Georgia Tech football recruit signs with Texas Rangers for $1.557 million bonus

Blessed Trinity’s Jake Skole officially gave up his Georgia Tech football career on Wednesday.

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Skole signed with the Texas Rangers for a bonus of $1.557 million, according to the Dallas Morning News. The speedy outfielder was drafted No. 15 overall by the Rangers on Monday.

Skole and six family members, including older brother and All-ACC third baseman Matt Skole, flew from Atlanta to Texas on Wednesday morning to work out a deal with team officials. They quickly came to terms, and Skole said he will report to either the Texas rookie-league team in Arizona or the low-Class A team in Spokane, Wash.

“Defensively, you could stick Jake in the big leagues today and he would look like any other outfielder because he can run down balls and can throw,” Georgia Tech baseball coach Danny Hall told the AJC on Wednesday night.

“Like with most guys, the big question is how much is he going to hit. If Jake hits, he will play in the big leagues for a long time because he can already do the defensive part of it.”

The 6-foot-1, 200-pound Skole signed a football scholarship with Georgia Tech in February, picking the Yellow Jackets over UGA, Florida State and South Carolina, among others. Wednesday was a tough day for Tech’s football coaches, which also saw Wilcox County QB/DB Nick Marshall announce his commitment to archrival UGA after being a “silent commitment” to Tech. (Click here for story)

Would Skole consider playing football in the future for Georgia Tech if his football career doesn’t work out? As long as Skole does not enroll in any college classes, he would retain eligibility to play Div. I football, aka Chris Weinke and Quincy Carter.

“No, I’m not thinking like that. Because if you do, they you leave it in your mind that there’s a chance you might not be successful in baseball,” Skole told the AJC earlier in the week. “So my mind is focused 100-percent on baseball, and being the best I can for the Texas Rangers …”

RELATED: Top football prospect commits to UGA after serious flirtations with archrival Georgia Tech (click here)