Four-star recruit chooses to play with the Bulldogs

Tavarres King always knew which college he would attend.

He grew up in Mount Airy, a city in northeast Georgia about an hour drive from Athens.

King knew his talents would land him in college football and he had his heart set on where he would be since he could remember.

And that college was not in his home state.

King envisioned himself catching passes as a Clemson Tiger, where he could follow in his father Anthony King’s, who played tight end for Clemson, footsteps.

“I grew up a Clemson fan,” King said. “My whole life I thought I was going to go to Clemson and do exactly what my dad did.”

To King’s surprise, he fell in love with the in-state school 45 miles south of him during the recruiting process.

King said one of the overriding factors in his decision was how comfortable he was with the Georgia coaching staff.

“I look down here and I see guys getting after it,” King said. “I see what kind of men are here, talking about the coaching staff. I’m not saying they are not good guys at Clemson. But I see what kind of people are here and that’s the type of people I want to be around.”

This decision hit King in May while he was lounging around his bedroom before it dawned on him that he belonged at Georgia.

“It took several weeks. It was a toss up between Clemson and Georgia, Clemson, Georgia,” King said. “I was in my room one day and just walked out and told my mom that I wanted to go to Georgia. She made me call my dad, he’s a Clemson man. I told him, and he was fine with it. He said I had to do what I had to do.”

King gave Georgia his verbal commitment on May 18, 2007, and hasn’t wavered on it since.

While King’s father might have loved for his son to attend his alma mater, Tavarres said his father was fine with his decision.

“My dad wrote me a note a couple days ago that let me know he is proud of me,” King said. “That he’s going to be here for me and that he’s going to cheer hard. He let me know how proud he is.”

Head coach Mark Richt said he knew it would be a challenge to pull King away from Clemson, but felt King would feel like he fit in well at Georgia.

“He wasn’t a whole lot different from anyone else we recruited in that we were doing the same thing – working him as hard as we could work him,” Richt said. “And we could tell he really loved Georgia. We’re just glad he chose Georgia over Clemson. I think he’s lived in the state of Georgia long enough to have a love for Georgia and it probably helped us.”

King, a four-star recruit according to Rivals.com, was heavily pursued by Georgia Tech and Florida as well. Before the NCAA banned coaches from sending text messages to recruits, King said he would receive about “50 a day.”

When King decided, he chose to end his recruitment fast. He committed, graduated Habersham Central High School a semester early and enrolled in Georgia for this spring semester – something he advises early commitments of the 2009 class to do.

“It’s a great opportunity to get a jump on things,” King said. “You get to go through spring practice and you can get stronger. I’ve already gained six or seven pounds, and it’s only been a month. You get to experience things that you wouldn’t get to experience otherwise.”

In his short time on campus, King has decided to major in Sports Science because he wants to be a physical therapist, he said, and is making plans to attend graduate school.

King said he is open to redshirting this season, but will wait for the coaches to decide.

However, he would like to play this season since the Bulldogs will be one of the top-ranked teams in the preseason.

“I’d love to play and contribute to this championship-caliber team,” King said. “I’d love to be on that. I’m just going to give it my all.”