Gargantuan Dalton High junior tackle Watts Dantzler has seen the extremes of college football's recruiting process.
His Dalton teammate, senior defensive end Jalen Fields, became Georgia's first commitment for its 2010 signing class last March and stayed out of the spotlight until signing with the Bulldogs this past Wednesday. Yet just a short distance down Interstate 75, Calhoun High receiver Da'Rick Rogers made a late switch from Georgia to Tennessee that became highly publicized, delighting one SEC fan base and infuriating another.
The 6-foot-8, 310-pound Dantzler plans to handle his recruitment somewhere in between.
"I'm pretty sure I'm going to be committing on my birthday, which is November 16th," he said. "I kind of wanted to do it around then, and one of my friends said, 'Just commit on your birthday.' I was like, 'All right.' That sounded like a cool idea."
Dantzler could be the Peach State's top offensive lineman in the 2011 signing class and already is a MaxPreps top-100 national prospect, so fending off the chaos for the next nine months will be challenging. He has established a top tier of destinations that contains Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Tennessee and Vanderbilt, and he has a secondary list that includes Clemson, Duke, Georgia Tech, North Carolina and South Carolina.
Georgia is the school mentioned most for Dantzler because his father, Danny Dantzler, was a 6-1, 215-pound guard for Vince Dooley's Bulldogs from 1971 to '73.
"A lot of people have said that," Dantzler said, "but if I knew I was doing that, I would have already committed there. It's still wide open right now."
Danny played on Georgia teams that went 25-9-1 and won two bowl games, the Gator in 1971 and the Peach in '73. He died last February after a three-year bout with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a weakening of the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord known more commonly as Lou Gehrig's Disease.
Ronnie McClurg and now Adam Winegarden have coached Dantzler at Dalton, and they have been amazed by the maturity with which he's handled his father's death.
"Watts is a tremendous young man," Winegarden said. "He has a great head on his shoulders, and he's had a tremendous raising by his mom and his dad. I think he's a byproduct of his parents, and I know he carries that with him every day. That's kind of what makes him who he is."
Said Dantzler: "It's tough with him not being there to talk about things, but tons of people have stepped in and taken that role of being there. My dad's friends have been really kind, and the coaches here definitely have been spectacular in everything they do."
As a 6-5, 285-pound freshman, Dantzler was sure to get some attention and received plenty of advice from his father.
"He said wherever I wanted to go is fine," Dantzler said. "He loved Georgia, but he also liked Auburn and Vanderbilt a lot. He almost went to Auburn, but he just told me that it's up to me to do what I think is best for me."
Dantzler, who was credited with 51 pancake blocks last season on an offense with two 1,000-yard rushers, now is playing basketball for the Catamounts. His cousin, Christen Brown, was a 6-2 forward who played basketball at Dalton and Wake Forest.
With an older brother who's 6-5, he admits most of his relatives, even the girls, are at least 6 feet tall.
"I never really hit a growth spurt," Dantzler said. "I've always been pretty tall, and then one day I was like, 'I'm 6-6 or 6-7.' I don't know. It is what it is."
Dantzler believes playing basketball has enhanced his footwork and hand-and-eye coordination. His athleticism continues to catch up to his size, said Winegarden, who believes Dalton's training program also is paying dividends.
The next few months likely will provide more mental than physical challenges for Dantzler, but he believes he can keep everything in check.
"I'm trying to handle this situation as calmly as I can," he said. "I'm trying not to get a big head, which is one of the hardest things to do when you've got tons of coaches coming to see you. I think these coaches know that I have some options, and they're not rushing me.
"If I can keep everybody off until November, I should be good."