I did not follow Air Noland at Ohio State, but after researching, a little, I can see why he would commit here, and if he sticks, he could be our next QB after Sellers.
Seems very well raised and grounded young man that wants to play big time football and closer to home, probably snubbed some by UGA in the process, so he would not go there to be in the SEC.
His parents make all their kids take college courses early in HS and graduate early.
“I started taking courses my freshman year to prepare for college,” Noland told Marietta Daily Journal. “I even took some classes at Georgia Military College.”
Graduating early is a tradition in Noland’s family, with his older siblings also completing high school ahead of schedule.
A couple cool facts, I did not know
Air is his real middle name, Prentiss Air Noland III, carries a unique name passed down to him from his father.
First offered by Kentucky in 8th grade
In HS even though he was recruited by many private High Schools, his parents chose to keep him at Langston Hughes in GA to help elevate the unranked team to new heights in his career.
- Freshman: 1,348 yards and 15 touchdowns to five interceptions
- Sophomore: 2,581 yards and 34 touchdowns to seven interceptions
- Junior: 4,095 yards and 55 touchdowns to four interceptions
- Senior: 2,140 yards and 22 touchdowns to nine interceptions
his 55 touchdown passes is 3rd all time in Georgia history– beats Trevor Lawrence (51) and Deshaun Watson (50).
He was buried on the depth chart, not second and not third, with more new high-level competition coming in, I would think that would be eye opening to a young QB. He has always said he is ok being developed, and not playing immediately out of HS but if you're the # 4 or # 5 QB, are you even getting enough reps to be developed?
He has to be looking at South Carolina as a place he go and win the backup job quickly and be developed by Mike Shula. I would think Robby Ashford talked to him about if next year was not his last chance was not to start in his career, he would of 100% stayed.
We are closer to home, around 3 and half hours, but given his experience with Ohio State, that is probably a bigger deal. He even was quoted as being a little homesick at Ohio State, so I'm how distance was a factor.
"I felt Homesick, of course" Noland admitted after a practice camp at Ohio State. “But I was still all in with the Woody and all in with the workouts, all in with my teammates, of course. Of course, I got homesick when I first got here, but it was no distraction for me.”
We are in the SEC, and on the upswing.
Noland will be a Red Shirt Freshman and has a chance to come here and be the heir apparent to Sellers and the future.
Sellers did not make it through 2024 season without injury and given his playing style and physicality there is a good chance the back up plays a lot here, the staff needs a quality one again for 2025.
For Sellers and the NFL, he developed alot in 2024, if has the same rapid development, who knows where he will be in regards to the NFL draft after the 2025 season, Anthony Richardson went # 4 overall 2 years ago in the 2023 draft and Sellers to me is more athletic and will be much more polished after the 2025 season.
Air Noland did not choose the money out of HS, for Ohio State, I liked this quote, I found,
“I know for a fact that they didn't take the highest dollar amount,” Noland’s high school coach, Brandon Williams, told Cleveland.com. “The dollar amount was definitely different at other places. But they loved what Coach Day and the guys (at Ohio State) are doing up there.”
Noland held over 35 college offers, including Ohio State, Alabama, Clemson, Miami, Texas A&M and Oregon.
“I know money moves people, but I’ve been going to work every day since Air was born,” Noland’s mother, Audrey Gill, told Cleveland.com. “I knew the money wasn’t gonna move me now. It was one point when we were offered a lot of NIL money, and Air and I looked at each there and froze up. Then we both just busted out laughing… Had we gone into it with a different mindset we probably would’ve taken the money when people called, but the money never really moved us.”
