BREAKING: Nation’s No. 5 DT Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins makes his college decision – DawgNation

Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins has seen his high school and his Gaffney High team in quarantine this week.

That did not impede the No. 1 player in South Carolina (247Sports Composite) from making his college decision during that somewhat disconnected time frame from his high school experience.

The 6-foot-4, 305-pound DT prospect made his college choice on Friday afternoon. The 4-star prospect did so via his Instagram account and a live CBS Sports stream to a national audience. His final four choices were:

Georgia. North Carolina. South Carolina. Tennessee. 

The choice here: Georgia.

Ingram-Dawkins made the decision with several Georgia commitments, a few other major recruiting targets in other classes and a few current Bulldogs watching the Instagram live stream of his decision.

Ingram-Dawkins ranks as the nation’s No. 5 DT with his pure 247Sports rating. That places him as the nation’s No. 86 overall prospect. His 247Sports Composite values for those categories slot him as the nation’s No. 14 DT and the No. 178 overall prospect.

“The program I am going to to get a hard-working player and a guy that is dedicated to doing work on the field and off the field,” he said.

With this decision, the Bulldogs now have 18 public commitments for the 2021 cycle. Ingram-Dawkins becomes the 10th highest-rated recruit in this Bulldog class.

That commitment brings Georgia even closer to LSU for the No. 5 overall position in the 2021 Team Composite ratings for the 2021 cycle.

“TID” is now the 10th out-of-state recruit for the Bulldogs on the 2021 board. He’s also the 15th of those 18 commitments to reside in a state within the SEC’s vast Deep South recruiting footprint.

Tyrion Ingram Dawkins-Georgia football-Georgia recruiting
Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins has made his college decision. How is he going to look rocking the red and black? (Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins/Twitter)

Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins: Why this pledge matters a lot

Let’s tick off a few names to address the subhead above.

Jordan Davis. Malik Herring. Julian Rochester Devonte Wyatt. 

The Bulldogs needed to bring in several new recruits with the size and speed combo that Ingram-Dawkins will bring to the program. He will help address those expected defensive line migrations from the 2020 roster.

He joins 3-star prospect Marlin Dean and 4-star Jonathan Jefferson as the defensive line commitments so far for this class. Maason Smith, a 5-star DT out of Louisiana, is the biggest remaining D-line target for the Bulldogs in the 2021 class.

Ingram-Dawkins will bring this level of athleticism at the 305-pound mark.

Georgia line coach Tray Scott should be regarded as an integral recruiter in this decision. Ingram-Dawkins, even though he pushed back his decision time frame a few times, was able to visit UGA before the global pandemic and the NCAA’s ban on on-campus recruiting visits took place.

The decision here marks a win for Georgia in a head-to-head battle for a potential “Trench Mob” recruit with South Carolina for a Palmetto State recruit. The Gamecocks had actually defended their borders well of late with strong Georgia interest in future Carolina signees in 4-star Rick Sandidge (Class of 2018); 5-star Zacch Pickens (2019) and 5-star Jordan Burch (2020) of late.

Check out the junior highlight reel for “TID” below:

(the recent reads on DawgNation.com)