3-star Grayson High DL Waylon Wooten commits to Georgia football
ELLENWOOD — Waylon Wooten saw his football dream come true on Wednesday night.
The 3-star DL at Grayson High School, who grew up dreaming of playing for Georgia, turned those hopes into his future when he announced his commitment to the Bulldogs. Wooten shared his public commitment via a streaming ceremony hosted by 247Sports.
Why did he commit to Georgia?
“Because of how (defensive line coach) Travion Scott and (head coach) Kirby (Smart) brought me in, and they valued me,” Wooten said. “We sat down and had conversations, and they had a true plan of how I can come in and get a role as a freshman. That was my biggest thing. Coming in and getting my feet wet as a freshman.”
Wooten is ranked as the nation’s No. 112 DL and No. 1019 overall prospect for 2027 on the 247Sports Composite. The Rivals Industry Ranking has him as the No. 95 DL and No. 974 overall.
The 3-star prospect chose the Dawgs over Florida, Ohio State and Purdue. The Buckeyes were his leader at one point during his process. Florida had also given him a lot to think about.
He now becomes the eighth member of the 2027 class for the Dawgs. He’s only the second defensive prospect in the class. Wooten plans to take his official visit to UGA on June 5.
The decision also effectively shuts down his recruitment, he said. What is Georgia getting with this verbal commitment?
“A Dawg that can come in and every day is going to put his head down and go to work for something,” Wooten said. “A person that comes from something that is not expecting anything to be handed to them. That’s all I can say, and he’s going to go to the league. I can tell you that.”
Wooten spent his freshman year at Cedar Grove. Then he transferred to Grayson. He said Cedar Grove All-American and former Georgia Bulldog Christen Miller was a great resource for his decision.
“Man, he has been in my ear, man,” Wooten said. “He’s a big role model for me. He has talked to me about all the do’s and don’ts, and I just know where my feet need to be. I’ve talked to God about it, and we’ve had all those conversations, and it was time to make my announcement.”
Waylon Wooten: What is Georgia football getting?
Grayson coach Greg Carswell was effusive in his praise for Wooten. He called him “the heart and soul” of the team and one of the most dedicated players he’s ever coached.
“Waylon plays the game with so much knowledge and tenacity,” Carswell said. “He definitely plays with a ‘why,’ and he does everything he can do to put his family in the best situation they can be in, which kind of breeds his fire, passion and energy on the field.”
He’s a shade under the 6-foot-2 mark, but he’s been measured with an 82-inch wingspan. That elite length allows him to play as if he had a 6-foot-5 frame in the trenches.
“Schematically, in terms of what you get from the kid, you get a heavy-handed twitched-up interior defensive lineman who can be a three-down player,” Carswell said. “He can play first and second down and stop the run. Then you can keep him on the field as the middle push guy for third-down rushes and different things like that.”
Look for him to play in the interior of the defensive line in Athens. He can play everything at the SEC from a “4i” technique to a “Zero” right over the nose of the center.
“No question,” Carswell said. “The kid can play in multiple schemes. He’s long enough to be a ‘4i’ but also plays some head-up techniques as a ‘4′ tech.”
“He plays with extreme length,” Carswell said. “If you just watch his tape, he just understands how to fit my hands fast and win that inside leverage and just stay as long as possible to win the reps. You see that in his films pop out a lot.”
Wooten has been recovering this spring from labrum surgery back in January. He wanted to shut down his recruitment so early so he could spend the next month in the weight room prepping for his senior season rather than going across the country on official visits.
“I’ve probably never coached a kid as committed to the process,” Carswell said. “And not the process of getting recruited or the process of going to the college. But the process that I have to work my butt off each and every day to even have the opportunity to find my way on the field when I get there.”
About the Author
Jeff Sentell covers UGA football and recruiting. He is a graduate of UGA's Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and has been a staff writer at news outlets in Alabama, Georgia and Virginia. Prior to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, he was at The Birmingham News and AL.com. He was named the 2005 Georgia Press Association Sportswriter of the Year.
