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Last weekend, Mark Richt flew across the country to eat breakfast with his future quarterback. Then he went and saw a future offensive lineman on Thursday. On Sunday, Georgia’s coach was on the road again, going to see a four-star defensive lineman.
On Sunday, Richt tweeted a picture of himself with future Georgia defensive lineman Julian Rochester after the two had enjoyed lunch together.
Look who I had lunch with today. Big Julian Rochester! Ribs chicken pasta and cheesecake!! Go Dawgs! pic.twitter.com/ngFULgXj0Q
— Mark Richt (@MarkRicht) November 22, 2015
Rochester is a 6-foot-5, 327-pound defensive tackle from McEachern High School in the Atlanta suburb of Powder Springs. Rivals ranks him the No. 6 defensive tackle in the nation. “He’s a big D-linemen. He’s gonna play inside for us,” Richt told DawgNation. “He’s a big man. I think he’s gonna be a whale of a football player.” Normally Richt wouldn’t be allowed to comment on – or tweet about – recruits. But Rochester is graduating in December and has already signed financial aid paperwork with Georgia, so Richt can talk about him. He can also visit him during periods of time when he can’t see unsigned recruits. Last weekend, Richt flew across the country to Washington to visit Jacob Eason, the No. 1 quarterback in the nation. On Thursday, the Bulldogs’ coach went to see four-star offensive lineman Ben Cleveland in the small town of Toccoa, Ga. The 6-foot-6, 327-pound Cleveland is the No. 4 guard in the country, according to Rivals, but Georgia plans to use him at tackle. Like Rochester, Eason and Cleveland are graduating in December, and have already signed with the Bulldogs. “The big thing is these young men have signed the financial aid papers, as you know,” Richt said. “We’re allowed to have contact with them, we’re allowed to call or text or do whatever we want in that regard. And once the season ends, everybody’s gonna be able to visit them. So I just thought it’d be a good thing to just in some ways say that hey, we appreciate you guys for having the faith and the confidence to come to Georgia and sign your financial aid papers, and in some ways reward them with an extra home visit.” Richt assured DawgNation that the timing of the visits did not affect his preparation for games. He flew to see Eason after Georgia’s victory over Auburn last Saturday, and returned to Athens the following day. He drove to see Cleveland after practice on Thursday and saw Rochester this Sunday. Sundays and Thursdays are “some of the very few moments that we as coaches have to be free,” he said. According to Richt, all three players have the potential to be outstanding players for the Bulldogs. Each of them will enroll at Georgia in January and go through spring practice. On Thursday, when he was visiting Cleveland, Richt tweeted that he and the lineman were going to “eat squirrel.”
Guess who I’m having dinner with!! Go Dawgs!! pic.twitter.com/GBbrPulJUT — Mark Richt (@MarkRicht) November 20, 2015
We having squirrel by the way!
— Mark Richt (@MarkRicht) November 20, 2015
On Sunday, he said he was just joking. They did not actually eat any squirrel.
“We were just having a little fun,” Richt said. “A lot of people were like: Did you really eat squirrel over there?”
