You guys know I’m loathe to delve into the world of player commitments, but in light of Todd Gurley’s comment that “We don’t get the Alabama, big, country 6-5, 320” offensive linemen types, I can’t help but take note of Ben Cleveland’s announcement last night that intends to take his services to the University of Georgia. Right now, Ben’s services are somewhere in the neighborhood of… well, 6-5, 320.
That’s scary impressive enough, but then there’s this.
15 years old? Great googly moogly…
Get The Picture 
I can’t wait to see Chubb and Michel running the zone play behind Big Ben in a few years.
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Sweet jumpin’ jeebus, Winn Dixie’s gonna miss that kid when he heads to Athens!
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Ladies and Gentleman, We have a winner!
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Piggly Wiggly will pick him up. His likeness could advertise twice for them.
Nicknames? “Gentle Ben WAA” (With An Attitude), “Ben JO”(Ju Over), “Ben3D” (Ben Dare, Did Dat), “GAD (Gettin’ Around Da) Ben”, “Sun Eclipse Ben”, “Pancake Ben”, “Kong’s Big Brother”, “Hombre Montanya”(sic-didn’t know how to put a tilde over the n), “Ben-a-gains”, “Ben Gay”(because he can “have” any guy he wants), and finally, his Dawg moniker – “Ben G”.
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He’s only got a learner’s permit now but someday he’ll grow up and be a Mannheim Steamroller
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+1
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I think it was Legge who said he was the best prospect to come out of that part of the state in “a generation”. Wow. LT has been a weakness except in 2001, 2002 and 2007
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We also received a verbal from Jacob Eason a 5* QB in 2016. Have heard he is Stafford like in physical tools. 6’5 220 as a HS Junior.
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I gotta think it’s a bit easier to make that decision when you know there’s gonna be a frickin’ wooly mammoth between you and the oncoming defense.
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word is they committed at the same time
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“Woo-Mam Ben”. Wooly mammoth indeed, Slaw Dawg. Most descriptive.
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yeah I was a little worried about the lack of news out of Dawg Night, but then we dropped these two bombs and I was feeling much better.
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Stop the presses! UGA might sign a high ranked OT from in-state!
Kidding aside, this is a HUGE development and a promising omen of where the program is going with the recruiting of McClendon & Pruitt.
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Unfortunately if the guy gets much taller he won’t be nearly as effective at OL.
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…just like Jonathan Ogden, Anthony Munoz, and Olando Pace, who were all 6’6″ or taller weren’t effective, right? Right?
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It’s a fair assessment and fear. I grew 4 inches from 14 to 18 years old. If that happens to this kid he’d be 7 feet tall with a helmet.
Probably not likely but it’s a reasonable comment.
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Can you say tightend?
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Carly Simon says this guy’s the biggest tightend ever
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Well, Mark Fox could use a good 7′, and he’d be hell on the boards.
And while we’re talking about very tall OL, Bernard Williams deserves mention. And Alex Vega.
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OK, get the picture…… you are playing defense in the paint and you look to the top of the key and see Big Ben coming at you with the ball for a dunk, how long does it take your brain to tell your legs to get the heck out of the way and let him dunk ?
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Yeah.Then he’d probably be more effective playing OT and OG at the same time if he gets bigger.
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I thought about that, too. Dennis Roland played successfully for Georgia and the NFL at 6’9″. But it’d be better if he stays where he is. 6’6 1/2″ is just right.
~~~
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I also do not get too riled up over HS commitments usually but the verbal commitments from these two players may be one very important day for future UGA teams. We all know the issues we have faced at tackle the past decade and Cleveland is not just a physical specimen for his age but appears to have great athleticism in other sports. I saw some film recently on Eason and he seems to certainly be one of the three best prospects at QB. Them committing early, and joining current RB talent already on campus, could help recruiting momentum for the next few months. Hard not to get excited about this.
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When these kids are true freshmen Chubb and Michel will be in their 3rd year. They won’t play together very much, if at all.
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I thought Eason was a 2015 commit, shows you how closely I follow recruiting. That said, if we continue to get top rated recruits at the skill position and CMR remains, I feel we will get everyone on campus to get even better things done. Also, just like I don’t think we lose both Gurley and Marshall after the 3rd year, I doubt we lose both Chubb and Michel at the same time. With NFL devaluing RBs, it doesn’t make much sense for two players on the same team to declare early unless there are extenuating circumstances. Marshall needs to be “the man” for a year and show he can carry a team without TG. We know he is explosive but his injury last year denied him the chance to showcase his ability as the #1 guy for several games, or an entire season.
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I think a lot of the reason these guys are signing together is because they don’t want to be ‘the’ (only) man. They want to be good and save tread on the tires. Which I think is a smart play. While I think Marshall stays–it won’t be to carry the load.
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^^this referring to our stable of RBs not Eason and Big Country.
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I think they are both 2015 commits so Chub and Michel would be juniors assuming they don’t redshirt 9which I do not expect they would).
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A friend in Toccoa told me the kid hit .512 on the school baseball team and runs a 5.1 forty. Something that big should not move that fast. Welcome to Athens Ben!
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With 12 home runs, 15 walks, 16 k’s and 5 of 5 on stolen bases. Believe his brother plays baseball for ga southern. Also a 3.6 gpa.
Bunyanesque
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Don’t think I’d wanna be the baseman waiting on the throw with that guy barreling down on me!
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This kid sounds like Monteego Powers in real life. What are they putting in the water up in Toccoa? Seriously, cause whatever they’re giving Cleveland I’d like to start giving my 2 yr old.
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I heard there was a run on gift cards in Oxford. Sigh.
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Holy moley, that’s a big kid. Reminds me of good old Max Jean-Gilles. I remember seeing his play style as “Gorilla-Dogging” someone. Ben here might be up for Gozilla-Dogging a defensive lineman by the time he’s on campus.
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He and Trent Thompson could play well together. Throw in a 5* athlete in 2015(WR, Safety), plus a 5*QB in 2016 to throw to him and you got yourself a team nucleus.
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We got the QB commitment last night with Big Ben.
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The Mountain Who Pancakes. (Apologies to GRRM)
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Leslie West likes this
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saw them at the Atlanta Pop festival—a long time ago–awesome
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No kidding. Speaking of long time ago, I saw both their shows at the Warehouse. This guy did too at 0:17
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Essentially the Fort Knox Ben.
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