Offers keep coming
for Baldwin’s Bullard
By GIL POUND
For
Baldwin High
School junior
Javon Bullard, the
recruiting process began
after his sophomore
season with an official offer
from Troy University.
“Ever since then, the offers just kept
rolling in,” Bullard told The Union-Recorder.
As the numbers grew, so did the name
recognition, from a Sun Belt school in Alabama
to colleges that regularly headline the
primetime television slots on fall Saturday
nights. There are more than 20 scholarship
offers on Bullard’s table now, schools that
are willing to pay for his college education
should he decide to suit up for them. His
offers include SEC schools like Georgia, Auburn,
South Carolina, Mississippi State and
Tennessee as well as a host of other Power
5 programs like Pittsburgh, North Carolina
State, Stanford and West Virginia.
“This kid here is wiping the board with
people calling asking what they can do to get
him,” BHS head football coach Jesse Hicks
said. “I’ve had six or seven major Division
I schools say he’s a top guy on their list. I
think that speaks to the type of kid he is and
what he’s done.”
What the defensive back has done is
placed himself among the top 100 rated high
school football players in the state of Georgia,
which is one of the most highly-recruited
states in the country when it comes to
football talent. Recruiting website 247Sports
has Bullard as a 3-star player and ranked
16 Football Preview 2020
55th
in
the state,
regardless of position. But
that’s just on the field. Bullard is
a junior based on high school tenure only
as he’s on track to graduate in December with
an associate’s degree already in hand. Put all
of that together and you have a very attractive
college prospect.
“When you’ve got a kid like him who is
ready academically and has the prowess he
does athletically, it’s kind of hard to not at least
call and ask about him,” said Hicks.
The Baldwin head coach says this is the
most attention one of his players has received
since his return to the school where he initially
head coached from 2002 to 2009. Guys like
Maurice Hurt, who was drafted into the
NFL, Corico Wright, Nick Kyles and Darius
Marshall all garnered attention from programs
similar in caliber to the ones Bullard
is hearing from. Bullard isn’t surprised at all
the programs taking notice. He’s not cocky,
he just knows the amount of work he’s put
in to earn everything that’s come his way. He
sees it as hard work paying off.
“Everything I do I take seriously, whether
it’s 7-on-7 camps, workouts with our DB
coaches or film, I take everything seriously
because I love this game,” he said. “I’ve wanted
to play in college ever since I was a kid and was
first introduced to the sport. I just fell in love
with the game.”
Bullard is in no hurry to make his final
decision since there’s still time for more
schools to reach out. There is no “dream
offer” that would make him sign a letter of
intent immediately, but he would like to
hear from LSU since he’s grown up as a fan
of the Bayou Bengals. He’s had no direct
contact with the program that holds the
2020 College Football Playoff Championship
as of yet though.
“I just want the offer,” Bullard said. “It
would be an accomplishment for me. I grew
up watching those guys play, so it would be
surreal to play there — going to the same
school wearing the same things they wore.
But I don’t think it would be an automatic
yes. Just because I love the school doesn’t
mean it would be the right fit.”
So what would be the right fit?
“I just want a place that feels like home.
Somewhere that I can feel stable — mentally,
spiritually, emotionally and financially.
I’m looking for a place that’s right for me
and my personality, and a culture I want to
be surrounded with.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has put a huge
damper on the college football recruiting
process for many student-athletes, Bullard
included. He had multiple campus visits
lined up in the spring, some to schools that
have already offered and others who may
have been waiting on the visit to offer him.