Walton RB Tyren Jones led the state's largest classification in rushing yardage (AJC photo by Michael Carvell)

The leading rusher in Georgia’s largest classification said he was offered a football scholarship by UGA on Tuesday.

Tyren Jones, a junior tailback at Walton High School, said he got the news when UGA running backs coach Bryan McClendon was at the school on Tuesday. Jones led Walton to an appearance in the Class AAAAA state championship, rushing for 2,375 yards and 38 touchdowns

“It feels good; it’s exciting,” Jones told the AJC. “I like the Bulldogs. They are close to home. I like Mark Richt. I’ve been to Georgia a couple of times. I’ve got some teams on my list, and Georgia is definitely on there.”

UGA has also offered another junior at Walton, offensive lineman Brandon Kublanow – who is leaning toward to the Bulldogs. Jones said he also has “verbal offers” from Vanderbilt and Duke, while adding Oklahoma State last week.

“Oklahoma State’s coach came up to me after …

Alabama-bound K Adam Griffith (Photo courtesy of 247sports.com)

Adam Griffith, the Calhoun High School kicker who is committed to Alabama, could probably help out the Crimson Tide this year.

Alabama suffered a 9-6 loss to LSU in the regular season after Cade Foster and Jeremy Shelley failed to score on four of six field-goal attempts.

Griffith, who kicked a field goal to win the Saturday’s Class AA state championship for Calhoun High School, admitted it was tough watching Alabama’s loss to LSU. He will sign with Alabama in February and be eligible to play next season.

“Of course, I wish I could’ve helped the team in that game,” Griffith said. “The kicker, Cade Foster, he had a bad night. But those are hard kicks to make, especially when it’s cold outside and they are long field goals. I was nervous watching him. I don’t know.”

Griffith has been a kicking machine at Calhoun. He booted around 65 of 80 kickoffs into the end zone this season. He has a career-long field goal of …

UGA has entered the sweepstakes and offered a late scholarship to the state's No. 1 WR prospect, Sandy Creek's Jaquay Williams. He committed to Auburn last summer (AJC)

Is Auburn in danger of losing the commitment of WR Jaquay Williams to UGA?

UGA is making a late charge for Williams, and offered a football scholarship last week to the 6-foot-3, 200-pounder from Sandy Creek High School. Williams is considered the state’s No. 1 prospect at wide receiver.

Williams, who committed to Auburn over Ohio State last summer, told the AJC he will make an unofficial visit to Georgia on Saturday – his first trip to Athens in two years. Part of the reason will be to hear out the sincerity of UGA’s interest, and the other part will be to watch Auburn play in person.

“I’m going to go up there, look around and check things out,” Williams told the AJC on Thursday night. “But I’m really locked in on Auburn right now. Something crazy, and I mean real crazy, would have to happen to get me off the …

The pair of 9-0 undefeated teams will square off at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Hallford Stadium in a game which will also be broadcast live by CSS-TV Comcast Ch. 45.

Stephenson is a candidate to lead the nation this February with the number of seniors signing football scholarships with FBS schools with 11 currently, including AJC Super 11 defensive end Jarontay Jones (committed to Virginia Tech).

Back to the rap video: Linebacker Raphael Kirby steals the show with his swift dance moves. He committed to Miami last spring without ever visiting the ACC school but started looking at other schools at other schools after NCAA allegations swirled around the Hurricanes in August. He officially remains committed to Miami.

Kirby lined up recruiting …

AJC Super 11 pick Geno Smith of St. Pius (AJC)

Alabama DB commit Geno Smith is planning an unofficial visit to archrival Auburn but it’s not why you think.

Yes, Auburn was the runner-up to Alabama for the AJC Super 11 DB’s commitment but his trip to Auburn would be to go see Alabama play. This year’s Iron Bowl will be played at Auburn on Nov. 26.

“Other than the Iron Bowl, I don’t plan on visiting any other schools than Alabama,” said Smith, who still hears from Auburn, UGA, LSU, Arkansas and Florida State on a regular basis.

Smith has kept an extremely low profile since committing, focusing on his senior season at St. Pius, which is 7-0 and ranked No. 2 in Georgia’s Class AAA. Smith stars on both sides of the ball for St. Pius, also playing tailback.

Smith has flourished under the incredibly high expectations that were put on him for his senior season. “I know the expectations are high, but I don’t really think about it that much because I’m confident about what I can do. So …

Auburn DB commit Josh Holsey, the AJC Super 11 DB from Creekside High School (AJC)

There’s something about former Creekside High School football stars attending games that brings out the best in Josh Holsey, the AJC Super 11 selection who may be the state’s No. 1 cornerback.

Eric Berry, the NFL defensive back for the Kansas City Chiefs, gave a rousing pep talk to Creekside before Saturday’s game and then sat in the stands to watch Holsey score thrice in a win over Riverdale, including an interception return and two touchdown catches.

Last week, with Florida State safety Terrance Parks watching on, Holsey scored five touchdowns in the 45-7 win over Forest Park. The TD breakdown: 2 catches, 2 runs out of the Wildcat formation and a kickoff return.

Parks was so blown away by Holsey’s dominating presence that he went back to FSU and raved to his coaches about Holsey, who committed to Auburn. Evidently, FSU’s coaches liked what they heard because they are in now hot pursuit of …

Or do you prefer when a player does it the old-fashioned way? You know, such as telling a few people and letting the word spread?

Vadal Alexander was one of the nation’s most-heavily recruited prospects but did it the “old school” way. When the offensive lineman from Buford High School  decided he was going to commit to LSU over Auburn and Alabama this week, rather than to have a press conference or “commitment ceremony,” Alexander simply called a few reporters who had been covering his recruiting and let the word spread.

“I’m not the type of guy to be real flashy or anything like that,” Alexander told the AJC. “I …

Buford High School's Vadal Alexander (AJC photo by Michael Carvell)

If you heard somebody screaming in the distance on Monday afternoon, it may have been LSU coach Les Miles.

Vadal Alexander, one of the Georgia’s most heavily-recruited college football prospects, committed to LSU over Auburn and Alabama. The 6-foot-6, 300-pounder from Buford High School was ranked by some as the state’s No. 1 OL prospect.

Alexander called all three of his finalists on Monday, and got an enthusiastic reaction from Miles.

“It was great,” Alexander told the AJC. “He was ecstatic. He was screaming and yelling, you know, only like Coach Miles can do. He is very outgoing. He was happy and he was definitely screaming.”

Miles had plenty to hoop and holler about. LSU rallied to edge Auburn for Alexander’s services.

“I had taken my official visits to Alabama and Auburn, and going into this past weekend’s trip to LSU, Auburn was leading,” Alexander said. “But I went to LSU and it just clicked for me. It …

The 6-foot-3, 245-pounder from Buford High School has made official visits to two of his three finalists, Alabama and Florida. He will decide later this week about scheduling a recruiting trip to Florida State.

Freitag took his official visit to Alabama for the Arkansas game. Freitag’s teammate at Buford, linebacker Dillon Lee, is committed to Alabama, while another – offensive lineman Vadal Alexander – has the Crimson Tide as a finalist, along with LSU and Auburn.

“Alabama made it perfectly clear how much they want and need Kurt to be part of the team and school; he left with a very good impression of fitting in,” his mother said.

Freitag saw Alabama play again last weekend during his official visit to Florida, which he also enjoyed.

Buford TE Kurt …

AJC Super 11 member Josh Harvey-Clemons will visit UGA (AJC)

One of the top uncommitted seniors in the state is AJC Super 11 member Josh Harvey-Clemons of Lowndes High School.

The 6-foot-5, 200-pounder will take official visits to UGA, Florida, LSU and Louisville. JHC is projected to play safety in college, but is also getting looks at outside linebacker.

“The dude is a freak … he’s the best I’ve played against in the last three years,” said Trent Thompson, quarterback of No. 1-ranked McEachern High School.

“I think he will play safety in college, if they don’t put him somewhere on offense. I don’t think he’s thick enough to play linebacker. Wherever he goes, he’s going to be outstanding.

“I still can’t believe the interception he had against me. He jumped so high, and kept getting higher and higher, and came down with it. The dude is a freak.”

Here’s McEachern coach Kyle …

Alabama may be thinking the same, as Crimson Tide running backs coach Burton Burns showed up at East Paulding last week to scout Thomas, who is considered by some to be Georgia’s No. 1 prospect at running back for 2013 (he’s a junior).

“He reminds me of the Richardson kid at Alabama,” East Paulding coach John Reid told the AJC. “He’s got big legs, all the muscles, and the quickness, the power and speed. He’s really quick once he gets his shoulders squared up.”

2013 RB Kamani Thomas of East Paulding HS

The 5-foot-9, 190-pound Thomas will be the featured player when East Paulding plays North Paulding at 7:30 tonight in Thursday Night Football. The game can be seen live on WSB-TV digital channel 2.2 or at wsbtv.com.

Thomas, who rushed for nearly 2,000 yards last year as a sophomore, has early scholarship offers from Vanderbilt, Mississippi State, …

UGA target Jordan Watkins, a DL from Woodward Academy. has narrowed down to UGA, Florida and Stanford (Photo by Rusty Mansell/247Sports.com)

And then there were three.

Jordan Watkins, one of the state’s top college football prospects at defensive tackle, started off the recruiting process with 35 schools. The Woodward Academy football product narrowed it all the way down to three on Wednesday.

Which schools are the finalists? It’s UGA, Florida and Stanford.

Scratched off the shortlist are Miami, Alabama, LSU, Notre Dame and Oklahoma.

“It’s those three because they are all great schools athletically and academically,” Watkins told the AJC. “That helped them stand out among the top eight. Of course, with some of the other schools dealing with NCAA allegations (Miami), that made it a little easier to get to three.”

UGA fans have been vocal about feeling pretty confident …

The 6-foot-4, 295-pound offensive lineman from Northview High School picked the ACC school after making official visits to both NC State and Central Florida this past weekend.

“I chose NC State because I felt like it was the best place for me both academically and athletically,” Fordham told the AJC. “I felt like there was a lot of integrity in the program at NC State. The coaches are all about the right things, and they really wanted me — which made me go for it.”

Fordham will have to sit out this season at NC State, per NCAA transfer rules, and then have three years of football eligibility. Fordham briefly considered the possibility of staying closer home at UGA, saying “I talked to Georgia a little bit but I think they are full at this time.”

When asked about the circumstances surrounding his decision to transfer from LSU, Fordham said, “I’m going to …

“I want to begin by thanking Coach Miles and his staff for affording me the opportunity to be a part of the LSU football program.“

“I’ve grown tremendously because of the time and experience that I’ve had at LSU and for that, I’m grateful. I will sorely miss my teammates and all those that make it work behind the scenes for the program.”

“I also want to extend to the fans and the people of Louisiana my personal appreciation for all of the support they provided to me from day one.”

“This was a personal decision that I made that best fits my current and future career.”

*

RELATED FOOTBALL RECRUITING STORIES

• Ex-Georgia Tech QB target quits …

He’s never had a recruiting moment like Friday night.

Four players committed at the same time at UGA’s “Dawg Night” prospect camp (This was a “package deal” unlike any other … four players from four different high schools, from three different states).

John Theus, a 5-star offensive lineman from Jacksonville, and a trio of 2013 recruits — Camden County QB Brice Ramsey, WR-DB Tramel Terry of Goose Creek, S.C., and RB Derrick Henry of Yulee, Fla. — all huddled around Richt and pledged at the same time (and a fifth one committed later in the night).

Four? Maybe four on the same day. Maybe. But four at the same time? What?

Ramsey explained how it went down:

He said Theus was one of the first people he saw after reporting to UGA on Friday. ”Theus talked to me, and whispered that he was going to probably …

Alabama-bound LB Dillon Lee (left) with his older brother, UGA OL Dallas Lee (AJC photo by Michael Carvell)

Buford High School linebacker Dillon Lee, who has committed to Alabama, proved that he is among the nation’s top athletes over the weekend.

Lee finished in the top 10 of the SPARQ Rating National Championship at “The Opening” — Nike’s new summer training competition that features some of the country’s top college football prospects. In the SPARQ contest, the rising high school seniors are tested in the 40-yard dash, vertical jump, 20-yard shuttle, and throwing the power ball.

Lee led the entire field after two events, and ended up finishing 8th overall. In the preliminary round scores, Lee was clocked in the 40-yard dash at 4.66 seconds and had a 35.6-inch vertical jump.

Lee is the younger brother of UGA offensive lineman Dallas Lee, and committed to Alabama over Florida State and UGA (click on story link).

It’s always interesting to see how top-rated prospects perform …

Buford OL Vadal Alexander has Alabama, LSU and Auburn as his leaders and said he has been invited to visit UGA this summer (AJC photo by Michael Carvell)

Vadal Alexander, who is a candidate to be Georgia’s No. 1 college football prospect on the offensive line, is favoring three SEC West schools as his leaders.

“It’s LSU, Alabama and Auburn that I like the most,” Alexander told the AJC. “I’m trying to get to know Miami and North Carolina better. But the top tier would be LSU, Alabama and Auburn because I know them better — they would be my leaders.”

The 6-foot-6, 300-pounder from Buford High School had around 25 early scholarship offers, including both Georgia Tech and UGA. Alexander hasn’t had contact with Georgia Tech in a couple of months. He is considering an unofficial visit to UGA to meet with coach Mark Richt this summer but hasn’t set a date.

“I’ve been around Georgia since I was in the ninth grade because we’ve had some Buford offensive lineman go to …

Wayne County QB Greyson Lambert has nine offers, and may add a few more in July

Georgia’s No. 1 college football prospect at quarterback, Greyson Lambert, is nearly fully recovered from a leg injury that sidelined him for three months and is sprinting through schools on the recruiting trail.

Lambert made unofficial visits to South Carolina and N.C. State last weekend. He plans to make recruiting trips to Alabama, South Carolina, Florida, FSU — and maybe a few other schools — in July.

The 6-foot-6, 195-pounder from Wayne County High School said he has nine early offers: Alabama, South Carolina, Miami, N.C. State, Virginia, Louisville, Purdue, Boston College and Mississippi State. He also had early offers from UGA and Clemson which are no longer available (see below).

Nearly every elite quarterback commits before his senior season, but Lambert is unsure.

“That all kind of got pushed back with the whole leg thing; With not being able to visit many schools in June, I might wait …

The 6-foot-6, 265-pound defensive tackle from Woodward Academy has a 3.7 GPA and wants to study Broadcast Journalism or Communications in college. Watkins started with around 30 offers, and has narrowed down to eight finalists, with his college major being an important factor: Alabama, Florida, UGA, LSU, Miami, Notre Dame, Oklahoma and Stanford.

Why UGA? “Just the fact you get the combination of two big things I’m looking for. You get a great education from one of the better known journalism schools in the country, and also at the same time the chance to play great SEC football. With the combination of those two, there’s no way Georgia couldn’t make the top eight.”

There were two surprises among Watkins’ finalists — the exclusion of Georgia Tech …

Storm Johnson was one of Georgia's top running backs in the 2010 recruiting class (AP photo)

One of Georgia’s top college football prospects from the Class of 2010 has decided on a new school.

Tailback Storm Johnson will transfer to Central Florida, reported the Orlando Sentinel on Friday. Johnson originally signed with Miami and played one season with the Hurricanes after starring at Loganville and Buford high schools.

“Yes sir, Storm committed today and he will start classes on the 22nd,” Wesley Johnson, Storm’s father, told the Sentinel. “It actually feels quite good just to get the pressure off and be able to resume his college career. He starts off with a clean slate. Coach [George] O’Leary met with us today and coach felt good about [Storm], and Storm felt good about being there.”

Johnson committed to Central Florida after touring the campus. He will sit out next season due to NCAA transfer rules, and have three years of eligibility remaining. Johnson also visited South …

One Shaq's career ended this week while another Shaq's career is just beginning to take off (AJC photo by Michael Carvell)

Southwest Dekalb’s Shaq Goodwin and Thomasville’s Robert Carter are both ranked among the top 15 college basketball prospects in the nation for 2012.

Both Goodwin and Carter are scheduled to play in the Under Armour “Best of the Best” Camp held Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Marist.  (Go here for more information)

Here’s a breakdown of the top 5 Georgia players at the camp, courtesy of Courtcred.com’s Kerry Willis:

1. William “Shaq” Goodwin, 6-8, power forward, Southwest DeKalb: “Goodwin is the highest-rated player in Georgia (No. 12 by ESPNU) and he has continued to impress scouts with his relentless effort on the boards, his athleticism, and the added ability to be very consistent shooting the ball out to the 3-point line.  Plays the game with energy and an infectious smile that crowds love.” Goodwin’s list of schools include UCLA, UGA, Florida, …

Wonder Twins: Elliott Berry (left) and Evan Berry have met great expecations so far (AJC photo by Michael Carvell)

Eric Berry’s twin brothers have been headliners in recruiting circles since one of them reportedly committed to the Tennessee Volunteers while in middle school.

Flash forward to two years later: Evan and Elliott Berry completed their freshman year of high school last week, and somehow have found a way — so far — to meet the great expectations that come with being the siblings of an All-America defensive back and NFL first-rounder.

The Berry twins say that they are at least two years away from making their college decisions. No, neither has committed to Tennessee but both like the Volunteers, which was where both their brother and father played college football.

There’s really only one thing they have decided on this early in the recruiting process — they will …

Geno Smith says his leaders are Notre Dame, Alabama, Auburn, Texas and Tennessee (AJC photo by Michael Carvell)

After one of Georgia’s top defensive backs committed to Auburn on Tuesday, his next goal was to lure another one to the reigning BCS champions.

Creekside’s Josh Holsey picked up an Auburn hat over UGA, LSU and Virginia Tech on Tuesday and we have it all on video here.

One of Holsey’s buddies is St. Pius cornerback Geno Smith, who is a candidate to be the state’s No. 1 overall prospect. ”I’m going to call Geno today,” Holsey said. “I’m going to see if we can get this recruiting class down so I can go off to college at Auburn and have the best team in the country.”

Geno Smith, who is among the state’s leaders in scholarship offers with nearly 40, confirmed to the AJC that his five leaders (in no order) are:

• Notre Dame
• Alabama
• Auburn
• Texas
• Tennessee

Smith said those five are his “leaders and not my five finalists.” He plans to focus on the five over the summer and …

Josh Holsey, who is a candidate to be the Georgia’s No. 1 college football prospect at DB for 2012, will pick between his finalists of Auburn, UGA, LSU and Virginia Tech at 3 p.m. Tuesday.

Holsey has been publicly favoring Auburn, the reigning BCS champion. Holsey was asked on Sunday night if Auburn was still his leader or were all four schools “even” with their chances?

“Um, they’re about even,” Holsey told the AJC.

UGA has made a late charge for speedy cornerback out of Creekside High School.

Quick recap: Holsey has said that UGA was his childhood favorite, and there was speculation that Holsey would’ve committed during an April visit. However, the Bulldogs didn’t offer at the time, with Holsey saying that was told to come back for UGA’s summer camp to audition for a scholarship. UGA changed its stance over the last 10 days, offering a scholarship (Holsey’s last in a …

Florida offensive coordinator Charlie Weis may have a higher Q Rating than some SEC head coaches, including his own with the Gators (AJC photo by Michael Carvell)

Stephenson High School, showcasing 14 prospects with D1 offers, had its spring football scrimmage on Tuesday.

There was so much going on that we’re just going to hit the high points:

• The star of the scrimmage was Florida offensive coordinator Charlie Weis, one of around 20 college coaches to make an appearance. Either everybody was looking at Weis or his Super Bowl ring, which appeared to weigh 100 pounds. Not sure how he carries that ring around. Charlie didn’t show much interest in the scrimmage, spending most of the time chatting on his cell or telling football war stories to younger college assistants eager to listen. Stephenson has two 2012 prospects committed to Florida, tailback Mike Davis and defensive lineman Jafar Mann. Charlie left the building right after halftime of the scrimmage. On his way out, …

No. 783 was No. 1 in the eyes of many at Athens Nike Camp (AJC Photo)

Several of Georgia’s top college football prospects for next year were on display at Friday’s Nike camp in Athens.

However, it was a member of the Class of 2013 that grabbed the spotlight: Grayson High School’s Robert Nkemdiche, a 6-foot-5, 260-pounder who turned everybody’s heads as soon as he walked up to the registration table. He’s only a sophomore.

Nkemdiche dominated the drills, so much to the point that one other heralded defensive lineman — a junior — was overheard saying to a couple of others, “I’m just glad 783 (Nkemdiche’s camp number on his jersey) isn’t in the Class of 2012 with the D-Line rankings.”

The consensus of several recruiting analysts observing the camp, which included players from many surrounding states, was this: Nkemdiche will almost certainly be ranked at Georgia’s No. 1 overall prospect for 2013, and has a decent shot of being rated No. 1 overall in the USA.

Nkemdiche, who was …

How could he not? Tennessee fans had been asking Holsey about it over Facebook and Twitter for the last few months.

They were well aware of Tennessee’s connection to Creekside High, which is the alma mater of one of the Vols’ all-time greats, Eric Berry.

Creekside's Josh Holsey is "the best we've had since Eric Berry." says his coach. Holsey ran a 4.31 at camp last weekend and has a dozen offers, including Auburn, Georgia Tech and -- now -- Tennessee, alma mater of his mentor, Eric Berry.

Holsey’s social network finally got the answer they were looking for on Thursday when Tennessee offered Holsey and made serious inquiries about his Creekside teammate, cornerback Davion Tookes, who committed to Virginia Tech last February.

“It was shocking to get the Tennessee offer,” Holsey told the AJC. “I guess those people on Facebook and Twitter will be …

JaQuay Williams has been picking up trophies and scholarship offers, with LSU being No. 12 on Monday (AJC photo by Jason Getz)

LSU entered the sweepstakes for one of Georgia’s top prospects at wide receiver, extending an offer to Sandy Creek’s JaQuay Williams on Monday night.

“I’m excited, great school,” Williams told the AJC. He has around a dozen offers, including Auburn, Michigan, Ohio State, Tennessee, Clemson, South Carolina and Georgia Tech.

The 6-foot-2, 180-pounder recently won the top award at the 2011 Atlanta MVP Camp attended by many of the state’s top college football prospects.

Williams recently transferred from Heard County High School to Sandy Creek, the Fayette County school which has won back-to-back state championships.

– By Michael Carvell, AJC Recruiting Blog

1. Go ahead and add two more names to Georgia’s list of football commitments for the Class of 2012. That’s five in all if you’re keeping count.

Jalen Fields and Lonnie Outlaw haven’t held any press conferences or issued any kind of announcements or anything like that. But the rising sophomores at Georgia Military College confirmed this week that the offers they accepted with the Bulldogs in 2010 still stand. And they intend make good on their ends of the deal.

Former Dalton DE Jalen Fields says he can't wait to graduate from Georgia Military College and enroll at UGA. (Special photo provided by Jalen Fields)

“Yes, I’m planning on re-signing with the University of Georgia,” said Fields, a 6-5, 250-pound defensive end from Dalton.

“I’m keeping my commitment with Georgia,” said Outlaw, a 6-7, 210-pound wide receiver from Wilcox County. “There’s not going to be a change unless something comes up.”

Both players added that caveat to their pledges. Each said he would …

THE MAILBAG:

Robodawg asks: Chip, I was glad to hear of Georgia basketball’s pickup of Nemanja Djurisic. Is his signing likely to wrap up this year’s class? And can you give a quick run down of how the next class is looking?

Chip: As far as I can tell, recruiting for the 2011 class is likely complete for the Bulldogs. Djurisic, a 6-8 forward from South Kent, Conn., by way of Montenegro, will officially become the fourth member of the class — joining 6-6 guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope of Greenville (Ga.) High; 6-10 forward Tim Dixon of Oldsmar (Fla.) Christian School and 7-foot center John Florveus of Hillsborough (Fla.) Community College — when he signs during the spring period later this month. Since they will lose only seniors Chris Barnes and Jeremy Price to graduation, that actually puts them one over the NCAA limit of 13 players on scholarship, depending on what juniors Travis Leslie and Trey Thompkins decide to do as far as entering the NBA draft. Georgia did place on …

The participation of former Bulldogs David Pollack (L) and Randall Godfrey (at lectern) in Ray Drew's Jan. 28 commitment announcement was a violation of several NCAA rules. (AJC photo by Chip Towers)

(Adds comments from David Pollack, 2:20 p.m.)

Ray Drew’s decision to have former Georgia football stars Randall Godfrey and David Pollack speak at his commitment ceremony in January has the Bulldogs in some hot water with the Southeastern Conference.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has learned that UGA had to report five NCAA rules violations to the SEC as a result of Drew’s Jan. 28 news conference at Thomas County Central High School. Drew, a five-star recruiting prospect, announced that day he was committing to the Bulldogs.  The 6-foot-5, 250-pound defensive end has since signed a national letter-of-intent with UGA.

Georgia Athletic Director Greg McGarity detailed the violations in a March 4 letter sent to SEC Commissioner Mike Slive. That letter was obtained by the AJC …

Jenkins County's James DeLoach (L) and Jonathan Taylor at Georgia Tech, where they've spent a lot of time together. (Photo by Chuck Conley reprinted with permission)

Valdosta’s Malcolm Mitchell and Jay Rome, who both signed with Georgia last month, went down as one of the best “package deals” of the last recruiting period. Well, there’s another good two-for-one opportunity this year for some lucky team.

James DeLoach and Jonathan Taylor of Jenkins County would be a great get for any school individually. But the defensive stalwarts are best buddies and are shopping themselves as a pair.

“Everybody that has been recruiting us pretty much already knows that we want to play at the same school,” said Taylor, a 6-foot-4, 315-pound defensive tackle. “They know we’re both good players and they’d like to have both of us.”

Asked what percentage he would put on them playing together in college, Deloach laughed and said, “99.9 percent.”

The teams recruiting them don’t seem to have a …

The combination of elite athleticism and high academics has brought Woodward Academy defensive lineman Jordan Watkins nearly 30 scholarship offers, the latest from UGA. (Photo by Rusty Mansell/247Sports.com)

The first scholarship offers for Jordan Watkins began rolling in more than a year ago when he was still a sophomore at Woodward Academy. But one he’s always hoped for didn’t come until this week.

The University of Georgia offered Watkins a scholarship on Tuesday via an avalanche of letters in his mailbox from multiple coaches. The Bulldogs’ invitation was No. 28 of what is now 29 opportunities (Florida followed suit Tuesday night).

But if Watkins is annoyed about having to wait on UGA, he isn’t showing it.

“I don’t question them at all,” Watkins said of fielding 27 offers before Georgia’s finally came. “I’m sure they’re trying to make sure they offer the right person nowadays. When I say that, I mean with a great academic and athletic background. So I had no problem …

The so-called Dream Team has now been signed, sealed and delivered and now coach Mark Richt is already talking about assembling another one in 2012. But that may seem like the easy part compared to the challenge that is ahead.

By consensus, the Bulldogs’ 2011 class is ranked among the top seven classes in America. They ended up ranked No. 5 by Rivals.com, No. 6 by ESPN.com and No. 7 by Scout.com. So while it was a Dream Team by virtue of labeling and certainly by landing the majority of in-state recruits it had targeted, recruiting experts determined several other programs had better years on the recruiting trail.

Opinions differ on which team had the best year. Florida State, in its second season under coach Jimbo Fisher, had its class tabbed No. 1 by ESPN and Scout. Rivals thinks Alabama had the top class. Auburn was at one time ranked No. 1 before five-star offensive tackle Cyrus Kouandjio reversed field and signed with the Crimson Tide. So who …

Where's this man gonna play college ball? We'll find out today. (AJC photo by Jason Getz)

It’s National Signing day. Or at least it will be at 7 a.m. this morning. That’s when fax machines (yes, they still use them) will begin whirring in college athletic departments from coast to coast. It’s the NCAA-appointed time that schools can begin accepting signed letters-of-intent from “prospective student-athletes,” or as the rest of us call them, “recruits.”

Before today they were merely “commitments.” Or in some cases, “decommitments” and “recommitments.” More on that later.

We won’t have to wait long for news. Linebacker Anthony Harrell of Tampa, Georgia Tech’s newest commitment, is expected to sign his papers by 7:15 this morning. Longtime Georgia commitment Amarlo Herrera is slated to make it official at 7:30 a.m. down at North …