DB Donte Jackson of New Orleans (247sports)
There's a lot of recruiting drama this week surrounding one of UGA's top remaining targets, 4-star cornerback Donte Jackson of New Orleans.
He’ll announce his college decision at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday.
The home state school, LSU, is considered to be the school to beat. But UGA had the chance to gives its best sales pitch this weekend during Jackson’s official visit with the Bulldogs.
"I had a great time (at UGA), I always do," Jackson told NOLA.com's James Smith. "This decision isn't going to be easy by any means. Coach (Jeremy) Pruitt was great, as usual, and they showed me a lot of great things about the university and the opportunity I would have there."
Until Wednesday’s announcement, Jackson claims he will shut down his Twitter account and other media interviews.
One twist: Even if Jackson commits to UGA or USC (his other finalist), he insists that he will go on his official visit to LSU on Friday. So the Tigers are in prime position to turn things into their favor, regardless of Wednesday’s choice.
“I don’t want people to read too much into that,” Jackson said. “I’m a man of my word and I’ve given (LSU assistants) Frank Wilson and Corey Raymond my word that I would be there, so I’m going to be there.”
UGA COMMIT VISITS OU
Van Jefferson is officially committed to UGA, but he's looking around at other schools. The 4-star receiver from Brentwood, Tenn., made an official visit to Oklahoma this past weekend, tweeting that it was a "success."
Jefferson is the son of former Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Shawn Jefferson, and he began waffling some on his UGA decision even before the Bulldogs changed a couple of offensive coaches last month.
UGA still appears to be the frontrunner for Jefferson, who will visit Florida on Jan. 30.
New Bulldogs offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer visited with Jefferson last Friday for the first time.
UGA’S NEW O-LINE COACH
Meanwhile, Rob Sale, UGA's new offensive line coach has got to be feeling a lot of pressure to make some fireworks happen on the recruiting trail over the next three weeks. He was hired from McNeese State. Sale's $400,000 salary, despite no on-the-field FBS coaching experience (and a 33-percent increase over what Will Friend was making), has been a hot topic of conversation, including this article by FootballScoop.com's Zach Barnett. Sale has secured a UGA official visit for next weekend with Dunwoody High School offensive lineman Nick Buchanan, who is committed to Cal. Sale could really win over some UGA fans if he could flip a higher-profile recruit within the next two weeks, or convince former Bulldogs commit Patrick Allen out of Maryland to stick with his original choice.
