Former Georgia commit enters transfer portal after signing with another SEC school
Deyon Bouie was once committed to Georgia. He didn’t end up signing with the Dawgs, instead spending his first season of College Football at Texas A&M, but he could have another chance to do so after entering the transfer portal on Wednesday.
Bouie played in seven games as a freshman at Texas A&M, totaling just four tackles. The Bainbridge, Ga. native – home of Kirby Smart himself – was a highly touted recruit coming out of high school, ranked the No. 84 player overall in the country according to the On3 Consensus. Here’s what On3 Director of Scouting Charles Power had to say about Bouie before he signed with A&M.
“Legitimate two-way prospect at cornerback and wide receiver, but likely to play on defense long-term. Among the shortest highly-ranked corners in the 2022 cycle at under 5-foot-11, but has some compensatory length. Added some bulk to his frame prior to his senior season. Has high-end ball skills at both corner and receiver. Effortlessly tracks and locates the ball over his shoulder. Capable of making some high-difficulty one-handed grabs. Turns to play the ball with natural feel and instincts in man coverage. Has been a standout on the 7-on-7 circuit for several years with his skills and two-way ability. Showed open field ability in the return game as a sophomore. Missed the entirety of his junior season with a knee injury. Still working to regain some burst as a senior and is seeing more success as a ball-winner than separator. Lacks verified athleticism by way of testing or track times. Older prospect for the class.”
Georgia certainly has needs in the transfer portal, and Deyon Bouie could fill a couple of them. The Bulldogs are going after a couple of wide receivers, and it was rumored that late in his initial recruitment to Georgia that the Bulldogs brought up the possibility of playing wide receiver for them. He also could play multiple positions in the secondary and help create depth for the Dawgs on the back end of the defense.
“You’re always going to look, and people try to reach out once they go in the portal. It’s there,” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said during a College Football Playoff press conference about the transfer portal and his program’s approach. “They have people on staff at Ohio State, and we’ve got people on our staff that are going to be constantly looking through there and watching tape, evaluating it. But the focus is on our team. It wouldn’t be fair to all the guys playing if you weren’t focused on your team.”
“You can’t put a ton of focus and attention to looking for kids in the portal and things like that,” he added. “For us, it’s really about who do we know? Who do we trust? Who do we think fits our culture? And find the right people. But our focus will be on ourselves.”
Georgia has taken players out of the portal before but not every season. This past offseason, the Bulldogs went after transfer portal targets but did not land any. However, the year before they landed three (Derion Kendrick, Arik Gilbert and Tykee Smith). Other transfers in the portal era include Tre’ McKitty, JT Daniels, Jamie Newman, Lawerence Cager and Eli Wolf.
