Update: Three more Tech players suspended – for a half
John Dewberry helped Bill Curry win in Athens in 1984. The QB was no help in Birmingham in 1985. (AJC file photo)
Update: Georgia Tech announced Sunday that three more players — defensive Anthony Egbuniwe and defensive backs Michael Peterson and Louis Young — has been suspended for the first half of Monday’s Independence Bowl. They broke curfew in Shreveport, which I believe trumps John Dewberry’s curfew-breaking in Birmingham in 1985 for sheer ingenuity.
It’s that festive time of the year when Georgia Tech lets us know which of its players won’t be playing in a bowl game. The Jackets arrived in scenic Shreveport on Thursday, just in time to offer the following release:
Shreveport, La. – Georgia Tech announced today that four football players, including two who have already earned their undergraduate degrees, will not play in Monday’s AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl because of various academic issues.
Senior defensive end Robert Hall and senior linebacker Anthony Barnes are ineligible to compete in the game against Air Force under NCAA academic guidelines. Sophomore wide receiver Stephen Hill and senior safety Mario Edwards are both ineligible for not meeting Georgia Tech academic requirements.
Of the four players, Edwards and Hill were listed as starters on the Yellow Jackets’ most recent depth chart.
A few questions: How can you earn your degree and still be academically ineligible? Has any Jacket had a more disappointing season than Hill, who was touted as the next Demaryius Thomas but who hasn’t played well and now won’t play in the bowl game at all?
There’s a time-honored Jacket tradition of players getting docked for the postseason. Usually it’s the quarterback: John Dewberry was suspended for the All-American Bowl in 1985 for breaking curfew in Birmingham, which is tough to do, and in 2006 Reggie Ball was declared ineligible for the Gator Bowl, which brought a strange career to its inevitably strange end.
These latest suspensions constitute just another installment in an ongoing Tech saga. On the bright side, the Tech Four won’t be remembered as the most egregious college football development of Dec. 23, 2010. That dishonor belongs to five Ohio State Buckeyes, chief among them quarterback Terrelle Pryor, who were suspended for five games of the 2011 season — though not for the Sugar Bowl — for NCAA violations that include receiving improper benefits from …
A tattoo parlor. Seriously.
By Mark Bradley
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
372 comments Add your comment
Yellow Fuzz
December 26th, 2010
8:04 am
Merry Christmas to every AH dog fan out there!
NoFKNdog
December 26th, 2010
8:15 am
Remember all of you so called dog fans, you can win everything every year until the world ends. But you all know that even with that and know matter what you say or feel about Georgia Tech or any other team, you will always SUCK!! You cannot escape it. There you go.
GOD BLESS AMERICA!!
Sports Review
December 26th, 2010
9:05 am
[...] for bowl gameColorado Springs GazetteGeorgia Tech expects backup QB to startColorado Springs GazetteAtlanta Journal Constitution (blog) -GatorBait.net (subscription)all 166 news [...]
dawgfan
December 26th, 2010
9:15 am
Techies are such freaking morons that they didn’t even read the article. They immediately start in on their holy roller BS about how hard Tech is and that’s the reason their players are ineligible. Earth to moron Techies: Two of your players are ineligible because they didn’t meet NCAA requirments, not Tech requirements. You come on here popping off at the mouth about how brilliant and wonderful you are but can’t even read an AJC sports blog. Your arrogance is only matched by your ignorance. Simply unbelievable.
GTechsta
December 26th, 2010
9:29 am
dogfan, you are the idiot. 2 had graduated and the other 2 are ncaa eligible but not tech eligible.
Tech IS smarter
December 26th, 2010
9:31 am
dawgfan:
I know you are just finished reading the new version of Glory Year you just got for Christmas. But think before you add more eggnog to that Koolaid dude. Try looking a little closer at that “dream team recruiting class” you are putting together. For once, do a little more than just trust Rivals, Dawgvent or Bill King Knows Best to tell you where your future lies. That way you won’t be caught off guard 2-3 years from now AGAIN. Hahahahahahahahahahaha
Nick Marshall (4 stars)-legit)
Christian LeMay (4 stars)-legit
Amarlo Herrera (4 stars)-legit, but not recruited by Alabama)
Sterling Bailey (4 stars)-legit but not recruited by Alabama)
Zach DeBell (4 stars)-Not recruited by Alabama and not offered by Auburn or Miami
Corey Moore (4 stars)- Not recruited by Alabama or Florida. Was recruited by Oregon but not offered.
Justin Scott-Wesley (4 stars)-Not recruited by Florida or Auburn and not offered by Alabama. Was offered by East Carolina and Vanderbilt
Chris Mayes (4 stars)- Not recruited by Alabama or Florida and not offered by Auburn or Tennessee. Was offered by Kentucky, Maryland, Memphis and Vanderbilt
Devin Bowman (3 stars) Not recruited by Alabama, Auburn or Florida
Watts Dantzler (3 stars)-legit but not recruited by Florida)
Chris Conley (3 stars) Not recruited by Alabama or Florida and not offered by Auburn or Florida State. Was offered by Maryland, Vanderbilt and Wake Forest
Zach Witchett (3 stars)- Not recruited by Alabama, Auburn or Florida and not offered by Clemson, Miami, North Carolina, Tennessee or Virginia Tech. Was offered by Maryland and Toledo
David Andrews (3 stars) Not recruited by Alabama, Auburn or Florida. Was offered by Duke, Michigan and Vanderbilt
Hunter Long (3 stars)- Was not recruited by Alabama, Auburn and Florida. Was not offered by Arkansas, Mississippi STATE< OR North Carolina. Was offered by Arkansas State (not to be confused with Arkansas), Memphis, Middle Tennessee State, Murray State and Tennessee-Martin.
Chris Sanders (3 stars)-Not recruited by Alabama or Florida and not offered by Tennessee or South Carolina
Nathan Theus (2 stars)- Not recruited by Alabama or Auburn and not offered by Florida. Was offered by Florida Atlantic.
calvin
December 26th, 2010
10:12 am
So, Bulldog Bradley, why didn’t you bother to mention
that Tech beat Michigan State in Birmingham with Todd Rampley
replacing Dewberry?
BS Mark
December 26th, 2010
10:27 am
Time honored tradition = 2 in 20 years?
I am impressed that your research went that far back. Someone must have told you about Dewberry.
Wasn’t Edwards a transfer from virginia Tech? If so, it was only a matter of time.
Will Stephen Hill ever make a consistent positive contribution?
Vinnie Dooley
December 26th, 2010
10:34 am
Mr. Bradley, so you’re still upset that you couldn’t influence the NCAA or Auburn to sit Cam Newton for the Auburn vs. Leghumpers game? I must admit, you gave it a valiant effort and the game proved why you were so adamantly on that bandwagon: The Tigers and especially Cam whipped the lowly dawgs 42 – 10 after the 1st quarter.
And I agree with BS MarK: You are clearly giving it to GT, trying to make headlines with your pathetic “A Tradition Continues ….” header. 2 in 20 years? Hardly big news, however, I suspect it helps give you some relief about your jailbirds in Athens.
Covers Dixie like the Dew
December 26th, 2010
10:43 am
Atlanta Falcons Coach Mike Smith is good.
NoFKNdog
December 26th, 2010
11:13 am
Yo dog fans, you SUCK!! Understand?
GOD BLESS AMERICA.
Dublin Dawg
December 26th, 2010
11:30 am
Just checked out Tech IS smarter post about our recruits. He’s right. Damn, I thought we had a much better class than that.
Fire Mark's Rectum
December 26th, 2010
12:23 pm
Just so you know, both my children graduated from Ga Tech within the past eight years, one just this last weekend. Their average salary is over $140,000 per year. Match that if you can Mutts.
catlady
December 26th, 2010
1:01 pm
When I looked at that picture, I thought Bill Curry had a piece of the hedges held between his teeth, like a rose! Oh, my!
Fan of the Game
December 26th, 2010
1:50 pm
Fire Mark’s Rectum – I am glad that your kids are doing well. I have many friends that are lawyers, veterinarians, doctors and they all make well over $140,000. We can sit here and argue all we want. Both schools have degrees that are automatically 6 figures and we have some that you have to work yourself up to that. What is sad is that both schools sign athletes that are not college material and they usually don’t make it.
happy warrior
December 26th, 2010
1:57 pm
Can someone please find out why the suspended players for Ohio State can play in the Bowl game? UGa receiver, A.J. Green did basically the same thing and got the next four games. He did not get this opportunity. The NCAA gave in to Ohio State. Most of these players are leaving for the NFL now.
Mark Bradley`s Booster
December 26th, 2010
3:11 pm
I guess the good news is there is only one more curfew
to possibly break…tonight. CPJ might consider a 6 p:m
time tonight or he may have to have some players go both ways tomorrow night.
Cardinal Sin
December 26th, 2010
5:22 pm
BS Mark wrote, “Time honored tradition = 2 in 20 years?
I am impressed that your research went that far back. Someone must have told you about Dewberry.”
No, Bradley has been writing this same slop for over that long – hasn’t changed or moved on.
Cardinal Sin
December 26th, 2010
5:53 pm
I know Mark was so excited to post his update above, that the AJC edit staff didn’t have time to correct his errata. It is defensive “linebacker” Anthony Egbuniwe and three more players “have” been suspended, not “has” been suspended.
Maybe the dawg fans won’t notice this sloppy prose, as the article is tailored to their limited mentality, but the rest of us can sit back and grin at this journalistic masterpiece. After all these years of doing the exact same thing one would expect the basics could be done properly.
Also, I am curious about the ingenuity of the three who missed curfew as to trumping Dewberry’s story – as I thought Dewberry’s tale was quite unique. Or is the choice of words here again a lack of professionalism merely to target GT.
Mark holier than thou Bradley
December 26th, 2010
8:59 pm
OK WHERE’S THE ARTICLE ABOUT CALEB KING BEING INELIGIBLE AND WHAT ABOUT THE KY QB BEING ARRESTED FOR DISORDERLY CONDUCT, WHAT A GREAT LEADER THAT IS, OH NO, IF THEY DO NOT GO TO GT, IT IS NOT NEWS
Doc
December 27th, 2010
5:20 pm
The Ohio St suspensions have to be the biggest, most hypocritical of all time. Suspend 5 guys, but not until 9 months from now. Are any of these bozo’s parents. You catch your kid doing something bad enough to warrant punishment, but you don’t levy it, until next year? C’mon man!! What this shows is how powerful the boosters and bcs bozos are. Obviously they don’t care about the kids. That the ohio state players were forced to sell their personal memorebalia is sad enough, but let the fat cats with the private jets and $2000 suits pile it on the ones creating the product. Football players deserve a stipend. The fat cats sucking off the cream, livin large…..gotta go.
Pimple popper
December 27th, 2010
8:59 pm
Bugs lose again… no surprise