Georgia lands commitment from state of South Carolina’s top football recruit
Georgia has crossed the South Carolina border more than a few times for blue-chip talent, pulling in the likes of A.J. Green, Tramel Terry, Jacob Park and most recently Channing Tindall.
The Bulldogs did it again Friday with defensive tackle Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins, a four-star recruit out of Gaffney, a town just east of Spartanburg.
Ingram-Dawkins made his pledge to UGA, locking in another key piece of Kirby Smart’s 2021 class. The 6-foot-5, 298-pounder gives the Bulldogs another dynamic player on the interior. He announced the pledge on CBS Sports HQ.
“With the Dawgs, coach Kirby Smart, they came in with my second SEC offer. They came in and showed love immediately,” Ingram-Dawkins said of why he picked Georgia. “Coach Tray Scott and coach Smart, coach (Dan) Lanning, the whole staff, they kept their word. They talked to me every day. I talked to all the coaches every day. (They) talked my mom, have a great relationship with my mom and my whole family.”
He’s the 18th commitment for the Bulldogs’ 2021 recruiting class, which ranks No. 6 nationally.
“I play a lot of positions,” Ingram-Dawkins said. “I got a lot of people depending on me in my defense, me being the captain of defense, so I’m moving all around the defensive line.
“I think I’m a quick-twitch defensive lineman, big frame that can play anything on the line.”
His final four included UNC, Tennessee and South Carolina. He grew a few inches and added more than 40 pounds this offseason.
He is the No. 178 player in the country in the 247Sports Composite rankings that factor in all networks. He’s the 14th best tackle in the country and best player in South Carolina.
As a junior, he posted 70 tackles with 17 tackles for loss and eight sacks on a defense that allowed 19.4 points per game. This year, he has 17 tackles (10.5 for loss) with seven sacks for a region champion.
Gaffney’s defense has been a little inconsistent, but that hasn’t been on Ingram-Dawkins all that much.
“If he’s not making plays in the backfield, then they got four or six hands on him,” Indians coach Dan Jones said. “Otherwise he’s making plays back there.”
Georgia has two from South Carolina currently on its football roster.
Linebacker Channing Tindall (Spring Valley/Columbia) signed with the Bulldogs as part of the 2018 class. Quarterback Jackson Muschamp (Hammond/Columbia) walked on in Athens in 2020.
This story was originally published October 30, 2020 at 5:35 PM.
