The 2014 recruiting season has come and gone. It was a wild one, and the state of Georgia was no exception. National Signing Day for the state as well as the Atlanta area was an event to say the least. Two of the top players in Georgia are staying in-state, one local player received a scholarship to Alabama, even though he won’t be able to play football again, and a new school on the block made a big splash with their first signing class. Here’s a recap of what happened on Na-tional Signing Day in the metro area.
THE BIG BOYS …
Georgia only came away with 21 signees, but they got a group that could be the best in the Richt era. The class is lead by defensive end Lorenzo Carter from Norcross. Ranked as the No. 1 player in the state of Georgia by 247 Sports, Carter was a big piece to the Blue Devils’puzzle that won back-to-back Class AAAAAA state championships. But the Bulldogs weren’t done with top five players in the state. They were able to also sign long-time commitment Nick Chubb. The running back from Cedartown is ranked as the third-best player in Georgia by 247 Sports and rushed for over 2,600 yards and 41 touchdowns his senior season. Other notable signees by the Bulldogs are CB Malkom Parrish (Brooks County), RB Sony Michel (American Heritage (Fla.)) and TE Jeb Blazevich (Charlotte Christian (N.C.)).
Overall, the Bulldogs signed three five-star players, 10 four-star players and eight three-star players according to 24/7sports.com. It’s too early to tell if this will be a great class, but if they play like they did in high school, the Bulldogs will be a top contender for the SEC title in the near future. But Tech head coach Paul Johnson is not into recruiting rankings. He gets players that will fit into his system, not the best players in the state or region.
However, he did get a future star player in Myles Autry from Norcross. Autry has the speed and ball skills to be a very good A-back in Johnson’s offense. The Jackets also signed North Gwinnett standout C.J. Leggett. With Leggett being a little bigger than Autry, he will get a shot at be-ing the Jacket’s B-back. Other notable signees include CB Qua Searcy (Lamar County), C Andrew Marshall (West Forsyth) and the Austin brothers, Lance and Lawrence (Lamar County).None of the players Johnson signed are highly-rated according to most recruiting services. But this is a solid class that will have no issues buying into the system.
BUILDING BLOCKS …
Georgia State had a rough 2013 as they finished the year with a 0-12 mark. So the goal for head coach Trent Miles was to continue to build the roster by addressing needs on both offense and defense. And while he admitted they did not fill all the holes with this recruiting class, they are getting closer each year. Stephenson linebacker Malik Ricks is a key signee for the Panthers. The three-star player had 10 tackles for loss last season. His teammate Ari Wertz is looking to make plays for the Panthers at the tight end spot. Wertz was selected to the All-DeKalb team by the AJC. But the top prospect comes from California. Quarterback Nick Arbuckle played at Pierce College and threw for a total of 7,000 yards and 73 touchdowns in two seasons. He attended high school at St. Bonaventure High School in Ventura, Calif. Kennesaw State does not have any play-ers from California, but they did sign 29 players that look to help get the program in the right direction.
Overall, head coach Brian Bohannon did a good job getting players from the state as well as the southeast. And they made one of the biggest signings of the day with Griffin quar-terback Jaquez Parks. Named as the All-Classification Player of the Year by the AJC, Parks decided to go with KSU instead of taking the Ivy League route. One of the reasons Parks chose KSU is the fact that Bohannon, who played high school foot-ball at Griffin, played with Park’s father, O.J. Another top player from Georgia that signed with the Owls is South Paulding quar-terback Chandler Burks who was Region 5-AAAAA Player of the Year. Burks was the first commitment and the first signee for the Owls.
McEachern’s McKenzie Billingslea and Kell’s Taylor Henkle will also join Parks and Burks in the fall. Billingslea, a defensive line-man, was an All-Region 5-AAAAAA player and Henkle, a defensive back, tallied 104 tack-les and six interceptions in 2013.
“We signed six total from the greater Cobb area, and we’re excited about that,” Bohannon told the Marietta Daily Journal. “Those kids are not only great kids, they’re great players and they’re close to home. I think you can look at recruiting in a lot of different ways. You can always look at what you didn’t get, or maybe the guys you wish you would have gotten, but I prefer to look at the 29 guys we got, and how excited I am about those guys being here.”
ROLL SHAW ROLL…
The highlight of NSD comes from Tucker High School where defensive lineman Elisha Shaw signed with Alabama. Why is that a big deal? Because Shaw signed with the Tide on a medical scholarship, instead of a football scholarship. During a preseason scrimmage, Shaw injured his neck and was told he could never play football again. Before he knew about his diagnosis last summer, he listed as Alabama as one of his Top three schools. But when head coach Bryan Lamar contacted Alabama and let them know what was going on, the Alabama coaches de-cided to take care of him and give him a schol-arship where he can be a trainer and still get an education.
Loading ...
