The CF recruiting process is more than just a little bit crazy. Many times, it starts before the teenager can even drive legally. It ends with a young man making his first big decision. In between, the idea is to figure out the answer to this question: Where is the best fit for me? And that is never easy.
    Some of these college coaches will tell you anything. Others are legit. But how do you know who's who? Who do you trust? That's the tricky part. Just because Pepper tells you that you'll win a Heisman Trophy if you come to GT doesn't mean you have to believe it.
For me, a couple of months into the process I decided to quit worrying over what the coaches were saying and start focusing more on my homework. How many QBs do they have on the roster? Who else are they recruiting? Would I hit it off with my QB/OC Coach? Do they have a good journalism school? Who do I know on campus? What head football coach will allow me to play baseball? Will the baseball coach be cool with me playing football? Who do they have at WR and on the OL?
    Basically, how do I fit in? 
    One of the Big Boy things my Dad made me do was tell the coach, when I eliminated his school. There was no hiding out, leading him on, or having someone else spread the news. And as it got down to the final decision, it became much harder. It was hard to tell Coach Bowden I wasn't coming to FSU. It was difficult telling Coach Majors I wasn't joining him at Tennessee. And there was some second-guessing going on too. Am I making the right decision?
    Looking back on it, I grew up a lot during that recruiting process because of my Dad. This was my responsibility. Those sheltered high school teenage days were over. It was time to be a young adult.
    Some of the best advice I got from Dad was delivered in the form of a question. Where do you want to live after college? At the time, I had never really thought seriously about that. Wherever, right? But shoot, I was a Georgia boy. Didn't really make sense to go to Knoxville and play for the Vols. And at the time, no one was taking FSU football seriously.
    Georgia seemed like the best fit. Accept for the fact that the LB Coach had a son that was playing QB. That concerned me more that the idea that Jeff Pyburn also happened to wear my high school number (7). Numbers can come and go, I wanted to play. Coach Wayne McDuffie told me the best QB would play. And I believed him. Plus, I had my grandmother living right there on fraternity/soriority row. It was a safe haven for me during my four years in Athens.