At 2:45 p.m. (central time) today, the first day of the national signing period, Harding Academy senior receiver Marlon Brown will make his much-anticipated announcement on whether he'll attend Georgia, Ohio State, Ole Miss or Tennessee.
Yet as of 6 p.m. Tuesday, Brown, a 6-5, 205-pound Parade All-American and the state's consensus No. 1 college football prospect, still hadn't made up his mind.
"I'm going to sleep on it," Brown said Tuesday evening.
"It's been real hard, for real, because I like all four schools completely. I do not want to call and tell them, 'No.' That's the only thing about it."
Brown, whom Scout.com ranks the No. 2 wide receiver prospect nationally, recently dropped Florida from his top five. He said Georgia, Ohio State, Ole Miss and Tennessee all remained even Tuesday evening.
"I can't wait, man," Brown said of his announcement this afternoon. "I'm real nervous. I've been eating food for the past two days straight. In every class, I've been eating chips, candy and cakes."
When asked to point out specifically what's kept each school in the hunt for his services, Brown didn't mince words.
On Ole Miss, he simply stated, "(Rebels quarterback) Jevan Snead."
On Tennessee: "It's Tennessee. It's Tennessee football."
On Georgia: "Coach (Mark) Richt."
On Ohio State: "Coach (Jim) Tressel."
Harding Academy athletic director Kevin Starks, Brown's basketball coach, said he planned to sit down with his star player following the Lions' Senior Night game against Bishop Byrne on Tuesday and discuss Brown's decision.
"You make the decision, you sleep on it, and if you get up feeling good about it the next day, it's right," Starks said.
