Jamal Meriweather signs, officially joining Georgia's 2023 class
Jamal Meriweather came out of the Early Signing Period committed yet unsigned. The Brunswick offensive tackle said he wanted to put pen to paper and celebrate with teammates in February. Well, that’s exactly what Meriweather did on Thursday, signing his National Letter of Intent to Georgia. It came a day later than expected with National Signing Day on Wednesday.
The 6-foot-6, 285-pound tackle was committed to UCF before flipping his pledge to Georgia on December 5th. He had previously chosen the Golden Knights over offers from the likes of Tennessee, USC, Mississippi State and Utah among others.
After flipping to Georgia, the industry came around on Meriweather some as he shot up in the final version of the On300, going from No. 252 overall and No. 17 among offensive tackles to a top-200 prospect, No. 195 overall and No. 13 among players at his position. On3 was the highest on Meriweather and remains the only outlet in the industry to rate him as a four-star. As a result, Meriweather’s equally weighted On3 Consensus rating comes out to a ranking of No. 626 and No. 38 for offensive tackles.
Highlights from Meriweather’s senior season at Brunswick High School can be seen below:
Meriweather joins a Georgia class of signees ranked No. 2 in the country only behind Alabama. The Bulldogs inked 25 players during the Early Signing Period including four that ended the recruiting cycle as On3 Consensus five-stars. EDGE Damon Wilson was the highest rated player according to the Consensus, coming in at No. 20 and No. 3 for his position. Defensive lineman Jordan Hall and linebacker Raylen Wilson were also five-stars on the defensive side of the football, No. 25 and 29 respectively, while offensive tackle Monroe Freeling was the highest-rated offensive player Georgia signed, a five-star at No. 32 overall and No. 5 for his position. On3 had each of those four as five-stars as well with Freeling the highest player overall at No. 7, tops among offensive linemen, and Wilson as the No. 1 linebacker at No. 18 overall.
Along with Freeling, Meriweather makes up part of an offensive line class that includes Bo Hughley, Kelton Smith and Joshua Miller. Freeling and Miller are both early enrollees, two of 18 in total for the Bulldogs.
“Excited for this group we’ve got coming in today. Really good group of signing class. I mean, I’m thrilled every year we get a new signing class, but this group has been special. Every time we have a visit or we have them come see us and they meet with academics and they meet with player development and they meet with strength and conditioning and training room, everybody talks about what a great group of kids they are,” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said during the Early Signing Period. “They are probably the highest incoming GPA in terms of academic success that we’ve ever had, which we found here over seven, eight years that that’s the number one indicator to success is can they be successful in the classroom? This is as good a group as we’ve had.”
“It’s across the country a really good group,” he continued. “We think we addressed a lot of needs at defensive back and receiver. Still have some guys left out there. We’re having to do this early because of the stuff going on with our players here. So I’m really fired up about this group. They are high character. The one thing in the coaching business you better value now more than ever is high character, tough, hard-nosed football players that are coming here with an understanding that they’re committed to excellence in terms of classroom, competitiveness, toughness, loving football, and these guys understand that. I mean, I really don’t want anybody to be here that doesn’t like practicing hard and doesn’t like going to school, and those are the two prerequisites for playing at Georgia, and this group has figured that out.”
