Georgia Football Has a Family Feel For Michael Daugherty
Only a rising sophomore, Michael Daugherty is already causing waves on the national stage. Having played on varsity as a freshman for national power Grayson High School, Daugherty gave college coaches early indication that he's going to be a special talent. Georgia Defensive Back Coach Charlton Warren has had his eye on Daugherty dating back to during his 8th grade year and now the 2023 prospect has earned an offer from the Georgia Bulldogs.
"My recruiting process with Georgia goes back to the summer of 2019. Coach Jules Montinar, who it currently at USF, was working a little mini camp type workout. He was an assistant at Georgia and my recruiting coach at Grayson took myself and a couple other guys up there, including Marquis Groves-Killebrew who has an offer from Georgia. I had a good day and they talked to my coach, couldn't really talk to me much being in the 8th grade. But, as time went on into the fall, I visited a couple of times and went to some games and had a great time," shared Daugherty on the beginnings of his relationship with the Dawgs.
Daugherty initiated contact a couple of times with Coach Warren and indicated that the defensive back coach was personable and spent time getting to know him, but the offer did not come right away as Daugherty noted, "they wanted to see me get my weight up some as I looked a little slim on my film." The highly touted defensive back continued, "recently I called him back and he said that he liked the progress he had seen out of some of my workouts and also my updated weight and that's when he offered."
Georgia is not the only school to offer Daugherty recently. The 2023 cornerback has received offers from Florida, LSU, Texas, Boston College, and Penn State in the month of May alone and that is on top of a dozen other offers from Power 5 schools he held before that. Those included the likes of Auburn and Tennessee and the magnitude of the situation he is in right now is not lost on Daugherty. "It's a blessing. God has done a lot for me. I'm very big on my faith, especially with my Mother having introduced that to me at a young age. But, I realize that I'm fortunate and that many guys don't receive these kind of offers until they're juniors or seniors, if ever" said Daugherty.
However, this all isn't just luck or circumstance, Daugherty was adamant that he and his Grayson teammates work toward an extremely high standard and that very talented players that sometimes transfer in are shocked at the amount of work they are putting in. "We just do things different at Grayson. It's a lot of hard work and we don't get credit for that sometimes, people think we have stuff handed to us sometimes at Grayson, but that's not the case at all and it pays off in the way of wins and offers and things like that" stated Daugherty.
Even amongst all the early success at Grayson and all of the near 20 other offers Daugherty has received, the offer from Georgia stood out.
"Getting Georgia, especially my freshman year and from Coach Warren is special. He doesn't just offer anyone. He has to get to know them and like them as a person and not just a player. I grew up watching Georgia, looking up old highlights of Herschel Walker and enjoying those moments that I wasn't even alive for. So it's like everyone in the state comes together for the Falcons, the Braves, even Atlanta United, and also the Georgia Bulldogs. So, being from Georgia and getting a Georgia offer just takes the cake! I would grow up watching them and saying oh I want to do this there. Parents and grandparents always boosting them and saying it's a great school, and to get the opportunity to experience for myself. That offer means a lot to me with my grandfather having been such a big Georgia fan." - Daugherty what the Georgia offer meant to him
Daugherty is friends with 2023 Georgia commit Treyaun Webb. He acknowledged that Webb has been recruiting him already since he received the offer, but Daugherty is not in any hurry to make a decision. "Webb is my guy and I'm proud for what he has done and he was so sure about his decision, but I've got to keep digging for information right now. My mom and my family have always told me to do that and it's important because once I commit somewhere I'm going to go there and be a leader and when you do that it's not all about personal branding anymore but also what you can do for the school" said Daugherty.
Daugherty is only going to continue to gain momentum as he is just a very instinctive player. The young corner is very fluid and shows the ability to play a variety of coverage techniques and also breaks on the ball very well. Despite being around the 175 pound mark, Daugherty is also a very aggressive and very sure tackler. Size will be added to his frame as time goes on, without a doubt the Peach State product already has prodigious skills that project him as a can't miss prospect at the Power 5 level. A long way to go, but Charlton Warren and Georgia have to love how things are starting out in the recruitment of this in-state product.
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