National Signing Day: Your inside scoop

9:45 AM: Let's get the news out of the way first. Cornelius Washington had a Signing Day ceremony at 9:00 in the cafeteria of Burke County High School.

The big drama of his morning was looking for a pen. A nice pen. Washington had to ask a few visitors for one.

"I hadn't really worried about this thing at all until this morning," Washington said, who committed to Georgia back in the summer of 2006.  "Then I woke up and got nervous. I just wanted everything to go perfect. We were finally crossing all the "i's" and dotting those "t's" and I didn't want anything to go wrong. If the pen weren't working or the fax machine was broken at the school, then I was probably going to lose it."

He was the first of the area trio heading to Georgia to celebrate the moment with family and friends, but the last to get his official scholarship papers in. Washington's fax didn't leave the high school through the efforts of BCHS Office Manager Nancy Pearce until 9:25 A.M.

She faxed it to Damon Evans' office and not to the football offices just off Selig Circle. Hopefully, someone is manning that fax and can re-direct it to the right fax station at team headquarters.

If there's a reason the Bulldogs haven't gotten his fax yet, that's why.

Next up: A.J. Harmon of Jefferson County High School. The Parade All-American is set to sign at 11:00 AM at the school media center.

But that's as close to a dog and pony show as it gets in the news business. Harmon's grand-in-aid was faxed from Jefferson County High School at 8:45 A.M. earlier this morning. His work was already done and all those Clemson fears were finally put to rest with that fax confirmation tone.

"I tipped my hat to that fax," Harmon said after signing it. "It was all over. I felt like I was delivering a baby."

Sanders Commings from Westside already had his fax in, too. His paperwork was sent to the University of Georgia's football office at 8:20 A.M. That's certainly going to take a lot of the drama out of Commings's 1:30 signing ceremony at the school, but we'll still be there.

I'll be back to update the blog after I get to Westside.