Georgia’s 2022 recruiting class just got a surprise last-minute addition

Four-star cornerback Marcus Washington has reclassified for 2022 to join the Georgia football program a year early.

The Georgia football team just got a surprise last-minute addition for the 2022 recruiting class with four-star cornerback Marcus Washington reclassifying.

Washington announced on Monday night he would be graduating a year early from high school, forgoing his senior season at Grovetown to come play for Georgia. His namesake father, Marcus Washington Sr., played for Mark Richt in Athens from 2005 to 2009. Washington had been the No. 69 player nationally for 2023 according to the 247Sports Composite before reclassifying to 2022.

“I just wanted to get there to that amazing program they have and just continue to build on that relationship with the coaching staff. I am just ready to be a part of it because it is an amazing thing going on up there,” said Washington to 247Sports. “I can train and develop right now, who would not want to be a part of that?”

Here is the video Washington Tweeted out about his intentions of enrolling a year early at Georgia.

Georgia football: 4-star CB Marcus Washington reclassifies for 2022

The plan is for Washington to join the rest of Georgia’s 2022 class that did not enroll in January later this summer. While it has become increasingly commonplace for top high school players to enroll a semester early, the new trend is one of reclassifying. For a player to even be able to do that, he must be a strong student first and have a plan of attack to get the coursework done.

Since Washington is a Georgia legacy, this makes things easier for him. When Georgia offered him, it felt like a foregone conclusion he would head to Athens as soon as he could get there. Though Washington will not be expected to play right away as a reclassified true freshman, he can get acclimated to college life even earlier than anticipated. This gives him a huge leg up for 2023, too.

Even though his father played there a decade and a half ago, so much has changed since Smart took over his alma mater’s program. Georgia has gone from a good college program to an outstanding one over the last six years. The expectation going forward is for the Dawgs to contend for national championships annually. They just won their first national title in 41 years last season.

This seems to be a well-calculated made by Washington, so good for him for being all-in at UGA.

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