5-star recruit Elijah Griffin is ‘following (his) heart’ with Georgia football commitment

Some commitments can define an entire recruiting class.

Elijah Griffin is one of those players.

The five-star defensive tackle announced his verbal pledge to join Georgia football on Friday.

This was a major win for the Bulldogs and coach Kirby Smart.

The senior at Savannah Christian, who was an AJC Super 11 selection, is the nation’s No. 1 DT prospect and No. 4 overall recruit. He’s the top-rated prospect in the state of Georgia for the 2025 cycle.

The 6-foot-5, 290-pounder becomes the 23rd commitment of the class and the highest-rated to this point. This pledge moves UGA to the nation’s third-ranked (247Sports Team Composite) overall recruiting class, trailing Ohio State and Alabama.

The decision came down to the Bulldogs, Miami and Southern California. Griffin recently told DawgNation what why he would pick Georgia.

“Ultimately just relationships and my heart,” he said. “Just following my heart and making sure if I come there I could get a good education and just focusing on getting out of there in three years, go to the NFL and dominate.”

Griffin and his family have a long-standing relationship with the Georgia staff. Defensive line coach Tray Scott offered Griffin when he was in the eighth grade in September 2020.

That was before the Bulldogs won back-to-back national titles. The lure of being a priority recruit for four-plus years gave Georgia an edge.

“I’ve been up there so many times it is just like second nature if that makes sense,” he said.

Griffin, who turned 18 last weekend, is the third DL commitment in the 2025 class for the Dawgs. With this decision, he increases the 5-star commitment count in the current class to four.

There’s also a dash of history behind this commitment. If it stands, this will become the first time the Bulldogs have signed the nation’s top-rated DT prospect during the Kirby Smart era in Athens. The last time Georgia signed a DT rated this highly ranked was former Westover All-American Trenton Thompson in 2015.

Thompson was rated the nation’s No. 1 overall recruit for that cycle. Griffin would also be Georgia’s first 5-star interior DL signee who ranked tin he nation’s top 10 recruits since Mykel Williams (No. 4 overall for the 247Sports Composite) in 2022.

Griffin is rated higher than recent Bulldog DL greats Travon Walker (2019) and Jalen Carter (2020).

“You’re talking about one of the best players in the country who has been here and stayed here for his whole career,” Savannah Christian coach Baker Woodward said. “Just thinking about how long he’s been here and how rare it is when you have one of the best players in the country that has been here and stayed here for his whole career.”

Woodward made it clear “how blessed” his school community has been to have Griffin as a Red Raider.

He’s been rated a 5-star for years. But his mentality erased doubt that Woodward had about entitlement.

“When he gets his first offer to as good of as good of a school as you can get football-wise in the state of Georgia,” Woodward said. “I worried ‘Is it going to go to his head?’ or ‘Is he going to continue to be hungry and get better’ when before you even take a ninth-grade snap you have an offer to the University of Georgia.”

The big concern was how the coaching staff was going to be able to push Griffin.

“None of that came true,” Woodward said. “None of our worries came true. He has done everything we asked him to do when we asked him to do it. He has done everything in practice. Weightlifting, classroom and then even additional stuff with his trainer. It hasn’t gone to his head. He has been humble throughout the process.”

Griffin has 33 total tackles, 17 tackles for losses and six sacks in six games this season. Those figures boost his career totals to 281 tackles, 86 tackles for losses and 41.5 sacks.

He had 17.5 sacks and 31 tackles for loss for Savannah Christian as a junior. That was in 14 games for a team that fell to Cedar Grove in the state championship game.

He frequently sees double teams and at times has drawn four blockers this fall.

His mobility at just under 300 pounds is a plus. Woodward said that Griffin can run well below 5 seconds in the 40-yard dash.

“Consistency,” Savannah Christian defensive line coach Dionate Trawick said. “Just being dominant all the time. Just getting in the mindset of when you step on the field that he’s not taking any plays off. His mindset is ‘I’m going to be dominant from the time I step on the field to the time I step off’ and he’s a really nice and well-spoken and soft-spoken kid, but we need him to be a demon on the field.”

Trawick described his role on the team.

“He’s just a great kid,” he said. “He’s a great, great young man. He’s the type of young man that you tell other kids to be like. He’s not afraid to take his teammates under his wing. His body of work in unmatched. Like he’s just a kid that’s going to go out there, work his butt off and then the product is what you see on the field.”

Griffin told the AJC earlier this summer about why his mother was such a crucial part of his life. His mother, Ashley Griffin, is a police officer.

“She worked too hard for me not to be great,” Griffin told AJC Sports. “She sacrificed a lot for me just to be in the position I’m in. I mean that’s my Mom. I love her to death.”

When Griffin says his mother “sacrificed” for him, he means it.

“Had me at 17,” he said. “The age I am right now. So I mean, imagine having a kid at 17? That takes a lot and for her to do it by herself means a lot and she worked her tail off. She still is [working her tail off.] So you know I love her to death. That’s my why.”

He describes his mother as a “tough” parent. Always wanting the best for him. Always reminding him to stay focused.

“Just have tunnel vision on all my goals and don’t get distracted by the externals,” Griffin said while describing her message.

Griffin is big on real estate. He’s already interested in what might come his way professionally and financially through football.

“To go to college and play the game I love is huge for me,” he said. “And just to help my family, you know the generations to come and I feel like I can do that.”

That can get emotional.

“But you know I just stay humble and stay down and I just work hard and I know that I have my sister and my Mom depending on me,” Griffin said. “They’re always right there. So whenever I am feeling down, I talk to my Mom like whatever that may be.”

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