Jaelyn Lay has seen his recruitment take off in the first month of 2018. He is one that immediately passes the eye-test. Lay is 6-feet, 5-inches tall, he has long arms, he is a lean 210 pounds and he can run.
Coaches around the country are starting to recognize that, especially two schools close to home. The star out of Riverdale (Ga.) picked up offers from Georgia and Georgia Tech over the last week.
The one from the Yellow Jackets came while he was on their campus Sunday.
"I went on this visit and I was surprised by this offer like I have been by all of them," said Lay. "I hung out most of the visit with coach Buzz Preston and he showed my how things are run there, he talked about their past wide receivers and we went over their offense.
"I had visited Georgia Tech a couple of times before, so I had seen a lot of what they have there. It is in the city and it is a school not far from home."
What stands out most about Georgia Tech is — no surprise, the financial opportunities.
"Two out of every five Georgia Tech graduate becomes a millionaire, so their education and what it can do for the students really stands out a lot to me."
The offer from Georgia came a little earlier in the week. Head coach Kirby Smart stopped by the Lay's school early Tuesday, then the offer came a little later that day.
No offer really brings too much emotion to Lay, but this one was pretty special.
"Georgia was one of my dream schools. Them and Clemson are two I have always liked. My dad and I have always watched Georgia games since I was little on Saturday, so this one was nice.
"All the offers are great to me though. I saw my brother get recruited, so I don't get too hype about the offers, but this one was cool since Georgia is a school I watched play so many times with my dad."
With Georgia, the thing that really has Lay's attention there is the bond between the players and the coaches.
"I have been to three games at Georgia and I like how the players celebrate with each other and how the coaches get along with the players," said Lay. "They all play together and win together. I really like that a lot. It just shows they are a real team."
The hybrid is rapidly approaching 20 offers after adding these two offers along with ones from Louisville, Ohio and Ole Miss last week. He is planning to take many more visits before he starts to think about favorites.
"I have gotten some big offers and I have gotten more than I expected to get, but I am going to overreact about them or anything like that. There have been many surprises, so now I just have to get out and see the schools.
"I am open to everyone and I am not even thinking about favorites. I like Georgia, I like Georgia Tech and all the other schools that have offered me are equal with them"
