We detailed how recruiting has started to turn around for the Lady Dogs after a couple of slow years, and the program is already making an attempt to lock up one of the top sophomores in the state.

Erika Ford, an athletic 5’9″ sophomore guard from Chattahoochee High School in Alpharetta, has committed to Georgia for the class of 2011. She cannot sign a letter of intent until November 2010. Ford will be arriving just as the current incoming class of guards become upperclassmen.

Ford has already emerged as one of the top players in the state in any class. She was named 2nd team All-State as a sophomore in Georgia’s largest high school classification. She was also named player of the year in the competitive 7-AAAAA region. She also plays for the Georgia Elite U-16 team and was recently named the MVP of the Spring Break Classic Super Regionals tournament.

Commitments from high school underclassmen are nothing new in men’s basketball, but this is the first time I’ve seen it happen (certainly for the Georgia program) in the women’s game. Apparently Georgia saw her in a game where they were scouting someone else, and the process started from there.