With his football season wrapped up, five-star defensive tackle Montravius Adams (Vienna, Ga./Dooly Co.) is now set to focus on his recruitment. Adams has yet to formally narrow down his list of teams, but today he announced he had set up four of his official visits, with two programs fighting for his fifth and final spot.
“I am taking an official to Florida immediately after the Under Armour Game, then Clemson, Jan. 11, Alabama, Jan. 18, and to Georgia on Jan. 25,” Adams said. “I might take a fifth official to UNC or Ole Miss.”
Last weekend at the Georgia Dome, Adams and his teammates played ECI for the GHSA A class (public) state championship. Several college coaches were on the sidelines to watch Adams and others play, but the No. 7 prospect in the country only recalls talking to one school.
“I only remember talking to Coach [Rodney] Garner from Georgia, and he told me about the style of offense ECI plays and how he hates going up against Georgia Tech and Georgia Southern because every year he will have a defensive lineman get hurt in that game,” Adams said. “I went down in the game and I was thinking he was right. I know Coach Garner talked to my mom, too, and she likes him.”
The in-state Bulldogs are hoping to keep Adams from leaving Georgia, and one aspect of the school that appeals to the 6-foot-3, 300-pound lineman is the likelihood of the Georgia coaching staff staying intact while he is in college.
“Georgia is my hometown team,” Adams said. “I love the coaches there like Coach Garner and Coach [Mark] Richt. One thing I also like about Georgia is their coaches are not likely to leave. The coaches at Auburn are gone, and coaches have left some of my other schools, but at Georgia they have stability so that means something. They also have a great education and it is just a good place to be. My mom likes them.”
Last Thursday, Adams was visited by three coaches representing Alabama at the time: defensive line coach Chris Rumph, recruiter of record Jeremy Pruitt and head coach Nick Saban. Pruitt has since left Alabama for the defensive coordinator position at Florida State.
“It was cool having Coach Saban there,” Adams said. “I do not know what they told my mom, because I saw them at my school, but their message to me was they want to get me on campus and that I would not play nose. I would play out at defensive end to the three-technique. Alabama has a great business program with coaches that get their players in the league.”
Adams was also visited Thursday by Clemson offensive line coach and recruiter of record Robbie Caldwell, along with defensive tackles coach Dan Brooks. The Tigers got a solid head start with the elite defensive tackle by offering him more than six months before any other program.
“I like just about everything about Clemson,” Adams said. “They were my first offer and most people fall in love with their first school. That is why I like them a lot, but also every time I visit is different, but still family-based.”
Gators defensive coordinator Dan Quinn visited Adams last Tuesday at his team’s practice. Florida made a big impression on the No. 1 defensive tackle in the country during his trip to Gainesville, Fla.
“When I visited Florida, I loved it,” Adams said. “That visit has stuck with me since then. I also know I would be coached by a Hall of Famer in Bryant Young, [who] just came out of the NFL a few years ago. He has already done many of the things I want to accomplish."
Adams points out that the school recruiting him the hardest is not one of the four programs to which he has planned an official visit.
“North Carolina is recruiting me the hardest, and if I take a fifth official, it will either be there or Ole Miss,” he said.
As for his decision, Adams pointed out that the possibility remains that his recruitment will last until Feb. 6.
"I will probably make my decision on signing day, and I will pick the school where I feel the most at home and where I could see myself for the next four years," Adams said.