Nation's No. 3 safety Jaylen Heyward will be a Georgia Bulldog
Georgia has added its second four-star commitment for the Class of 2024 in less than a week, this time in the form of the nation’s No. 42 overall prospect Jaylen Heyward.
In addition to his overall ranking, Heyward currently ranks as the No. 3 safety in the Class of 2024 and No. 10 prospect in the state of Florida for the cycle per the On3 Consensus.
The 5-foot-11, 175-pound defensive back hails from Rockledge, Florida’s Rockledge High School.
He becomes Georgia’s second safety commitment of the Class of 2024, joining the No. 2 ranked safety, Peyton Woodyard, who pledged his services last Saturday during the Adidas All-American Game.
“It was time after the (National Championship),” Heyward told DawgsHQ. “It really showed me everything I need to see from the University of Georgia.”
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His relationship with his future positional coach spurred the decision in a major way, as well.
“The relationship with Coach Fran [Brown] and Coach [Will] Muschamp has been amazing. I’m closer with Coach Muschamp, and that relationship has been great. We text every day. He’s always sending me graphics, and we always ask about each other’s families. We talk about how our days have been going, and he’s always telling me how a day at Georgia goes,” Heyward told DawgsHQ. “He gives me a coach’s point of view, but he gives me a bit of the player’s point of view, too. That’s good to know as a player in this recruitment process. You want to know what players are doing at that school and how they’re getting coached on an everyday basis. He’s shown me he’s an amazing coach. He’s really smart in everything he does. He’s one of the best defensive coordinators in college football.”
Muschamp’s approach in recruiting Heyward ultimately helped to set the Bulldogs apart.
“One thing I’d say makes Georgia unique is that Muschamp is a defensive coordinator, and for him to text me every day and ask how I am, it stands out to a player who’s seeing him coach at a high level,” Heyward said. “It’s amazing. Talking to him every day is like, ‘Wow. I’m really that important to y’all.’ I could go there and likely play my freshman year on the punt team. It really just opened my eyes.”
SCOUTING REPORT ON JAYLEN HEYWARD
“Jaylen Heyward lined up in the slot for 24K and largely locked down his area from what we saw on Thursday. The top 100 underclassman shut down gave up no space on underneath routes, limiting any attempts to dink and dunk down the field. Heyward’s speed is not in question as he consistently runs sub-11.0 second in the 100 meters. With that said, he showed off some reactive quickness when targeted underneath on Thursday.” – Charles Power, On3 Director of Scouting and Reporting from June
