Archive for August, 2012

Some of Atlanta’s college football prospects will be writing a weekly diary for the AJC until February’s signing day. They will be sharing their thoughts, opinions, adventures and perspectives on the recruiting journey.

Eddie Printz led Lassiter High School to its first-ever appearance in the state semifinals last year. He completed 277 of 442 passes for 3,350 yards and 28 touchdowns with 9 interceptions. Printz committed to SMU last September, and later switched to UCLA in January.

August was an exciting month.  I was selected to The AJC Super 11 which is the highest individual honor for a high school player in Georgia.  I am humbled by this recognition.  Guys I know like Jamal Lewis, Joe Burns and Robert Cromartie were Super 11 players.  Don’t ask me how the selection process works because I don’t know about stats, stars or anything other than wins.  Like Coach Ron Veal says, stay hungry and humble.  It is a huge honor and credit to my Lassiter …

Continue reading Recruiting Diary: AJC Super 11 QB Eddie Printz (plus video) »

• VIDEO: What’s the best and worst part of the recruiting process? We asked Robert Nkemdiche, Brice Ramsey, Tyren Jones and others in the below video

Auburn will take advantage of a new SEC rule to entertain some of the nation’s top college football prospects at Saturday’s Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game.

Reuben Foster, Montravius Adams, AJ Jackson and Trey Johnson are among the celebrity recruits who confirmed with the AJC that they will make an unofficial visit with Auburn to the Georgia Dome on Saturday.

As expected, Auburn will take advantage of a prime recruiting opportunity under a new SEC rule to invite top prospects to Saturday's game at the Georgia Dome (AP)

Last spring, the SEC passed league rules that finally gave permission to the home team of a game at a neutral site to entertain prospective student-athletes. It was already permitted by the NCAA. Auburn, which traditionally recruits the Atlanta area as well as any out-of-state school, has immediately taken …

Continue reading INSIDER: Auburn will take advantage of new SEC rule to entertain recruits at Georgia Dome »

Who is the state of Georgia’s top college football prospect for 2014?

One of the top candidates is DeShaun Watson, an electrifying QB from Gainesville High School who committed to Clemson over 10 early football scholarship offers last season as a sophomore.

The 6-foot-3, 195-pound Watson will be on display when Gainesville plays West Forsyth in a game that will be televised at 7:30 p.m. Thursday on WSB-TV 2.2 and Me-TV.

A Georgia recruiting trophy? After landing the state's No. 1 prospect this year with Robert Nkemdiche, Clemson also has secured one of the state's best for 2014 in QB DeShaun Watson of Gainesville (AP)

“He’s excellent, he may be the best quarterback I’ve ever seen,” West Forsyth coach Frank Hepler said “I watched him last week against Creekview, and he’s much bigger than I thought he would be.  He’s a tremendous talent. “I saw a lot of great quarterbacks down in Florida through my years, and then over the years in Georgia I’ve seen some …

Continue reading QB DeShaun Watson is “85 percent committed” to Clemson »

UGA freshman defensive back Sheldon Dawson will interview with an NCAA representative on Friday, according to the Memphis Commercial-Appeal’s Kyle Veazey.

Dawson’s high school coach told the newspaper that “Dawson …

Continue reading UGA freshman recruit to meet with NCAA on Friday, says report »

Jay Ellison has Georgia Tech among his four finalists, along with Auburn, South Carolina and Ole Miss.

The 6-2, 295-pound defensive lineman from Harris County High School attended Georgia Tech’s camp in July and has been keeping in contact with the Yellow Jackets. “I have a real good feeling about Georgia Tech. I like the coaches, and the atmosphere is great.”

DT Jay Ellison (AJC)

Georgia Tech is recruiting Ellison to play nose tackle or defensive inside, and right now he “prefers the inside.”

There’s also an outside chance that UGA may get involved. The Bulldogs, which haven’t offered yet, spoke to Ellison about a year ago about playing offensive line, and they’ve have limited contacted since. However, Ellison plans to attend UGA’s season-opener against Buffalo, and may try to talk again with the coaches. “I really want to play defensive line, but I will play offensive line, too,” Ellison said. “Then again, I’d really like to stay on the defensive …

Continue reading Jay Ellison: Georgia Tech in final four for 4-star DT »

Alabama is the frontrunner for the state's No. 9 overall prospect (AP)

Alabama is the frontrunner for Greg Taboada, one of the state’s top 10 uncommitted football prospects.

The 6-foot-5, 250-pound tight end from Marist high school also hasn’t ruled out the possibility of following a family tradition and attending UGA.

Taboada is ranked by ESPN as the state’s No. 9 overall prospect.

“I’m just kind of focused on my senior season right now,” Taboada told the AJC. “Alabama is pretty much at the top, with Vanderbilt, Virginia, Florida State and South Carolina right behind.”

Why is Alabama the leader? “I’ve gone on some visits, and in talking with Coach [Nick Saban], it’s a solid program. Their players don’t get into trouble, their players go to school and they don’t have off-the-field problems. It’s just a solid program. [Assistant Chris Rumph] has been awesome, and every time I go up there I feel comfortable. Obviously, you know if you go to Alabama, …

Continue reading Alabama is frontrunner for 4-star TE, who also likes UGA »

What’s the latest with QB Brice Ramsey and his commitment to UGA? Will he visit any other schools or just the Bulldogs? And what does Brice’s coach think of the highly-touted recruit? Check out the video above.

Which 5-star OL prospect and 4-star RB is Ramsey actively trying to recruit for UGA? He talks about it in the video.

UGA fans in the Atlanta area got a glimpse of the team’s “QB of the future” this weekend.

Ramsey, who committed to UGA last summer before he even started a high school football game, starred in Camden County’s 42-0 win over Peachthree Ridge in the Corky Kell Classic at the Georgia Dome on Satuday.

The 6-foot-3 Ramsey didn’t get many chances to throw out of Camden County’s Wing-T offense but he made the most out of the opportunities. Ramsey connected on 6 of 8 passes for 132 yards and 3 touchdowns. He also had another TD pass go through the hands of wide receiver.

Maybe most surprising was that Camden County, perhaps trying to take …

Continue reading Brice Ramsey: UGA’s “QB of Future” stars in opener »

Tyren Jones, who is considered by some to be the state’s No. 1 prospect at RB, recently made an unofficial visit to UGA.

That normally wouldn’t be a big deal – except for the fact that Jones has been committed to Alabama since last February. The 5-foot-9, 195-pounder from Walton High School picked the Crimson Tide over UGA and Clemson.

UGA is still chasing hard after Jones, who was the leading rusher in the state’s largest classification last season.

Why did Jones visit to UGA? He hasn’t talked much about it, perhaps not wanting to worry Alabama fans. But he finally revealed the reasons to the AJC in the above video.

Jones also talked about his high school teammate, offensive lineman Brandon “The Finisher” Kublanow, who is committed to UGA.

Are they trying to form a “package deal” to go to Alabama or UGA? Jones also addresses that in the video.

UPDATED: No disrespect to the one and only Robert Nkemdiche, but Tyren Jones may have been the most …

Continue reading Top Alabama football recruit explains why he visited UGA »

Auburn WR JaQuay Williams is headed to prep school (AJC)

JaQuay Williams, the state’s No. 1 college football prospect at WR this past year, will not play at Auburn this season.

Williams, who signed with Auburn in February after a last-minute flirtation with UGA, did not meet NCAA entrance requirements.

The Sandy Creek High School star will report instead to prep school – hopefully for one semester, with the idea of enrolling at Auburn in January.

“We finalized it today,” Sandy Creek coach Chip Walker told the AJC. “We talked with Auburn’s coaches, and with classes already started there, they wanted to go ahead and send him to Fork Union (prep school).”

Williams was taking an online class this summer to satisfy NCAA Clearinghouse standards but fell just short.

“It was heartbreaking,” Walker said. “Everybody wanted him at Auburn. It’s just one of them deals. But hopefully he’ll go to Fork Union for only one semester and be back at Auburn by …

Continue reading JaQuay Williams: Auburn WR signee headed to prep school (UPDATED) »

Some of Atlanta’s college football prospects will be writing a weekly diary for the AJC until February’s signing day. They will be sharing their thoughts, opinions, adventures and perspectives on the recruiting journey.

Kyle Wilson is a wide receiver who transferred to Sandy Creek High School from Alpharetta this summer for his …

Continue reading Recruiting Diary: Sandy Creek WR Kyle Wilson (Vol. II) »