Now that we've been through a few weeks of drama concerning the respective Damon Evans and Dontavius Jackson situations, let's talk about something a little less dramatic: Georgia recruiting. Mark Richt's recruiting philosophy has been a bit of a double-edged sword for a while now: On the one hand, a near-total lack of anything resembling drama in terms of on-the-fence blue-chippers sometimes causes Georgia's recruiting classes to be a bit undervalued. On the other hand, that's usually because Richt, the king of early commitments, has already lined up all the talent he needs.
This year doesn't look to be any different: The Dawgs are well past the halfway mark of their 25 scholarships for 2011, having received verbal commitments #14 and #15 over the weekend. One of them, Zach DeBell -- a four-star offensive line prospect out of Tarpon Springs High School in the Tampa suburbs -- is worth doing a little extra talking about for a number of reasons.
The first, of course, is that he plays left tackle, always the most critical element in good pass protection. The second is that Georgia stole him right out from under Florida's nose: DeBell reported that Florida offered him just hours after he gave his verbal commitment to the Dawgs on Friday evening.
But DeBell also has a critical (if somewhat below-the-radar) talent that doesn't show up on the Rivals.com stats sheets: zombie evasion. DeBell, an obvious movie fanatic, expounded on this as the Dawgs kicked their sales pitch into high gear a month ago:
If you’re starting to get the idea DeBell watches a lot of movies, you’d be right.
"I’ve seen probably every zombie movie ever made," he said. "That’s why I have short hair. If you have long hair or a mullet they’ll grab it from behind."
See, that's the kind of outside-the-box thinking you want from a left tackle. Aaron Murray, Logan Gray, Hutson Mason, you're all going to be in good hands over the next few seasons: Whether you're caught up in an eight-man blitz or a zombie apocalypse, Zach DeBell has got your back.
(Hat tip: Senator Blutarsky at Get the Picture.)