Cox on the verge of committing to Tech

Georgia Tech was already one of Randall Cox's top schools, but his weekend visit to Atlanta apparently has put the Jackets over the top. Cox, an offensive lineman from St. Augustine (Fla.), really had a great time on the trip and says he will probably commit to Tech on Monday.

So how did the trip go?

"Things couldn't have been better," Cox said. "It was awesome. We left my house at 6 o'clock Friday morning and we got there around noon. We had lunch that day with the coaches. We got checked into our hotel rooms and then we went and met again with the coaches that afternoon. We got to go watch their practice because they were practicing for the bowl game. We got to watch a little bit of practice before we went to go eat dinner. That night we went out with our host which was just players from Georgia Tech. That was what we did Friday and it was real fun. My host showed me around and I met almost all the players that night. I got opinions from all of them about what they liked about it and what they didn't like. How they handled it and what I can do to handle it. It was fun."

Cox actually had two hosts on the visit-- one on Friday night and another on Saturday.

"The first night it was Brad Honeycutt, the right guard, No. 72," Cox said. "Last night it was Eddy Parker."

Saturday's schedule was packed with activities.

"We got up and I ate breakfast with our recruiting coaches," Cox said. "That would be Coach Buddy Geis. Then we went to a team meeting. The whole team had a meeting and Coach (Chan) Gailey talked to them about this week's practice and getting ready for the bowl game. Then we broke up into positional meetings. Positional meetings are where they actually go by what they did wrong, what they did right, what they need to do to fix it and what they need to do better. That lasted for about 35 minutes and then we went out to the field to watch their practice. For the older people it was a shorter day of practice but for the younger ones it was a longer day and a scrimmage.

"After that we went and had lunch. Then we went to the Air Force vs. Georgia Tech basketball game at the Philips Arena and that was fun. We only stayed until the half and when we left they were beating them like 40 to 8 or something like that. We went back to the hotel and had a little down time. We then met in the lobby of the hotel to meet with our coaches again and then we went out to dinner. They just talked to us a little bit more.

"We also had an academic presentation by some of the academic advisors which was really good. My parents were there and we had a lot of questions we were going to ask, but when we left we got answers to questions we didn't even know we had, plus the ones we had. They were explained fully. That night I went back out with my second host. He showed me around Atlanta. First he showed me the dorms and what life was like living in a dorm. Then around Atlanta the different types of things to do for the players there. It was extremely fun. It was one of the most fun things I've done all year. I just had a really good time."

Cox really enjoyed hanging out with the players and he met quite a few guys during the trip.

"They made me feel at home, like I've been there my whole life," Cox said. "They were just like my friends back home except they were probably bigger than everybody. Brad Honeycutt and Eddy Parker were my hosts. I also met Andy (Tidwell-Neal). He was really cool. Salih (Besirevic), the one from Bosnia, he was cool as he could be. I really enjoyed being around him. I met one of the freshmen, Nate McManus. He hung out with us a lot. Also Matt Rhodes, another one of my kind of half hosts. He was real cool. Really it was mostly us o-line."

Cox also noted that he met a couple defensive players, including Travis Parker and Chris Reis. He also enjoyed meeting some of the other recruits that were there.

"I did meet Tyler (Compton)," Cox said. "I also met Brad Sellers, a d-lineman. We hit it off pretty good. He's a cool guy and we got to know each other pretty good. I also met Matt (Braman). Maurice Wells was there. We talked a lot too. He said that he wasn't sure what he was doing. I don't know if he's committed anywhere else yet, but he felt pretty good about being there."

Cox said he met with Coach Gailey on Sunday morning before he left. He also spent a lot of time with his would-be position coach, Joe D'Alessandris.

"We really met with all of the coaches," Cox said. "I got to spend a lot of time with Coach D. He explained to me what it was going to be like and how he wouldn't want me to do anything he didn't think I could do. He would try to get everything out of me that he could. He said I'd have fun playing for him and he can't wait for the year to start. He talked with me a lot."

Although he hasn't officially committed, Cox feels Georgia Tech is the place for him.

"I think Georgia Tech is where I'll commit," Cox said. "I was ready to commit before I left, but before I came up for the visit my head coach from St. Augustine told me if I go up there and I really like what's going on and he said, 'If you decide to commit, just come home and talk to me before you do, just so you understand everything and if you still want to that's awesome and you call them up and let them know you're ready to commit.' So I think if everything goes as planned tomorrow at school and I talk to him I probably will call Coach Geis up and tell him I commit."

Cox also had offers from UCF, North Carolina and Louisville. He was supposed to visit UCF on January 7th.

"I think I'm going to cancel those visits," Cox said. "I've been to the other schools unofficially and I just didn't get the same feeling as I did with Georgia Tech when I went there officially. Even on my unofficial visits I felt that's where I belong and where I wanted to go from the get-go."

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