It's a safe bet that several University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football coaches know the stretch of I-75 between Atlanta and Chattanooga about as well as they know the Mocs' roster.
UTC always has recruited heavily in Georgia, and this year was very productive. In fact, 10 of the Mocs' 15 signees Wednesday are from Georgia.
"There's enough players down there, enough to go around, and we like the ones we got," Mocs coach Russ Huesman said. "We've got a little bit of a niche because of the distance [to Chattanooga]."
The first player in the recruiting class to commit to UTC was Calhoun (Ga.) High School linebacker Alex Kirby, who announced his decision in November. UTC didn't set out to load up on Georgia players, Huesman said - that's just the way things went.
"We evaluated a bunch of kids from Florida, a bunch of kids from Alabama, Tennessee, of course, and we just kind of liked the ones we were in on from Georgia," he said.
The Atlanta area is one of the most fertile recruiting areas in the country. With hundreds of Division I-caliber prospects in the metro area, coaches from all over the country annually descend on Fulton, Cobb and Gwinnett counties, as well as several others, looking for players.
UTC has four coaches assigned to recruit Georgia, with Geep Wade and Jimmy Lindsey splitting the Atlanta area.
As competitive as Southern Conference football is on the field, it's just about as intense in recruiting - especially in Georgia. Lindsey and Wade said they regularly run into coaches from SoCon rivals Furman, Appalachian State, Georgia Southern and Samford in Atlanta.
There were days, Lindsey said, when he could enter a school as another SoCon assistant coach is leaving. And it's not just SoCon schools that UTC is going against. There's Georgia State, Jacksonville State, numerous Colonial Athletic Association schools, as well as bowl subdivision programs such as from the Sun Belt and Mid-American conferences.
"In that metro area, you don't find a lot of diamonds in the rough or kids that have fallen under the radar," Lindsey said. "When you do, you're very fortunate. With just the amount of coaches that are in there, kids are going to get looked at."
Recruiting in Atlanta, Lindsey said in summation, "is challenging but rewarding."
UTC wasn't the only SoCon school to fill out its signing class with Peach State players. Appalachian State signed 10 Georgia players, including former UTC commitment John Law, and The Citadel signed 11.
Of course, recruiting is a two-way street and players are looking for places to play as much as coaches are looking for prospects. Mocs signee Will Johnson, a defensive back from Chattahoochee High School in the Atlanta suburb of Johns Creek, said you have to be a good player to stand out in the crowd. A little help is needed, as well.
"There's a lot of talented players around here, and we all want to play at the next level," said Johnson, who was Class AAAA second-team all-state. "Coaches play a big part helping you get noticed because of their relationships with college coaches."
Mocs offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield recruits from Albany down to the Florida line. Unlike Atlanta, where Wade or Lindsey can travel 30 miles and hit three or four schools, recruiting in south Georgia uses up a bit more gas.
"You may one day have to drive from Brunswick to Valdosta to Thomasville," Satterfield said. "There can be days where other people recruiting in Atlanta can hit seven schools and I can only get to three."
Satterfield said he gets a lot of help recruiting south Georgia from Valdosta High School coach Rance Gillespie, who was the offensive coordinator at Georgia Southern when Chris Hatcher was the head coach.
"He's unbelievable," Satterfield said. "He lets me know where all the players are, and he knows what the Southern Conference is all about."
With so many players in the state, UTC's coaches need all the help they can get.