Georgia targets Elo Modozie in transfer

Georgia reached into the transfer portal quite a few times this year. It grabbed six players in the winter window. Those players enrolled in January and went through spring drills with the team. Then UGA brought in four more guys in the April window, headlined by former Army EDGE Elo Modozie.

The St. Augustine native spent three seasons in West Point before deciding to seek a transfer. Modozie wasn’t in the portal long. He set up a visit to Georgia soon after entering, made the trip to Athens a few days later, and didn’t leave town before signing on the dotted line.

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart hasn’t spoken much to reporters since that portal window opened. He got a chance to do that on Wednesday where he spot for the first time on Modozie.

“Really good athlete, position of need, outside linebacker,” Smart said on Wednesday at the Regions Tradition golf tournament in Hoover, Alabama on Wednesday. “Great kid, high character, great family. So we’re excited to have him.”

The 6-foot-3 243-pound pass rusher has had an interesting journey to this point. He was an unranked wideout in the 2022 class. His recruitment was impacted by COVID-19. Modozies junior season was limited and he didn’t get to camp or take visits prior to his senior season.

He tried flipping from receiver to defense in high school, but it didn’t net him any more offers. His best option was Army as a blocking wideout, so off he went to West Point.

Once he got there, Modozie was convinced that playing receiver, in that offense, just wasn’t for him. After he requested, the Black Knights staff reluctantly let him play defense. After starting out at defensive back and seeings a little action in 2023, Modozie decided to ask the coaches for one more position change. Rushing the passer excited him so he requested a chance to play outside linebacker. The Army coaches obliged.

After putting on around 30 pounds, Modozie had a breakout season in 2024. He racked up 34 total tackles, eight tackles for loss, and 6.5 sacks. When he entered the portal, numerous schools came calling but Georgia was the front runner right away.

Now he’ll be much closer to home. He’ll be familiar with the heat and humidity that comes with a Georgia preseason camp. Seeing as how he thrived for three years at Army, Modozie should also be able to handle the physical and mental challenges that come with playing for Smart.

“I would say just the toughness and the resiliency,” Modozie told DawgsHQ last month. “This is a school where they’re challenging you in one way or another every single day. You’re either getting challenged mentally, physically, for me, sometimes spiritually. You’re just getting attacked every single way, if it’s doing a drill, or if it’s having your shoes a certain way, or having your uniform, making sure everything looks good, making sure everything shines.

“They’re just trying to have different ways to make you uncomfortable. They do a great job of it. Over the years, getting accustomed to that system, you just see it when you leave the school. You go outside of the school, and you go home, and you interact with people on a daily basis. You just can notice the difference in how different a cadet will carry themselves outside of here versus someone else that really hasn’t had that training, which is no knock to anybody else, but we bring a different type of mentality anywhere we go.”