Georgia Tech signing-day plans clearing up

Georgia Tech’s recruiting haul when the February signing period begins Wednesday won’t be large. But Tech coach Geoff Collins and his staff are hoping it could include a four-star running back.

Tech could sign around four or five players, adding to the 16 who signed in December. Two of the expected signees are prospects who committed earlier in January – wide receiver Nazir Burnett from Harrisburg, Pa., and linebacker Cornelius Evans from Central Gwinnett High.

There are at least two more high-school seniors who have not publicly announced their decisions that could join the group – Rome High running back Jamious Griffin and defensive end Michael Lockhart of Birmingham, Ala. Tech may also receive a player by transfer, Miami wide receiver Marquez Ezzard, who just finished his freshman season with the Hurricanes and is from Stockbridge High.

Griffin, named the Gatorade player of the year for Georgia in December, is a four-star prospect (247 Sports composite) whom Tech has pursued vigorously since Collins' hire. On Jan. 11, the first day that NCAA rules permitted coaches to leave campus to visit recruits in the three weeks leading to the spring signing period, three Tech assistants paid a visit to Griffin shortly after midnight. Griffin, the younger brother of Tech defensive lineman Quon Griffin, committed to N.C. State in May, but withdrew his commitment Jan. 21.

Since the start of December, Griffin has taken official visits to N.C. State, Tech, Auburn and Louisville. He is reportedly headed to Florida State this weekend. Were Griffin to sign with Tech, he would arguably the Yellow Jackets’ most significant running-back signee since Jonathan Dwyer, a member of the ballyhooed 2007 signing class (that Collins helped assemble when he was director of player personnel). Coach Paul Johnson did sign a four-star running back in Myles Autry in 2014, but he never enrolled.

While Collins and his staff have been bringing in a number of high-school prospects for visits, making visits to high schools (some by helicopter) and made tens of scholarship offers, signing Griffin would be perhaps the most significant evidence of Collins and his staff's ability to reel in talent that often eluded Johnson and his staff.

Lockhart is a three-star defensive end who is in his first year of playing organized football, but has secured more than 10 power-conference scholarship offers. Lockhart took an official visit to Tech two weekends ago, a strong indication of interest. He tweeted Monday that he will announce his three finalists Friday. North Carolina and Mississippi State also are contenders.

Ezzard was a four-star prospect coming out of high school and caught two passes in three games this past season for the Hurricanes. He took a visit to Tech this past weekend and perhaps gave an indication of his thinking when he tweeted an emoji of a bumblebee Tuesday evening. (Collins was among the hundreds who gave the post a “like.”) As the transfer would be within the ACC, in addition to sitting out a season, Ezzard also would lose a season of eligibility unless he were granted a hardship waiver.

It is likely that the class won’t include any offensive linemen, as evidently none could be found that the staff wanted to take. There were two linemen committed to Tech before the coaching change, Joshua Black of Stephenson High and Larry Dowdy of Belmont, N.C., but both have committed elsewhere, citing a lack of contact from the new Tech staff.

A prospect that Collins flew to Germany to visit, defensive tackle Joseph Appiah Darkwa, is expected to make his announcement this week. As he has not made a visit to Tech, that would hint that the Jackets probably won't be the winner.

With the impending grad transfer of All-ACC guard Parker Braun, it leaves Tech with 14 returning scholarship offensive linemen, along with grad-transfer offensive tackle Jared Southers from Vanderbilt. Of the 15, four are redshirt freshmen and two more played two games or fewer this past season. It would not be a surprise if Tech continued to recruit through the grad-transfer market this spring.

Tech sits at 85 scholarships allotted, including returnees, signees, transfers and the two committed players, Burnett and Evans. That’s the maximum permitted by NCAA rules. Adding more would put Tech in a position of having oversigned, in which Collins would need a player or players to leave, most likely by transfer, players leaving after early graduation or medical scholarship, to get to the 85-player limit.