for UVA was also one of the most highly-coveted, albeit with a twist.  George Adeosun was a William & Mary commitment until the UVA coaches found him in January and invited him up for the huge official visit weekend that’s become a yearly London staple.  At the time, he had this to say: “Right now I kind of have it down to William & Mary and Virginia unless anything else comes along.”

A few something elses came along.  UVA’s staff, or sources or whoever it is that talks to the reporters from the paysites that cover recruiting, occasionally will ask the reporters not to divulge a particular name so as to keep things under wraps.  This would’ve been a good time to do that, because Adeosun’s recruitment absolutely exploded within a week of his UVA visit.  At first it was only Purdue and Kentucky, and that didn’t seem to pose too much of a threat.  Then it got out of hand.  A whole bunch of programs looking to stuff another offensive lineman into their classes decided to get in touch, most notably Oklahoma and Georgia.  It must have been absolutely dizzying.

But UVA was first, and that meant something; it also helped that Adeosun is a classroom superstar and UVA has a tendency to be attractive to guys whose grade point starts with a four.  As a result of his very late bloom, the scouting services are all over the map on their evaluations.  Rivals gave him sort of a default two-star, so that rating is kind of null and void.  24/7 went nuts and gave him four stars; OU and UGA offers would tend to back up that assessment.  The highish-three that Scout and ESPN gave seems to be fairest, given his late appearance on the scene.  I mean, a guy who plays at a pretty big high school in a pretty big-talent state ought to have been noticed by somebody in the SEC.  (Though being an offensive lineman hinders that somewhat.)

Slotting-wise, Adeosun sits the fence right between tackle and guard.  Both have been mentioned as possibilities in various scouting reports big and small.  Part of the reason for that is that his size sits the fence; 6’6″ is tackle-sized, 6’5″ (where ESPN lists him) is kind of cutting it close.  ESPN also likes his pass protection better than his run-blocking, though, which is a point for tackle.  As is the vast amount of interest he got in January.  Part of it is schools scrambling to fill their offensive line quotas, but I don’t think schools from here to Arizona are going after a guard prospect.

One thing everyone’s agreed upon is that Adeosun is pretty raw as a talent, and needs some technique work.  That’s OK; O-linemen all redshirt anyway, or 95% of ‘em do.  With the recent “indefinite suspension” of Kelby Johnson, and the impending graduation of Morgan Moses (after this upcoming season) tackle depth is kind of thin.  So anyone sitting the fence is probably a tackle.  I’ve got high hopes for Adeosun thanks to the explosion of interest in his services.  UVA won a tough recruiting battle against a couple very high-profile schools; just because it happened at the last minute shouldn’t make Adeosun any less highly anticipated than the ones who commit in May.

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