Georgia swimming team gets a notable commitment

ATHENS — The son of one of the nation’s top sportswriters will be joining one of Georgia’s athletic teams.

Clayton Forde, whose father is renowned college football writer Pat Forde, has committed to swim at Georgia.

Pat Forde now writes for Yahoo, after writing for ESPN and the Louisville Courier-Journal during an award-winning career. He attended Missouri, where his oldest son Mitchell swims. But Georgia and its championship-winning coach Jack Bauerle was able to pull in the next Forde.

Clayton Forde is the No. 2 senior male swimmer in the state of Kentucky, according to collegeswimming.com, and a national Top 115 recruit. He is a captain of both the St. Xavier team and his club team, Lakeside Swim Team. He is a three-time All-American and a two-time scholastic All-American.

While Pat Forde made his name covering football and basketball, the rest of the family is making its name in swimming. His daughter Brooke is a high school junior and currently ranked a national Top 20 prospect by collegeswimming.com. His wife Tricia is a former swimmer at Northwestern.

“I’m really happy for Clayton to end up at such a prestigious program and a great school,” Pat Forde said in an e-mail on Sunday night. “Swimming under Jack Bauerle, and with his incredible collection of talent, should bring out the best in Clayton. He is an extremely hard worker and a student of the sport, so his best days in the pool are ahead of him. The fact that I get increased opportunities to eat at The Last Resort is an added bonus. Watching my kids swim is far more exciting than covering college sports for a living — and I love my job.”

Hugely happy for and proud of @Clayton4d for committing to study and swim at Georgia! pic.twitter.com/xpakkgZWJ0

— Pat Forde (@YahooForde) October 25, 2015