Expectations can be a tricky thing. Before his senior season began, Thomas County Central (GA) defensive end Ray Drew was considered to be not only the best defensive player in the state of Georgia, but The Sporting News had him pegged as one of the best players in the entire country. The crazy thing about expectations is that typically the high variety is extremely hard to live up to. Drew got off to a slow start, which last night in an interview with Score Atlanta’s The Official Visit, he attributed to the opposition’s game plan geared towards exploiting Drew’s younger teammates. “At the beginning of the season, I got off to a slow start as I had established myself as a dominant defensive end. The other team ran away to the other side (of the line).” Drew did feel that as his team matured, his numbers improved and he improved as a player. Unfortunately for Drew, his season ended in the first round of the playoffs as the TCC Yellow Jackets were bounced by Dutchtown 15-0.
Now that Drew’s high school football career is over, he can focus on football, sort of. Drew is not planning on attending the Georgia/Georgia Tech game this weekend in Athens because of a high school basketball game, but he insists Georgia fans shouldn’t be worried. “Hopefully I’ll make it up sometime (to Athens), maybe after the season.” The Bulldogs have several things working in their favor as far as Drew’s recruitment goes and most of it starts with Faith. Drew, a minister himself, noted that he is impressed with head coach Mark Richt’s religious beliefs and Drew has also built relationships with several other Georgia pledges including Christian LeMay and North Paulding’s Christian Conley, both very religious according to Drew. Athens is also “not too far away from home,” in case Drew needed to get back to Thomas County for some reason, he noted.
Georgia’s struggles this season also don’t have much of an impact on Drew’s recruitment, the defensive end prospect admitted, echoing a sentiment that most recruits are acknowledging this year. “You can never really go by a team’s record year to year,” said Drew of the Bulldogs’ 5-6 record entering its final regular season game.
As much as Drew likes the proximity of Athens though, travel won’t be an issue in his ultimate decision. “I don’t mind traveling, personally,” Drew revealed in the interview. “I want to be at a place where they will support me.” He also noted that a strong education will factor into his decision.
The recruiting world should have known that travel isn’t an issue with Drew based on his official visits to date as well as the two others he has planned. Drew has already been to Auburn and LSU and is planning a trip December 4 to UCLA to see the Bruins face the USC Trojans. The defensive end has also been speaking with Clemson coaches about a visit in January. He admitted he isn’t sure who might get the last one, perhaps Georgia or Florida but not Alabama, who didn’t make his list of six that he provided at the end of his interview. Drew admitted that he probably will commit on National Signing Day because he wants to be a late commitment, so he will likely take all five official visits plus a few unofficial visits.
The SEC West schools that have already received visits are certainly in the running, according to Drew. Auburn’s potential probation problems don’t concern Drew, he said but LSU might just be the leader, though he refused to give one last night. “If I could give one reason only why I would go to LSU it would be (defensive line coach) Brick Haley,” Drew said before moving on to glow that LSU’s Tiger Stadium is “the loudest I’ve ever been to.” LSU also offers an opportunity that other schools are not in that Drew was able to “hang” with Drake Nevis, who according to Drew, wants to pass the torch as team chaplain on to Drew.
Don’t discount the Florida Gators either though as Drew came off impressed after meeting with coach Urban Meyer and tailback and Georgia-native Mack Brown. “Gainesville is a great town.” He said he liked that Florida has proven themselves with several recent championships and he isn’t concerned with the team’s struggles this season. “You never really overlook a program like Florida. You’ll be developed and get a good education.”
Drew’s recruitment will stretch into February and you can bet his decision will be a well thought-out and prayed-about one. Drew won’t rush to make a call, and in the end you can be certain that Drew will make the right decision about his future. The recruiting experts wouldn’t expect anything less from him.
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