Wednesday, February 5th is a big day for high school athletes and their families because it is national signing day. This is the day that high school athletes from around the country can sign national letters of intent to play football at the collegiate level.

Football takes center stage, especially here in Georgia so here are a few facts coming your way. The state of Georgia trails only California, Texas, and Florida when it comes to the number of high school players that go on to play college football. THAT is impressive!

There are talented high school football players all over the state of Georgia. South Georgia often produces a lot of signees, with terrific schools like Colquitt County, Valdosta, Lowndes, and Camden County, just to name four.

Dekalb County can surpass 100 college football signees for the fifth straight year. The twelve Dekalb County schools will go over the century mark when it comes to student athletes signing that important document that should lead to important academic and athletic accomplishments over the next four to five years. 5A football runner up, Tucker High School, has 16 or 17 players ready to sign, along with Martin Luther King High School (15-20), Stephenson (12-15) and Arabia Mountain (10-15).

Last year, Dekalb County had 125 players put their John Hancock's on the dotted line and in 2012, it was a whopping 152 players.

But whether it’s a 6A school or a 1A private school, it is a real accomplishment to receive a scholarship to play sports in college and to earn that college degree. Signing day is always a huge day for the kids...they put on the cap of their now favorite school and smile those mega watt smiles...it’s all good...it’s all great.

But those I am happiest for are the parents of these kids. The parents have done something right. They have supported their child, cheering them on during the good times, giving them a shoulder to lean on during the tough times, and making sure that their kids have done the right things in the classroom to get the grades and test scores allowing them to be eligible to sign a letter of intent.

It takes 17 or 18 years of hard parenting to get these student-athletes to this point in their lives. And I salute the parents who had done things the right way, and now can feel the pride of seeing their children go on to the next level in sports, in academics and in life.