Long-time WR commit Haynes opens up about recruitment, commitment status

The recruiting cycle for prospects in the Class of 2021 will go down as one of the strangest in the Rivals era.

Before committing to the program back in January, Grayson WR Jamal Haynes took a trip to the Flats.

Haynes had no idea when he left campus that day, committed to the program, that he would go nearly 10 months without being on campus.

While they may not have been able to visit the campus, Haynes and his family saw their relationships with the staff at Georgia Tech reach new heights.

Virtual visits, FaceTime calls, and phone conversations between Haynes, his family, Coach Collins, and coach Kerry Dixon became the norm.

With just over a month to go until he signs his NLI to Georgia Tech, Haynes and his mother, Annette Johnson, spent quite a bit of time with JOL earlier this week.

ON SEEING THE PANDEMIC'S IMPACT FIRST HAND: "It has absolutely been a wild ride these past several months. By working in the high school, I see the effect first-hand. I was there when it happened last year, and saw the amount of opportunities that the seniors missed out on. The senior prom, graduation, these are things that you've been working years for and have been looking forward to. You work all through elementary, middle, and high school for those moments, only to have everything shifted due to the crazy pandemic. Who would have ever thought that graduation would have been virtual for the Class of 2020?

Overall, as a school, both the kids that opted to return to school and the kids that are doing it virtually have adjusted well. You're entering the building, you are wearing a mask. Walking through the halls? Wearing a mask. That's for both the staff and the students.

Gwinnett County has really stepped up their game from day one, making sure it is safe for not only the students, but the teachers and the staff at the school as well. The parents at home have that level of comfort, that they know we are doing everything we can.

ON SEEING THIS GRAYSON TEAM GROW TOGETHER: "The majority of the seniors have been together the last four years of high school, and many from 5th-8th grade with the Gwinnett Football League as well. There will be 30+ seniors graduating from this team this year, so it goes without saying that we have a big senior class.

This is a special group of kids. When you talk about a brotherhood, everyday they have each others' back. They click together, and play well together. In the evening, you leave practice to go into your individual homes, but at the end of the day they are like true brothers.

THE DECISION TO VISIT FOR THE NOTRE DAME GAME ON THEIR OWN: "With the NCAA rules right now, you can't do actual visits right now, but just to be in that atmosphere itself was special. To be back on the Flats was amazing. It was a beautiful day, on a trip we had been looking forward to for a while. We hadn't been there since January. It felt good to be down there, a school where he will be attending in just a couple of months.

HER TAKE ON COLLINS, DIXON, GT STAFF: "I have to give Coach Collins and Coach Dixon their props. The communication throughout all of this has been phenomenal. When you see other parents and players talk about the care that the coaching staff has for the players, that is 100% true. Jamal has been in consistent communication with them throughout everything."

TAKEAWAYS FROM THE VISIT LAST WEEK: "The first thing that we saw when we got to the Flats was the energy off rip. I also believe that a total of 16 true freshmen that played in the game. I believe that Coach Collins is going to play whoever he thinks is going to get the job done, and that excites me.

That's the place to be for me. Just imagine being 30 minutes away from your house, right there in the city. Whole state of Georgia watching you. That's a dream come true for me."

RELATIONSHIPS WITH GT STAFF: "I know my mom had mentioned the communication with the staff, but I LOVE the communication between us. I text Coach Dixon all the time, and I am on the phone with Coach Collins all the time. They actually just FaceTimed me earlier today. We have great conversations."

OTHER SCHOOLS STILL RECRUITING HIM: "I still have schools like Purdue and Maryland hitting me up, but I'm not going anywhere. I am locked in."

ON THE PREPARATION FOR THE TD PASS LAST WEEK: "You know, it was the night before Halloween, we gave them a little trick or treat. We usually have some trickery like that in our pocket, we just don't typically use it in a game unless we have to. I do throw the ball a lot in practice though. I was originally a quarterback when I first started playing football.

RELATIONSHIPS WITH GT PLAYERS: "I have a lot of relationships up there at Georgia Tech already, even more than all of my former teammates that are up there. I'm in contact with Jeff Sims, I am in contact with Ahmarean Brown, Ezzard, Malachi Carter a lot of the receivers that I will soon be in the room with.

RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE OTHER COMMITS: "I talk to Malik all the time, Chayden all the time, we are all in a group message on both iMessage and Snapchat so we are all texting and keeping in contact all the time. A lot of our class is enrolling early, and that's been a goal of mine since I first committed.

When I first committed, that was one of the biggest things when I committed back in January, they put me in that group chat. One of the first things we talked about was pushing to be able to enroll early. A lot of the guys were taking classes this summer to try to make that a possibility. I told them that being there for that Spring Practice, it is going to help you a lot during your first season. A whole lot.

We've got Chayden, Noah, Sebastian, Weston, Jakiah, Kaleb, Grey, Joshua, Kenyatta, and David all enrolling early right now."

HIS TAKE ON THIS RECRUITING CYCLE: "It was a lot of virtual visits. A lot of FaceTime, a lot of texting. That's the one thing that about Coach Dixon and Coach Collins, they never lose contact with you. You will always hear from them. Making sure I'm good, making sure I am keeping up my grades, just checking up on my family and I."