With four major Southeastern Conference football programs — all with large passionate fan bases who love recruiting — in the mix heading into National Signing Day, there perhaps won’t be a prospect within the league’s geographic footprint discussed more in the next 72 hours plus than five-star defensive tackle Derrick Brown.

The Buford (Ga.) Lanier star is a special player. A rare blend of size (6-foot-4, 317 pounds), athleticism (he is in shape and carries his bulk well, plus is a high school basketball player) and productivity (he had 42 tackles for loss during his senior season), it’s not a surprise in the least that he’s one of the more coveted prospects in the country.

Alabama, Auburn, Georgia and Tennessee all are in the mix, with the Bulldogs and Vols thought to be the most likely choices as things stand today.

Here are a few observations about Brown as we speed toward his signing day announcement.

A recent tweet sent the Vols on Twitter into a bit of a frenzy

Just going off some tweets that we’ve seen in the last 48 hours, during Brown’s official visit to Tennessee, it’s apparent that fans want to talk about him and are generally fired up about his forthcoming decision.

The Vols, which have one of the more active fanbases on Twitter nationally in terms of discussing and following recruiting, were sent into a frenzy when Brown tweeted the words (since deleted) “I made a terrible mistake” while on his trip to Knoxville.

Of course, this could be about anything- a girl, a test, something Brown regretted saying or doing to someone, eating something a little spicy- but many in the Vol Nation (at least on Twitter) felt like it was a direct report on his official visit to his 8,500-plus followers.

Accolades

-Consensus No. 1 overall prospect in the state of Georgia this class.
-No. 9 overall prospect nationally.
-Anthony Munoz Lineman of the Year (national award)
-All-state, All-region, All-area
-U.S. Army All-American Bowl participant and starter
-USA Today defensive player of the year in Georgia
-National U.S. Army/American Family Defensive Player of the Year

Tidbit

Brown does not like to sleep in the car. I can’t say I blame him.

https://twitter.com/DerrickBrown90/status/693198894960877568

Decision

I still predict Georgia to land Brown on signing day, but it could go Auburn or Tennessee just as easily. Expect plenty of trending in the coming days.