11Alive - As recently as a few weeks ago, Dunwoody offensive lineman Daniel Gothard was headed to play for the University of Pennsylvania in the Ivy League. That was until the coaching staff at the University of Georgia saw his highlight tape.
Although Gothard has only been playing football for two years, the Georgia staff swooped in on the 6-foot-6, 300-pound lineman with an offer to play for the Bulldogs as preferred walk-on. On Sunday night, Gothard accepted.
"He made the decision last night," said Daniel's father, Andy Gothard, "He is very excited."
The Bulldogs will be getting a top wrestler and one of the smartest kids in the Class of 2016.
"He is going to be an engineering major," Gothard said. "He has a 3.9 GPA, and that is taking Advanced Placement courses. During his first year of playing high school football, during the season he took Advanced Placement Calculus and Advanced Placement Physics -- and received A's in both."
As for why such a big target flew under the radar, the elder Gothard explained.
"Daniel wants to be a serious student so we were only looking at very high-tier academic institutions such as the Ivy League," Gothard said.
Georgia apparently fits the bill academically as well as athletically.
"We were told the reason Georgia made the offer was that, having only played for two years, and the fact that he placed fourth as a heavyweight in wrestling in the state this year, they looked at the trajectory of his growth in two years and they believe that the sky is the limit," Gothard said.
Daniel Gothard will be joined in the trenches by two other preferred walk-on offensive linemen in Allen Williams and Sean Fogarty. The Bulldogs staff has been busy trying to add serious size to the offensive line.
"Daniel is extremely excited about the opportunity to play for Georgia," Gothard said. "Go Dawgs!"
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