Archive for March, 2012

University of Tennessee officials told the AJC on Friday that there’s no connection between 5-star WR Cordarrelle Patterson signing with the Volunteers last month and one of Patterson’s coaches recently joining Tennessee’s football staff.

Patterson played at Hutchinson (Kan.) junior college and was ranked as the No. 1 overall JC prospect in the nation. Up until the final hours before signing day, nearly every recruiting analyst was predicting for Patterson to sign with UGA.

Last week, the Tennessee Rivals website Volquest.com reported that Hutchinson assistant head coach Brandon Staley “will have an undisclosed role in the Tennessee football program.” It immediately sparked speculation, especially among Tennessee fans on this message board, that Staley was part of a delayed “package deal” involving Patterson.

We asked Tennessee for some clarification.

It was high fives for everyone in Rocky Top on signing day when Derek Dooley landed the No. 1 junior college …

Continue reading Cordarrelle Patterson: Tennessee denies ‘package deal’ with ex-UGA 5-star recruiting target »

Micah “Snacks” Anderson, one of the state’s biggest linemen, signed with Central Florida this week – more than six weeks after signing day.

The 6-foot-4, 355-pounder from Stone Mountain High School will play defensive tackle at Central Florida.

“Central Florida is getting a great player,” Stone Mountain coach Dante Ferguson said. “He’s the strongest player on our team, and he is very athletic for his size. He’s a hard worker and a good kid. He’s a comedian with such a good personality. He will keep them laughing at UCF and will be a great teammate there.”

Happy ending for Micah "Snacks" Anderson. After being dropped by Western Kentucky, he was picked up by Central Florida (Special)

Enquiring minds want to know: What about the “Snacks” nickname? “It honestly came from my freshman year,” Anderson said. “I was extremely big [at 420 pounds] before I worked out and lost weight. ‘Snacks’ was the name my coach gave me, and it just stuck with me …

Continue reading Micah ‘Snacks’ Anderson signs with Central Florida »

RBs are a recruiting priority for 2013 for Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson (AJC photo)

Georgia Tech’s 2013 recruiting class may turn out to be the smallest since Paul Johnson has been the coach at the ACC school.

The Yellow Jackets project to sign around 14-15 football recruits next February, according to Johnson.

Why such a low number? Georgia Tech has a small class of rising seniors, and the Yellow Jackets traditionally have lower percentages of player attrition than many other colleges in the Southeast.

How will a smaller class affect Georgia Tech’s recruiting strategy?

“It will probably make us more selective,” Johnson told the AJC. “You have to be more selective. But that’s kind of what it has been like at Georgia Tech for the last couple of years. The following year [in 2014], we’ll probably have a bigger class. That’s when we’ll start to have larger senior classes.

“I don’t know if we’ll ever get close to 25 signees like some of the other schools …

Continue reading Georgia Tech may have smaller recruiting class for 2013 »

Who is No. 1 out of Georgia and Florida in producing D1 football players? It's definitely still Florida but … Georgia produced more 2012 SEC signees than Florida, 65-40. Surprised? (AP)

As we were finishing up a recent interview with Steve Spurrier, the Head Ball Coach threw out a stat for us. He caught us by surprise.

“I’ll tell you what, Georgia has overtaken the state of Florida for Division I signees now … I don’t know if you knew that or not,” Spurrier told the AJC. “Last year, there were more players that signed Division I out of Georgia than out of the state of Florida. Georgia may be the No. 1 state in the nation now for high school football.”

Coming from the former coach of the University of Florida, that was quite the compliment for the state of Georgia. It wasn’t exactly true but Spurrier meant well. He also probably was a little giddy after a dominating recruiting effort in Georgia this past year. Probably nobody recruited the state as well as …

Continue reading Is Georgia catching up with Florida in producing top-tier D1 prospects? »

Can I get a second? Are any SEC coaches ready to publicy endorse Derek Dooley's outspoken belief that over-signing is good for student-athletes? We asked a few and … (AP)

Last month, Derek Dooley blasted the SEC’s new “roster management” rules to address over-signing.

Summary: The attorney-turned-football coach at Tennessee made a heck of an argument that you can read here. Dooley said “over-signing is good for the student-athlete” and claimed “98 percent of the time” it benefitted recruits. He also said the SEC’s head coaches (himself included) “failed” to communicate the positives of over-signing to the media and general public.

Was the leader of the Big Orange Nation correct?

We thought Dooley made some points worth asking around about. After all, if you remember, the SEC coaches voted 12-0 against the new rules last spring before they were bulldozed by their bosses, the school presidents.

Who wanted to sign a petition in favor of over-signing? We …

Continue reading Are SEC coaches ready to endorse Derek Dooley with positives of over-signing? »

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From strictly a recruiting standpoint, who got the better deal out of Texas A&M joining the SEC? The SEC or the Aggies?

We know Texas A&M boosted its football reputation by joining the conference that has a stranglehold on BCS championships. We know they will get rich from the SEC’s renegotiated TV contact.

But we’re looking at it from a recruiting perspective: Now the SEC has highly-visible representation in Texas, coaches and scouts will be overrunning the border patrol to steal talent from one of the top three talent-rich states in the country.

Who got the better deal?

“I don’t know,” Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin told the AJC.

“We’re joining a league that is established, and is the best league in college football. It’s hard to say … when you’re coming in a league that has won six straight national …

Continue reading Who got better deal out of Texas A&M joining SEC? Aggies or new rivals? »

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Dabo Swinney told the AJC that he’s never really thought about the enormous reaction by Clemson fans or the general public to his famous “That’s why Carolina’s in Chapel Hill and USC’s in California” rant against South Carolina last December.

Dabo’s rant was the stuff of legends, maybe the most colorful and entertaining quotes of the year from a big-time college football coach. In only a few minutes during an interview before the ACC championship game, Swinney fired a nuclear weapon at his archivals and the sharp-tongued Steve Spurrier. Dabo became an instant YouTube celebrity, caused himself to trend on Twitter, and – most importantly – both reinvigorated and universally rallied Clemson’s fan base.

Meanwhile, South Carolina’s …

Continue reading Dabo Swinney: Clemson coach reflects on his famous rant: ‘That’s why Carolina’s in Chapel Hill and USC’s in California’ »

Robert Nkemdiche wore the Grayson green (and a Jets caps) to Clemson's practice on Monday

Robert Nkemdiche, the nation’s No. 1 overall college prospect, visited Clemson for the second week in  a row on Monday with his best friend — who was offered a football scholarship by the Tigers on Monday.

Nkemdiche told the AJC he enjoyed his return trip to Clemson, and looked forward to visiting LSU on Saturday.

“It will be first time seeing LSU; I’m ready,” Nkemdiche said. “I think it will be very, very fun.”

Nkemdiche and his best friend since the sixth grade, Grayson DB David Kamara, will leave for LSU on late Friday. They are unlikely to visit Vanderbilt on March 24 because of travel constraints. The following week, Kamara will go to Mississippi State, which offered him last week, while Nkemdiche is unsure.

Back to Clemson: Nkemdiche and Kamara had a school holiday on Monday, and spent about four hours at Clemson’s spring practice, meeting with coach Dabo Swinney and …

Continue reading Robert Nkemdiche: Pumped up about first-ever visit to LSU »

Life is good for Mike London: He was 2011 ACC Coach of year, took Virginia to its first bowl game since 2007, got a fat raise and contract extension, and beat Alabama for Georgia's top QB prospect (AP)

The top out-of-state coaches come up with creative ways to lure Georgia’s elite football talent to their schools.

Nick Saban mailed a Atlanta RB 105 letters … in a day.

Vanderbilt’s coach cruises around Atlanta in a helicopter.

And Virginia’s coach? Mike London scored major creativity points with the recruiting tactic that helped lure Georgia’s No. 1 prospect at QB, Greyson Lambert. He signed with the Cavaliers over Alabama.

Virginia’s coach made a big impression with a recruiting video.

Here’s the story: When Lambert visited Virginia’s campus last summer, London couldn’t be there in person because he had a previous engagement. But London was there on a TV screen. He had a video made for the star quarterback. Here’s Lambert’s comments about it:

“They …

Continue reading UVA’s secrets on beating Nick Saban for Georgia’s No. 1 QB »

You never know who you might see on Georgia Tech's campus (Photo by man-with-no-name.com)

Some of the Georgia’s top high school football prospects got a taste of Hollywood while visiting Georgia Tech this weekend.

Some scenes from the Clint Eastwood movie “Trouble With the Curve” are being filmed at Georgia Tech’s baseball stadium. The movie “revolves around an aging baseball scout (played by Eastwood), who goes on a road trip to Atlanta with his daughter to check out a potential recruit,” according to MTV.com. Justin Timberlake also appears in the film.

On Saturday, Georgia Tech’s football staff took a group of juniors on a campus tour which went by the baseball stadium.

“We looked for Clint Eastwood or Justin Timberlake, but we didn’t see them,” Davin Bellamy, a defensive end from Chamblee High School. “It was pretty cool, though. There were about five police cars, the movie set truck, and a bunch of cameras.”

“That was awesome, seeing how …

Continue reading Georgia Tech recruits get a taste of Hollywood »