Archive for the ‘Non-ACC/SEC Schools’ Category

The latest Ken Griffey, known as Trey Griffey, has committed to play football for Arizona and new coach Rich Rodriguez.

Numerous media reports surfaced of the commitment Monday night and the younger Griffey, the son of the baseball great Ken Griffey Jr., confirmed it to the Orlando Sentinel.

“My parents said, ‘It’s up to you, you got to do what you want to do … what you feel is right,’” Griffey told the Sentinel. “I’m going to the University of Arizona. It doesn’t get any better than that.”

A 6-foot-2, 190-pound wide receiver, he caught 72 passes for 970 yards as a senior at Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando.

NEW INFO … SINCE YOU LEFT YOUR COMPUTER A FEW MINUTES AGO

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• Is there new competition for UGA for Josh Harvey-Clemons? The U?
  
• Georgia QB flips to Penn State
• Eastside DE Sheldon Rankins commits to Louisville
• UPDATE: Now we …

Continue reading Trey Griffey commits to football, Arizona »

Lorenzo Mauldin has decided to cast his lot with coach Charlie Strong and the Louisville Cardinals. (Photo by Langston Sandlin/Z3 Photography)

Lorenzo Mauldin finally did last week what he thought he was going to do more than a month ago. The defensive end from Atlanta’s Maynard Jackson signed a national letter-of-intent to play football on scholarship in college.

Only this LOI was not from South Carolina, as he expected it to be when he committed to the Gamecocks last July. Mauldin signed instead with Louisville. With a little luck and some more hard work, he’ll join the Cardinals for preseason practices in August.

“South Carolina was, you know, planning on me signing with them after prep school,” said Mauldin, a 6-foot-4, 240-pound senior. “I don’t believe they thought I would make the [qualifying test] score. It kind of made me feel like they were wishing for me to not make the score.

“[Louisville] Coach [Charlie] Strong had faith in me from the beginning. He said he …

Continue reading Lorenzo Mauldin inks with Louisville, puts S. Carolina oversigning saga behind him »

With the sting of its NCAA Tournament first-round loss still fresh, the Georgia Bulldogs found a little relief by landing a fourth member for its 2011 recruiting class.

Nemanja Djurisic (pronounced neh-MON-juh jerr-REE-sic), a 6-foot-8, 230-pound power forward from South Kent, Conn., by way of Southeast Europe, committed to the Bulldogs late Sunday evening. He will sign with UGA when the national signing period begins in mid-April.

Djurisic chose Georgia over a laundry list of offers, including closest runners up N.C. State, Utah, Arizona State, Kansas State, Minnesota and Texas.

“I like him because he’s very sound and cerebral,” said Dave Telep, senior basketball recruiting analyst for ESPN.com. “He’s a tough and intelligent basketball player. He has a little Matt Howard in him.”

Howard is the 6-8 forward who has been starring for Butler in its latest NCAA Tournament run. Georgia believes Djurisic can have the same impact.

Djurisic is “a typical European,” according to South …

Continue reading Georgia gets fourth commitment from forward from Connecticut »

Byrnes High stars Brandon Willis and Corey Miller are photographed with Tennessee recruiting hostesses Dahra Johnson and Lacey Pearl Earps after a game in Duncan, S.C., in the fall of 2009. (Photo by SI.com's Andy Staples reprinted with permission)

The NCAA’s 22-month investigation of the basketball and football programs at Tennessee led enforcement staff through Atlanta, documents released by the school Wednesday revealed.

The NCAA cited the Volunteers for multiple recruiting violations in both sports in a 26-page document released to the media on Wednesday. Within those it is revealed that UT broke rules while recruiting two basketball players from Metro Atlanta: former Dunwoody High and Atlanta Celtics star Chris Singleton and Lawrenceville native and former Central Gwinnett student Jordan Adams. CLICK HERE for a copy of the report, which has been heavily redacted by UT’s legal team.

Singleton received six impermissible phone calls from head basketball coach Bruce Pearl and …

Continue reading NCAA’s investigation of Tennessee went through Atlanta »

THE TEN AT 10:

1. Ricky Parks prides himself on being able to play pretty much any position on the football field. But the 6-foot-4, 225-pound athlete from Hogansville admits to being more than a little pleased that Georgia Tech wants him to play quarterback in college.

Ricky Parks has played tight end, wide receiver, outside linebacker, free safety and quarterback at Callaway, but Georgia Tech wants him under center. (Photo provided by 247Sports.com)

That is Parks’ primary position at Callaway High School. The Yellow Jackets offered him a scholarship to play quarterback for them early Wednesday morning.

“It elevates them a little bit knowing they want me to play quarterback,” said Parks, who is projected mostly to play tight end on the next level. “We run the option at my school, but not the triple option like they do. But I believe it’s something I could do.”

Clearly Tech believes so, too. It is the first school to offer Parks purely as a quarterback.

Parks, who I included …

Continue reading Ten@10: Georgia Tech offers Callaway’s Ricky Parks as quarterback »

Hillgrove's Kenyan Drake stiffarms a McEachern defender during a game last October. He totaled 1,800 yards offense and 20 touchdowns as a junior. (AJC photo by Brant Sanderlin)

Listening to Kenyan Drake explain his commitment to Alabama Monday night was like hearing a Crimson Tide coach offer a recruiting pitch.

“In my eyes, you can’t get a better offer than Alabama,” said Drake, a 6-0, 188-pound running back from Hillgrove High in Powder Springs. “They offer you top-tier academics and top-tier athletics. It’s just, like, what else can you get from a college? I decided, why wait when I already have a great feeling about Alabama?”

Drake projects as one of the top running back prospects — if not THE top running back — in the state of Georgia for the Class of 2012. I had already tabbed him for my “Tentative Ten,” my super early list of the 10 best prospects in the state for the coming season. And he was a pretty easy pick.

As a junior at Hillgrove last season, Drake accounted for …

Continue reading Hillgrove RB Kenyan Drake chooses Bama over Tech, UGA »

Former Georgia signee Dexter Moody is living in Statesboro and finishing up his junior college coursework online. (AJC photo by Jason Getz)

This is definitely not the way Dexter Moody thought his football career would turn out.

Moody, a four-star linebacker out of Emanuel County Institute in Twin City, was a much ballyhooed recruit when signed with Georgia in 2009. But pretty much nothing has gone right since then.

UGA revoked Moody’s letter-of-intent after he was suspended from high school, he ended up at Fort Scott (Kan.) Community College and now he finds himself living in football limbo down in Statesboro.

“I’m really just handling my recruitment on my own,” said Moody, who is living with his sister, Tanesha Coleman, who attends Georgia Southern University. “I’m still trying to get into schools and all. But I’m having to do it all on my own because my junior college coach really hasn’t helped me out.”

Moody said he used just one season of eligibility at Fort Scott. He was …

Continue reading Former UGA signee Dexter Moody is in football purgatory in South Georgia »

AJC Super 11 linebacker James Vaughters highlighted a signing ceremony at Tucker that included four players inking with Football Bowl Subdivision teams.

Vaughters (6-3, 230), the No. 4 player in the AJC Fab 50, signed with Stanford on Wednesday.

Fellow linebacker Justin Garrett signed with Auburn, safety Chris Sanders signed with Georgia and running back Bashr Coles signed with UAB.

They represent one of the finest senior classes ever for coach Franklin Stephens at Tucker.

Continue reading AJC Super 11 LB James Vaughters (Stanford) one of four FBS signees for Tucker »

Marist had three football players sign to play college football.

Jordan Snellings (Furman), Mitchell Anderson (Presbyterian) and Justin Olderman (Virginia, invited walk on) made it official Wednesday.

Olderman is a 6-4, 235-pound offensive tackle who had an offer from the Air Force.

Snellings, 6-1, 171, is an accomplished track athlete as well as a wide receiver.

Anderson, 6-2, 230, is a defensive lineman and also a three-year letterman in baseball. His grandfather, an uncle and a cousin all played Division I football.

Continue reading Three from Marist make it official »

D.J. Beard, a 6-foot, 174-pound defensive back, from Ola High in McDonough, signed with Navy.

Beard, a two-year starter, told the Annapolis Capital newspaper that he was a tough, physical corner.

Beard committed Jan. 9 and has a 3.3 GPA and chose Navy over William & Mary, Elon and Army.

Continue reading Navy gets Ola cornerback Beard »