John Theus remained loyal to UGA after rocky start

ATHENS, Ga. — Usually it’s the prospects providing the drama for coaches in college football recruiting, but it was just the opposite for John Theus.

The 6-foot-6, 300-pound offensive tackle from The Bolles School in Jacksonville eliminated any mystery about his decision by committing to Georgia last July. Two months later, however, the Bulldogs had lost to Boise State and South Carolina, and there was concern whether Mark Richt and his staff would be around in 2012.

“I had faith in them,” Theus said. “I looked at their schedule, and I told everybody around Jacksonville that they had a chance to win out and win 10 games. People told me I was crazy, especially all the Florida fans around here, but I had faith in them.”

His faith, however, wasn’t entirely complete.

“When they did start out 0-2, I had to take into consideration Coach Richt not being there could happen,” he admitted. “I did look around a little bit and took one official visit to Notre Dame just to be safe, but thank God they won out and did really well.”

Theus signed Wednesday as a top-five tackle prospect nationally according to ESPN, Rivals.com and Scout.com, which lists him No. 2. He is the most touted offensive lineman to sign with the Bulldogs since Internet recruiting services sprang up a decade ago, and a position at Georgia is there for the taking.

Georgia had two senior starting tackles this past season — Cordy Glenn and Justin Anderson — and vying for the starting spots this spring will be Austin Long, Watts Dantzler, Xzavier Ward and Mark Beard, who enrolled last month out of Coffeyville (Kan.) Community College. Theus won’t get to campus until June 4.

“When you have guys like the A.J. Greens and the Matthew Staffords and guys at their position who were really highly thought of — John is in that category to me,” Richt said. “So his opportunity is going to be the same as those other guys.”

Said Theus: “Early playing time wasn’t a factor for me, but it’s a bonus that I could have the opportunity to do that. I would have been fine sitting for a year and then winning a starting job my sophomore year.”

Last February, the Bulldogs signed 6-3, 255-pound deep-snapper Nathan Theus, John’s older brother. Nathan redshirted this past season.

The younger Theus played left tackle at Bolles but competed at guard last month at the U.S. Army All-American Game in San Antonio. Bolles offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Wayne Belger believes Theus is versatile enough to play tackle or guard for the Bulldogs.

“It wouldn’t surprise me wherever they played him,” Belger said. “He’s just a great kid. He’s very pleasant off the field, so he’s kind of a Jekyll and Hyde, because when he gets on the field, he plays extremely hard. I’m sorry to see him go.”

Though he considered enrolling early, Theus chose to remain at Bolles, where he also plays basketball, throws the shot and discus and takes on the everyday challenges of being 6-6 and 300.

“A lot of my friends have small cars, and I’ll have to scoot the seat all the way back and ask to have the sunroof opened,” Theus said. “I’ll still hit my knee and head on everything, so that’s probably the most annoying thing about being my size. Actually, school shopping may be even worse, especially shopping for pants.

“I have really big thighs, so I’ll have pants that fit me in the waist just fine, but they will be so tight around my thighs. Finding khaki pants that fit me is definitely challenging.”