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Northview's Denzel McCoy - congratulated by fellow student Nick Radosta - was one of 11 north Fulton college football signees to achieve a national ranking by the major recruiting outlets. McCoy, who signed with Georgia Tech, was a 4-star recruit according to Rivals.com.
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As the years go by, college football becomes less of a mere fall past-time and continues to evolve until a year-round phenomenon. For, you see, recruiting is a 24/7/365 enterprise, and when fans are not glued to their televisions on autumn Saturdays from September to Novemeber, they are attached to their laptops in search of any recruiting nugget they can digest - be it June, December, and most definitely January and February in anticipation of National Signing Day.
College recruiting Web Sites have become a multi-million dollar industry. Fans from Georgia to California are willing to pay $10 monthly memberships to stay abreast of the latest recruiting news as it pertains to their favorite school.
At the epicenter of the online recruiting frenzy is individual player rankings. Specifically, fans want to know how many "stars" are affixed to the prospects and commitments being courted by their team.
Rivals.com and Scout.com are two of the more reputed online sources for college recruiting news, and even ESPN.com has gotten in on the action. Rivals and scout use both a numerical ranking and a star scale (from 1-5...1 being the lowest and 5 assigned to the best, most can't miss prospects) to grade prep talent.
Of north Fulton's 22 signees on Wedneday, one-half of them earned some sort of star ranking on either Rivals or Scout. The rankings are generally determined by a set of criteria such as the player's measurables, offer list, and camp performances. Fans can access these rankings online for free, but must pay a charge to read interviews with the players and scour message boards chock full of "insider" information.
In north Fulton, Northview's Denzel McCoy is arguably the most highly-regarded 2010 prospect, according to the online services. He was the only local player to earn a 4-star ranking from either publication, and McCoy was designated as a Rivals250 prospect, coming in at No. 222 nationally.
McCoy - who received upwards of 20-plus offers from major Division 1 schools - signed with Georgia Tech on Wednesday, honoring a verbal commitment he made 10 months earlier.
In addition to McCoy, Blessed Trinity's Jake Skole (Ga. Tech) and Alpharetta's Michael Bennett (Georgia) were two other nationally-rated players to remain in state.
Four more local players - Cameron Fordham, Brandon Terry, Chris Boyd, Martin Jenkins - kept things somewhat regional and signed with SEC and ACC schools.
But four other players who were recognized as national recruits listened to the words of far-away coaches and visited distant campuses before deciding to hop multiple borders after settling on a college destination.
David Yankey, Fedale Hall, Richie Leone, and Justin Burns will be scattered from California to the northeast Atlantic during the fall. Yankey - rated a 3-star prospect and Top-50 offensive lineman by both services - signed with Stanford following a six-month commitment to the Palo Alto, Calif. University. Other well-known programs such as Florida, Georgia, Clemson, UCLA, and Tennessee offered the big man a full scholarship.
