Archive for the ‘Florida State’ Category

Apparently Chad Simmons of Scout.com and I are on the same wave length.

The respected Southeast region recruiting analyst put up a report this morning on Calhoun wide receiver Da’Rick Rogers, a five-star prospect, AJC Super 11 selection and a University of Georgia commitment.

It just so happens that I am heading up to Calhoun this afternoon to talk to Rogers, quarterback Nash Nance (a Vanderbilt commitment) and coach Hal Lamb in a previously arranged meeting. My father lives in Calhoun — starred for the Yellow Jackets in the mid-1950s — so I’d planned for a while to get up there and meet in person this phenomenal football player.

Simmons didn’t really steal my thunder, though. Rogers told him what Coach Lamb told me last week, that he remains “solid to Georgia” despite continued intense overtures from Tennessee, Florida and Southern Cal. Hopefully I’ll be able to glean a few more insights from Da’Rick today.

If there are some specific questions you’d like me to ask Rogers, …

Continue reading Checking out Da’Rick Rogers, and other fun stuff »

You have to like Avery Walls’ proactive approach to recruiting.

A junior defensive back at Union Grove, he already has landed an offer from Oklahoma because he and his parents sent a “recruiting packet” they put together that included personal information, video highlights and academic information. They did the same thing for Stanford and it resulted in an official offer from the Cardinal Monday night.

“I talked to Coach [Jim] Harbaugh last night and he asked me if I’d received my official offer letter,” Walls said. “I said I hadn’t seen it. We talked for a while and he was telling me a lot about the school and the campus about the football program. It’s a very prestigious school. I feel great about it.”

Walls (5-10, 180) transferred to Union Grove from Sandy Creek last year. As a safety this season, the junior has four interceptions and leads the team 60 tackles, 10 pass breakups, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery for a touchdown.

Walls has been to at least two …

Continue reading Avery Walls adds Stanford to his list of official offers »

Storm Johnson landed nicely after LSU reneged on him this summer. The Loganville tailback committed to Miami on Sunday.

It was only fitting that a guy named Storm would end up a Hurricane.

Storm Johnson, a Loganville tailback and one of the top rushers in the state, committed to the University of Miami on Sunday. The 6-foot-1, 215-pound senior made the decision without ever seeing the Hurricanes’ Coral Gables campus. He’ll do that during an official visit on Dec. 12.

“I just felt like they were the top of my list,” said Johnson, who transferred to Loganville High from Buford over the summer. “I got along well with the coaches. I like my running backs coach and head coach Randy Shannon. Education-wise, it’s a private school and will be a great education. . . . When I go down there that will be just icing on the cake.”

Johnson said he chose Miami over Michigan State and Oregon, in that order. Florida State, Kentucky, Alabama, North Carolina and N.C. State also were recruiting …

Continue reading RB Storm Johnson commits to Miami Hurricanes »

Justin Tukes, a 6-foot-5, 225-pound tight end and defensive end at Worth County High School, has committed to UCF.

Tukes had offers from UAB and Georgia State. Coach Scotty Ward thinks BCS schools’ missed on him.

“He’s kind of under the radar, I’d guess you’d say,” Ward said. “I mean, we had a lot of big schools through here in the spring and he went to some camps, so they know about him. I just think Central Florida got one heck of a player.”

Ward also thinks some major schools have overlooked offensive and defensive lineman Sherrod Loud. Loud committed to Georgia State earlier this year.

“Sherrod is the best defensive lineman I’ve ever coached,” he said of the 6-foot-1, 285-pound senior. Ward said more schools are “getting in the mix” with Loud, including Western Michigan and UAB.

Now, for your reading pressure, some of our weekly links:

• Here’s some good recruiting news for Georgia, which has seemed to have gotten only bad news lately: Remember five-star wide receiver …

Continue reading UCF lands South Georgia TE, and other news and links »

It’s Friday afternoon and that means it’s almost time for Friday night lights!

We turn our attention south of Atlanta tonight to find the biggest conglomeration of talent on the gridiron as North Clayton plays host to Griffin in a battle of Class AAAA unbeatens.

There will be a bunch of Division 1 talent on both sides of the ball but Comcast Sports Southeast (CSS), which is broadcasting the game live at 7:30 p.m., will surely focus on one matchup in particular — North Clayton’s Clarence Jackson vs. Griffin’s Xzavier Dickson.

Jackson is a longtime Ole Miss commitment who has been making a case as one of the best running backs in Atlanta and is way above average as a linebacker. Staring him down from the other side of the ball will be Dixon, a huge defensive end who the Bears move all over the place to gain matchup advantages and keep offenses guessing where he’ll be. Though just a junior, the 6-foot-4, 230-pound Dixon already holds offers from Alabama and Auburn (says Bama …

Continue reading ‘Prospects on Parade’ in N. Clayton-Griffin game »

Storm Johnson said he liked everything about his official visit to Michigan State this past weekend.

Well, almost everything.

Loganville's Storm Johnson, who has over 700 yards rushing and 12 TDs in five games this season, still doesn't have a true leader in recruiting. (AJC Photo)

“It was kind of cold,” Loganville’s star running back said with a grin when I visited him at practice earlier this week. “Forty degrees and raining. It was freezing and this is October! But I guess you learn to deal with that and get used to it.”

And Johnson said he probably could get used to it. He has learned a lot about adaptability and flexibility these past few months.

Johnson transferred from Class AA juggernaut Buford to Loganville after last season. Late this summer, Johnson committed to LSU only to find out afterward the Tigers were no longer interested in his services. Since then Johnson’s recruitment has been, quite literally, all over the map.

“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” …

Continue reading Storm Johnson’s recruitment full of twists, turns »

Georgia plucking a couple of these four- and five-star recruits out of Florida might not be such a long shot after all.

Tuesday, four-star cornerback Cody Riggs of Ft. Lauderdale gave the Bulldogs very high marks after his official visit last weekend. Then I talked to four-star corner Terrence Mitchell of Tampa yesterday and he was basically raving about what he saw on his trip to Athens. As it turns out, Mitchell and Riggs  are friends that have known each other for years and wouldn’t mind playing together.

“I’m liking Georgia a lot right now to tell you the truth,” Mitchell said Wednesday afternoon. “I’ve got to take some more visits. I’ve got to look at Florida State a little more and see what’s going to happen with them over the next couple of years. But I really liked what I saw at Georgia.”

It was the first official visit of the fall for Mitchell (5-10, 165), who also plays wide receiver for Hillsborough High. He said he was blown away by the crowd and the atmosphere at …

Continue reading Tampa CB Mitchell: ‘I’m liking Georgia a lot right now’ »

For the last three hours you’ve played the biggest game of your life. You’ve broken up a pass, blocked a field goal, made a couple of tackles and fought off cramps on a hot and humid night. Your No. 1-ranked St. Thomas Aquinas team has just knocked off the No. 2-ranked team in the nation in Byrnes. So what do you do?

If you’re Cody Riggs, you pile into a van and make the 10-hour drive from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., to Athens, Ga.

That was the scenario this past Friday for this Top-10 rated cornerback, who came to the University of Georgia for an official visit this past weekend.

“We left right after the game and drove,” said Riggs, a 5-foot-9, 165-pound senior. “It wasn’t that bad for me. I slept the whole time.”

Riggs made the journey with his mother, stepfather and aunt. He said they got on the road about 1 a.m. and pulled up to Georgia’s Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall about 10:30 a.m. That’s actually pretty good time for the 655-mile journey up Interstate 75.

“We might’ve stopped, I …

Continue reading CB Riggs says long trip to UGA was worth the trouble »

Here’s your after-lunch desert of recruiting nuggets:

It’s getting really ugly down at Florida State. Make that U-G-L-Y, spelled out in all capital letters. Not surprisingly, it’s having a negative effect on the Seminoles’ recruiting.

The furor is over legendary coach Bobby Bowden. There has long been an internal debate over when and under what circumstances the patriarchal 79-year-old coach should step down. But it’s not internal anymore. After this past weekend’s loss to Boston College it’s all over the Florida newspapers and television stations.

Not only are the Seminoles wasting away with a 2-3 record but there are rampant reports of in-fighting among assistant coaches and divided support for head coach-designate Jimbo Fisher. It’s no surprise when a columnist like Orlando’s Mike Bianchi writes that Bowden should step down. It’s another thing when the local newspaper calls for Bowden to announce his retirement right away. That’s a death knell if there ever was one.

But a …

Continue reading Bowden mess at FSU wreaking havoc on recruiting »

It’s not often in this hyperbolic sports world that we live in that any event can live up to expectations. But somehow the St. Thomas Aquinas-Byrnes game did this past Friday.

The nationally-televised game (ESPNU) matched the nation’s No. 1 (STA) and No. 2 high school teams and featured about two dozen Division 1 prospects. A few of those recruits are considering Georgia.

And they did not disappoint in the game, won by St. Thomas Aquinas 42-34.

STA’s Lamarcus Joyner, who ESPN ranks as the No. 1 cornerback in America (No. 2 by both Rivals and Scout), ended up being the star of the game, but not for anything he did on defense (Byrnes had over 500 yards offense). Joyner had two touchdowns on a 93-yard kickoff return and a 52-yard pass reception. He still lists Georgia as one of his school considerations, along with Florida, FSU, Ohio State and Southern Cal.

Byrnes running back Marcus Lattimore is considered the top back in the nation by Scout and No. 2 by Rivals and ESPN. And he …

Continue reading Georgia targets shine in STA-Byrnes game on ESPNU »