Justus Terry: 5-star DL mega target shares why he wanted Georgia football to be ‘his first look’ this season (2024)

This Sentell’s Intel rep on Georgia football recruiting has the latest with 5-star DL Justus Terry. The Manchester High School senior (Manchester, Ga.) ranks as the nation’s No. 2 DL and the No. 8 overall prospect for 2025 for both the 247Sports Composite and the On3 Industry Ranking.

Justus Terry will be inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Saturday in Atlanta. He’ll be there to see the 2024 Georgia Bulldogs play for the second straight time.

The former UGA and USC commitment was also in Athens to check out Georgia for G-Day.

Terry said he wanted to see what the Bulldog defensive line would do.

“Just want to see what the team is talking about this year with a first look,” Terry said this week. “I just want to see how Mykel [Williams] is going to play. [Nazir] Stackhouse. Warren [Brinson]. I just want to watch a lot of players.”

He had a lot of other options for games to go check out. Auburn. Alabama. Florida State. Just to name a few.

Terry wanted to see the Bulldogs before everyone else this fall.

“I just want to see my guys, man,” he said. “I just really wanted to see what UGA is all about. I wanted them to be my first look before I go anywhere else.”

Terry already has a good chunk of visits set for the month. He said he will be at Alabama next weekend and also return to Tuscaloosa for the UGA game on September 28.

“I’ll be setting an Auburn date, too,” he said.

That will be an official visit this fall to check out the Tigers.

Terry is a must-sign for the Dawgs in 2025 so those visits will be watched closely. But he also detailed a way that Georgia and defensive line coach Tray Scott continue to distinguish themselves in his recruiting.

It has to do with his game tape. He said Scott has been sending him videos of his game tape so far this season. But he’s added his commentary and critique on those reps.

“He’s just really coaching me up through some things like if I get off the ball or if I run up the field too much, he will say ‘instead of running straight up the field just go straight down the field’ and he’s just really coaching me up,” Terry said. “He’ll be sending film to me just really coaching me up. He will tell me the good and the bad and things I need to work on.”

“That’s really what I like about him.”

The critiques are like three to four minutes.

“It really depends,” Terry said. “If it is just a lay-low game where I have around seven to eight tackles he’ll have like four clips of me doing good and bad and just show me those. But if it is a game where I just really turn up, he’ll do the whole film. Really it just depends.”

Here’s the thing: Scott also did that last year.

Here’s an even bigger thing: There’s no other coach in college football that has done something like that for him during the recruiting process.

“So far it is only Tray,” Terry said. “He’s the only one who has stepped up and done something like that.

Does that matter to him?

“Yes, sir,” Terry said. “A lot.”

That sort of relationship and investment is part of the major draw for Terry to Georgia. He knows what Scott says works and that is a proven road to NFL gold.

“The biggest piece is all the gems that could help me,” Terry said. “All the gems he gave Travon Walker. Mykel Williams. You know all the draft-bound people. I just want those same gems just following those footsteps. Whatever he coached into those guys, I want to be coached the same.”

Have you subscribed to the DawgNation YouTube channel yet? If so, you will see special 1-on-1 content with key 2025 prospects like Ethan Barbour, Ryan Montgomery, Elijah Griffin and Justus Terry

Who else will be in the stands at the Benz for the Clemson game. Check out this week’s “Before the Hedges” program for a roll call of the biggest names expected for the season opener in Atlanta.

SENTELL’S INTEL

(check on the recent reads on Georgia football recruiting)