NSD Daily Countdown—5 by Patrick Garbin, Twitter @PGarbin

Beginning with 10, we countdown the days until National Signing Day… With 5 days remaining, recognized are a few ways how “5” is relative to Georgia football and recruiting:

5—Since the NCAA limited college football scholarships to 105 in 1973 (followed by 95 in 1977, and 85 in 1992), the most quarterbacks Georgia has signed in any given year is five, resulting on five different occasions: 1974, 1980, 1982, 1984, and 1987. In 1984, the Bulldogs actually signed six signal-callers—Shawn Abner (Mechanicsburg, Pa.), Robert Cantrell (Atlanta, Ga.), James Jackson (Camilla, Ga.), Wayne Johnson (Columbus, Ga.), John Thomas (Milledgeville, Ga.), and Bobby Wilkes (Brunswick, Ga.)—however, after Abner was selected No. 1 overall in baseball’s amateur free-agent draft, signing with the New York Mets, Georgia’s incoming quarterback total dropped to five. Notably, beginning when scholarships were limited to 85 in 1992, the Bulldogs averaged 1.78 quarterback signees from 1992 through 2000, but just 0.88, or less than half the previous average, from 2001 through 2016.

5—A kicker considered the No. 5 overall prospect in the state? That’s right, thirty years ago in 1987, placekicker and Bulldog-to-be John Kasay of Clarke Central High School was considered Georgia’s fifth-best prospect, trailing only David Rocker, DT (Auburn), John Johnson, DE (Clemson), LeMonte Tellis, OT (Georgia), and Virgil Cole, DT (Georgia). The same recruiting service ranked Kasay as the No. 33 overall prospect in the South, as well. By comparison—somewhat—according to Rivals, there hasn’t even been a 4-star or higher kicker prospect in the entire country since 2003.

5—In 1971, Georgia signed its first black players—five of them, who would eventually play varsity-level football: End Richard Appleby (Clarke Central HS, Athens), halfback Horace King (Clarke Central HS, Athens), tackle Chuck Kinnebrew (West Rome HS, Rome), linebacker Clarence Pope (Clarke Central HS, Athens), and defensive back Larry West (Albany HS, Albany). And, although it took the program a few years to routinely lure African-American prospects (only four black players combined were signed in 1972 and 1973), Georgia landed seven black prospects in 1974, followed by a 1975 signing class which was nearly half black.