Valdosta TE Jay Rome, a four-star Rivals prospect, selected the Georgia Bulldogs over the Alabama Crimson Tide during a Thursday evening broadcast of ESPNU’s Recruiting Insider. The No. 4 tight end and No. 4 player in Georgia, he’s the first tight end to join Georgia’s 2011 class, and will join an offense that has led Dawgs fans to lobby for more tight end involvement.
Rome said he made up his mind about a week ago, claiming his mother didn’t know his choice until he put a Dawgs hat on and said he wanted to stay in state.
Georgia has held the No. 1 spot on Rome’s list for some time now, according to Rome himself, though he visited Bama within the past week. He’s been thought of as one of the most critical pieces of Georgia’s 2011 recruiting class. As Dawg Sports put it earlier today:
Other prospects have pointed to him as the “ringleader” of Mark Richt’s Dream Team and he’s being recruited primarily by one of the southeast’s best recruiters (John Lilly) to play a position which Georgia has always recruited and utilized well under Mark Richt.
Fifteen schools offered Rome, but it came down to Bama and the Dawgs, followed by Tennessee. Among his most entertaining offers: Duke and FIU. The six-foot-five, 255-pound pass-catcher has a 3.8 GPA to boot.