Two of the best in Georgia to stay together?

There are multiple high schools in Georgia that have two three star or better football prospects in the 2018 class, but Stockbridge has two four stars that are in Rivals' top 200.

Defensive end Brenton Cox is No. 156 and wide receiver Marquez Ezzard is No. 176. Each has a long list offers, each is coveted by top programs for different reasons and each would love to play with the other on the next level.

The close friends, teammates first started playing together on an eight and under team. They stayed together for years in pop warner, then played in middle school together before going separate ways.

After starting out his high school career at Lithonia (Ga.) Miller Grove, Cox moved to Stockbridge to re-unite with Ezzard at the end of his sophomore year.

The two are closer than ever and each had a big junior season helping the Tigers reach the semi-finals in 2016. Now each has cemented himself as a top prospect in 2018 and the offers have been rolling in the past few months.

They know they each have their pick to future their education, but one school might receive two letter-of-intents from Stockbridge.

"It is about every day that we talk about picking a school together, playing together and we talk about that stuff a lot," said Cox. "We know time is winding down, that this is something we have to get serious about pretty soon, and I am graduating early, so I know I do not have until signing day to wait. That pushes us a little more."

Cox is a 6-foot-4, 245 pound hybrid who could play standing up or with his hand in the dirt depending on scheme. That is something he has thought about when them playing together comes up.

"It could a little tricky because some schools want me at different positions," said Cox. "We know Marquez is a receiver, but some schools like me as an outside linebacker and some like me as a defensive end, so seeing how I fit into a certain scheme could help or hurt this plan. We know both have to make the best decision for ourselves."

Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Louisville, Miami, Ohio State and Tennessee are some of the schools who have offered each of these four stars. You would expect in today's world of recruiting with staffs being so deep that college coaches would know how close these two are, but the topic of these two staying together has not been a hot topic yet.

"No college coaches have really asked us if we are committing together or anything like that yet," said Ezzard. "It has come up maybe once when I was talking with someone, but it is not really a big thing yet.

"It might be after this story though. It will start to get out. We just haven't talked about it much yet."

Cox has been on a few more visits so far this year than Ezzard. Cox has a little more free time due to Ezzard playing baseball. Both were out a lot in the fall taking in games and they each know what they are looking for in a school.

"We are really looking for the same things in a school," said Cox. "We both want to go where we are comfortable, we both want to have good relationships with the coaches and we both want to win.

"We have the same mindset and we are really looking for the same stuff. We are a lot alike."

Personalities are the same. Cox may be the one that cares about his personal looks on Friday nights a little more. Ezzard may talk a little more trash, but both are relatively quiet young men letting their actions speak for them.

Neither is close to making a decision and do not look for one before they begin their senior campaign.

"Neither one of us are close to committing," said Ezzard. "I see everything happening after the season.

"Us committing on the same day, at the same time, to the same school could happen, but we are not there yet. We aren't even close to that, so that is something we still have a lot of time to figure out."

If that time was now. If signing day was tomorrow. If a decision had to be made right now; without hesitation, the star defender said the two would be inking with the same school.

"I would say 10 out of 10 would be the odds of us staying together if signing day was tomorrow," said Cox. "We have known each other since we were little, we have been talking about playing together for a while now and we would love to make that happen.

"I know it is not our time yet, but when it is, I think it will happen."