To all the football fans in the state of Georgia: It is time to buy into the hype around National Signing Day, because Feb. 5, 2014 is the day that this celebrated event changes Peach State football forever. The excitement, drama and theatrics surrounding National Signing Day are growing each year across the country. More players make their decisions on national stages and heated recruiting battles come down to the final hour. This already-giant spotlight on the state of Georgia on signing day is entering a new era this year as upstart programs Kennesaw State, Mercer and a still young Georgia State program are aggressively picking up instate talent. With these new programs, Georgia is going to continue to be on center stage on National Signing Day for years to come.

This is the first year that Mercer can award scholarships and the Bears' recruiting

Photo by Jon Barash

class holds some serious talent. Kennesaw State has already grabbed 24 instate players for its inaugural class and Georgia State holds a top 100 recruiting class in the country filled with players from all over the state.

Having Kennesaw State and Mercer competing with Georgia Southern, Georgia State and the big boys, Georgia and Georgia Tech, is going to give more opportunities to Georgia's players whether they are heading to a Division 1 program or a junior college. As the instate schools grab talent, it requires out-of-state schools to be more aggressive in their recruitment of the state as well. Georgia products already dot rosters across the country and it is going to exponentially increase from here.

ABUNDANCE OF TALENT ...

Georgia high school football is a trusted destination for recruiters because across

Photo by Sonny Kennedy

all six classifications, there is competition and talent every Friday night. Our state does not have any weak points and every region produces talent and every corner of the state has future college stars. As Class AA Lovett stifled an explosive Lamar County team 14-7 to win its state championships this season, it showed one of the most fundamentally sound and well-coached teams ever seen at the high school level. 

In Class A, Marion County and Aquinas had starters making plays on either side of the football as they grabbed state titles this season. Talent-saturated Buford won yet another championship in Class AAA and Griffin won the Class AAAA title with brilliant playmaker Jaquez Parks at quarterback. Parks won the AJC Georgia High School Player of the Year and just committed to Kennesaw State on Thursday (Jan. 30).

Norcross won its second consecutive Class AAAAAA state title with a team that will send more than 20 players to college campuses next fall, yet some could argue Purdue-commit Dexter Knox and the talented Class AAAAA state championship Creekside team was the best team in the state in 2013. The amount of talent is almost overwhelming.

UNPRECEDENTED COVERAGE ...

For the first time in history, each college signee from the state of Georgia will be entered into a signing day database. Information like college destination, county, high school and position will show exactly where the talent is heading and where it came from. This list will ultimately show the entire country how well-represented Georgia is in college football and will continue to get the state the recognition and spotlight it deserves.

Across the metro-Atlanta area on National Signing Day, five Taco Macs will have more than 100 schools come and announce their college signees. Uncommitted five-star Lorenzo Carter will be there as will five-star UGA-commit Nick Chubb. Every top prospect in the metro Atlanta area will be there to make their decisions and all the action will be updated live at signingdayfrenzy.com and broadcasted live via 92.9 The Game FM. Signing a scholarship is one of the most important moments in an athlete's life and myself and Score Atlanta hopes everyone joins the celebration this year as National Signing Day Frenzy and the 'world's largest signing day event' is born.