Archive for the ‘Future Star’ Category

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.

Rashard Fant is considered one of the state’s top sleeper prospects. He has been overlooked by many colleges because he attends the small private school of Our Lady of Mercy. On Wednesday, Fant announced that he was committing to Indiana over Utah, FSU and Western Kentucky.

Rashard Fant

Well, things have changed a lot since the last time I wrote my entry; because I am now committed to play with Indiana University. I committed to Indiana on Wednesday mainly because of the relationships I have developed with the other commits in my class, Coach Shelby and Coach Wilson. They all made me feel like I was family, and showed me that they really wanted me to be part of the program. Also, academics played a huge role, because coming from a top-notch private …

Continue reading Recruiting Diary: Rashard Fant talks about his commitment to Indiana (Vol. IV) »

Not much has changed over the last month with Vonn Bell, one of the state’s top five uncommitted football prospects.

Probably the biggest news was something that didn’t happen — the 5-star safety from Ridgeland High School wasn’t able to make an official visit to Ohio State, which is one of his three finalists, along with Alabama and Tennessee.

Will Nick Saban raid Georgia yet again for an elite prospect? Alabama is a rumored frontrunner for 5-star DB Vonn Bell (AP)

“He was going to Ohio State two weeks ago, and it just became a logistical nightmare,” Ridgeland coach Mark Mariakis told the AJC.

“He was trying to catch a red-eye flight out of Nashville at 2 a.m. in the morning, get up to Ohio State, and get back on Sunday to be back at school on Monday. It just wasn’t feasible to do it and enjoy himself. I think he’s going to wait until after our season for his official visits.

“Hopefully, those teams are at bowl practices or something. Hopefully, our team (at …

Continue reading Vonn Bell: 5-star ponders over three finalists »

Georgia Tech has made two serious runs at Delando Crooks since the summer. But the 6-foot-5, 270-pound offensive lineman from Carver-Atlanta High School hasn’t been ready to make his college decision, according to his coach.

Where will OL Delando Crooks go? (AJC)

Crooks is one of the state’s top uncommitted prospects on the offensive line. At one time or another, he held offers from both Georgia Tech and UGA. He is still being heavily recruited by Stanford, Vanderbilt, Purdue and North Carolina, among others.

“Delando is not like some of these other kids who get carried away with recruiting and want to hold a special press conference to tell everybody where he’s going to college,” Carver-Atlanta coach Darren Myles told the AJC. “He just wants to take his visits so he can evaluate the schools evenly. He loves football but he’s serious about finding the right academic school as well.”

Georgia Tech has 13 commits for 2013, including three offensive linemen. The …

Continue reading Delando Crooks: Onetime Georgia Tech & UGA target playing the waiting game »

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 as a junior. On Friday, Printz completed 22 of 34 passes for 425 yards and 4 touchdowns in a 47-30 win over Milton. Last weekend, Printz verbally committed to Missouri while on his official visit. Printz initially committed to SMU more than a year ago, then later switched to UCLA last January. Last month, Printz said he was told by UCLA that his scholarship offer would no longer be honored. After being on the open market for around a month, Printz was picked up by Missouri.

AJC Super 11 QB Eddie Printz (AJC)

Now that the recruiting journey is over, I almost understand the process.  SMH.  There is nothing like it to prepare you for the journey except the …

Continue reading Recruiting Diary: New Missouri QB commit Eddie Printz (Vol. IV) »

UGA has had three members of its 2013 football recruiting class de-commit from the Bulldogs within the last few months. They’ve gone onto to either pledge to another college or remain undecided.

Perhaps the most unusual was Trenton Brown, the offensive lineman from Georgia Military College, a junior college in Milledgeville, Ga.

UGA has lost three 2013 recruits in recent months, and then whatever you want to make out of the Kelsey Griffin situation. There's also rumors flying about WR commit Tramel Terry (AP)

Brown seemed pretty solid with his commitment to UGA until a conversation last month with another target of the Bulldogs, 5-star OL Laremy Tunsil of Lake City, Fla.

“Florida asked Laremy Tunsil what Georgia told him about me, and Laremy told them I might be playing guard,” Brown told DawgNation’s Kipp Adams. “The Florida coaches told my coaches, and that is how I found out.”

After pondering it for a while, Brown eventually de-committed from UGA and remains …

Continue reading Trenton Brown: How things went wrong between UGA and JC star »

Do you know any high school juniors that are being overlooked by colleges?

There’s still a couple of weeks to nominate them for the AT&T Georgia Junior Bowl, which has quickly turned into the premier all-star football game for football players out of this state.

The third annual game, which will be held on Dec. 31 in Atlanta, features 90 of the state’s prospects. Around 40 have already been named to the rosters, while organizers will select the final 50 by Oct. 20.

After last year's Junior Bowl, DT Montravius Adams rocketed from a small-town hero to a national 5-star prospect (AJC)

If you play football in Georgia, it’s far more important to be in this game as a junior rather than the Under Armour or U.S. Army national games as a senior. Why is that? Because the Junior Bowl is where many prospects get “discovered” or make a name for themselves nationally while performing in front of the scouts, recruiting media and coaches in attendance – and the colleges that later …

Continue reading Do you know a HS junior that is being overlooked by colleges? »

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.

Shamire DeVine is the most highly-touted member of Georgia Tech’s 2013 recruiting class. Devine, who is ranked as the state’s No. 1 offensive lineman and a 4-star by Scout.com, committed to Georgia Tech over Florida State, while also considering football scholarship offers from Florida, UGA, Tennessee and USC. He pledged to Georgia Tech in early May.

I know Georgia Tech is 2-3 but I think they are doing good – they just have to keep it up and have some more fight. My observations on Georgia Tech are that they are holding it down. They are running the ball perfectly. There is nothing I see that needs to be improved.

Georgia Tech-bound Shamire Devine won OL MVP honors at Atlanta NIKE camp (AJC)

I have been talking to the Georgia Tech coaches. They are …

Continue reading Recruiting Diary: Georgia Tech-bound OL Shamire DeVine (Vol. III) »

One of UGA’s top football recruits didn’t make it to his official visit with the Bulldogs this past weekend.

But there was a good reason for it.

Shaun McGee, a 6-foot-2, 230-pound linebacker from Brookwood High School, suffered a leg injury in the final minutes of Friday night’s loss to archival Parkview.

UGA-bound LB Shaun McGee committed to the Bulldogs over Alabama

McGee left the game, and was on crutches on Friday night and Saturday. After being examined by doctors, it was determined that he had a high ankle sprain. McGee, who is now using a walking boot, said his status for Brookwood’s next game is questionable.

“I actually called over to Georgia on late Friday night to let them know that I was not going to be able to make it,” McGee said. “I was supposed to check in at the hotel in Athens that night after the game.

“I was upset that I couldn’t make it, I really was, especially since I had been planning to make that game since last year when I took an unofficial visit to …

Continue reading Shaun McGee: UGA LB commit postpones official visit because … »

Does UGA have a chance at the speedster who some rank as the state’s No. 1 prospect at RB?

Tyren Jones of Walton High School has been committed to Alabama since early last spring. Jones is the member of the AJC’s Super 11 team.

The 5-foot-8, 192-pounder has maintained that he will visit some other schools. Earlier this month, Jones told DawgNation that one of his official visits will be to UGA.

UGA is also in the sweepstakes for the other RB who is ranked by some as the state’s best – Alvin Kamara of Norcross High School. Kamara has UGA and Alabama as his co-leaders.

Ironically, both Jones and Kamara could be affected by Friday’s decision of 5-star RB Derrick Henry, who de-committed from UGA and is now deciding between Alabama, Tennessee and the Bulldogs.

Continue reading Tyren Jones: Does UGA have a chance at Alabama RB commit? »

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 as a junior. 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.

Note: Last week, Printz said he was told by UCLA that his scholarship offer was withdrawn in a story you can read about right here.

I am so appreciative for the great people at Lassiter High School.  Coach Jep Irwin kept my head clear with great advice this past week so I could stay focused.  My friends, teammates, teachers, school administration, and coaches are the greatest extended family.  I had the worst news I could have ever had after being committed to UCLA for nine …

Continue reading Recruiting Diary: Lassiter QB and ex-UCLA commit Eddie Printz (Vol. III) »