Georgia Tech continued its success with shopping for out-of-state recruits on Wednesday.
Jake Whitley, a 6-foot-3, 305-pound offensive lineman from North Augusta, S.C., committed to Georgia Tech over scholarship offers from Appalachian State, Marshall and Maryland.
"I’ve been talking to them (Georgia Tech) for a while," Whitley said. "They told me they might have an offer for me, if something opened up. And something opened up today. So I took it."
Why Georgia Tech? "I love the coaches and the atmosphere. And you can’t beat the education," Whitley said.
Georgia Tech has 16 commitments for its 2014 recruiting class, and 11 are from across the state line. Out of the team’s five Georgia-based recruits, three are from the same high school – Lamar County WR-DB Qua Searcy, and twin DBs Lance and Lawrence Austin.
Whitley projects to play center and maybe guard at Georgia Tech. He is rated as a 2-star prospect, the nation’s No. 36 center and South Carolina’s No. 42 overall prospect in the 247 composite rankings. Whitley said he was finished with recruiting, and would not visit any other schools.
"I talked to Coach (Paul) Johnson last night and again (Wednesday)," Whitley said. "He was excited. He said I was a great fit for the program, and he’s ready to get me up there."
Georgia Tech has one other commit at OL, Jake Stickler of Bradenton, Fla., although a couple of other recruits may end up playing there, too.
Tailback J.J. Green said he can’t say for sure how many times he has heard “you’re one play away from playing” from Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo and running backs coach Bryan McClendon.
Here is a clue that your trip to sunny south Florida may not be a carefree vacation: You’re a football team, and you lose one of your starters during warm-ups.
If nothing else, Georgia has ensured at least one thing about its season. Regardless of where the rest of the schedule takes them, whether its to an SEC championship, a BCS bowl bid or a national title, there will be no claims from outsiders that this team received too many breaks and escaped health issues, no suggestions that the road to success was lined with lollipops and unicorns.
Having been at Georgia four seasons now, soccer coach Steve Holeman doesn’t weird out nearly as much as he once did about playing Ole Miss, where he coached for 15 years.
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