Want to attack every day with the latest Georgia football recruiting info? That’s what the Intel will bring at least five days a week. The play sheet for Tuesday calls for a synopsis of the recruitment of 4-star WR Alontae Taylor.
That young man now has a lot to ponder.
Alontae Taylor has whittled down his college decision to just Georgia and Tennessee. There’s no more Louisville to think about.
Taylor took an official visit to Tennessee last weekend, and there have been reports published elsewhere indicating he would visit again this weekend to hang out with coach Jeremy Pruitt and the new staff.
That’s not going to happen. Taylor said he is eyeing a free weekend to regroup after having made a very tough decision.
Taylor also told DawgNation that he has been given a Friday deadline by Georgia to decide whether he wants to be in the Class of 2018.
Coach Kirby Smart has asked for that answer so that he will know how many scholarships the Bulldogs will have left for 2018 heading into the early signing period.
Taylor said he will share that choice privately with the UGA staff and then make it public Dec. 18.
Taylor confirmed that he plans to have an official Dec. 22 signing-day event at his school.
That’s the moment he will use to think about and honor his late grandmother, whose birthday was on Christmas Eve.
“[It is a] big weekend for Georgia, and Kirby has to know,” Taylor said. “So I’ll tell a coach yes or no on Friday and tweet [the decision] out Monday.”
The race between Georgia and Tennessee
Taylor told DawgNation that the decision between Georgia and Tennessee has gotten very tight.
His reasoning is the same one players such as Trey Hill and Kearis Jackson, in part, used to choose to play for Georgia.
That’s representing his home state. Taylor, who attends Coffee County High School in Manchester, Tenn., originally committed to Tennessee on June 18, 2016. He de-committed on Nov. 12 in the wake of the firing of coach Butch Jones.
“Just being a Tennessee boy and being a part of a program I know will soon be back on top,” Taylor said of the lure of the Volunteers.
That wasn’t just lip service. It seems Pruitt’s appeal for him to represent his state clearly matters to him.
“People know me as a family-first guy,” Taylor said. “I want my family to see me play. I also wanna be ‘the guy’ [when] some people look back at Tennessee and they say, ‘That Taylor kid started it’ with the recruits we get and what I can bring to the field.”
If he does choose Georgia, he will do so because he simply sees that as best for his future.
Taylor told DawgNation that Smart and offensive coordinator Jim Chaney had an in-home visit with him last week. As of now, the Georgia staff does not plan to visit him again before he shares that decision.
Announcing his choice Monday will make things easier in one area for his signing day on Dec. 22: His friends and family can wear either Georgia red or Tennessee orange.
After that, the Under Armour All-American said he will enroll early at Georgia or Tennessee in January.
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