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Qua Searcy became Georgia Tech's tenth commitment on June 19th, 2013, the Jackets' fourth commitment in as many days and seventh commitment in the month of June. He actually became Georgia Tech's third straight commitment out of Lamar County High School after teammates Lance and Lawrence Austin committed two days prior. Searcy stands at 5'11", 170lbs, and like the twins he hails from Barnesville, GA. Also like the twins, he played both ways in high school, at WR on offense and S on defense. (So imagine, you've got Lance at QB, Lawrence at RB, and Qua at WR, and all three pulling double-duty in the secondary. Apparently the three of them absolutely carried their team to being state runners-up this year and a 14-1 final record.) Searcy committed to Georgia Tech over offers from Clemson, Louisville, Michigan State, South Carolina, and Wisconsin, among others.
Searcy's film shows one overwhelming quality: he has a real nose for the ball. On offense, he's a pretty dangerous wide receiver capable of stretching the field. On defense, he's the kind of DB that plays the ball instead of the receiver -- my favorite kind by a long shot. He also has a general knack for making plays, almost Tyrann Mathieu-esque. He runs back kicks, strips the ball when there's an opportunity, and generally finds his way into plays he wouldn't be expected to be involved with. He hits well, playing far stronger than his slight, 170lbs frame would suggest. Searcy could be the single most underrated guy in a class full of guys that seem underrated. Even with that offer sheet, it sounds like he was reasonably under-the-radar, which seems crazy based on his film. Georgia Tech scored a pretty major victory with Searcy.
It'll be interesting to see how Searcy fits in once on the Flats. His ability to play both WR and S leave some uncertainty as to where he'll play, but with Jalen Johnson set to play S, it would appear Searcy is slotted at WR. If that's the case, the chances of him playing as a true freshman may not be great with 2 senior starters (Smelter & Waller) and 2 sophomore backups (Autry & Summers), along with two rising redshirt freshmen (Jeune & Messick). That said, Searcy appears to be pretty outstanding talent-wise, and so I won't be surprised by anything. Safety might actually make it tougher to play early with the senior starter at FS (Johnson) and the log jam at SS (Milton, Marvin, Smith). Whatever the case in Year 1, expect to see Searcy on the field a lot in his time at Tech, and making a pretty big impact. His skill set and natural tendencies result in some major game-changing plays, and if he can add that to our wide receiver corps or secondary then he'll be kept on the field as much as possible.
Searcy is rated a 3-star prospect by Rivals (5.6) and the 247Sports Composite (.8510).
Is Searcy a game-changer at Georgia Tech? Is he actually underrated, or just being talked up? Would you rather he play safety or wide receiver?
