December 15 is National Signing Day, the first day of the early signing period. Student-athletes around the country will be signing their National Letter of Intent (NLI), which is their written agreement to attend and play at a particular college or university. 

High schools around the District had various events and celebrations for their NLI signees. FOX5 and WSBTV were in attendance for the announcements at North Cobb from six of their highly-recruited football players. De'Nylon Morrissette committed to UGA, Reggie Givhan signed to UNC Charlotte, Andre Stewart is headed to the University of Kentucky, and Josh Josephs accepted an offer from the University of Tennessee. Wide receiver Sam Mbake' revealed his intention to play at Arkansas with a dramatic shirt change in front of the gathered crowd of students, parents, and media. After a difficult decision between SEC offers, Marquis Groves-Killebrew signed with Texas A&M.

Joining Josephs at Tennessee will be McEachern's four-star receiver, Kaleb Webb. Also, in dramatic fashion, Webb made his announcement in McEachern's basketball gym with Sports Illustrated live-streaming the event. In addition to Tennessee, Webb had offers from Michigan and Louisville. "It's close to home, and I will have an opportunity to play as a freshman," Kaleb said with a smile. "It's SEC football, and I feel like I can put up great numbers in their offense."

Webb made the announcement surrounded and supported by many. His father and grandmother—both McEachern graduates—his mother and many friends and teammates were on hand to witness the announcement. "Kaleb is a great athlete," said McEachern head coach Franklin Stephens," but he's a better person. He was never selfish; he celebrated everyone's accomplishments and achievements on the field this year. We will miss him, but we're happy for him and all his success on and off the field."

Walton had the deepest run of any Cobb County school in the postseason, and this attracted a lot of scouts to Raider Valley throughout the year. Matching North Cobb's impressive number of commits, six of Walton's star players will be moving on to the next level: Marcus Allen at UNC, AJ Brown at UAB, Cason Henry at South Carolina, Rawson McNeil at Rice, Zak Rozsman at Georgia Southern, and Sutton Smith at Memphis.

Allatoona, Harrison, and Pebblebrook each had one National Signing Day commit at their schools. Bennett Christian will be leaving the ranks of the Buccaneers and heading north to Big Ten powerhouse, Ohio State. Nathan Vail declared his intention to play for Duke after a stellar high school career as a Hoya. Finally, Falcon wide receiver Damion Thompson signed his NLI and will be taking his receiving talent to Coastal Carolina.

While football is the main focus of National Signing Day, Cobb Schools had many athletes in other sports sign fall letters of intent.

Last month, Pope had ten scholar-athletes commit to play and attend various schools around the country in their fall signing class. Athletic Director Josh Mathews was grateful for the class and what they represented for Pope Athletics.

"It has been a thrill to watch these young women and men dedicate themselves to long hours of practicing their sport while maintaining high academic results," Mathews said. "Their hard work has culminated with this exciting accomplishment of committing to play in college. We are proud of the highly talented, but also high character, individuals in our 2021 fall signing class."

Here are the 10 and their sports and chosen schools:

Fleming Dean—Girls Soccer—Univ. of Pittsburgh
Jon Strydom—Baseball—Berry University
Cody McGill—Baseball—Tennessee Wesleyan University
Jack Butler—Baseball—GA State
Heath Owen—Baseball—Belmont University
Dawson Campbell—Baseball—Lander University
Caid Heflin—Baseball—East GA College
Katie Ward—Softball—University of North Georgia
Nick Givens—Lacrosse—University of Montevallo
Sydney Rullan—Lacrosse—University of Montevallo

Pope also had a football commit for National Signing Day: Luke Sudul signed his NLI yesterday to play for Air Force.

Lassiter also had a fruitful class of signees. Seven Trojan student-athletes have committed to furthering their educations and their sports at major colleges. Ellie Kean (Fastpitch) will be heading to the University of North Georgia next year. Three swimmers—Allison Brown, Bridget O'Shaughnessy, and Francie Carson—are moving on to Georgia Tech, West Point, and UGA, respectively. Volleyball teammates Kate Kudlac and Katie Bochniak will continue racking up digs and kills at Colorado School of Mines and Troy University. Finally, wrestler David Panone accepted an offer from Belmont Abbey.

Great work, Cobb scholar-athletes! Your hard work has paid off, and now it's time to shine even brighter on a bigger stage. We are proud of each and every one of you!