{"id":601166,"date":"2026-04-23T07:40:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T07:40:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/601166\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T07:40:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T07:40:19","slug":"3-star-ol-shares-a-big-endorsement-for-uga-football-after-ov","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/601166\/","title":{"rendered":"3-star OL shares a big endorsement for UGA football after OV"},"content":{"rendered":"

This Sentell\u2019s Intel rep on Georgia football recruiting<\/a> has the latest with 3-star IOL Reis Russell. He ranks as the nation\u2019s No. 60 IOL and the No. 950 overall prospect for 2027 on the 247Sports Composite. The Rivals Industry Ranking has him as the No. 77 IOL and No. 921 overall.<\/p>\n

Reis Russell took his first visit to check out Georgia football over the weekend. It was also an official visit. The 3-star IOL has future OVs planned to Miami, Washington and USC to come this spring. <\/p>\n

It is always daunting for that first OV to win out. Especially when Russell won\u2019t make his college decision until the end of June. That first OV has to hold serve for an extended period to earn a young player\u2019s college commitment. <\/p>\n

For that to happen, UGA better have had a telling moment that sticks for the potential future center. While we don\u2019t yet know whether the Dawgs will eventually win out, we do know the program stacked up several signature moments for Russell over the weekend. <\/p>\n

What was the biggest one of those? <\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely will say it was when I put that Georgia helmet on,\u201d he said. \u201cI was looking at it in the mirror. I was there with my Dad and I put that Georgia helmet on and I kind of looked at him and said, \u2018Well, we\u2019re getting somewhere now. The plan is coming together,\u2019 and honestly, well, we\u2019re far from there. There\u2019s a lot more work to be done. We\u2019re just getting started, but putting that Georgia helmet on, well, it was definitely a special moment.\u201d <\/p>\n

It stood out because his father had his own glory in the game. Matt Russell played LB for Colorado. He won the Dick Butkus Award for being the most outstanding linebacker in college football in 1996. <\/p>\n

Reis Russell is set to be wooed by Washington, Miami and USC. If it does eventually come back to a \u201cspecial\u201d UGA visit, he was able to clearly state why he would eventually be a Dawg. <\/p>\n

His answer was basically a commercial for Kirby Smart\u2019s program.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt comes down to the toughness of this program and the staff,\u201d he said. \u201cI think that the product of Georgia football is something different from every other program. I mean, you see Jalen Carter coming out and Nakobe Dean and Jordan Davis and all those [Philadelphia] Eagles guys. They come out [for the NFL Draft]. They\u2019re tough. They\u2019re strong. They know they\u2019re farther ahead than other people coming out of other programs, I think. I think that speaks volumes about Coach Smart and this whole program and the way they do things.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen the things they put you through, I mean, it\u2019s going to be really hard, and they\u2019re going to push you really dang hard. But I think when you come out of Georgia football, you\u2019re a stronger person than when you were before, and that\u2019s a really appealing thing to me. Then you\u2019re not only coming out stronger than you thought you might ever be, but you\u2019re coming out with genuine relationships throughout this coaching staff because that\u2019s the kind of people they are. Those two things to me are really important and Georgia football definitely is excelling in those areas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Russell is well-versed in all the \u201cPhilly Dawgs\u201d because his father works in personnel with the Eagles. For the two of them, this weekend was a chance to see how the UGA sausage is made, so to speak, on the front side. Before Georgia\u2019s players come out of three or four really hard years in the UGA football crucible.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis biggest thing about this process is relationships,\u201d Reis Russell said. \u201cSeeing him walking throughout the building. Meeting new people. Those are the people you are going to spend the most time with, so you\u2019ve got to be locked in with them. Got to have that relationship with them. I think that\u2019s one of the biggest things to him, alongside me. That\u2019s a priority for us. He had a great time going around meeting different people on the staff. He really enjoyed meeting the new people, everyone up there and Coach Smart and connecting with [offensive line] coach [Phil] Rauscher again and all of them. That whole O-line room is really special, though, and he really enjoyed talking to all of them.\u201d <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

3-star Colorado IOL prospect spent 48 hours in Athens on his Georgia football official visit from April 17 to April 19, 2026, in Athens, Georgia. (Courtesy photo) (Courtesy photo\/Dawgnation)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

3-star Colorado IOL prospect spent 48 hours in Athens on his Georgia football official visit from April 17 to April 19, 2026, in Athens, Georgia. (Courtesy photo) (Courtesy photo\/Dawgnation)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

3-star Colorado IOL prospect spent 48 hours in Athens on his Georgia football official visit from April 17 to April 19, 2026, in Athens, Georgia. (Courtesy photo) (Courtesy photo\/Dawgnation)<\/p>\n

The weekly DawgNation.com \u201cBefore the Hedges\u201d program is available as an Apple podcast.<\/a> <\/p>\n

Reis Russell: Things to keep in mind after the OV<\/p>\n

Georgia sees the 6-foot-3, 295-pound Russell as a center. There would be a need for him to cross-train at guard, because, well, that\u2019s what Georgia does with versatile and intelligent OLs. <\/p>\n

Russell would be a strong character based on the way he\u2019s wired. He\u2019s a strong communicator who buys into the team-first and \u201ceat off the floor\u201d mantras of Georgia football. <\/p>\n

DawgNation has written previously about the connection he\u2019s had with first-year line coach Phil Rauscher, dating back to his NFL days with the Denver Broncos, when Russell\u2019s father worked in personnel for that franchise. <\/p>\n

There\u2019s an anchor relationship there that goes back a decade. <\/p>\n

\u201cCoach Rauscher is awesome,\u201d Reis Russell said. \u201cBeing all over the place. Having that NFL experience. He knows what it takes to get to the next level and what you need to do to prepare for the next level, so that\u2019s really important to me. Having that relationship with him is also awesome because my Dad and I, and especially my Dad, have known him for so long, so it\u2019s definitely really cool to have the opportunity to play for him. Knowing what I\u2019m going into. I don\u2019t need to do my homework on him. We\u2019ve known him for so long. I know he\u2019s a great guy and a great coach, so that\u2019s really cool.\u201d <\/p>\n

If there\u2019s one other thing we\u2019ve learned about Russell, it is that he\u2019s a fun character. He loves music of all kinds and trains with a homicidal maniac OL genius sherpa at Six Zero Academy back in Colorado.<\/p>\n

He believes Buc-ees is the best place in the world. That\u2019s why he wore a camo Buc-ees shirt on his official. <\/p>\n

\u201cI kind of wear that a lot,\u201d he said. \u201cI always try to be myself on these visits. I don\u2019t want to dress up as something I\u2019m not. Whether that is a camo T-shirt or a fishing shirt or some nice shoes, I put on some nice shoes, actually, but that\u2019s kind of what I wear. That\u2019s who I am. I feel it is really important to be yourself out there.\u201d <\/p>\n

Russell went on about the prime rib he ate in Athens. He described a \u201cspecial texture\u201d in the way only an O-line prospect in a Buc-ees camo T-shirt could. <\/p>\n

He appreciated seeing so many UGA fans in the hotel elevator before the game. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was like \u2018Damn, this is crazy like this is SEC football\u2019 and when you\u2019re on that field, when you\u2019re taking it all in, it\u2019s definitely pretty special and pretty crazy to think that you have the opportunity to be out there next year. So that\u2019s really special to see, and for my family and me, it\u2019s really cool to be out there looking around and checking things out because it\u2019s definitely a special moment down there.\u201d <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

3-star IOL Reis Russell was at Sanford Stadium for G-Day to watch the annual spring scrimmage between the Red and Black teams on Saturday, April 18, 2026, in Athens, Georgia. (Jeff Sentell\/ DawgNation) (Jeff Sentell\/Dawgnation)<\/p>\n

Reis Russell: What will stick with him about UGA<\/p>\n

When Georgia offered him, it meant a lot. <\/p>\n

\u201cHaving the opportunity to play at the University of Georgia is very special because when they offered me, that was really special because it felt like my dreams were coming true. It is one of the best, if not the very best, programs in college football. They\u2019re winning SEC titles. They\u2019re winning national championships. So when you have the opportunity to play for them, it\u2019s really cool and really special because I mean I grew up watching Alabama and Georgia and all these programs, and finally seeing my dreams come together to have the opportunity to play for them, it\u2019s really cool and special to me for sure.\u201d <\/p>\n

He thinks all four of those programs would be able to pull great football out of him. Russell said he can\u2019t really go wrong with any of them and they are all great options. Some of those are better at some things than others, he said. <\/p>\n

He\u2019s been to Washington the most. Miami is a wild card in any recruiting race. USC was the last to offer him.<\/p>\n

That said, Russell had a strong feeling when he left Athens on Sunday. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was leaving, going \u2018Dang, I could see myself there\u2019 because I mean, you could definitely say that,\u201d he said. \u201cNever going down there before. That being my first time, it was really cool to see everything, and I could totally see myself fitting in there very well alongside these other schools.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt only makes the decision harder because I truly love all these schools in so many different ways and for different reasons. But you know, leaving Athens was definitely a moment where I was like I could totally see myself ending up here.\u201d <\/p>\n

Have you subscribed to the DawgNation YouTube channel? If so, you will see special 1-on-1 content with key 2027 recruits like Chance Gilbert, KJ Jackson, Kemon Spell and Donte\u2019 Wright.<\/a><\/p>\n

Check out this week\u2019s \u201cBefore the Hedges\u201d weekly Georgia football recruiting special on YouTube below<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This Sentell\u2019s Intel rep on Georgia football recruiting has the latest with 3-star IOL Reis Russell. He ranks…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":601167,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,6606,6603,6602,398,396,397,261503,99,6605,6604,261504],"class_list":["post-601166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-football","tag-georgia-football","tag-georgia-football-recruiting","tag-georgia-recruiting","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-reis-russell","tag-sports","tag-uga-football-recruiting","tag-uga-recruiting","tag-valor-christian-football"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=601166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601166\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/601167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=601166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=601166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=601166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}