HOT CORNER: 2027 Offensive Tackle Intel–Georgia & Notre Dame Define Recruiting SUCCESS

0:00Hey everyone, this is Ross Jackson, one of the hosts of the Lockdown Podcast Network. If your group chats been a little quiet lately, I want to invite you to come and join ours. If you sign up for the everydayer club, you get access to the members' only group chats for your favorite teams, plus national chats for every sport. Personally, I love watching folks talk a little smack in the NFC South Trash talk chat. You also get an ad-free version of your favorite Lockdown show and a whole lot more. You can check it out by tapping the everydayer club link in the show notes. Breaking down the nation's top offensive tackle recruits because they determine national championships. Lockdown presents the portal. The daily podcast covering college football recruiting and everything NIL, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network.

1:01Your team every day. Welcome back into the portal podcast where you get your daily recruiting NIL and transfer portal scoop. I'm your host Brian Smith, longtime college football recruiting analyst. Thank you for making the portal podcast your first lesson each and every day right here on the nation's number one podcast network locked on. We're going to be talking about offensive tackle recruiting because you, the fans, told me yesterday that you would like to hear position groups and then teams who's recruiting the best with these official visits, we're starting that today. An offensive tackle, in my opinion, has now moved to number one in terms of priorities for a high school recruiting and if you take nothing else from this podcast, listen to the following 60 seconds. It doesn't matter if you're for a state who needs to get way better at recruiting offense attackers or if you're Georgia, who's pretty much at the top of the board. The one position that year in and year out is terrible in the transfer portal is often to tackle. If you do not win with high school recruiting, then you can mix in a jucco kit too.

2:06That's fine. But if you do not win with high school in the occasion of jucco prospect, that offensive tackle. Your chances for a long term success are close to NIL. That's why the following programs are always at least contending for payoff spots. Texas, Texas A&M, Georgia, Notre Dame, Ohio State, LSU, Iowa, even with their lackluster offense, they do so well with offensive line. They're at least a dark horse at some point. They're going to break through and make a playoff. They are the best offensive line in college football last year. They evaluate and coach it as well as anybody. High school recruiting at no position is more important than offensive tackle and in general offensive line, honestly. But today, it's about offensive tackles. I'm going to break down the top 10 based on 24-7 with one additional player that could play tackle or guard and be elite and go through their official visits, their recruitments. And they were going to get into which teams are doing good and why overall Georgia, Notre

3:11Dame, in my opinion, are the two best in the country and not only developing it, but recruiting it, retaining it. And it's no coincidence. There are the two of the five or six teams that are most likely to win the title again this year. So let's get started with that right now. And I'm just going to go down the list here. It's, again, I'm using, for those of you who want to follow at home, you just do like a Google search. You want to pull it up on your screen. That's fine. I've got a whole bunch of notes on Doc. But it's one through 10 for 24-7 for the class of 2027 offense and tackle. And I'm going to throw in one other player in the middle of that because he could be a tackle or guard. And Andrew Evans is actually the guy that does most of rankings for 24-7. He's the one that turned me on of that player. So let's talk about it. Number one, Mark Matthews. And for those of you that saw this podcast, I'm going to check this out today or you'll listen to this later on YouTube. Mark Matthews is the thumbnail. If you're listening to this and you saw the thumbnail on Apple or Spotify, it's Mark as well.

4:12He plays St. Thomas Aquinas. Same high school that's produced numerous NFL players at one point two years ago. STA had more NFL players than any other school in the country. One Michael Urban one time dawned an opportunity to play that game at STA and he's obviously a Hall of Famer. But they've had a lot of the guys too. So he knows what it looks like to play big time competition in South Florida. He's in Broward County. He was a future 50 member. Mark is athletic as it gets. We saw him at the Under Armored Camp going into his junior year. I wasn't sure about it then because he was still growing into his body. He was a former defensive lineman making the transition. I didn't know what to think. I remember Andrew Evans was a lot higher on him at that point than I was. He was right. The kid just needed time to grow into his body. And he's just great kid. And that's why he pretty much has an offer from every school in the country. But the three setting the pace and have been for a while since I spoke to him last in January and it's still to this day from what I am told. Miami, Texas A&M in a high state, it might even be that order, but take it for whatever

5:15it's worth. Mark Matthews is as good and upside prospect as the reason college football. He'll probably need one year like most guys do, but there aren't very many Joe Alts that start his freshman at the major P4 level. Would it shock me if he would start it a lot of schools? Probably not. I doubt he would start at Miami or Texas A&M as a freshman right away, maybe at the end of the year. But we'll see. Hasn't set his dates, at least I haven't found anything publicly if somebody in the chat wants to fire away with that. Go ahead. But Mark Matthews is number one right now on 24-7, and I don't have a problem with it. I would rank him probably number two and we'll get to the guy that I would rank number one right now. This is anybody following all on 24-7. He's not going to be listed as an offensive tackle, but he is the rarest of the rare. He can play guard or tackle. It does not matter. His name is Maxwell Hiller. Andrew and I were at future 50 last summer at IMG that bring in top kids at every position. And just drills early on and then we go later in the day, we have a competition.

6:18It's just like you would see under armor camps. What on what? And I asked Andrew, you know, who you liked early on from the other ones that practice and he was at a different spot. He was watching the linemen. I watched skill guys. And he said, watch the Maxwell Hiller guy. He was really good. I'm like, all right. And I watched him a little bit that afternoon and I was like, man, this kid's pretty good. And the last thing or the linemen go at it in one on one. And at the end, crew Jones was the top pass rusher. The kid committed to Oklahoma. He's out of the state of Utah. He's awesome. And crew was going against Hiller. He was even better than Matthews. He was better than Oval, Obola, the kid I'll talk about here just a second, Kennedy Brown, anybody else, all those guys were there too. Hiller was the guy that was standing at the end. I'm going to go with what I saw and the opera list backs it up, his visit list also kind of backs it up. May 29th Alabama. June 12th, Tennessee, June 19th, Florida. Watch out for the gators. O'line coach and Gainesville is the one that was at Penn State.

7:22He'll be very interesting. No trot line is a really good coach. He has ties to Florida, obviously, if you follow his career. And that will be very interesting. He'll work, he'll go a lot of places, Alabama at one point. Some thought he was gonna go there. I don't know where he'll end up. Just really technically sound. He's had some early coaching. I don't know if he's got a history. Family members have played the NFL or what, but that is one of the more advanced kids physically, mentally and technically combined that I've seen. My friend Ray, there runs a power five elite. He said that kid could play any spot he wants. I talked to him the other day at a tournament. And I agreed. We both think he's the best offensive lineman all around in the country. You could make an argument that Maxwell Hiller is the best player in the country. And if you were on a rank number one, I wouldn't have any problem with it. Because again, as I noted at the beginning of this show, the most important position at the high school level, not overall, quarterbacks are the most important position, but quarterbacks are getting the portal. Offensive tackles really don't. The most important position to recruit

8:23out of the high school ranks is offensive tackle. Number two, technically on the 24-7 list, and I'm gonna butcher this name. It's a great kid. He's pretty quiet. Oh, it was a Malol. Oh, he'll be boa. He's got a St. Peter's Prep, New Jersey City, New Jersey. Don't ask me to say that name again. Oh, little be boa. I can get pretty much the last name. Great kid, just quiet, and holy cow is he big. He has one of the longest wing spans I've ever seen in my life, 666-7300, give or take, but he looks like a condor. A&M and Florida got recent visits, upcoming visit to Miami next week, from according to Gabby Eurelia, buddy of mine, that's inside the U on 24-7 great guy, high estate, Michigan, Penn State, North Carolina, Nebraska, Georgia Tech. There are some of the schools that are involved. Notre Dame, ironically, just offered on March 19th, might be able to wait there for the Irish, but whatever they offered. Florida is a school, according to Cory Bender, another buddy of mine from Gators Online, upwards on my list, according to an article he wrote.

9:27I don't know where he's gonna go, but that's a kid that he probably needs a year or so, but oh, if a boa is really, really the guy you look at from like a computer screen, when he spreads out his arms, it's just insane. I don't think there are many guys like him in the country. And to be honest with you, that's got as much high upside as anybody in this class. When we come back, we're gonna continue on and then we will get into the teams. Who's recruiting the best? Is your team doing well? I have a few schools that I'm gonna be calling out because their offensive tackle recruiting sucks, and that's why the program is down as well. That is next right here on the portal podcast. Today's show is brought to you by Robin Hood. One of sports were traded like markets. Now you can put your sports IQ to work in real time with Robin Hood prediction markets. It's not you against the house, it's you participating in a live market. You can buy yourself your positions live all game long,

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12:30you're ad free listing or the pods on the go. You're whether it's Spotify, like I use Apple, Bobby, whatever it is, check it out the every day or club. Now we're going to continue on with the list and then we're going to get in some teams. We're going to have to get on the giddy here because we've got a long way to go. We're going to go through the top 10. We're only through a handful of guys and we're down to Kennedy round. One of the best kids you're going to meet in the country was just north of Houston. It goes to Kingwood High and Texas great guy. Texas A&M's got a visit lined up June 5th. Last I saw A&M and Oregon have been on him for a long time. Kind of the favorites for whatever it's worth a high state's been involved within different teams. But Texas is a school that is kind of gotten in there and this is an interesting quote. Jordan Scroods have horns 247 stated and this would drive me nuts. If I was anybody in the higher ups at UT or if I was a booster, the long horns were not consistent with communication and it's been very hot and cold with the months leading up to February. Maybe it's because of injury concerns.

13:30He's only played about a year and a half out of three years. He's been riding around on a little scooter. He had a foot injury or something. I think it's a Whist Frank injury. A&M, Florida, there's that Florida team again. Clemson, Nebraska, several other teams are in the mix along with Texas. But now Texas is heavily involved. I'm curious to see how Kennedy's Whist goes. He's a little shorter. He's about 6'4", but kind of like, oh, the boa, it's the length. Arm length is ridiculous. And Kennedy is one of the nicest kids you'd ever meet. Great guy. Haven't seen the following player, but he's really long. He's committed to Oklahoma's in-state kid Cooper Hackett. At a Fort Gibson, he committed real or six five, two 60s, two 50s, something like that. It's got a little ways to go in terms of filling out. I assume this is an old way. I think he was visited that last year. I'm hoping he's 270 or more now. I'm not sure, but I have not seen him live. I'd love to see Cooper Hackett play against some competition outside of Oklahoma at a seven on, or excuse me, a five on five of men or something like that, but really good prospect to get your Oklahoma off for early, he committed to the sooners.

14:32Number six, this is the kid I saw in person and whole week out was he massive. Joshua Samapel plays at Douglas County on the west side of Atlanta, just a massive human being. I did not need a roster to know who Joshua was. Six eight, he's got to be over 300 pounds, and six eight's conservative. He might be closer to six than he is humongous. And to that end, when you see him kind of walk out onto the field, you just say, that looks like a kid that Kirby's gonna do everything he can to keep in state. Georgia wants the biggest offensive line. And anyway, he's in Atlanta. I'd be shocked if he didn't go there, but here's his list and we'll talk about it. Miami's May 29th, Georgia's June 5th, LSU June 12th, Tennessee June 19th. I've been told, watch out for Miami here. Watch out for the Miami hurricanes with Joshua Samapel. Been told that for over a month. We'll see where he ends up, but Mario Cristobal, who won by trade. And his best friend is Alex Mirabal,

15:33the O1 coach for the hurricanes. They do an excellent job of recruiting. And he's a priority recruit they've been in on for a long time. That's gonna be a very battle. Might be one of the best battles in the country. Number six, this is a kid that there was no doubt where he was going. Just one of those deals. His dad played at Notre Dame. He's going to Notre Dame to James Halter, his father played at Notre Dame for like 89 to 92 or 93, something like that. Six five, 270 central Catholic in Pittsburgh. He's a sound offense attacker. I think he could be guard or tackle. Kind of like Hiller, Ironic look in the same state. They're both in PA. I like his film. I watch it again yesterday. Very athletic kid, but he's probably just a technician as much as anything else. Kids like that, it doesn't matter. You can play Hiller at guard, or maybe even center, or you can play him at tackle. Halter is some kind of deal. I don't think it will make any difference once he attends the University of Notre Dame. They'll figure it out. And as you'll see here in a minute, I'm going to talk about Georgia and Notre Dame and extensively with offense attacker recruiting.

16:35They're going to be options, but he can play the corner. He can absolutely play the corner, right tackle conservatively. I think Halter is a really good prospect. Kate Moss is number seven on 24 seven's ranking. Six five, three, 20 at a Jackson Academy in Mississippi. Congrats to him and PJ and all the other guys on their squad. They won the state title this past year. And he told me this past Sunday that his three visits and he knows for sure, OVs. I don't remember the order of game, but Ohio State LSU at Ole Miss. Tennessee's a team to watch. He's been there recently, but there's several schools still involved. I don't know where he's going to end up, but he's still kind of open. A lot of people just assumed that he would end up at Ole Miss. Maybe that's true, but from being around him for a little bit, speaking with him, Kate's great guy. I don't think he knows where he's going. That's going to be a long recruitment. I think he's better inside than he is a tackle, but whatever happens, that's probably an NFL player. He's ungodly strong. He fits the profile of an offensive lineman. And he works.

17:35He's a yes or no sir kid. He will take care of business at the next level, wherever he ends up, whether it's a target tackle. The next guy, I think, somebody I would move up if I rank the tackles, and I might do that at some point. Kate and Scott at a San Antonio, Texas, plays at Roosevelt. He's committed to the Aggies, and I just absolutely love his book. I absolutely love it. Great balance. He's patient. He's not out there lunging in past pro. I can see why the Aggies went after him early. This kid has a chance for stardom. I think he's a top five national offense tackle personally. Absolutely love, Kate and Scott. Good get by the Aggies. Jakari Whipsy at a Kalamazoo Michigan, Roy Norricks. I haven't even heard of that in high school before. It must be a new one. Incredible power. It's 300 pounds give or take. Just a dominant downhill run block. He's left tackle in high school. Wouldn't be surprised if he played right tackle or offensive guard early in his career and maybe ends up at left tackle, but he's pushing guys 10 yards off the ball, loves to finish blocks, 10 push yards down field,

18:36and he will bury you. And he could get up to the second level, get his hands on somebody a lot smaller than they know is they don't have a chance. He's pretty nimble. I think Jakari's probably a kid that if he played in Atlanta, Memphis, or any point, probably even further south if he played in Birmingham, if he played in Orlando, he'd be ranked a little higher. We'd have a better idea what he could do. Playing in Kalamazoo, he's just murdering guys. So we'll see how he does this next year, but I love his phone. The other thing about him that's wild, maybe this isn't updated and I don't know him. Jakari's list was constant made 29th, Minnesota June 12th. He's from Michigan. That is weird. Where's Michigan and Michigan stayed here? Haven't heard Notre Dame or Ohio State either. It's an odd list. I'm curious to see where his recruitment goes. And number 10, Drew Fielder, he just flipped from Oregon to Southern Cal 66280 at a famous program in Southern California, survived high school, just outside of LA and Anaheim.

19:36That kid's got great feet. I think he can play Web Tackle for the Trojans. They need a guy like this. This is a big pick up. They got Pepe last year getting him. That's a book in great job by the Trojans. Quick feet technician. He's been coached. He can get in space. He's really good in screens. He's manufacturing might be better at screens. Then he even is a pass for a run-blocking. That's unusual. Hand placements pretty sound for a young player. And he just loves getting out in space and trying to track down somebody to hit. Absolutely loving. The only question I have about Fielder, he technically has a visit lined up to Oregon on May 29th. Is that gonna hold because he flipped? I don't know how that's gonna work out, but that's an interesting piece to talk about. When we come back, we're gonna dive in the Georgia Notre Dame and I'm gonna give my list of who sticks. It offense, attack, or recruiting. And does your school suck it offense, attack, or recruiting. If you're not doing well, let's talk about it right here on the poor podcast. Today's show is brought to you by our friends over at five hour energy and the five hour energy draft

20:39with 18 different flavors to choose from, including new options like confetti crays, pretty rainbow cotton candy. There is something for everyone. The board is set. The flavors are ready and I'm gonna one pick. It's always Blue Radsbury. But since I've talked about it so many times on this show, I like going with some things that are a little different, that just give me an interest. Different flavors that maybe would be a nice change up when you're going through the checkout line somewhere. Just check it out. Tropical bursts, caffeine with the island vibes, delicious combination of pineapple and apricot. I love apricot. Whatever it is, you're looking for, try something different. They also got strawberry watermelon. That's intriguing. They got watermelon itself. They also have pomegranate, which is a very underrated flavor. Again, five hour energy has 18 different flavors. Find yours, available at fivehourenergy.com or over at Amazon. There is a reason that both Notre Dame and Georgia or probably gonna be top five teams,

21:41not just this year, but the next two or three years. If you go look at their offense attack it is grotesque, absolutely unequivocally insane. Exhibit A. I have never seen somebody this big move like this. Juan Gaston was a freshman last year at Georgia and I saw him at the under armor game before he left to go to UGA. And I asked Juan, I said, you're about six A's, I yeah. I said, what are you way right now? You ready for this? I hope you're sitting down. Three, eight, eight, 388 pounds. Yes, 388 pounds, but he moved like a guy that weighed 300 pounds. It was insane. There's a reason he was a five-star. Watching him go through drills, I didn't even need to see one hit somebody. I'd seen his film. He was a hit on offer from everybody. I knew about him as a sophomore, when he was sophomore in your high school. Georgia targeted him early.

22:41That's our guy in that class from the get. That's who they wanted. And holy moly, get here. Played it way in a competition. So like he played at West Lake. That's where Cam Newton went and numerous other guys. But seeing him kind of take steps and start to play last year for Georgia, I'm not surprised. In fact, I'll look it up. While I'm sitting here, I might as well have a little fun with this. I could not believe how talented he really was. It was insane. The way he'd been. The way he would listen and learn. Again, at 388. And Georgia's gotten some weight off big wand. Don't get me wrong. He needed to lose weight. He knew that too. But Juan Gaston is a guy that's going to be a three-and-out player. Not that Georgia needs any. For what it's worth, PFF lists him at 6, 7, 360. So he shredded a lot of weight. But let's see what his snaps were this past year. He only played a total of

23:42552. So he didn't start every game. But he played a lot. He played 12, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. He played in 12 games last year. That's quite a bit. So good for Juan. He got in early as a freshman. And I just about guarantee you that Juan is going to be a mainstay for the next two years at UGA. He played right guard in right tackle. He started a few games some he did. And he started. Matter of fact, the very first game against Marshall, right guard. That's insane. Think about it. Beating out other players at Georgia as a true freshman to start in your first game. Insanity. And let's looking at their list. They're 25 group. They also signed Dennis. Usu Tugui. I'm not sure if I'm pronouncing that right. A kid from Peachtie Ridge. Gwyneth County. Another big time line. So you get two tackles in that class. And they got like four offensive line besides them in that group. And then in 26, the class they just signed. A Kenney of Bakrude. The kid that they signed a couple years ago is his brother, the nose guard really big kid. He's been bigger. But this kid's like six, six, three, ten

24:44out of Garner High School, South Garner High School, in North Carolina. E-Weat recruit. No name where I wanted him to. We'll talk about them in a second. But you're getting those guys in over the last five years. They've signed 27 guys on the offensive line and they really focus on tackle. Georgia's not going anywhere. And I know Georgia fans want to see the ball thrown around. A little different on that. If you recruit Bill Lyon like this, it usually works out. Now they weren't as good as they should have been. It's 24 or whatever reason. But they just had a guy turn pro early attack. Oh, et cetera. They're starting to get there again. One is their next great one. Georgia's not going anywhere. They're not going anywhere. They're going to be a top five program because of how Kirby and that that overall group, they scout their consistent communication. And the elixir is finished with the ball. Kirby grinds as a recruiter. All the guys that I'm going to talk about today are part of recruiting operations that started at the top. Nobody focuses on recruiting as much or more

25:46than Kirby's smart at Georgia and hats off to it. He's talked about it many times at press conferences. And again, my own statement, my own abolition here, there is no position. It is more important to recruit out of high school than offensive tackle. And the way Kirby recruits it, it is proven. Let's talk about Notre Dame. They're recruiting might be debatable, but it might be even grosser than Georgia's. For capital, it is, technically, an offensive tackle. I'm just going to talk about 25 and 26 from both these teams. In 25, Notre Dame signs arguably the best tackle in the country. I think if I could pick anybody out, my motto went with one, but whatever. We'll black. If it's not one, it might be him. Kid out of show, Rosemary Hall is somewhere up in Connecticut, some private school. I think it's prep school. Give or take 300 pounds and just have tremendous. He's been slated into a tackle for Notre Dame as a red shirt freshman. Now, it's not starting as a true freshman, but still he's going to replace the guy that played it

26:47the last two years, one of the years as a true freshman. He's moving inside. That's one guy. And they got two more there, highly touted. Oh, and streaming. To get out of Catholic Memorial and walk a show of Wisconsin, they took him away from the badgers. That's not easy. Big time off at the tackle, 682.95 out of high school. Maddie, obviously, another kid from the Northeast that a ton of schools offered. The Brunswick School of another Connecticut school. He's a backup tackle candidate this year at Notre Dame. Mid-Rag Tackle. So they got three. And then this year, they got two more. They got racing the queue. How do I sell college prep and the Philadelphia area just outside? And then they also got Charlie Tom out of Avaan Old Farms, another one of those prep schools. Both those kids were highly touted. And in some way, racing mchews. Upside is the highest of anybody in this past class at offense attack. And just to give you an example of how athletic that young man is. You ready for this? Racing mcue does a backflip and puts it on X. I assume it's on Instagram as well.

27:48Racing mcue did a backflip at 6667, 260 pounds. Kids at that size don't normally do that. The way he moves in space. I'm not saying he's joe all. That's a little, that's a little much. The racing mcue is going to be a big time player. And he's probably the next offensive tackle. A little eventually in the NFL playing left. He might have to play right at some point because they're so good at tackle right now. But it'll take care of itself. They have tons of guys. Again, George is not going anywhere. And Notre Dame is not going anywhere. They're recruiting oh, I'm so much ridiculous. And those two guys, they just signed were a part of a six-man class. And they're probably going to have a really good three to four-man class again this year. They may not have to take as many numbers. But they're killing it again in recruiting. It's most likely a bad year for Notre Dame would be finishing like number eight the way they're recruiting. I'll be surprised if they take over 20 players they don't finish the top five. This is how you recruit. This is how you win big-time football. Whoa, fuck it.

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