Football games are won and lost in the trenches, so it’s with little surprise that the Bulldog coaching staff made Kolton Houston, a top-five offensive guard prospect in the country from Buford, Ga., an early high priority in the 2010 class, resulting in Houston committing in early April to Georgia.

With his decision firmly behind him, the interest from the Bulldog coaching staff hasn’t let up.

“I get a big packet of letters from all the coaches once a week, and then I talk to coach [Stacy] Searles at least once a week,” Houston said.

Those weekly chats with coach Searles, his future position coach, have helped the two form quite the relationship before he graduates high school early and enrolls at Georgia in January.

“I’ve definitely developed a good relationship with coach Searles,” the future Georgia lineman said. “I think it has developed into about as good of a relationship as you can have between a recruit and coach.”

Houston’s former high school teammate and current Georgia lineman Dallas Lee entered Georgia during spring semester, and Houston believes that entering as an offensive lineman early can do nothing but help.

“It definitely helped Dallas. I think it’s especially important for an [offensive lineman], because it gives you an extra semester to get started because it’s a whole different world with those SEC defensive lineman,” Houston said

With the Bulldog season underway, Houston says he has paid close attention to the progression of his position coach’s unit, and says he can’t wait until he gets to lineup between the hedges for Searles.

“It’s a great honor to be able to sit there and say I get to play for coach Searles and play as an offensive lineman at Georgia,” Houston said. “They have great linemen there and a great tradition there, and its just going to be a great honor.”

In the meantime, Houston’s attention will be with his high school team as they look to win their third consecutive state championship; although, they did lose their first game in three years this year.

“We lost our first game in about three years, but we’re going to bounce back and finish out on top,” he said.

When he’s not on the field or training, Houston says he has been in close contact with a couple of other Bulldog commitments – defensive tackle Garrison Smith and offensive tackle Brent Benedict – and says he has been impressed with the class his future coaches have built thus far.

“I think it is an excellent class. I’m really close to a couple of the kids. I talk to Garrison and Brent Benedict on a daily basis, and I really think we can be a special class,” said Houston.

For what is sure to be a smaller recruiting class, the Bulldogs already have 18 commitments, however, Houston knows of one player in particular that he hopes to join him on the offensive line in this class.

“I think there’s only one or two spots left if I’m not mistaken, and I know Jawuan James decommitted from Alabama and Georgia’s at the top of his list, so I hope we can get him because he’d be a good get,” Houston said.

And with decommitments widespread throughout the country these days, Bulldog fans won’t have to worry as Houston says there is no school he will play for but Georgia.

“Some schools are still trying to recruit me. I think they’ve started to realize that they need to leave me alone,” Houston said. “I tell them, ‘no disrespect, if you still want to talk to me, I’ll talk to you, but I’m set in the red and black, and there is nothing that could change my mind.’”

As for this season, Houston is not one complaining about the Georgia team.

“I thought they’ve done an excellent job. They compete really hard every game and they give it their all every game,” he said.