Archive for December, 2010

Cornelius "Tank" Carradine (R) starred along with former Georgia player Zach Mettenberger at Butler County Community College this past season (Photo reprinted with permission by Butler CC/Dewey Price)

Cornelius “Tank” Carradine will announce his decision between Georgia, Florida State and Ohio State this afternoon.

That’s the word from his high school coach, who will be meeting with the star defensive end from Butler County (Kan.) Community College to discuss those options over the next few hours. Carradine is a 6-foot-5, 265 pound defensive end who is the No. 2-ranked junior college player in America, according Rivals.com.

“Everyone is wanting to know what he’s going to do,” said Mike Martin, Carradine’s coach at Taft High in Cincinnati. “He’s a hot commodity. He’s a defense end who wreaks havoc when he gets to the quarterback and everybody wants that.”

Carradine led the National Junior College Athletic Association with 16 quarterback sacks as a sophomore this season. He …

Continue reading Star DE Cornelius Carradine to choose between UGA, FSU and Ohio State today »

ELCA defensive back Avery Walls didn't think twice about going away from home for college. His final choices were Cal, Michigan and Oregon. (Photo by Chip Towers)

Usually Mama is the first to know everything. But not in Yvonne Sebastian’s case. Not this time anyway.

“I still don’t know,” Avery Walls‘ mother insisted just minutes before he was to announce his college choice in front of a small assembly at Eagles Landing Christian Academy Tuesday morning. “He was supposed to tell me at 7:30 this morning but he ended up rushing out the door to get an 8 o’clock final exam without telling me. I’m as eager as everybody else to find out where he’s going.”

Ms. Sebastian at least got a few minutes heads up. Walls  emerged from his English exam — his last test as a graduating high school senior — and whispered his choice to her and ELCA head football coach Jonathan Gess. A few minutes later, after faking a reach for a Michigan cap and picking up and dropping an Oregon cap, Walls donned …

Continue reading Scholarship to Cal caps ‘blessed’ high school career for Avery Walls »

THE TEN AT 10:

ELCA defensive back Avery Walls is taking his football and his smarts out to Berkley, Calif., to play for the Cal Bears. (Photo by Chip Towers)

1. Four-star defensive back Avery Walls of Eagles Landing Christian Academy had an incredible 33 scholarship offers. In the end, he chose one of the schools that was farthest away from his McDonough home.

Walls on Tuesday committed to California over co-finalists Michigan and Oregon. Oddly enough, neither Georgia nor Georgia Tech ever offered.

“It’s a long way from home, but the coaches and teammates I’ve met there are going to be my family,” said Walls, after announcing his decision to a gathering of coaches, teammates, faculty and students Tuesday morning at ELCA. “In the end, it came down to academics. I wanted a degree that was going to last a lifetime. That was the case with all my finalists.”

It was a monumental day for Walls, a 5-11, 185-pound safety. He took his last exam at ELCA and graduated on the same day. …

Continue reading Ten@10: 4-star DB Avery Walls chooses Cal over Michigan, Oregon »

One of the stranger recruiting journeys one will ever see will come to an end Tuesday when four-star defensive back Avery Walls of McDonough announces his college choice.

The 5-11, 185-pound senior from Eagles Landing Christian Academy landed about 30 scholarship offers in the last year — most of them of the major-college variety — but he never got one from the two major colleges in this state.

But that’s just fine with Walls, who always favored the idea of going away to school anyway. And way away he will go as his three finalists are Cal, Michigan and Oregon. His announcement is scheduled for 9:45 a.m. at the school.

“I chose them because of academics,” said Walls, who transferred to Class A ECLA from Class AAAAA Union Grove before this past season. “Oregon has the No. 1 sports marketing program in the country.”

Not sure if that’s a hint but we’ll show up to find out.

Continue reading 4-star DB Avery Walls of ELCA to announce decision »

QB Vad Lee kissed the North Carolina 4-A state championship trophy after leading Durham-Hillside to the title this past Saturday. (Photo by HighSchoolOT.com)

Vad Lee does, in fact, hope to take some recruiting visits now that his spectacular senior season if over. But that does not mean he intends to sign somewhere other than Georgia Tech.

On the contrary.

“I mean, I still haven’t thought about recruiting that much,” said Lee, reached by telephone in Spartanburg, S.C., on Monday. “I just played in the state championship game and now I’m in South Carolina practicing for the [North Carolina-South Carolina] Shrine Bowl. All I know is I’ll be signing with Georgia Tech on Feb. 2 [National Signing Day].”

Lee’s admission last week that he was considering taking official visits to North Carolina and North Carolina State caused a furor among the Georgia Tech faithful. In years past, coach Paul Johnson has rescinded the scholarship offers of committed prospects because they visited …

Continue reading Tech QB pledge Vad Lee leads team to North Carolina state title »

There was a lot of recruiting activity over the weekend, with both Georgia and Georgia Tech hosting large groups of official visitors and coaching changes happening all around. I didn’t get home until late Sunday night, so I wasn’t able to do any reporting yet. But here’s a quick rundown of things I’ll be following up on today:

(1) AJC Super 11 TE Jay Rome of Valdosta reportedly loved his official visit to Georgia and may be close to committing to the Bulldogs, according to Scout.com’s Chad Simmons. Rome was one of 18 official visitors in Athens. We’ll catch up with at least a few of them.

(2) Likewise, four-star DL Darian Cooper of Hyattsville, Md., apparently really liked what he saw on an OV to Georgia Tech, according to JacketsOnline.com. He’s still going to take visits but raved about what he saw and heard in Atlanta. Tech had about 15 visitors in town.

(3) JacketsOnline also reports that coach Paul Johnson offered a 2011 scholarship to Chattahoochee PK Ammon Lakip, who …

Continue reading TE Jay Rome loves Georgia visit, 4-star likes GT and RDA4 finds a home »

THE TEN AT 10:

QB Vad Lee has led his Durham-Hillside team into the North Carolina Class 4A state championship game. (Photo reprinted with permission By Mark Dolejs/NewsObserver.com)

1. Georgia Tech commitment Vad Lee does not deny recent reports by InsideCarolina.com that he plans to take some other visits after the season. But he downplays the significance therein.

“I may take a couple of visits,” Lee confirmed to the AJC in a text message Thursday morning. “That’s not really my main focus at the moment, though, as I prepare for the state championship. I’m a GT commit and plan on competing in Atlanta next fall!”

Visiting other schools might not sit well with the Yellow Jackets, however. In the past it has been the policy of Tech coach Paul Johnson to rescind commitments’ scholarship offers if they take other visits.

Lee told InsideCarolina he is considering taking official visits to UNC and N.C. State.

“I think I’ll probably visit other schools just to weigh my options and …

Continue reading Ten@10 update: Tech QB commit Vad Lee confirms he may visit other schools »

NOTE: This is the story I filed for print. It includes some quotes from previous blog. . . .

Urban Meyer said he will be calling Florida recruits all week. (Photo by Richard Graulich/Palm Beach Post)

“Florida is Florida. Florida will always be Florida.”

Those were the words of outgoing Florida Gators coach Urban Meyer in regard to the effect his resignation would have on recruiting. Meyer, 46, stepped down Wednesday after leading the Gators to two national championships and a pair of SEC title in six seasons.

“I talked to a handful of [recruits] already and I’ll talk to a bunch of them tonight and tomorrow,” he told reporters attending his press conference Wednesday evening. “. . . Even last year with the other issue we put together a great class. There are great coaches here and I’m sure the new coaching staff will be fantastic. We’ve just got to get moving. Timing’s of the essence.”

Meyer abruptly resigned for one day following the SEC Championship Game last December. The …

Continue reading Urban Meyer: ‘Florida is Florida,’ recruiting will be fine »

DE Ray Drew, a 5-star prospect from Thomasville who was considering Florida, was shocked to learn of Urban Meyer's resignation. (AJC photo by Jason Getz)

The news hit Ray Drew like tiles falling from the ceiling of his Literature class Wednesday afternoon at Thomas County Central High School.

Urban Meyer stepped down at Florida? Again?

“That’s just shocking. Wow,” exclaimed the AJC Super 11 defensive end, a 5-star prospect who had the Gators among his finalists. “I never would have thought that. After he came back after that last time I was assuming he’d he there for a while. I don’t know what to think or what to do.”

Drew, a 6-foot-5, 250-pound high school All-American who has fielded as many as 50 scholarship offers, included Florida in the six finalists he named late last month. The others were Georgia, Auburn, Clemson, LSU and Tennessee.

Obviously, Drew is still trying to process this development. But suffice it to say that it does not help the Gators cause.

“I’m somewhat …

Continue reading Recruits: Urban Meyer’s resignation at Florida ‘a big problem’ (UPDATED) »

Wilcox County QB Nick Marshall passed for 41 touchdowns this season and finished as Georgia's all-time leader with 102 career TD passes. (AJC photo by Jason Getz)

Add another AJC Super 11 name to Georgia’s list of official visitors this weekend.

Nick Marshall, a quarterback/cornerback from Wilcox County, has decided to join the parade of stars heading to Athens this weekend. The 6-foot-2, 185-pound athlete becomes the sixth member of the AJC Super 11 to make that decision.

Marshall will join fellow Super 11s North Paulding WR Chris Conley, Griffin DE/OLB Xzavier Dickson, Thomas County Central DE/OLB Ray Drew, Valdosta TE Jay Rome and Grady DB Damian Swann for their one-and-only, NCAA-allowed expenses-paid trip to UGA. All of the visitors, which will include most of the Bulldogs 16 verbal commitments so far, will attend the Senior Gala, UGA’s annual end-of-the-year banquet, Saturday night at the Classic Center in downtown Athens.

“They talked to him about it last week and Coach …

Continue reading Wilcox County star Nick Marshall becomes AJC Super 11 No. 6 heading to Athens »