Trae Golden, a 6’1″ combo-guard prospect out of McEachern High School, initially committed to Ohio State in the middle of his sophomore year before realizing he made a mistake, reneging on his commitment and opening up his recruitment in the process.

Well, Golden, now a senior, is determined not to make the same mistake again as he has carefully evaluated each of his remaining schools.

“Right now, I have narrowed it down to Georgia, Tennessee and South Florida,” Golden said of his recruitment. “I’m just taking my time this time, because I want to make sure this is my last and final time [committing], and it’s just a great situation for me.”

One factor greatly helping the Dogs in their recruitment of Golden was Georgia head coach Mark Fox’s hiring of former Virginia Tech assistant coach Stacey Palmore, who was recruiting Golden for the Hokies.

“I have a great relationship with coach Palmore,” Golden said. “He was recruiting me while he was at Virginia Tech, and he has continued recruiting me since he got to Georgia.”

Despite Golden having little knowledge of Fox prior to his hire, he said he has quickly established a great relationship with the Bulldogs head man.

“Our relationship has developed a lot. At first I didn’t know too much about him, but we have gotten to know each other, and he is a real cool guy, and we have a real good relationship,” Golden said.

In addition to the location and coaches, Golden also would have the opportunity to reunite with some old friends if he were to sign with Fox’s program.

“Trey Thompkins, Travis Leslie, Dustin Ware and Ebuka [Anyaorah]; I’m pretty cool with all those guys,” Golden said of his friends on the team. “It would be great to play with them just because I know those guys from high school and being able to play with them would be great to have a familiar face on the basketball court.”

To secure Golden, the Dogs will have to fight off a strong charge from some SEC rivals looking to steal Golden out of the peach state.

“I’m going to Tennessee for a visit this weekend, and the weekend after that, I might go look at Auburn again,” Golden said of his fall visits.

“And I’ll probably go up to UGA Oct. 3 weekend when they play LSU [in football] for another visit,” he said.

While on his visits, Golden clearly knows what he’s looking for in the school he ultimately signs with.

“I want to be able to come in and make an immediate impact and have a good relationship with all the coaches and get a good education,” he said.

Although Golden says he is likely to announce his decision on Oct. 5 – his birthday – he would definitely like to have his decision made prior to his high school season starting.

And if he decides on Georgia, he says Fox envisions the 6’1″ guard playing “mostly point guard, but I’ll be interchangeable with the two guard, too.”