Da’Rick Rogers ’still committed’ to UGA but serious about Vols
Will longtime Georgia commitment Da'Rick Rogers (21) of Calhoun make the leap to rival Tennessee on national signing day? It could happen. (Special photo by Lane Bearden)
CALHOUN — When Da’Rick Rogers sits down to make public his college decision on national signing day — if he in fact does it on that day — there will be at least two caps on the table in front of him. One from Georgia and one from Tennessee.
And there is a pretty good chance there will be a third one, too.
“Maybe Ohio State or something, just to throw everybody off,” he said with a laugh.
Rogers is a funny guy. He tries hard to keep things as light as he can these days. But the reality is Bulldogs’ fans probably don’t see much humor in the high-flying receiver’s recent decision to open up his recruitment to include the Vols.
Rogers, the No. 1-rated player in the AJC Top 50 state rankings and a UGA commitment since early June, decided last week to accompany Calhoun quarterback and best friend Nash Nance on an official visit to Tennessee this past weekend. The duo did in fact make that trip and Rogers reported that he was very impressed with new coach Derek Dooley, his coaching assemblage and, of course, the Volunteers’ football program.
“It was good,” said 6-foot-3, 215-pound Rogers, who set the state’s single-season receiving record with 1,641 yards this season. “I enjoyed it. I learned a lot. They have a lot of new staff, so I learned a lot about the new coaches and got a good feel of them. I got to know a lot about [new receivers coach] Charlie Baggett and Coach Dooley.”
Rogers went on to cite much of Baggett’s resume, that he’d tutored Randy Moss, Cris Carter and Chris Chambers in the NFL and Plaxico Burress and Andre Rison in college. And he talked about Dooley’s NFL experience under Nick Saban and leading Louisiana Tech from obscurity to its first bowl game in seven years in only two seasons.
The point? That Rogers was listening intently to the Vols’ spiel.
A little background here: I spent an hour-and-a-half with Rogers Monday at Phil Reeve Stadium in Calhoun as AJC photographer Jason Getz shot more than a few photos for a cool recruiting spread that will run in Sunday’s print edition and online sometime in or around there.
I found Rogers to be polite and honest as usual but guarded about what he said and especially about how much he said.
So just to be clear, I asked Rogers straight out if he was still committed to Georgia. “Yes, sir, I am,” he said.
Then I asked him if he was seriously considering Tennessee as an alternative. “Yeah, potentially,” he said.
But just as quickly Rogers kind of downplayed the whole experience. The main thing, he said, is that he had never been on an official visit to anywhere other than Georgia before this past weekend. He’d been on unofficial visits to a few places as a junior last year, but nothing more. He expressed regret that he hadn’t taken at least one trip out West, either to Oregon or USC.
“It was getting close to crunch time so I started thinking I just needed to check out some other places and that’s what I did,” Rogers said of the Tennessee visit. “I’m just making sure I’m going to the right school.”
And now that he’s cracked open that door just a smidge, there are tons of other programs rushing through to possibly get one last official out of Rogers. Southern Cal, Louisville, Arkansas and Mississippi State have all contacted him about doing just that. Those and others are trying to get into his home this week as the contact period continues before shutting down for good on Sunday.
I asked Rogers how the late recruiting push had him feeling.
“Oh, my head’s spinning,” he said. “It’s been spinning.”
For now Rogers said he’s not planning any more trips, though he did not rule it out completely. And as far as the Tennessee’s overtures, he said neither he nor Nance has sat down to fully contemplate and discuss the possibilities with their parents.
So we’ll all just have to wait until that day next week — or sometime before the signing period ends on May 31 — to see which cap Rogers puts on. Wonder then who will be laughing?
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358 comments Add your comment
Big Dawg
January 26th, 2010
11:16 am
Richard Cranium,
I hope to God you are not a Vol fan spewing that crap about a lawyer. Our arrests consist of kids riding a moped down a oneway alley the wrong way and your arrests consist of armed robbery and felony shoplifting!! You probably think these are similar right?
ga gator
January 26th, 2010
11:17 am
Early 2010 prediction: Kentucky is on the rise in the SEC east and Auburn with Cam Newton at QB will challenge Bama in the west (as long as he stays away from stolen laptops).
ga gator
January 26th, 2010
11:18 am
Big Dawg, my guess is he is a techman.
Tron Carter
January 26th, 2010
11:19 am
Dawghater,
That’s one year.
How about 60-39-5
or 30-24
or 73-66
or the fact that Trek can’t fill a 55,000 seat “stadium” even though they were top 10 (when we humiliated them and kicked up historically hillarious grant field) and located in the downtown area of the largest city in the State. Then there’s the free hotdogs and Cokes to attend factor.
#44 means that no one wants to play for Trek. I don’t know if it’s the triple joke, the “tough talking” coach, or the douchebag fanbase.
I’m sure that when the geriatric coaching staff at Trek comes in to a recruits home, they think that they are being attacked by zombies, and that can’t be helping.
Big Albany Dawg
January 26th, 2010
11:19 am
This kid is a P-U-N-K.
Cut him loose now before he’s the NEXT Nu’Keese Richardson.
Paddy
January 26th, 2010
11:20 am
Big Dawg…..I agree. Xander will play alot now with the 3-4 D we will be playing.
ga gator
January 26th, 2010
11:23 am
Big Albany, I don’t think Dooley would recruit him if he was a Nu’Keese. Got a buddy whose son played with him and he said he’s a good kid. Can’t blame a kid for checking out other schools. Heck if he sticks with UGA after getting the royal treatment in Knoxville, it will just make you look even better.
Big Dawg
January 26th, 2010
11:23 am
Also, one of the arrests in Athens went down like this…
A friend of a UGA football player got a new motorcycle this fall and was out riding around and decided to visit his football player friend. A UGA campus police officer happened to be eating lunch in the dorm parking lot when the motorcycle arrived. The football player came out to look over his friend’s motorcycle and was offered the chance to take it for a ride in the PARKING LOT. The football player agreed and hopped on the bike, cranked it up, and rode for about 50 yards when the police officer turned on his lights and sped over to the motorcycle. The player was ticketed for not having the proper license. The AJC got word of this arrest and plastered it on the front page of the AJC. Many of the UGA jealous rivals equates this to being thuggery, and the player being a “problem”….My, how other’s perceptions are so far from the truth. Just sayin’ !!!!!
JC in Powder Springs
January 26th, 2010
11:24 am
I have two words for Da’Rick – ‘NuKeese Richardson’. Richardson was in the same position as Da’Rick last year. Richardson decided on TN at the last minute – and now his college football career is just about dead – associated with crooked Kiffin and the thugs Kiffin brought in. Maybe Dooley will clean up the mess up at TN. But the true extent of Kiffin/TN violations hasn’t hit the surface yet.
DAWG ON IT
January 26th, 2010
11:24 am
let the kid go. today is a SAD day to be a dawg. this site is classless. I HAVE BEEN A DAWG FAN FOR 58 YEARS. CLASSLESS.
ga gator
January 26th, 2010
11:26 am
Big Dawg, you are right. 3-4 calls for a couple of smallish fast OLB’s. Rennie would of been even better in this scheme. Small fast linebackers are a dime a dozen in high schools, I think it’s the next wave of college defenses. Even UF is switching this year with their new DC.
Damn there are some stupid people out there
January 26th, 2010
11:32 am
It’s amazing how ignorant the average poster is on these columns. You would think there are hundreds of teenagers posting here but in reality, most of these comments are from (so-called) grown men with nothing better to do than to argue about “their” college football teams. Geez…what a bunch of rednecks. Clue in and get some other hobbies that don’t involve investing yourself in the performance of people and teams that don’t couldn’t care less whether you exist…
Sorry Guy!
January 26th, 2010
11:36 am
Damn there are some stupid people out there -you must be one of those “so-called grown men with nothing better to do” seeing how you posted on here as well. You are just tlike the rest of us!
UTBEATGA4519
January 26th, 2010
11:36 am
For the fans that say you don’t need Da’rick because you have 5 WRs ahead of him, you might want to suggest to your holier-than-Jesus coach that he tell Da’rick and kids like Marlon Brown that information while he’s recruiting them instead of the lies that he’s spewing! UT the last two years can legitimtately tell any recruit that until they go through spring practice, offseason workouts, and fall practice, they don’t know what they have and who’ll be starting anywhere!
The Dawgs are cool, but you have to make up your mind! If you’re going to be mad at the kid if he picks UT look at your own vitrol comments! You have Wooten, King, Troupe, Green, Branden Smith, Marlon Brown, Aron White, and Orson Charles! One look at that depth chart and I’m finding somewhere else to play! Heck, six of those guys could be there for two or three more years! I know that White and Charles are TEs (maybe not Charles in the end), but they still command targets that take away from a WR! If I was from GA, I would spin it as a GA kid just being smart! I hate it when a kid goes some place like USC when they have four 5 star RBs already on campus thinking that they just have to compete and they might start! REALLY??!!! I can’t stand it that coaches sell that smack either! Sell this: come to this school, because we have the resources to always ensure that you’ll have a high caliber coaching staff around, we have great facilities, and you’ll have a great social, athletic, and educational experience here! That’s it! If you bust your butt and sacrifice most of your free time for school work and football, you’ll be a success even if you go to App. State!! Trust me; it’s proven!!
Big Dawg
January 26th, 2010
11:42 am
UT,
“lies spewn” to Marlon Brown from Richt? You need to leave the rumor mills to the pathetic jealous folks. The fact is that Brown’s family knew what kind of a sleezeball Kiffin was…and know the rest of you are finding that out too!!
gdawginkalamazoo
January 26th, 2010
11:45 am
The kid should be looking at UGA with the QB’s that we will have the next few years. Much more stable than UT for his playing years even with that great hire on the HC. Plus Athens is a better town to attend college in than Knoxville. Plus closer to home. Don’t think too much Da’Rick UGA is your best bet for your career.
SoCalTrojan, do you remember how many coaches that USC looked at before saying “Let’s call Kiffy he will do it”? Just wait, there will be probation (or else Carroll wouldn’t have bolted). The reason that all of those legit coaches turned it down was the NCAA hammer. Kiffin will ride out the probation for USC then get the ceremonial dump for not winning enough. By the time the probation ends he won’t be able to win enough. So good luck with that one. You guys had a great run with the 1 NC and multiple Rose Bowls and conference titles but down times again are going to be coming.
SEC Football
January 26th, 2010
11:54 am
Could be the best receiving group in college football!!!!
Rogers, Green & Charles!!!!!!
Who do you double??????
Dawg Master
January 26th, 2010
11:58 am
Dooley needs to stay away from UGA’s recruits! UT will be lucky to win 7 games the next few years with Dooley.
fields
January 26th, 2010
12:02 pm
Let this kid jerk UGA around all he wants. While he’s playing grab a$$ with the other coaches, let’s sign another receiver. One that doesn’t have an inferiority complex.
giggy
January 26th, 2010
12:04 pm
wow, this guy is starved for attention. Might be a headcase…..
Cooper
January 26th, 2010
12:05 pm
The only way Rogers goes to UT is if Nance goes there. I doubt Dooley would be dirty enough to promise Nance he’ll be a serious QB there, just to land Rogers. But he is a football coach, so I wouldn’t put it past him
shooge
January 26th, 2010
12:06 pm
I wonder if Rogers is afraid of competing against equal, or superior talent at UGA? That’s the only reason I could see him going to UT
GatorCarson
January 26th, 2010
12:09 pm
If the kid is smart, he will got to Tennessee. Their new WR coach has made Randy Moss, Chris Carter and several other better recievers. UGA has proven they are on a downward trend. The QB’s they have there are not very good. Simply high school kids with ZERO experience. Plus I am sure he wants to play with his best friend. Oh and by the way, regardless of where he goes, he wont beat the mighty Gators!
koolaid
January 26th, 2010
12:13 pm
Cooper, BINGO!!!
The only reason Nance got an offer at UT is so the Vols could land Rogers. Sad, because Nance will never touch the field as a QB there.
GatorCarson = jealous Yech fan
January 26th, 2010
12:15 pm
nothing is more entertaining than reading obvious, shamed Yech fans pretending to be fans of SEC teams.
Chris
January 26th, 2010
12:16 pm
UGA is a joke. Why would the kid want to go there?? Sounds like he knows that UGA wont win the East….or the conference in the next 20 years. UF is light years ahead of them in talent and Tennessee is building something too. Heck, UGA finishes with a top 5 class every year only to get manhandled by Florida and Tennessee year after year. Why would he want to be a part of another Liberty bowl team???
Chris
January 26th, 2010
12:18 pm
Hey koolaid you rocket scientist…….how is that any different than UGA offering Joe Cox to get Masequaia? It happens all the time.
Greenman
January 26th, 2010
12:18 pm
Nothing wrong with the kid taking visits to make sure he is going to the right place. You have to remember these are 17-18 year old kids making these decisions. Heck, I have seen players commit to every school they visit. I thought it was odd that he committed to GA before he took any visits at all. If you dont think Tennessee has a chance at getting Rogers and Nance, you are mistaken….Its not Chip trying to create headlines or stir the pot. Take it for what its worth but I heard the visit went well. I just dont know how the whole Nance/Rogers dynamic will play out. Maybe the guys are just enjoying the attention from Tenn, maybe they are seriously considering other options. Personally, I think Da’Rick is better off at GA and Nance at Vandy.
joe
January 26th, 2010
12:27 pm
Opening up his recruitment? Are you an idiot Chip? He went there with Nance and is being used by his father. He’s opening nothing. If you are having trouble with the facts, perhaps you can steal them from one of the message boards like you usually do.
Volunteer98
January 26th, 2010
12:28 pm
In response to SoCalTrojan: Give Kiff & Crew a couple of years.You`ll be on probation,or worse.Your ‘elite’ program was already suspect in the matter of a certain running back a few years ago.So,Kiffin and Orgeron should fit right in.If the NCAA had of investigated the RB I`m refering to the way they did Bryce Brown,you might already have been in hot water.But, just give Kiff & Crew time.They`ll stick one in you the same way they did Tennessee.These guys are just a couple of pieces of crap.By the way,the name ‘Trojans’.Isn`t that the name of a condom?
reality check
January 26th, 2010
12:28 pm
Hey Da’rick
Dont believe any negative comments from so-called UGA fans, we all would love to see you in red and black. These negative post are all from Vol fans, believe that. So come on up to Athens we will welcome you with open arms.
Ace
January 26th, 2010
12:34 pm
Kiffen owns the Dawgs.
Gen Neyland
January 26th, 2010
12:37 pm
zoo : I beg to differ on the QB situation. We both have truly untried QB’s coming in to 2010 with the exception of Matt Simms (of THAT Simms family) at Tennessee that actually played last season at El Camino Community College, throwing for 2,204 yds and 17 TDs. Yeah I know, JUCO but experience. Then comes Fr Tyler Bray that Rivals ranks as #7 nationally as pro style QB. Then Sr Nick Stephens that has played backup to Crompton and Ainge. I like what we have in place to challenge for the spot and I think WR’s being recruited out there do too. (See WR’s listed in Rivals, Hunter-Milton)…
rock
January 26th, 2010
12:40 pm
how many kids have you helped out!?
Gen Neyland
January 26th, 2010
12:40 pm
Reality Check : Com’on. You’re bigger than bogus. Don’t think for a minute all Dawg posters are pure to the cause…
ImmortalVOL
January 26th, 2010
12:45 pm
Ahhh…UGA, where wide receivers go to fall into obscurity. Would someone please tell me what Fred Gibson is up to? Or enlighten me on Reggie Brown’s season? Sure AJ Green is lighting it up now but what did UGA’s last all everything receiver Marlon Brown do this year besides play in the Tennessee game as a shot at Kiffin? The only receiver georgia can truly be proud of is Hines Ward and he wasn’t a pure receiver in college.
Meanwhile Da’Rick could come to ‘wide receiver U’ and start next year under the guidance of a wide receiver coach who has coached hall of famers and NFL starters in college and the pros. He could follow Peerless Price, Donte Stallworth, Joey Kent and Robert Meachem.
Put your fanhood aside and ask yourself…which school would I rather send my son to?
How2fish
January 26th, 2010
12:46 pm
SoCalTrojan sorry your pretty boys won’t make it thru a SEC schedule..they get hit an average twice a game playing in the “pretty boy” league..down South their world will get rocked every play..the only reason there haven’t been more SEC teams winning NC’s is the SEC we beat each others ass by a much larger ratio that any other conference does..play UGA,UT,Fla,Auburn,Bama year in and year out and within a decade it would USC?? Oh you mean U of S.Carolina no one would even remember the boys from troy..elite school my AZZ!
bank walker
January 26th, 2010
12:50 pm
All these anti-Darick posts from the Vol fans need to stop! He is a young man that happens to have committed to the best school in the SEC and you guys are jealous, pathetic! It is his home state, and you sit there and ridicule the kid for wanting to play for a proven winner in Richt. Darick don’t pay any of the tennerssee fans any attention, you will get to beat them down the next three years! GO DAWGS!!
Kris
January 26th, 2010
12:51 pm
Athens…the best college town in America? You have got to be kidding! Knoxville, Gainesville, or Baton Rouge blows Athens away! Ofcourse, I wasn’t attending games 30 years ago when UGA was good so maybe it was fun three decades ago. Come on to Knoxville Rogers and we can repeat 45-19
Tron Carter
January 26th, 2010
12:51 pm
30-24
Humiliated by struggling Georgia team, won the joke ACC, humiliated in BCS Bowl and Chick Fil A Bowl in first 2 years!
But there’s always the free hotdogs and cokes to watch all this humiliation.
60-39-5
73-66
Volunteer98
January 26th, 2010
12:57 pm
One thing is for sure.The Vols will beat UGA every year,wheather we beat anyone else or not!By the way,where`s Marlon Brown?Riding the GA pine?
dog man 25
January 26th, 2010
12:59 pm
Somebody’s gonna be in single coverage, because everybody’s gonna double down on AJ Green.
Single coverage–all year long.
Murray, the #2 QB in the Nation slingin it, King & Ealey reunning it, great O-Line, 10 of 11 offensive starters coming back.
dog man 25
January 26th, 2010
1:02 pm
Da’ Rick’s gonna be double covered if he’s the 31 go-to WR for a team like Tenn.
At Georgia, AJ Green will get the doubles.
Da’ Rick will be 1-on-1 all year long.
VolinCalif
January 26th, 2010
1:02 pm
Ban Dooley
“I wonder how many of the Lance family would have helped a poor Black Kid..”
What a jerk you are. These people helped, who have you ever helped? FYI there was another family that helped, 21 children I believe. Try Roy Rogers and Dale! I hope the great people around Ga and Tenn run you out on a rail. For the rest of you folks enjoy the Recruiting and the up coming Football season.
I will always a Southerner from just across the Tenn/GA border.
Tron Carter
January 26th, 2010
1:03 pm
Knukeeseville is not even a college town. It’s a dirty semi-urban mountain folk dump, where you can get robbed by your own teammates while you pump your gas.
There are plenty of good college towns, but Knukeeseville is not one of them.
Larry Chambers
January 26th, 2010
1:13 pm
Just feel real sad after reading the hateful negatives from the Ga fans about Tn football. So I just play back last years beat down the vols put on you guys and feel real good. My wife does pretty much the same with last years Tech’s beat dow of the dogs.
Barry Neighbors
January 26th, 2010
1:31 pm
Hey Larry,
and after this year’s beatdown by the Dawgs on the Nerds, your wife is back to cleaning my house….tell her she missed a spot!!
NO MUTTS ALLOWED
January 26th, 2010
1:36 pm
THANK GOD HE’S NOT GOING TO THE REDNECK MUTTS!
drunkyard dawg
January 26th, 2010
1:40 pm
Pull his schollie NOW!!! If he doesnt want to bleed red and black for the Bulldawg Nation, SCREW HIM and the Nances!!!!!
HardTruth Soldier
January 26th, 2010
1:41 pm
SoCalTrojan, Here’s my reality, vs your fantasy, While I do give SC credit for being top notch this DECADE, the reality is they were so sub standard last decade that no one out side of Cali paid them any attention. PETE CARROLL made you guys relevant again, and Lane Kiffin will make ya’ll irrelavant. You guy have only played in three more bowls than UGA all time, and truth be told, UGA has put more Tailbacks in the NFL than”Tailback U”. Like so many others get your facts straight before getting on the blogs. Your gifted USC players can’t begin to play in the SEC, and you want to bring Ark, and AU as comparisions? Ask Keith Rivers what it feels to be hit by a Dawg(Hines Ward), why is so many playing in the superbowl this year? Your saving grace just left you guys for Seattle, the second worst place to take a head coaching job in the NFL(Buffalo first). The wheels will start to fall off in a year, and UCLA will be the new thing out there. Maybe I’m wrong though, after watching Stanford(Yes Stanford) trash you guys, I think there already falling off. Mike Garrett could have had any coach, and he gets LAME KIFFIN? 2010, 2011, ya’ll be be disgusted with him, and hear Al Davis from the grave by then!