Jason Hatcher: Will 4-Star Choose Tennessee, USC or Louisville on Friday Night?

Jason Hatcher is set to make his highly anticipated decision tonight at 7 p.m. ET live on Rivals. 

The 4-star defensive end from Louisville, Kentucky announced his top three schools as Louisville, Tennessee and USC, but which will he choose?

Let's look at the positives and negatives for every school.

Louisville

Obviously, the biggest thing Louisville has going for it is the home-field advantage. Hatcher could stay at home, get an education and play college ball. What's not to like?

No offense to Louisville, but it's not exactly on the same stage as Tennessee and USC. USC is thought to be a national championship contender. And while Tennessee has seen much better days, it still plays in the SEC, where eyes are always peeled.

But with that said, Hatcher would have a better opportunity to come in right away and play as a freshman at Louisville. So far, Louisville has yet to land any defensive linemen in its 2013 recruiting class, and that could weigh heavily in his decision to play for the Cardinals.

Tennessee

Tennessee is the dark horse in this race, but it's far from the underdog. While Louisville has the hometown advantage and USC has the championship contender status going, Tennessee has an advantage that is rarely discussed during the recruitment process, academics. Yeah, that's right, books and stuff. 

In all seriousness, Hatcher told Rivals that he likes Tennessee's academics very much so.

"I've always liked Tennessee's academics," Hatcher said. "My whole life I wanted to do something with animal science, and they have their own med school on UT's campus."

But if he chooses to play there, he would play in the SEC, where he would face the likes of Alabama, LSU, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. It's going to be tough to win a championship with competitors like that.

USC

If Hatcher chooses to be a Trojan, he could become a part of one of the greatest recruiting classes in school history.

With four 5-star commits and 12 4-star commits, USC has the best recruiting class in the nation. But with that comes competition. As that USC can only offer 18 scholarships for the 2013 class, well, that might warrant a cause for concern for Hatcher.

But then again, being in Southern California with a chance to play for the national championship might be too good to be true for the recruit. Perhaps, if not for the distance. California is a long ways away from Kentucky, and you better believe his family is letting him know that.

Prediction

Regardless of USC potentially becoming a dynasty again, the distance will be too far for Hatcher. That leaves Tennessee and Louisville on the table, and if I were a betting man, I'd bet on Tennessee.

Tennessee isn't as far away as USC, and Hatcher seems to be big into academics. Seeing as though the university can provide him with the education he wants and he can play big-time college football, it wouldn't come as a surprise to see him pick the Vols.