UGA football target hangs up helmet and shoulder pads to focus on basketball ONLY
Dai-Jon Parker, one of the nation’s premier two-sport athletes, has given up football in order to focus on basketball only during his senior year.
Loading ...The 6-foot-3, 185-pounder starred at wide receiver and cornerback for Milton High this past season as a junior, and got 11 early football offers, including UGA, Oklahoma State, Vanderbilt, Duke and Mississippi State.
However, Parker is also highly-regarded in hoops, holding basketball scholarship offers from UGA, Georgia Tech, Virginia, Auburn, Ohio State, Oregon, Purdue, Virginia Tech, and Oregon State, among others.
Parker plays shooting guard, posting 19 points and 6 rebounds in Milton’s win over Westlake for Class AAAAA state championship. After the basketball season, Parker briefly considered playing both sports as a senior. However, he opted not to report to Milton’s spring football practice, which ended on Friday.
When asked about Parker, Milton football coach Scott Walker said, “Not playing.”
“He was advised against [football], and sometimes you can’t win those battles. I still don’t think it’s the best decision. But, you know, he’s a great kid and a great basketball player. You can’t argue with that. Hopefully, everything will work out the way it’s supposed to go for him. Again, great kid, and we wish him the best.”
Milton basketball coach David Boyd said Parker informed him about giving up football earlier this month. “I didn’t really have much input on that at all. Dai-Jon just felt like that basketball was going to be an opportunity to play at a high Div. I level. And depending on where he ends up, it could be a really good situation for him.”
Milton's Dai-Jon Parker is betting on basketball for his future (AJC)
Parker has played in the shadows of two heralded teammates, Milton point guard Shannon Scott (committed to Ohio State) and power forward Julian Royal (undecided). However, some college coaches consider Parker the No. 1 recruiting target at the Fulton school.
“The thing that makes Dai-Jon so unique is that he’s a great athlete, great shooter, and great defender,” Boyd said. “Those are rare commodities in one player. You might have a great shooter, or a great athlete, or a great defender. But rarely do you have all three in one player.
“That’s what Dai-Jon brings to the table. He is an outstanding 3-point shooter, an explosive athlete, and maybe the best defender I’ve ever coached. He’s a ’shut down, lock down’ defender. He guarded all the other team’s best players during the season, and did a superb job.”
Parker will travel the country this summer, playing with two different AAU teams.
- RELATED: UGA’s 2011 football commitment to protect Wesleyan’s new QB (click here)
- North Gwinnett SS Chris Hawkins may forgo Tennessee scholarship for MLB baseball (click here)
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79 comments Add your comment
Hounddog
May 24th, 2010
2:32 pm
He should do what HE AND HIS FAMILY want..to he!! with the rest of us…
checker
May 24th, 2010
2:36 pm
Rivals doesn’t list him as having a football offer from UGA.
Hotdog
May 24th, 2010
2:42 pm
Parker has an offer from Georgia in Basketball, but not Football
Michael Carvell
May 24th, 2010
3:01 pm
Milton football coach Scott Walker confirmed again that UGA did make a verbal football offer to Parker.
Douglas
May 24th, 2010
4:25 pm
why is this bad for UGA? Heck, let’s sign him to play basketball — we need him there too.
harold
May 24th, 2010
4:34 pm
IT’S ABOUT THE MONEY. HIS FUTURE IS BASKETBALL. FOOTBALL COULD COST HIM MILLIONS!SMART MOVE IS TO FOCUS ON BASKETBALL!
THEHILLISREAL
May 24th, 2010
4:54 pm
That nothing new a basketball guy not playing football. If you look at all the inter city school
Very few of basketball player every touch the gridiron. Just wonder how good some these metro
Atlanta team would be with all those 6′5 and taller player. The problem is AAU coaches…. they have more pull than the school coaches.
Tdawg
May 24th, 2010
5:48 pm
I don’t really blame the kid if that is truely what he wants. When I was in school I played every sport that I could. Football, basketball, baseball. I loved each and every one of them. If he’s really likes football then he should play, even though Basketball may be his best shot at the next level I would advise him to play any sport that he could while still in high school. The injury scare is just that. A scare. Shoot he could step in front of a car and get struck. That might not happen if he were at football pratice. Just saying an injury could happen at any time at any place and they most often happen when you least expect them. Young man if you like football, then play if not then don’t. I just hope that you won’t regret not playing later on in life. You only go through high school once so enoy it to the fullest.
Michael Carvell
May 24th, 2010
5:50 pm
@THEHILL, couldnt have said it better myself. IMHO, AAU coaches pull all the strings w/high school basketball in Georgia, and everywhere else.
Pope UGA XXIII
May 24th, 2010
5:57 pm
This is a bit of a late post, but I don’t recall his being recruited
for football – just roundball and Fox will have a better than average
chance to sign him.
Should UGA sign him, the posts will go something like this:
“So what if he is a 5 star with Scout ? He is only rated
the 7th best shooting guard in the country and we can
do much better than that at Georgia Tech”
H.S. Coach
May 24th, 2010
5:58 pm
Carvell, pretty crappy to pull my post just because I stated the obvious. This was news 2 months ago.
AAAAA
May 24th, 2010
6:25 pm
For as much hype as they’re getting, if Milton doesn’t win the state title next year I and many others will laugh. This team is good, but there have been better teams in GA in the past decade. South Gwinnett ‘04, Wheeler in ‘03 and ‘05, Norcross in ‘07 all would be beat this Milton team. why? depth. Boyd only has a 6-7 man rotation and he got lucky with this being a down year in AAAAA overall. If they fail to repeat it will be laughable.
his mother must have really like that fancy mustard
May 24th, 2010
6:53 pm
His mamma a mustard fan?
Taylor
May 24th, 2010
7:12 pm
I would go with a winning team and Boyd any day over that other dude Walker who couldn’t coach his way to a table tennis championship let alone a football championship, the kid is a great player in both sports but the class act at that school is clearly their basketball program compared hands down. Kudos to Parker for choosing to stay with the champs!
Fred
May 24th, 2010
7:48 pm
The kid only has one chance to play high school sports, play both and enjoy the time you have. Don’t think for a minute that Boyd didn’t influence him to give up football.
Michael Carvell
May 24th, 2010
8:13 pm
@TDawg, I’m with you on all of that. I think kids should play all the sports they love in high school. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem as realistic anymore in this age of specialization. Agree with you on injury factor too, with how physical HS basketball can be these days — football without pads.
John
May 24th, 2010
8:24 pm
Good luck Mustard kid…next he’ll forget college and try his hand at go straight to the NBA….
SnowMan
May 24th, 2010
9:14 pm
This kid is a great kid. As long as he made the choice, what does it matter? He is pretty dang good at both. Just sorry I don’t get to watch him at both. The thing a lot of people don’t see is how hard this kid works to get better at his game. Sometimes talented kids like him rely on talent alone, but he is one of the hardest working kids I have ever seen. Don’t doubt that he will make an impact on the school in which he chooses.
ddoogg33
May 24th, 2010
9:34 pm
the only reason parker chose basketball over footbal is he can go pro after 1 year instead of 3 greed
chuck
May 24th, 2010
10:03 pm
6′3″ is short for a shooting guard. Conversely 6′3″ would be tall for a receiver or DB. I think he made a mistake based on his size.
4Jacks
May 24th, 2010
10:09 pm
Smart kid. Following the money. If he goes to college and plays BB, and is really that good can jump to the pros after one year and has a pocket full of green. If he plays FB, even if he’s all that, could still take 2 maybe 3 years to get that kind of money. Not saying I agree in principle as money is ruining the college game especially in BB, but it is about the money and I wish that at 17 or 18 I had the chance to be making mega million dollars within a year or two. Hell I am in my mid 50’s and only make around 75 per year. Yeah, can’t blame a kid for going for the money in this society at this time in our history. Thanks corporate America.
theight
May 24th, 2010
10:38 pm
I can understand his decision becaus football does run into basketball season and he probably won’t be able to play basketball for the full season and he also won’t be able to go to any camps besides he more than likely isn’t going to win a state championship in football.
theight
May 24th, 2010
10:45 pm
a lot of players play shooting guard in high school at 6′3 besides he probably hasn’t turned 18 yet so he has time to grow.
PTC DAWG
May 24th, 2010
10:57 pm
Just remember, you are only a KID ONCE….
is it dawg or dog
May 26th, 2010
11:44 am
All you dawgs should bury your heads in the ground, good lord I have never seen so many names with dawg in it, it was actually comical reading your redneck comments… Is it still wrong to stereotype even though all you morons from ga are rednecks? later maw and paw dawg
'11 SG - Dai-Jon Parker (Official Offer) - ScarletBuckeye - Ohio State Sports
May 26th, 2010
9:10 pm
[...] Georgia Quote: [...]
Recruiting Update 27May: Leather Helmet Blog
May 27th, 2010
6:12 am
[...] forward Julian Royal, has UGA, Georgia Tech and Wake Forest as his favorites. Milton shooting guard Dai-Jon Parker is considering offers from UGA and Georgia [...]
Rudegar
May 27th, 2010
9:30 am
It’s obvious he could play high D1 in either sport. So I guess, if he is considering it a career, he likes his chances to be a 6′3 SG in the NBA than a 6′3 S or WR in the NFL. Maybe he thinks he has the handle to play PG, but with Shannon Scott around isn’t asked to play that role.
Recruiting Update 28May: Leather Helmet Blog
May 28th, 2010
4:03 am
[...] Royal, has UGA, Georgia Tech and Wake Forest as his favorites. Milton shooting guard Dai-Jon Parker is considering offers from UGA and Georgia [...]