Right before the Coronavirus hit the United State, and high schools begin shutting down and college visits were banned, Dylan Fairchild was a very busy young man. In March, before all that was put into place, he visited Auburn, Georgia and Tennessee. He was actually offered by Georgia and LSU on the same night.
Things were going smooth for the 6-foot-5, 295 pound offensive lineman out of Cumming (Ga.) West Forsyth, and he was on the verge of cutting his list down.
His recruitment has ramped up to anther level now, and he is fielding double-digit calls almost daily and he is now trying to slow things down.
IN HIS OWN WORDS
CORONAVIRUS EFFECT: ""The virus has really slowed things down for me," said Fairchild. "No more visits can be taken right now, school is online every day, and everything is over the phone. I am not one that likes to be on my phone all the time, so it is definitely different. College coaches have more time, schools are hitting me up a lot more and I would say it is a little harder to handle everything. I am fortunate to be in this position with offers, so that is great, but the virus has changed a lot."
A TIGHT RACE: "I was planning to cut my list down to 10 schools soon, but that has kind of been put on hold. I do not think I will be ready to do it until we can get back out for visits. I probably know around four or five schools right now, but I need more visits to really finish it. I still have a lot of schools I am considering. I am talking to at least six or seven schools every day right now, and some schools are reaching out wanting to talk every other day, then others, like every three days. There are still a lot of schools up there for me."
SEC STRONG: "Auburn, Georgia, Tennessee and South Carolina are really recruiting me hard. It has really been crazy. Those schools are really showing a lot of interest and trying to talk to me about every other day. LSU is in there too and they are talking to me a lot.
"Georgia is the last school I visited and I visited Tennessee right before that. I was at Auburn in March too. LSU and Georgia offered me on the same night — that was crazy. Coach Matt Luke and I have developed a relationship fast and I like him a lot. Me and my family are really liking Georgia right now. I have been talking with coach James Cregg of LSU a lot too. It is a great school and a place I want to visit as soon as possible.
"I have visited Tennessee twice now and I got a lot out of my second visit. I spent more time with the coaches, I saw a lot more, and I really got to know coach Will Friend, coach Chris Weinke and coach Jeremy Pruitt. We are really growing our relationship.
"With Auburn, nothing has changed — it is great. Things are definitely good with me and Auburn and I really like coach Jack Bicknell a lot. He is a very genuine guy, he is easy to talk to and Auburn overall has done a fantastic job recruiting me.
"South Carolina was first to offer me and they are still making me feel like a priority. Coach Eric Wolford and coach Will Muschamp are great guys and they seem like guys I would love to play for."
NEXT STEP: "I am just taking it day to day now. I am not sure now when I will commit. I have kind of pushed that to the side until this all blows by. I am trying to handle school online, talk to coaches and just take it all in. The SAT was canceled, the Rivals camp was canceled, I had visits coming up and I am now slowing it all down. We will see when I feel ready to commit. Things are still very close — like within one point of each other at the top for me right now, so I still have a lot to think about."
RIVALS REACTION
Plenty of other schools are involved that were not talked about in this feature. Fairchild is a wanted offensive lineman, and some of the other schools in pursuit of him are Arkansas, Mississippi State, North Carolina, Penn State, Texas A&M and Virginia Tech. Is there a leader in his mind right now? There likely is, but it is very fluid. Auburn and South Carolina were those schools for a while, but Georgia getting Fairchild to Athens and offering last month really has put the Bulldogs squarely in the mix. LSU and Tennessee are up there too. His stock is up — way up — and Fairchild will see him ranking on Rivals change in a positive way once the 2021 rankings are updated.