Bama all the way, says Gainesville's electrifying quarterback Blake Sims. (AJC photo)

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The answer to the question was delivered politely and succinctly.

I asked Gainesville quarterback Blake Sims – arguably the best overall player in the entire state — if there was any chance at all he could end up at Georgia.

“No, sir,” the longtime Alabama commitment stated flatly on Wednesday.

By itself that would not seem a stirring statement. He’s going to go where he said he said he was going to go. But placed in the context of the last few weeks it resonates powerfully.

Sims, as I have reported, grew up a Bulldogs’ fan. Living just 41 miles from Sanford Stadium, he attended their camps for four years and his parents have framed photos of Sims and coach Mark Richt on the walls of their Gainesville home.

But it was the Crimson Tide that was the first to offer this dynamic athlete last spring. And Sims accepted a day later. But the day before Sims practically begged …

So far there hasn’t been much in the way of surprises. Those who had committed before the week-long window in which you can actually sign a scholarship have done so, for the most part.

For instance, Georgia got a letter-of-intent from the one commitment it had gotten for the Class of 2010 — 6-foot-8 power forward Cady Lalanne of Orlando-Oak Ridge High. Lalanne signed early this morning. The Bulldogs did receive some bad news, however. Center Shawn Kemp Jr., who’s at Hargrave Military Academy in Virginia but hails from Canton, signed with Auburn earlier today. He was actually an Alabama signee out of high school but did not qualify.

Georgia State has received the paperwork from two of the three commitments it got this fall: point guard DaVonta White of Roswell-Centenniel …

James, a senior tackle at North Gwinnett and the top uncommitted offensive lineman in the state, committed to Tennessee Tuesday night. A one-time Alabama commitment, he chose the Vols over Georgia and UCLA.

“It’s a blessing to be recruited like I was,” James said Tuesday night. “I really appreciated everything everybody did and I have a lot of respect for Georgia and all the other teams that recruited me. They did a good job. But I just felt like I fit better at Tennessee. The coaches, the players, I like that new environment. I think Coach Kiffin is going to do big things and I want to be a big part of it.”

James

James, a 6-foot-6, 300-pound left tackle, took an official visit to Tennessee the weekend of Oct. 12 when the Vols dismantled the Bulldogs 45-19 and Kiffin gave his infamous “We’ll never lose to Georgia as long as I’m the coach” speech. James took two unofficial visits to Georgia before that and an …

Why? Because, ultimately, they were the ones that allowed Hubbard to return to the football field after a year’s hiatus. And now, the 6-foot-7, 227-pound defensive end/tight end is one of the unexpected grand prizes in Atlanta’s recruiting class of 2010.

Hubbard is a rarity in the modern age of college football recruiting. That is, he came into his senior year a virtual unknown. Hubbard played football as a sophomore at Peachtree Ridge but he transferred to Norcross as a junior in order to play basketball for the Blue Devils. He did not play football.

This past summer, Hubbard came to coach Keith Maloof and told him that he missed the game and wished to come out for the team. You could only imagine Maloof’s delight as he stared up at the at the towering athletic figure. But he did not accept …

AJC Super 11 quarterback/athlete B.J. Bostic of Jefferson County, DT Shawn Green of Grayson and DT Denzel McCoy of Northview were invited to play in the high school all-star game Jan. 2 in Myrtle Beach, S.C. The game, in its third year of existence,  pits nationally-ranked high school all-stars from the East against others from the West. It competes with the UnderArmour (Jan. 2, Orlando) and U.S. Army (Jan. 9, San Antonio) All-America games.

Now for some other news and notes:

• Word is that Union Grove athlete Jordan Akins is about to land a scholarship offer from Georgia. Akins is a 6-foot-3, 190-pound multi-skilled athlete who plays quarterback, wide receiver, defensive back and kick returner for the Wolverines, depending on where they need him when. He received a scholarship offer from Georgia Tech last week and holds offers from Ole Miss, UConn, …

Storm Johnson landed nicely after LSU reneged on him this summer. The Loganville tailback committed to Miami on Sunday.

It was only fitting that a guy named Storm would end up a Hurricane.

Storm Johnson, a Loganville tailback and one of the top rushers in the state, committed to the University of Miami on Sunday. The 6-foot-1, 215-pound senior made the decision without ever seeing the Hurricanes’ Coral Gables campus. He’ll do that during an official visit on Dec. 12.

“I just felt like they were the top of my list,” said Johnson, who transferred to Loganville High from Buford over the summer. “I got along well with the coaches. I like my running backs coach and head coach Randy Shannon. Education-wise, it’s a private school and will be a great education. . . . When I go down there that will be just icing on the cake.”

Johnson said he chose Miami over Michigan State and Oregon, in that order. Florida State, Kentucky, Alabama, North Carolina and N.C. State also were recruiting …

Tech didn’t simply mail O’Reilly an offer letter. It was hand-delivered by assistant coaches Brian Bohannon and Todd Spencer.

“They came in and gave me a letter which I then gave to Thomas O’Reilly offering him a scholarship,” Pope coach Matt Kemper said. “They hand-delivered it but they followed all the channels and did the right things.”

It was just the first of what promises to be dozens of offers for this 2011 prospect. The 6-foot-3, 313-pound O’Reilly also is being recruited by Georgia, Alabama and Vanderbilt, among others.

“Thomas is a heck of a player and a good kid and he’s going to have decisions to make,” Kemper said. “I’m sure this is the first of a lot of offers. Everybody in the country will probably end up offering this kid.”

You’d have to say the Yellow Jackets have the inside track.

“He’s been going …

“Are you really at Alabama?” he was asked. “Are you there on a visit?”

The answers were “yes” and “yes.” But the five-star defensive tackle from Douglass High, one of the prize commitments in Georgia’s 2010 class, assured one and all that the Bulldogs have nothing to worry about.

Smith went on to explain that while he did attend the Alabama-Tennessee game as a guest of the Crimson Tide, he was there mainly to support former Douglass teammate Jonathan Atchison, a freshman linebacker at Alabama.

I’ll let Smith explain:

“I was free this weekend,” he said. “I didn’t have a game on Saturday. So I had been talking to John and he’d been telling me to come down. He told me his family was coming down to see the game and spend a weekend with him and I should come. I told him it wasn’t problem, it was cool. So they told me I could ride with them and get away for the weekend. I …

What do all these prospects have in common?

They all live an hour’s drive west of Athens and play football for Gainesville High School. That’s the home of the Red Elephants, the No. 1-ranked team in Class AAA.

So if all these Gainesville players are so crazy about Georgia, how come none of them are headed that way?

I called Red Elephants’ coach Bruce Miller Tuesday to find out if he thought there was some kind relationship problem with UGA. Not at all, he said adamantly.

“Here’s what I think happens: I think Coach Richt is a man of such character that he doesn’t want to make …

Gainesville quarterback Blake Sims grew up dreaming of becoming a Georgia Bulldog but has been committed to Alabama since April. (AJC photo)

Georgia is making a major push to recruit Gainesville quarterback Blake Sims. And it has created a bit of a moral dilemma for the player and his family.

Sims, an AJC Super 11 selection and one of the early favorites for all-classification player of the year honors, has been committed to Alabama since April. But Bulldogs’ head coach Mark Richt, who has had a relationship with Sims and his family for four years, has taken a personal interest in changing Sims’ mind and convincing him to come to UGA instead.

“That was pretty cool,” Blake’s father, Sonny Sims, said of getting a phone call from Richt on Monday. “Coach Richt has been part of Blake’s life for a long time.  We’ve got pictures of Blake with Coach Richt as a 9th grader. That’s why we couldn’t understand why Georgia didn’t snag him early because he’d been groomed all his life for …