COMING AND GOINGOnly four times in the last 10 years has the top Peach State football prospect chosen Georgia:YEAR PROSPECT SCHOOL2002 College Park DE Julian Jenkins Stanford2003 Kennesaw CB Paul Oliver Georgia2004 Colquitt DE Brandon Miller Georgia2005 LaGrange LB Tray Blackmon Auburn2006 Atlanta S Reshad Jones Georgia2007 Fairburn S Eric Berry Tennessee2008 Buford DT Omar Hunter Florida2009 Valdosta CB Greg Reid Florida State2010 Calhoun WR Da’Rick Rogers Tennessee2011 Thomasville DE Ray Drew Georgia
The Georgia Bulldogs finally landed the top peach in the Peach State.
Defensive end Ray Drew of Thomasville, rated by Rivals.com as the state’s top player and the No. 9 prospect nationally, became Georgia’s 23rd football commitment for the 2011 signing class Friday morning when he made a nonbinding pledge at his high school. The 6-foot-5, 243-pounder picked the Bulldogs over BCS champion Auburn, LSU and Miami with five days to spare before Wednesday’s national signing day.
Drew, who at 18 is a licensed minister, was introduced at Thomas County Central as the “Pastor of Disaster.”
“I don’t think a lot of people really understand how stressful this process is,” Drew told reporters in attendance. “I knew I would be going to Georgia for about two or three weeks now. I had a good idea early in the process, but I wasn’t 100 percent sure.”