Kolton Houston given opportunity to follow father’s footsteps to UGA

Buford OL Kolton Houston has UGA and Georgia Tech offers (Photo by Brandi King)

Shane Houston tried his best to hide the excitement over his son, Buford’s Kolton Houston, being offered a football scholarship by Georgia. Shane played at UGA, and there’s just something special when your son is offered by your former team. It’s one of those father-son things. Shane tried to put on his best “game face” but it wasn’t really working.

“It definitely means a lot for Georgia to offer,” Shane said on Monday evening. “Any father would think that. It was honor. It felt special. Now it’s in Kolton’s hands on what to do with the recruiting process.”

The son is not sure what to do just yet. For Kolton, Georgia is offer No. 13, including Georgia Tech, Tennessee, Clemson, Auburn and Michigan State. The 6-foot-5, 270-pound offensive lineman said the lack of a Georgia offer, especially with the family connections, created an uneasy situation.

“It started getting a little discouraging,” Houston said. “Then I sat down with my high school coach and talked about it. I realized that Georgia doesn’t offer people early. I’m just not the type of person to be cocky and write Georgia off my list just because they haven’t offered. And look, it all worked itself out. Like [Mark Richt] said, ‘It’s only March 30.’”

According to Kolton, the UGA coach also said something else very interesting before handing him the magic envelope. “When I got into Coach Richt’s office, he talked about how messed up recruiting has gotten, how fast it has gotten with [prospects] getting offered earlier and earlier. Then he said, ‘I have something for you to read.’ He showed me a piece of paper and it was a scholarship offer.’”

What was Houston’s reaction? “I wasn’t necessarily expecting the offer. I wouldn’t have been surprised if Georgia didn’t offer me [on Monday], and I wasn’t going to be surprised if they did offer me. They did, and it was good news. I thanked him and he said for us to keep in touch.”

Was he tempted to commit to UGA on the spot? “The offer meant a lot, but I’m not planning on making a commitment anytime soon. I’m probably going to decide on a school in June. Just because my dad played at Georgia doesn’t mean I’ll go to Georgia. They are up there on the list, but there are other schools just as high as them on the list.”

Football is family time for the Houstons. Kolton has 13 early scholarship offers, with the last two being UGA and Tennessee. He is thinking about making his college decision in June. Houston starts for Buford High School, the two-time Class AA state champions

Now back to the father-son thing. Shane grew up in the Atlanta area, signed with Western Illinois, and later transferred to Georgia. The hard-nosed linebacker had worked hard enough to compete for playing time during his final season for the Bulldogs in 1988. Yet on the second day of preseason practice, he broke his ankle and his career ended. However, it wasn’t a total loss. He did some successful recruiting on his own, marrying Tiffany Houston, who also attended UGA.

However, Shane says he won’t be recruiting his son with the same intensity. “It’s an honor with all the schools that have offered Kolton. We want it to be Kolton’s decision. It’s important for him to figure out on his own the college that fits him the best academically and on the football field.”