The new phone book's here! The new phone book's here! OK, it's not quite that exciting, but it is National Signing Day. The day when every 4 star recruit is a potential All-American. When every school in America meets all of its outstanding needs. When it's possible for grown men to tweet about the comings and goings of teenagers without having to use the #TCAP hashtag (inspirational hat tip, Gobbler Country).
And while Bulldog fans won't endure as much drama as some other fanbases, there is still some excitement to be had. As UGAVike noted in yesterday's thread, Georgia extended a late offer to Wayne County OL/DL Tre Jackson. Jackson suffered a serious knee injury which kept him out of action during his junior season, and under the recruiting radar until coaches got to see him as a senior. But the 6'4 290 pounder has now snagged offers from Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Miami, Florida State and Notre Dame. Talk about going from Cinderella to the belle of the ball. All of this after he was committed to Georgia Tech but had his offer pulled under Paul Johnson's uber-successful "visit elsewhere and we'll pull your offer, committed player" rule. Dear Coach Johnson: nobody else in Division I football does that. There's a reason. This is it.*
What's more, Jackson is a teammate and friend of 2012 quarterback prospect Greyson Lambert, one of a handful of signalcallers Georgia is pursuing for next year's class. I imagine that he'd play offensive guard or potentially right tackle in Athens, which begs the question: why Jackson, and why now? This is complete speculation, but I don't think Logan Gray's impending transfer was the reason, as that's likely been in the works for some time. Gray doesn't seem like the kind of guy to decide he's going to transfer and start announcing it the same day. Rather, I think this may signal that Nashville lineman Antonio Richardson is not coming to Athens. I doubt that we get in on Jackson offering this late, but it couldn't hurt. If we get him I think it's a solid pickup.
Linebacker Kent Turene appears to still be in play and will announce this morning. Asheville defensive lineman Jeoffrey Pagan will announce around 9 a.m. between Alabama and Georgia. I don't feel supremely confident about either, but I think we have a better than fair chance at both. Either one would just be icing on the cake of a very impressive class at this juncture.
Of course the big announcement of the day will happen at 1:30 in Columbus when Carver tailback Isaiah Crowell announces his decision, also between Alabama and Georgia. That by the way has been a running theme this recruiting season, as Georgia and Alabama have gone head-to-head for a spate of talented high school players. At this point, Georgia seems to have the upper hand, having won the battles for Damian Swann, Jay Rome, Ray Drew, and Nick Marshall while 'Bama looks set to sign Griffin standout Xzavier Dickson. Most of those guys are Georgians, and you should win the majority of battles in your own state, but Pagan and Crowell would make the victory convincing, especially in light of the results on the field in 2010.
Of course there's also the remote chance of a last minute offer and we'll be here all day to track those as well. It's here. It's here. Your National Signing Day Morning Open Comment Thread. It's time to unleash that Wedding Crashers and/or Full Metal Jacket reference you've been holding onto since Christmas. Give it your all. Make us proud, Dawg Sports commenters.
*Tech's recruiting class has been going backward with a quickness over the past couple of weeks. I'll touch on that more in the post-Signing Day wrapup, but I am at least a little bit gleeful over this. Schadenfreude: it's chicken soup for the college football blogger's soul.