Archive for July, 2010

THE MAILBAG:

I am so glad that I opened this new e-mail account, AJCrecruiting@yahoo.com, for the purpose of fielding your questions for the weekly Recruiting Mailbag. Never could I have dreamed it would lead to such good fortune!

So far, I’ve won a total of 2,350,000 euros in lotteries and sweepstakes I didn’t even realize I’d entered. There’s one young lady who wants to start a relationship with me and another one, Miss Aisha, who wants “to tell me something and send me a picture.” I’ve apparently gotten some great news from Quebec, only I can’t read the French to figure out what it is. And then there’s this poor lady named Mrs. Magret(sic) Winter who’s on her sickbed and needs me to contact her lawyer.

But I’m going to have to get around to all of that later. My inbox is so stuffed with questions from you guys that I haven’t had time to make my claims. So without further ado, let’s hurry and answer the mail so I can claim my booty (as in goods and money, shame on you!).

Continue reading Mailbag: Butts-Mehre expansion, Tech WRs and e-mail booty »

THE TEN AT 10:

Accusations fly as teams raid Lane Kiffin's USC Trojans for players.

1. Lane Kiffin has been pointing fingers again, and the Florida Gators got another  apology out of it as a result. It seems that Dillon Baxter, a 2010 USC signee from San Diego, named Florida among five teams he claimed illegally contacted him after the NCAA hammer came down on the Trojans this summer. But according to a story in the Orlando Sentinel, the Gators did nothing of the sort and USC AD Mike Garrett ended up sending a letter of apology to Florida’s Jeremy Foley this past week. Alabama also received an identical letter of apology from USC due to Baxter’s claims, along with Washington, Oregon and Fresno State. According to several published reports, USC filed a complaint with the Pac-10 in June that those schools were tampering with Baxter, a five-star prospect who signed with the Trojans in February. An investigation proved the accusations unfounded. The Pac-10 and USC have declined …

Continue reading Ten@10: Lane Kiffin pointing fingers again, and apologizing »

Butler High quarterback Christian LeMay may be forced to transfer to a private school if his disciplinary appeal is unsuccessful.

University of Georgia-bound quarterback Christian LeMay has been suspended from North Carolina’s Butler High School for 30 days for an undisclosed school system rules infraction allegedly committed toward the end of spring semester.

However, the LeMay family is appealing the recent ruling by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) and his father insists the eventual outcome will not impact his son’s ability enroll at UGA and play football for the Bulldogs.

If LeMay’s appeal is unsuccessful he may transfer to a private school to complete high school, his father said.

“The original ruling has him reassigned to a CMS alternative school for 30 days,” Pastor Stacy LeMay said late Tuesday. “We are hoping for a more favorable outcome with the hopes of attending Butler, along with his brother [Uriah] and teammates. . . . However, if the ruling is not overturned …

Continue reading UGA pledge Christian LeMay gets 30-day suspension, plans appeal »

Kyle Harris is a good football player in his own right. But with his recent commitment, Georgia Tech may have also helped themselves in the recruitment of one of the state’s top prospects in 2012.

Harris is a 6-foot-3, 275-pound offensive lineman from Pepperell High School in Lindale (near Rome). The three-star prospect committed to the Yellow Jackets over 11 other offers this past weekend.

And while it had nothing to do with Tech’s decision to go after Harris, he just happens to be one of Dakota Ball’s best friends. Ball (6-2, 285) is considered one of Georgia’s top defensive linemen in the Class of 2012. Ball already has an offer from Tech along with  Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee, among others.

“I’m going to try to get Dakota to go there, too,” said Harris, who became the ninth member of Georgia Tech’s Class of 2012. “Me and him have talked about it for a while, about going to the same school. He’s said he’d like to play wherever I play. So …

Continue reading Commitment of Kyle Harris should help Tech with Dakota Ball »

THE TEN AT 10:

1. The question I’m beginning to hear most now is how the Damon Evans’ saga might affect Georgia’s recruiting. Best I can tell at this early juncture is very little if at all. I’ll be getting out some calls to recruits and recruiting experts to see if I can find a consensus of opinion. In the meantime, I think the Facebook status of Sterling Bailey, one of the Bulldogs’ prized commitments for the 2011 class, sums up the majority feedback I’ve been getting so far. Wrote Bailey: “Why do people think just because the Athletic Director messed up at UGA that I’m going to decommit from them and go somewhere else? He had nothing to do with my decision so why would I leave?” In the meantime, let’s hear what y’all think.

2. While I was pulled off the recruiting beat to report on the aforementioned drama, Georgia Tech got its ninth commitment of its 2011 class. Kyle Harris, a 6-foot-3, 275-pound offensive lineman from Pepperell High up in Lindale, committed to the Yellow …

Continue reading Ten at 10: Will Damon Evans’ scandal affect UGA recruiting? »

So here it is. Welcome to the first edition of “The AJC Recruiting Mailbag.”

Thanks to everybody who sent in questions this first week. I couldn’t be sure until I put it out there how many of you might participate, so I couldn’t be sure when the Mailbag might start. As it turned out, I received a bunch of queries and was able to go ahead and get it started today.

There were so many, in fact, that I wasn’t able to answer them all. Some I’ll have to get to later and others, well, they just didn’t make the cut. But I’ll do my best to answer as many as possible every week.

Normally the Mailbag will post earlier than this each Friday. But I ended up getting pulled off recruiting to report on the Damon Evans saga at Georgia, so things got a bit delayed. My apologies.

Again, this is one of those endeavors where the success largely depends on the participation of readership. So I want to thank everybody for playing along and look forward to making this a regular feature on the AJC …

Continue reading Mailbag: Tech’s hopes, Georgia’s dreams and what’s wrong with Entourage »

THE TEN AT 10:

The Ten at 10 appears on the AJC College Recruiting Blog every Tuesday and Thursday. It is an “aggregation blog,” a roundup of news and information from a variety of sources that is believed to be of interest to AJC readers. Material from sources other than the AJC is attributed.

Yes, Grady's Damian "Uno" Swann can play quarterback, too.

1. Hallelujah! I finally caught up with Damian Swann. His lack of accessibility is understandable, though, I must admit. Never mind that his phone fried (that’s now been fixed). Swann has been spending most of this summer playing baseball with his travel team, the Atlanta All-Stars. And when he hasn’t been playing baseball, he’s been competing in 7-on-7 football with his Grady High teammates (they’ve won championships in three of five tournaments, including one at UGA). Then there’s this whole football recruiting thing, which has had to go on the back burner for this elite cornerback prospect. And now it’s more that just …

Continue reading Ten at 10: It’s not just Bama-Georgia for Grady star Damian Swann »