Recruiting hype is smoking hot currently in the world of college football. Five-star safety Jireh Edwards seems to add another layer to a top-tier SEC franchise locker room. The Upper Marlboro product has been turning heads as one of the most coveted blue-chip safeties in his class (2026), but has yet to make a choice. He kept swinging between options for over a few months after a standout junior year at St. Frances Academy High School. He racked up a total of 92 tackles, 17 tackles for loss, six pass breakups, and three forced fumbles, establishing his status as a top-three safety in the nation. Quite unsurprisingly, the numbers and prompt earned him a heck of 37 offers on his table. Now, the question it begs: which school is the standout high school kid finally down to?

Oregon has been one of the frontrunners in Edwards’ chosen list. He has taken multiple trips to Eugene and studied their approach, culture, and everything from the core. The mere chance of donning the green and yellow and representing an elite class that includes GOATs like Marcus Mariota and DeAnthony Thomas would be a great deal for the five-star safety. The interest was fairly mutual as the Ducks also looked desperately to grow their pipeline into the DMV area. But Edwards kept his eyes wide open, exploring either lucrative options, too.

In that bracket, Texas A&M and Auburn stood out in their own right. Just a month back, the Maryland safety kept the Aggies as the ‘leader’ of the chart ahead of his official visit on March 22nd. He was likely to be a chess piece to Mike Elko’s defense,. Auburn was a potential top-tier suitor as well, but guess what, Smart pulled out the last night of the master’s death.

It seems the prodigy finally found his answers after a lot of back and forth. It’s Kirby Smart and the Bulldogs for Edwards at this point in time. Georgia wasn’t a major part of his recruiting process until they started to make a real push since January this year. They had him on campus for their second Junior Day event. The 6 ft 2 ‘Shark’ had a flabbergasting first impression of the Dawgs. “You see Georgia on TV,” he said. “You see how they win. All the wins. But by just being there, I see what it takes. What you have got to do to be great? The player development. The first thing that came out of my mind when I got to Georgia was ‘wow.’ That’s the first thing that came to my mind. I was just like ‘wow’ and ‘this is different’ here now.

He was equally mesmerized by the trophies they had under their belt. He deems Coach Smart a living legend and said a single real-life meeting with him was enough for him to worship him as a coach. That was a surreal highlight moment for the Maryland safety’s recruitment saga. And finally, that first impression did its job. We are just four months down, and today, on April 13th, Edwards spilled the tea, posing with a Kirby Smart poster in his hand with GOAT emojis in the caption.

That pretty much sums it up. The Maryland product is going to grace the safety room at Athens. Georgia has lost a lot of gems in the position back in the year-end portal. The costly departures include names like Malaki Starks and Dan Jackson, Julian Humphrey, Jake Pope, and others. But at what cost? Of course, at least the expected heartbreak of Hugh Freeze.

Jireh Edwards dishes a solid blow to Hugh Freeze’s hope 

The Tigers just came fresh off a visit with Edwards. It was his first visit to the Plains. And it appeared to be one that went flawlessly. He said the Tigers sit atop his recruitment alongside the others (Oregon, Georgia, Texas) after his first and final visit. One of the reasons that he had the Tigers at such a high level was that he found a slew of his former high school teammates on the roster. That was something congenitally enticing.

“This is a real part of my decision,” Edwards said, according to Rivals’ Caleb Jones. “I would never think the guys like Blake Woodby, Bryce Deas, Durrell Robinson, and Darion Smith would ever lead me wrong. So, that’s some good guys. I definitely look up to them.”

Auburn Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze and defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin have never left a stone unturned in swooping the Maryland native in their 2026 recruiting class. They have so much faith in Edwards that he said he can’t even sit over any school because he knows that any Auburn staffer will immediately convince him with some positives. That’s how badly they want him to be on the board. But maybe, just maybe, a dream come true meeting with Kirby Smart, and their consistency, hard work, and maturity in the process drove out all the ifs and buts at the end.