Vasser a happy Dawg
National Signing Day isn't until Feb. 4, but for Chestatee High standout and Georgia commitment Chase Vasser, Tuesday was a day of final confirmation.
Before family, teammates, coaches and friends, the linebacker held what could be termed a defacto Signing Party at the school to celebrate his joining the Bulldogs' program next fall.
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"It was a lot of fun," Vasser said in an interview with UGASports. "We just had a lot of family and friends come to the school. My parents got up, told everybody how proud they were of me. It was great."
They had every right to be.
Vasser committed to the Bulldogs almost a year ago on Jan. 28 but the linebacker only took his official visit last weekend when he attended the annual football Gala at the Classic Center in downtown Athens.
"It was always one of my dreams to one day play Division I ball, and now I'm going to get to live my dream," Vasser said. "I never thought I would get a chance to make it happen."
But Vasser won't be getting to Georgia as quick as he first intended.
Initially, Vasser had planned to apply for early enrollment and start attending classes with future teammate and good friend Zach Mettenberger in January.
But last week there was a change of plans, so instead of entering school and participate in spring drills, Vasser will use the months ahead to work out at UGA and start getting a handle on the massive defensive playbook instead.
"I did not want to try and get to learn a playbook that big and try to go to class at the same time," Vasser said. "I just wanted to be able to focus on that, work out, relax, and come June be ready to get to work."
Vasser joked that although he's good friends with Mettenberger, don't look for him to hit the weights with the quarterback.
"Zach's a weakling," Vasser laughed. "I'll be working out with Rennie Curran, some of those guys."
Vasser said he has plenty of work to do.
The 6-foot-3 Vasser said he currently weighs 204 pounds after finishing the season at 194.
"It's been three weeks since the season ended and I've gained 10 pounds," Vasser said. "(Coaches) want me to come in at around 220. I have six months, so that shouldn't be a problem."
Vasser said coaches eventually want him to increase his weight to 245 pounds.
Despite his commitment, Vasser said schools continued to get calls from schools seeking his services.
Kentucky, Florida, Virginia Tech, South Carolina and Wake Forest were among those calling to see if Vasser would listen to what they had to say.
He did. But the conversations never lasted to long.
"They asked me if I was still committed to Georgia and I said I was," Vasser said. "So they (the calls) were usually pretty short."
