Georgia trending for newly offered 4-star safety Lagonza Hayward

The 2025 recruiting class in Georgia might be the best in recent memory, with 37 prospects ranking among the top 300 nationally in the updated On300 rankings.

The in-state Bulldogs already have five commitments from inside state lines, and they are expected to be a major factor for a number of other top uncommitted prospects as well. Among them is Lyons Toombs County four-star safety Lagonza Hayward, who is one of UGA’s most recent offers.

Hayward, who also holds offers from Tennessee, Florida State, Alabama, USC and more, was offered on Sunday, and the Bulldogs have made a major impression.

Earlier this week, a pair of recruiting insiders reflected that by placing expert predictions in UGA’s favor to land the No. 14 recruit in the Peach State.

“Hayward has gotten to know co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach Travaris Robinson quite well over the past six weeks,” DawgsHQ’s Jake Rowe wrote on Tuesday explaining his pick. “One of Robinson’s first stops was at Toombs High School where he visited with the four-star talent. Hayward is being pursued by a number of other programs and it seems there’s some high interest in playing wideout. Georgia, evidenced by the deployment of Robinson to recruit him, likes him at safety. My confidence level in this pick is 60 percent.”

Bulldogs offer means a lot to the in-state star

Few things mean more to Georgia prospects than an offer from the in-state program, winners of two of the last three national titles. UGA’s program reminds Hayward of his own high school, something he believes would make for a seamless transition to the college level if he chooses the Bulldogs.

“It’s college football. Everybody has nice facilities, but Georgia’s facilities? State of the art. Also, winning is the standard. Competing is the standard,” he told DawgsHQ over the weekend. “It’s the same thing at Toombs County, so that makes it like a switch would be easier. It wouldn’t be a dramatic or drastic change. At Toombs County, we compete every day. It won’t be any different.”

While that was all impressive, it was Robinson who truly brought the spark to the Georgia-Hayward relationship, and that could end up being a key for the Bulldogs in this race.

“Every time I think of T-Rob, I think of the first time I met him. I came up for a gameday visit at Bama. I think they were playing Chattanooga. The game was over, and I had a chain on. He did, too, but it was tucked. He had on a gold watch with some diamonds, too. He said, ‘Hey young bull, I’m blinging, too.’ It was like a cool uncle vibe,” Hayward said. “Me and him have always chopped it up. He’s always called and checked up on me, but he’s always talking junk. He’s like that uncle that tried to talk junk, but he’s cool. He has a cool personality.”