Carl Lawson football recruiting updates

Defensive end Carl Lawson, out of Milton High School in Georgia, has signed his letter of intent to play for Auburn. The highly-rated prospect first committed to Auburn back in March of 2012, but re-opened his recruitment and had been taking visits all the way up until signing day. Eventually, he stuck the Tigers despite their coaching change.

Lawson isn’t a typical blue-chip recruit, in that schools haven’t been drooling over him since the moment he stepped on a football field. He held no FBS scholarship offers after his junior season, which was his first on the Varsity squad. He played well enough to get an invite to a Georgia All-Star game, and that is where his recruitment ramped up.

The announcement follows Lawson’s visit to Auburn over the weekend.

The 6’2, 245 pound Lawson held offers from all over the SEC and the country. The only school to which he was ever committed was Auburn, though he flirted heavily with many different schools, including Tennessee and Clemson, of late.

With signing day approaching, Georgia Tech could have an outside chance of landing the No. 2 recruit in the country, Carl Lawson, as the defensive end took an unofficial visit to the school Wednesday.

Lawson, a 6’2, 253-pounder from Alpharetta, Ga., was thought to be down to three schools: Tennessee, Clemson, and Auburn, the latter of which he’s technically still committed. However, it seems the Yellow Jackets might have entered the race: he has family connections, as Lawson’s father, Carl Lawson Sr., played football at Georgia Tech. More importantly, Mike Pelton, who convinced Lawson to commit to Auburn when he was the defensive line coach there, joined new defensive coordinator Ted Roof’s staff Georgia Tech’s new defensive line coach Wednesday. It’s not likely, but Lawson says he has a strong relationship with Pelton and could follow the coach to his new school.

UNC was considered an extreme long shot to sign Lawson, but the Tar Heel program has to be disappointed that he didn’t even make it to campus.

But one school looms over it all, and it happens to be the one to which he’s committed -- the Auburn Tigers. Can Auburn’s new defensive staff sway Lawson when (and if) he make his final official visit this weekend to the plains? Lawson will certainly have some catching up to do with defensive line coach Rodney Garner, who was formerly at Georgia.

North Carolina is expecting official visits from committed recruits including defensive end Carl Lawson, a five-star recruit from Alpharetta (Ga.) Milton High School, as well as safety Tim Harris, a four-star recruit from Richmond (Va.) Varina High School.

Lawson is the bigger target of the two players. He has been committed to Auburn since last March, but has taken official visits to Clemson and Tennessee in the past few weeks. After visiting North Carolina this weekend, he will take one last official visit to Auburn the weekend before National Signing Day. If head coach Larry Fedora and the Tar Heels staff can flip Lawson, their class will firmly shoot into the top 20 in the nation for the 2013 recruiting cycle. Harris has been committed to Virginia since last April and does not currently hold an offer from North Carolina.

Top defensive recruit Carl Lawson out of Alpharetta, Ga., is committed to Auburn, but that isn’t stopping him from continuing to take his official visits. Lawson is set to visit Clemson and Tennessee this week, according to ajc.com. The 6’2, 245-pound senior projects as a defensive end, and he committed to play at Auburn way back in March. The firing of Gene Chizik after an unsuccessful season likely has Lawson willing to shop around some more.

Lawson is rated as a five-star recruit by Scout, Rivals and ESPN. Rivals rates him as the top overall defensive end in the country and the second overall recruit at any position. ESPN also rates him as the second-best recruit in its top 150, while pegging Lawson as the second-best DE. Scout has him as the No. 7 DE in the class of 2013 and the 77th-best recruit nationally.

Carl Lawson certainly doesn’t lack for confidence.

“Nobody can block me,” Lawson declared at the Under Armour All-America practices when asked what he learned about his game.