Decision day for Fortt

After months of visits, research and standing in the limelight, it all comes down to Monday for Stamford (Conn.) linebacker Khairi Fortt. The four-star prospect will announce his decision at a press conference at his school at 1:15 this afternoon.

The nation's No. 30 player, according to Rivals.com, is happy to get his decision out of the way.

"It's a lot of weight off of my shoulders right now, and a lot of questions have been answered, so I'm kind of relieved that it's over," he said. "I"m going to miss this process because I had a great time with my family, going all over to visit colleges all over the country, meeting new people, players and coaches.

"But all in all I'm glad that this whole process is over, and I get to be a normal kid and just enjoy my last few months of school."

On Friday there will be three hats on the table for his announcement - Georgia, North Carolina and Penn State. Fortt broke down what he liked about each school.

"With Georgia, their staff is phenomenal. It was actually a real battle between Penn State and Georgia," he said. "The Georgia coaches took real good care of me on my visit, and I talked to the whole staff during it. I sat down at Coach Richt's houses, and had a good talk with him, and I sat down with the linebackers coach and defensive coordinator and had dinner with them. They have a really great coaching staff, and I like that about Georgia.

"Penn State, I liked the atmosphere of the players and how I connected with them, and how well they connect with the coaches, too. I see how they joke around with the coaches a lot, it's not all seriousness and they're not just there for football. The main thing I liked about them was the players, how they got along with each other and the coaches who were outgoing also.

"North Carolina, I definitely know it's a very good academic school. With a degree from down there you can get far in life. Also, I like the weather, because it's hot down there. It's a very diverse school as well."

Regardless of his decision, the four-star prospect said that he's been blessed to even be able to go through the process at all.

"The process has been a long trip, I'm really glad that I was one of the fortunate players in this country to be able to have an opportunity to even go on all these trips and meet with numerous coaches and see different personalities," he said. "I got to kind of decipher those who were feeding misinformation rather than actually telling me how good of a program they were and how I would succeed at that program."

Fortt finished his junior season with 118 tackles, four forced fumbles and two interceptions. He earned all-state, all-city and all-conference honors in 2008 as well.

Fortt will enroll at this school of his choice in January.

Stay tuned to Rivals.com and BlueWhiteIllustrated.com for continuing coverage of the Fortt decision.