Valdosta Daily Times

Local Sports

June 21, 2012

Bynum sticking by UGA commitment

VALDOSTA — Valwood offensive lineman Aulden Bynum doesn’t plan to change his commitment to the University of Georgia football team.

The 6-foot-5 rising senior, who was one of three players to give a verbal commitment to head coach Mark Richt and UGA on April 6, wants to be a Bulldog and nothing else, and he isn’t afraid to hide that fact, either.

After Brookwood wide receiver Kyrin Priester, who was one of the three to commit to the Bulldogs on April 6, decommitted on Saturday, Bynum sent out a tweet expressing his frustration over the recent decommitments.

“Why the heck is everyone decommitting? Learn the definition of commitment before you commit,” Bynum wrote on his Twitter account, which has nearly 750 followers.

The tweet was to set the record straight that he was going to be nothing but a Bulldog and that he was standing by his commitment, Bynum said on Wednesday.

“It said, ‘I am a ’Dawg through and through,” Bynum said.

Priester’s decommitment from UGA marked the second time in three days the Bulldogs lost a potential recruit. Derrick Henry, a five-star running back prospect from Yulee, Fla. decommitted from the Bulldogs late last week, saying he committed “too fast.”

“Overall, it is not just Georgia. When you commit, you’re committed,” Bynum explained. “I don’t like decommitting. I don’t like playing games like that. If Georgia is not your school, that is fine, but just wait to commit.”

Rising senior players are allowed to commit and decommit to as many schools as they want before the official signing day on Feb. 6. After signing a national letter of intent, a player is then committed to that given school.

But for Bynum, who became the first ever Division I football commitment in Valwood School history, his commitment is as good as him signing the letter of intent today. Georgia is all the 260-pound offensive lineman knows.

 After all, his father has held season tickets at Sanford Stadium since the Bulldogs’ national championship season in 1980, and Bynum attended his first game ‘between the hedges’ when he was less than a year old.

“I am not changing anything, as long as (Georgia) isn’t changing anything up on me,” said Bynum of his commitment. “It is a dream come true. I grew up going to all the games, sitting up there and dreaming about it.”

To prove his commitment to Georgia, Bynum will enroll at the university a semester early. The early enrollment will give him an opportunity to practice with the Bulldogs in the spring and give him a possible edge in securing a position on the depth chart.

“The biggest thing for me is I need to get into the weight room,” Bynum said. “I just need to get up there and get on track and catch up.”

Regardless of the two recent decommitments, Bynum is one of 19 players that has verbally committed to Georgia. Among those that have given the Bulldogs a commitment are Camden County quarterback Brice Ramsey (4-star) and Camden defensive back J.J. Green (4-star).

“It is a great class, it seems like,” Bynum said. “I think I saw today that there are eight people from our commitments that are going to the Nike Open game, which is basically just like the Under Armour game, but Nike’s version of it. I think it is great. I think we are going to do great things up there.”

Overall, Bynum called the whole recruiting process “stressful” and “tiring.”

“It is not really the whole recruiting. It is, I guess, the whole social media thing that makes it stressful,” Bynum said. “You have 500 people you don’t know following you on Twitter and you get 20 tweets a day — ‘Are you going to Auburn? You going to Georgia? Lets us know where you are going.’”

Bynum is currently ranked as a 3-star recruit by Rivals.com and is listed as the No. 39 offensive lineman prospect in the country. That ranking is subject to change, based on his performance this upcoming football season.

Heading into the 2012 high school football season, Bynum will anchor an offensive front adapting to a new-style of offensive play, which will feature the Valiants throwing more under the direction of first year head coach Ashley Henderson.

“We are going to win state, that is the plan,” Bynum said. “That is why we are out here working. That is our goal.”

Although Bynum is the first Division I commitment from Valwood, he may not be the only one signing from this year’s team. Fellow seniors Griffin Clyatt, Rashad Mathis, who has been offered by Louisville, Alan Taylor and Khary Paige all have chances to play at the Division I level.

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