Georgia football: Decision day is here for Demetris Robertson

Former California wide receiver Demetris Robertson will announce where he plans on continuing his college football career today.

You’ve heard people call Independence Day “Christmas in July.” Well, for four college football programs in the country, today is Signing Day in July. Georgia football is one of those four teams. The others are Alabama, Texas and West Virginia.

The reason for this impromptu signing day is former California Golden Bear and Savannah, Georgia native Demetris Robertson. Last month, Robertson announced that he is leaving California after two years to transfer to another school. He never said why he left California, only siting person reasons.

Robertson stunned Georgia fans, as well as other programs in the nation when he signed with California in 2016. 247 Sports rated him as a five-star recruit and the no. 13 overall recruit in the nation. As well as the no. 3 player in Georgia and the no. 1 wide receiver nationally. Robertson chose the Golden Bears over Georgia, Alabama, Notre Dame and eight other SEC programs. He also had offers from Clemson, Florida State, Ohio State and Southern California.

Robertson lived up to the recruiting hype his freshman year with 50 catches for 767 yards and seven touchdowns. He was off to a hot start last year with seven catches for 70 yards and one score in Cal’s first two games of the season. But an injury forced him to miss the rest of the season.

So where ever he goes, he’ll enroll as a sophomore athletically. Because of NCAA transfer rules, he will most likely sit out the 2018 season. But he may be eligible for the NCAA’s hardship waiver making him able to play in 2018. 247 Sports last month pointed out four scenarios that would allow him to play immediately.

• Transfer is due to documented mitigating circumstances outside student-athlete’s control and directly impacts health, safety and well-being of student-athlete.
• At time of transfer, the student-athlete would have been athletically and academically eligible and in good standing on the team had he or she remained at the previous school.
• Student-athlete meets percentage-of-degree requirements at the new school.
• The previous school’s athletics administration does not oppose transfer.

And the NCAA handles these situations on a player-by-player basis. The NCAA may consider his 2017 season as the year he sat out and allow him to play immediately. Georgia fans should hold on to that first bullet point however. Transferring closer to come from all the way across the country could look make that first point seem applicable.

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Regardless, Robertson will likely have two extra years of eligibility. Missing 10 games in 2017 makes him eligible for a medical redshirt. And if he can’t play in 2018, the NCAA will give him an extra year of eligibility. Robertson could potentially be a six-year senior if he stays in school that long.

You can catch Robertson’s decision live today at 1:00 p.m. on the Chimin’ In YouTube channel. We likely won’t find out information about his eligibility for 2018 for a few more days however.