Guess why Georgia Tech’s No. 1 recruit didn’t visit UGA? True story
Loading ...Guess what kept Georgia Tech’s No. 1 football recruit from making an unofficial visit to archrival UGA last week?
This is a good story. Refreshing.
Francis Kallon, the star defensive end from England who is playing his first year of high school football, didn’t go to UGA last Saturday because he had to take the SAT.
What’s really interesting about that is that the 6-foot-6, 260-pounder has already has an outstanding SAT score of 1,530. But his parents, who wouldn’t allow Francis to play football unless he made straight A’s, want a better score.
“I think his parents think the higher he scores on the SAT, the more money he will get for his football scholarship — but he’s already getting a full scholarship,” Central Gwinnett High School coach Todd Wofford said with a laugh. “But hey, you have to admire how his parents stress academics.”
UGA is the latest school showing interest in Kallon, who is rocketing up the charts with his recruiting rankings. He recently was awarded a 4-star by both ESPN and Scout.com.
Remember when Vanderbilt coach James Franklin was flying in a helicopter around Atlanta to a pair of games to see prospects last Friday night? Kallon was the purpose of Vanderbilt’s first stop at Central Gwinnett’s game against Dacula.
Kallon committed to Georgia Tech over Vanderbilt last summer.
“Vanderbilt had already offered me a scholarship but Coach Franklin told me he wanted to see if I was the real deal,” Kallon said. “He wanted to see with his own eyes. I wanted to play my best if someone is coming to the game in a helicopter. [Franklin] told me after the game that I was going to become a great football player.”
So much, so fast. After moving from England, Francis Kallon has learned the sport of football at a rapid pace. The 6-foot-6 DE is committed to Georgia Tech (AJC photo by Michael Carvell)
Back to UGA: The Bulldogs, which have yet to offer, invited Kallon up for an unofficial visit for the Mississippi State game. “They said the head coach at Georgia wants to talk to me; that’s as far as I know,” Kallon said. “I don’t know much about Georgia, other than that they are rivals with Georgia Tech. They are located in Athens and they have a good football team.”
Said Wofford, “UGA wanted to set up a meeting so [Mark Richt] could get a feel for Francis, and Francis could get a feel for Georgia. It didn’t work out. Georgia said they wanted him to come back in November for one of their home games. We’ll see if it works out.”
Kallon, as he has stated all along, insists that he is 100-percent committed to Georgia Tech. However, he said he may be attending an Auburn game with his teammate, Central Gwinnett junior linebacker Trey Johnson, who has already committed to the SEC West school. He may also be attending games at Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Alabama. [Note: Alabama and Auburn haven't offered Kallon yet but have stopped by the school to check on him]
“His father wants Francis to see some games at other schools to have something to compare to Georgia Tech,” Wofford said. “He’s new to football, and they want to see some game atmospheres and college campuses.”
What about Georgia Tech fans worried about Francis visiting other schools? “Georgia Tech is tearing it up in football. He’s not running away from Georgia Tech. He just doesn’t have anything to compare with Georgia Tech.”
Kallon echoed his coach. “Georgia Tech is 5-0. They are really doing well. I’m excited about playing for Georgia Tech next year. I want to go to some other games, but they [Georgia Tech] trust me. They know I’m still committed there.”
Note: In case you missed it, here’s a must-read story on Francis by Todd Holcomb for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Click on link for story
BIG STORIES OF THE DAY
Creekside DB Davion Tookes visited Virginia Tech over the weekend. He is a longtime commitment to the Hokies (AJC photo by Michael Carvell)
- North Gwinnett DL Jordan Washington talks about his Ohio State offer (click on story link)
- Guess who was waiting on Atlanta basketball star Tony Parker when he returned from his official visit to UCLA? Coach K. The Duke coach has launched an all-out effort to land TP (click on story link)
- Vanderbilt (yes, Vanderbilt) is recruiting Atlanta in a way that would make Lane Kiffin proud. Vanderbilt’s coach cruised to a pair of high school games on Friday in a helicopter (click on story link)
- Will OL Brandon Kublanow commit to UGA after getting his “dream offer” this weekend? (click on story link)
- Steve Spurrier gets commitment from Columbia HS defensive end Jhaustin Thomas (click on story link)
- Twin sons of ex-NBA point guard Mookie Blaylock are headed to Kentucky — but to play football (click on story link)
– By Michael Carvell, AJC Recruiting Blog
Got an item? mcarvell@ajc.com
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192 comments Add your comment
Brainiac(Dawg For Life)
October 5th, 2011
10:36 am
GT Joe: GT fans haven’t had much to cheer about in recent years………..Much like our UGA fans, but be careful. Clemson and FSU are waiting for a Bunglebee snack. Enjoy it while you can.
layinlow
October 5th, 2011
10:37 am
A 1530 on the current SAT scale would equate to a 1020 on the old scale. It’s okay and i’m not knocking the kid but it’s certainly average by todays standard. I suppose that is why he is retaking the test.
Will
October 5th, 2011
10:37 am
For all of you “CPJ must pull his scholarship because of his no visit rule” idiots, where have you ever seen CPJ himself state this rule? That is not his rule.
Second, there is more to life than football and if I had a son I’d encourage him to go somewhere else besides UGA or any SEC school; too many distractions and they basically give diplomas in any subject to anyone who applies these days.
Third, the new scale (2400) doesn’t have enough years of data to be used like that so when someone says 1530 they generally mean out of 1600 still. With a score like that I’d honestly rather my kid go to Harvard; he’d still have an excellent shot at the NFL with an amazing fallback degree.
Not Disappointed
October 5th, 2011
10:39 am
Good luck young man! Ramblin WReck!
university of georgia on game day
October 5th, 2011
10:41 am
maybe THIS is the reason why the Kallon’s don’t want to visit UGA on game day.
Michael Adams, UGA President:
There was urination, there was defecation, there were 70 tons of trash. Buildings like the Law School or the library, we’ve had to close because when we left them open the destruction was too significant.
Augusta Chronicle – (UGA) has to close the library on game days because … “people were peeing in the stacks, vomiting in the stairwell and getting into fights in the lobby that the people who worked (there) got fed up with all the abuse.”
how embarrassing. it is obvious from these quotes that education is not on the forefront of the uga itinerary.
GT Joe
October 5th, 2011
10:44 am
Layinlow: 1020 out of 1600 on the SAT is actually close to the average of the GT FOOTBALL team. Which happens to be the highest football team average of all public schools in the FBS.
GT Joe
October 5th, 2011
10:45 am
Once again, Kallon is just going to games, these are not OFFICIAL VISITS. If he was taking an official visit, CPJ would say something.
juvenal
October 5th, 2011
10:47 am
CPJ just wants to know the last week or 2 what the real head count is, the rest of the time, have fun, milk it……
Brainiac(Dawg For Life)
October 5th, 2011
10:48 am
Dear Roll Turd: You have a very short memory. How many coaches did Bama hire in one year? You just need to worry about Bama’s team who will once again fall to the Newtonless Auburn Tigers and keep in mind that No team in the SEC has a winning record against CMR ecept Florida. Appears you are kissing some Bunglebee A$$ for whatever reasons. Perhaps to get an invite into the GT dressing room in hopes of getting a glimpse of CPJ’s “man boobs” that you appear so interested in.
Achtung
October 5th, 2011
10:58 am
I like the part where his coach said he better visit other schools and compare them to Tech because he’s” new ” to football. Good advice.
Say It Aint So
October 5th, 2011
11:07 am
Will you seem to be the idiot, you support a team and don’t know their coaches practices. He has said it many times and has pulled offers off the table because want to visit other schools. Dumb A–
Say It Aint So
October 5th, 2011
11:08 am
“Man boobs” now thats funny.
robinva
October 5th, 2011
11:11 am
I chuckled at the middle schoolers comments about bras and panties and so forth. Guess there are no acronyms for armpit fart sounds (MFSWMA?) Funny thing, after reading the remarks I checked and Tech is still 5-0. Go Jackets
RamblingGold
October 5th, 2011
11:13 am
One ‘Dog Gone Too Long! – based on your posts, if your son IS actually competing to get into a top ten engineering school, it is unlikely that you are his biological father…
GT Joe
October 5th, 2011
11:15 am
Say it aint so: Kallon isn’t taking an OFFICIAL VISIT, he’s just watching some games. BIG difference.
1530 on the SAT!
October 5th, 2011
11:27 am
Do you think you could find 4 current UGA players that could collectively equal that score? And for all the UGA fans on here, collectively means added together.
juvenal
October 5th, 2011
11:32 am
just a shame all the man boob haters ran Christie off……
roll tide my A_____
October 5th, 2011
11:32 am
uga is a bunch of inbred dewdews and by the way your coach needs a bra too…
icallbs
October 5th, 2011
11:42 am
Awesome story. Let’s ALL wish him well wherever he goes. He is already a success!
Say It Aint So
October 5th, 2011
11:49 am
GT Joe so you’re saying said schools aren’t making the push for his services, yea right!
GT Joe
October 5th, 2011
11:51 am
They might be making a push, but CPJ was mad at that other recruit for taking an OFFICIAL visit after committing to GT. Kallon isn’t taking official visits, just watching games, so CPJ won’t pull his scholly.
Say It Aint So
October 5th, 2011
11:53 am
So all you have to say is its not official, I’m just going to watch a game. What a croc
jsmooth
October 5th, 2011
11:56 am
Hey Georgia Tech 5-0:
What’s the latest in that UGA-GT rivalry, is it 9 out of the last 10?? Football in front of 30,000 people instead of 90,000 plus on a Saturday afternoon? Come on, football is a joke when it comes to fan support at Grant Field. The only guaranteed sellout well be Clemson and UGA, thanks to your competitor’s fans. Get a life and keep dreaming!!
CMR is a liar
October 5th, 2011
12:01 pm
Once again – CMR has lost his supposed morals, values and his character. He has stated more than a few times that once a recruit has committed to another school it should stop there. He has said that he “questions the character of a player who can’t keep or honor his commitment” and that “I don’t know if I would want a player playing for me who won’t honor his commitment…verbal or otherwise”. So – now, when it is convenient to St. Richt – he STILL pursues recruits who have ALREADY made commitments elsewhere – verbal or otherwise.
Now – what does that say about the true character of St. Richt?? I think it makes him a hypocrite and a liar. Sorry – but call a spade a spade.
whatever
October 5th, 2011
12:06 pm
To jsmooth – you state “ootball is a joke when it comes to fan support at Grant Field.” – that’s because Tech students and Alum have much higher priorities (and a life) than worry 365 days a year about how our football team is going to do – which is a bunch of 18-21 year olds. It’s really sad how people like you and most other UGA fans seem to make yourselves seem much better because your team (and most UGA fans – and likely yourself – didn’t EVEN go to Georgia) won a stupid football game. So why don’t you and the other cocky UGA fans get a REAL life. There are MUCH more important things in this world than watching teenagers play a game on a Saturday afternoon.
db
October 5th, 2011
12:24 pm
Dang – let the bullpups win a couple of games against the lower tier of their conference and again you’d think they were ranked, uh, ranked, hmmmm, well, just ranked.
The reason no one likes the dogs is they’re all ways making noise. Whining when they’re losing and running at the mouth when the win a couple.
You’d think with all these top 5 recruiting classes they have at least something to show for it.
GT, on the other hand, takes these 3 *’s and coaches them up.
Go chew on your bone dog fans.
The Vols are going to take that bootie come Saturday.
Say It Aint So
October 5th, 2011
12:32 pm
Whatever I guess that “higher Priorities” relates to putting “To Hell With Ga” in your fight song shows how concerned about football and the Dawgs you guys are.
GT Joe
October 5th, 2011
12:34 pm
silly mutts, have nothing to brag about regarding their football team so they brag on their stadium or attendance. LOL.
I wonder if they were bragging about their perfect attendance awards in elementary school (if they actually went).
LMAO
October 5th, 2011
12:51 pm
Herschel Talker – I didn’t know you had internet service at a mobile home park you must be moving up in the world how is your new double wide
footballfan365
October 5th, 2011
12:54 pm
Tech fans since you enjoy turning EVERY article into a debate about academics can you explain why your graduation rate is so low. Nobody can deny that tech is a great engineering school but can you explain why only a handful of your scholarship football players major in engineering. Tech fans brag about what it takes to get into tech but when you talk about the 43% graduation rate they get quiet. And for goodness sake can they atleast try to keep the students safe.
1eyedJack
October 5th, 2011
1:04 pm
He should come to the game after Thanksgiving and watch his team get beat on it’s own field.
Brock
October 5th, 2011
1:07 pm
schmeckdawg
October 5th, 2011
9:43 am
You gotta love it. The Joke By Coke has not played ONE ranked team, but yet, they are ranked #13 in the country!
Tech played # 24/25(according to which poll you like) North Carolina the 4th week of the season and won. So they played and beat a ranked team.
Anything else you would like to make up?
Brock
October 5th, 2011
1:13 pm
Furthermore Boiste St is ranked what, 5th or 6th and who have they played? Nobody. After 8 teams lose that were ranked ahead of Tech, then Tech wins at #21, where do you think they were suppose to go? # 30? Good god boy.
No choice but to go up. It is what it is. Let’s see if they can climb.
bucket
October 5th, 2011
1:14 pm
The real question Tech fans should be asking is why are they only ranked 13th when they are 5-0? The serious 5-0 contenders from the ACC and the SEC are in the top 5. Doesn’t really bode well for what the coaches and writers really think about Tech. We shall see if it’s legit or not, but anyone who thinks UGA and alot of other schools wouldn’t be undefeated with Tech’s schedule doesn’t know much about football. As Luke astutely pointed out to me today the final score doesn’t always tell the whole story. All wins and losses are not equal.
anotherdawg
October 5th, 2011
1:14 pm
For info on SAT scores under current system, plus the average score, check out: http://businessmajors.about.com/od/satgmatpreparation/a/averageSATscore.htm
AJC Hypocrites
October 5th, 2011
1:16 pm
Whole article about this terrific kid but like always the AJC with its UGA writers make sure the subtle hint is “Come to UGA”. Why put the poll asking about what is Tech’s greatest need when you do not even list the greatest need as a choice??? Everyone at Tech and any die hard Tech fan knows our greatest need is the DL and a close second is at LB. We have running backs and offensive skilled positions (could always use another top notch receiver) and we have plenty of secondary talent. The OL would be the third greatest need but defensively is by far where we need the recruits!
St Simons
October 5th, 2011
1:23 pm
Please come to Tech and get a ring. Not sure what it will stand for yet, but we”ll get you one for something. Heck, if nothing else, we’ll get you one for scoring over 1500 on the SAT. Please don’t be distraught if it’s not for winning the Georgia game or the bowl game.
bucket
October 5th, 2011
1:24 pm
Boo-hoo AJC Hypocrite! You know we hear all the time about how superior the education is at GTech and how successful the Tech grads are, but some of you love to embrace victim status! The AJC hates us, the NCAA hates us, the Board of Regents hates us, etc. Blah, Blah, Blah. UGA hasn’t been very good for a couple of years now and we only have ourselves to blame for that.
PlanB
October 5th, 2011
1:33 pm
Sounds like a good kid with intelligent parents. I don’t understand why he doesn’t go to Duke where he would make an immediate impact. He would be a star on a team increasing in talent and on the rise. He would be helping a mediocre team that’s on the rise, get better and be noted for that instead of being on a team that’s already good. This young man would go a long way with a Duke degree!!!
A Duke football season ticket holder, (previous Gainesville, Ga. resident)
PlanB
GT Joe
October 5th, 2011
1:53 pm
PlanB, according to your logic, every 5 star recruit would want to go to Duke. Did you ever think why they don’t go?
GT Joe
October 5th, 2011
1:56 pm
footballfan365: why are our grad rates so low? Because we don’t have Jan Kemp. Because our school is hard. Because the competition is tough. Because football players don’t get special treatment from profs.
Our grad rates are low, and our football team has the highest average SAT score of all public FBS schools. Tells you how tough the school is.
If you guys have dummies and they all get degrees, doesn’t say much for that uga degree does it?
KJ
October 5th, 2011
1:56 pm
“Tech students and Alum (sic) have much higher priorities (and a life) than worry (sic) 365 days a year about how our football team is going to do”
Love this argument from the gnats… yeah, higher priorities, like trolling UGA blogs all day, every day.
Flounder
October 5th, 2011
2:24 pm
Another article … same old crapola on the blogs.
Hey, by the way … did you know that GT has lost 9 out the last 10 games against UGA??
GT Z09
October 5th, 2011
2:27 pm
footballfan365…It’s pretty simple. Graduation rates for our football players are so low because Tech doesn’t hand out diplomas. When the overall student body’s 4 year graduation rate is 31%, it makes sense that our football players would also have a mediocre graduation rate…http://collegeapps.about.com/od/collegeprofiles/p/GeorgiaTech_pfl.htm
I know it’s hard to believe, but the Engineering curriculum at Tech is extremely difficult and rigorous. Most students struggle with the course load itself without having to dedicate themselves to hours upon hours of football practice, film study, etc. Any Tech athlete that can juggle a sport and engineering, is undoubtedly going to be successful in life. But let’s be real, the vast majority of Div. 1 football players would not get into their respective schools had it not been for their ability to play football at such a high level to begin with. Hence the reason for majors such as housing, turf management, pre-journalism, etc. That is not a knock on these kids, just the facts.
As far as Francis and the article goes, hopefully he remains committed to Tech. He seems like a bright kid and realizes the importance of getting a great education. Hopefully he has the talent to play in the NFL one day, but keep in mind playing a sport professionally is temporary, while getting a degree lasts a lifetime.
Go Jackets
1eyedJack
October 5th, 2011
2:49 pm
It is a self-admitted FACT that Tech steers it’s athletes into management, so don’t give us that engineering curriculum crap.
GT Joe
October 5th, 2011
2:51 pm
Tampa, are you an idiot. I showed you the link to the USA TODAY COACHES POLL, which is used for the BCS formula. UNC was #25.
Reading is fundamental.
BD
October 5th, 2011
2:53 pm
Another player like Brandon Miller or Richard Samuel for UGA to ruin. Stick with GT kid.
footballfan365
October 5th, 2011
3:17 pm
@gtjoe and gtz09 you both gave excuses about the academics at tech and again I ask why do you fans continue to brag about the academics when the end results are piss poor? Normally people brag about things they are good or successful at. The goal is to graduate from college and players at tech are not doing that. At the end of the day if a player signs with tech he most likely will become a college drop out but since they were admitted to tech all is well with you guys. So when athletes drop out from tech are they given the leg up when applying for jobs? If you choose to brag about something atleast brag about something that has positive results in the end, there is nothing positive about dropping out of college
lucky21
October 5th, 2011
3:23 pm
I think CPJ isn’t worried about him seeing other teams play beacuse the kid really hasnt seen much football in his life, so personally as a tech fan I say the more he sees the better.
boots
October 5th, 2011
3:27 pm
bo-bo, GA Tech might have a great educational environment, but so does UGA. Give it a rest. Chances are, you went to neither school and know little to nothing about the educational environments. These are old, tired arguments. The facts are that both UGA and GA Tech represent the state well and are top 25 public universities / institutes. Further, if getting the BEST education was this guy’s only goal, Vanderbilt would have prevailed, and he would probably be looking at schools like Stanford, U of Chicago, Harvard and Yale with his background and grades.