In case you missed Macon Dawg's previous reports in June and December of 2013, Jacob Park of Stratford High School, Goose Creek, SC signed with us last June & enrolled early. He is currently listed as 6' 4' and 206 lbs. The most recent stats say he ran the 40 yard dash in 4:91. He is a Dual Threat, Pro-Style Quarterback who chose us over Alabama, Auburn, Florida State, Notre Dame, Mississippi State, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss, Tennessee and Virginia Tech (and just wait til I tell you what he said about Alabama's recruiting style.)
He won the 2013 - 2014 Mr. South Carolina Football award over Mason Rudolph, who along with his Northwestern teammates beat Jacob Park and company in the State Championship. An accomplishment Jacob said was a shock. Previous award winners include Marcus Lattimore, Stephen Gilmore and Jadeveon Clowney. Definitely not too shabby.
Last year Macon Dawg thought he was "a bit slight for his height & needs to put on some weight." He also said Jacob has a "good, quick release and efficient throwing motion." At that time Jacob was listed as 6' 3" and 200 lbs.
Jacob has maintained a 3.4 GPA and still helped his dad rebuild a 1968 Mustang. He plans to major in either business or sports management, so he can manage his money & not get scammed should he make it to the NFL. He also lists as his favorite teacher, the First Grade Teacher that held him back a year because she felt like he needed the extra time at that level. He's been on the honor roll ever since. All in all, his non-football resume isn't too shabby either. I don't imagine he will be ineligible to play for academic reasons and I have hope that he won't find himself in an embarrassing situation that causes his dismissal or a loss of playing time.
According to the SBNation article on him a few weeks ago, he's "a consensus four-star player, ranked as the No. 5 prospect at his position and the No. 72 overall player in the 2014 class." Rivals lists him 12th, near the bottom of the list of four-star pro-style quarterbacks. 247sports.com has him in 7th. Saturday Down South has him listed as their #4. They claim there is "no obvious weakness." As usual with the various rankings, your mileage may vary.
As great as he seems to be today, we'll likely have to wait quite a while before we see him in action in an actual game. He will be waiting behind Hutson Mason, Faton Bauta, and Brice Ramsey in the depth chart for now. As stocked as our signal caller stable is, he was clear on why he picked UGA, "Coach Richt and (offensive coordinator Mike) Bobo didn't hassle me. They didn't call me every day. They sent me letters. They didn't send me a million letters like everybody else. But when they did, it was a letter that meant something. I went on a visit there, and it came down to Georgia and Alabama. Alabama was being wishy-washy. Coach Bobo told me ‘I sent two offers out this year, you and Deshaun Watson. I'm not going to offer anybody else until you make a decision.' I took that to mean that he liked me a lot. Everything fell together after that. All my friends are Georgia fans. My brother is the biggest Georgia fan that you will ever know."
I don't know which part of all that I like best. The fact that we didn't send him enough junk mail to wallpaper his bedroom, the fact that when we sent him something it was meaningful, the fact that he said Alabama was being wishy-washy or the fact that his brother is the biggest Georgia fan you'll ever know (which is probably subject to some debate around here.)
Perhaps my favorite thing is that with everything he's quoted as saying, it sure sounds like he won't be looking to transfer in two years if he doesn't get playing time. It sounds like he wants to be at Georgia and is willing to do whatever is asked of him, even if that means waiting for his chance at playing big time football in a red and black uniform.