Archive for the ‘Other Colleges’ Category

This longtime Georgia Tech fan signed with Stanford over UGA (Photo courtesy of Woodward Academy's Marci Mitchell)

Jordan Watkins had an interesting recruiting journey: He grew up a Georgia Tech fan, listed UGA as a co-finalist, and ended up signing with Stanford.

The 6-foot-5, 280-pound defensive tackle from Woodward Academy will report to Stanford on June 21. He reflected on his recruiting journey with the AJC:

What was the most creative thing a college did to get your attention? “I remember the first day I ever got a hand-written letter from Georgia Tech. Pretty much everyone on the defensive staff, along with Coach [Paul] Johnson, sent a hand-written letter and that was pretty neat.”

UGA was your runner-up. What could they have done better? “I think the only thing they could’ve done better was to keep me away from Stanford because there was definitely nothing that was a knock against Georgia. When I went on my visit to Stanford last July, I fell in love with …

Continue reading REWIND: DT was lifelong Tech fan, almost picked UGA »

How big of a role does Social Media play in college football recruiting?

Just about every top prospect is on either Facebook, Twitter or both.

We asked some of the nation’s top coaches how big of a role does Social Media play in their current recruiting efforts:

Urban Meyer on Social Media: "Its huge." (AP)

Virginia’s Mike London: “I’m on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and you name it. We’re Skyping and doing all those things. If it’s allowable by the NCAA, then you can use every Social Network means necessary to get your messages across … You will find out more  about guys on Facebook and Twitter sometimes than you will having a 10-minute conversation with them because a lot of times they will let their guard down and show a side maybe you haven’t thought about before. Social Media networks are now something that are very prevalent in recruiting.”

UGA’s Mark Richt: Click  here

Florida State’s Jimbo Fisher: “I think it’s huge in recruiting. It all is. …

Continue reading How big of a role does Social Media play in football recruiting? »

Alabama got some good recruiting news on Wednesday.

And it’s likely good news for UGA, too.

Alabama’s serious flirtations with UGA’s prized QB recruit, Brice Ramsey – highlighted by last week’s 90-minute Skye conversation between Nick Saban and Ramsey – are likely over after the Crimson Tide landed one of the nation’s top quarterbacks on Wednesday.

Good news for Alabama on Wednesday likely means good news for UGA's Mark Richt. After Alabama landed another QB, it's serious flirtations with Brice Ramsey are likely over (Photo taken by Ramsey family. Photo was not owned, submitted, authorized or arranged by UGA)

Utah QB Cooper Bateman, who is ranked as the nation’s No. 61 overall prospect by ESPN, committed to Alabama on Wednesday. Ramsey is ranked at No. 110.

It is very rare for two high-profile QB prospects in the same class to attend the same college.

“Maybe that will be the case,” Camden County High School coach Jeff Herron told the AJC on Wednesday …

Continue reading Is Alabama’s serious flirtation with UGA QB recruit Brice Ramsey over? »

Adam Smith committed to Virginia Tech on Wednesday.

Virginia Tech commit Adam Smith (UNCW)

Smith, the former Parade All-America shooting guard from Fayette County High School, pledged to Virginia Tech at the end of his official visit. He declined to mention any other schools he was considering.

“I felt real comfortable with the coaching staff,” Smith told the AJC. “I felt like it was a great situation for me and I had to seize the moment.”

The 6-foot-1, 170-pound Smith signed with UNC-Wilmington out of high school and averaged 13.2 points per game as a college freshman. Smith decided to transfer because of his own athletic and academic goals and objectives.

Smith will have to sit out next season and have three years of eligibility.

LATEST RECRUITING HEADLINES

• State’s No. 1 OL prospect commits to Georgia Tech over FSU, UGA, others
• Is Alabama’s serious flirtation with UGA’s prized QB recruit … over?
• REWIND: Alabama DB signee on UGA rumors, relationship with Richt

Continue reading Adam Smith: Virginia Tech picks up big-time transfer »

Alabama-bound Geno Smith with cancer patient Grace Buckel (Special)

• RELATED: Isaiah Crowell’s teammate commits to Florida Gators

One of Alabama’s star football recruits stopped by an Atlanta hospital to visit a girl who was recently diagnosed with bone cancer.

Geno Smith is a senior at St. Pius, ranked as the No. 8 defensive back in the country by Rivals, and signed with Alabama over Auburn last February.

The 5-foot-11, 190-pound Smith was approached last week about going to see the younger sister of one of his classmates, Grace Buckel. The 12-year-old girl was diagnosed with cancer in her leg last month and was hospitalized at Scottish Rite (Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta).

An Auburn player recently visited a patient down the hall. Grace is an Alabama fan and her parents thought a visit by Geno might cheer her up. Smith and his St. Pius teammate, Nick Maiolo, made the special trip last Friday.

“I was happy to do it,” Smith told the AJC. “We just hung out and …

Continue reading Recruiting Rewind: Alabama signee on UGA rumors, visiting cancer patient »

Florida-bound WR Marqui Hawkins (AJC)

One of the state’s top wide receivers committed to Florida on Monday.

Marqui Hawkins, a  6-foot-2, 190-pounder from Carver-Columbus High School, picked Florida over Clemson among 15 offers, which also included Tennessee, Southern Cal, and North Carolina.

“We spoke earlier in the week about Florida, and Marqui went on to tell his mother about it,” Carver coach Dell McGee told the AJC. “He called Coach [Will] Muschamp and told him the good news. Coach Muschamp called me after he committed. Both parties are happy.”

Hawkins attends Carver, the alma mater of UGA tailback Isaiah Crowell. Hawkins did not have a UGA scholarship offer but was being evaluated by the Bulldogs. At Florida, Hawkins projects to play offense and maybe some defense.

“He’s a great kid, first of all …  great attitude and great character,” McGee said. “He’s got a real physical demeanor about himself on the football field. He can do a variety of …

Continue reading Marqui Hawkins: Florida picks up commitment from Isaiah Crowell’s HS teammate »

Davin Bellamy, one of the state’s most-heavy recruited football prospects, got some blunt feedback when he was evaluated by UGA last season.

“They said I was ‘too weak,’” Bellamy recalled.

Times have changed for the 6-foot-5, 230-pound defensive end from Chamblee High School. Bellamy now has 21 early football scholarship offers after he got the news from UGA recruiting coordinator Rodney Garner over the weekend.

DE Davin Bellamy

It was Garner who was the first college coach to evaluate Bellamy in person last fall.

“He came to the Miller Grove game and gave me some comments that really helped me with my game … he said I was ‘too weak,’” Bellamy said. “I was fresh off the basketball court going to the football field, so I accepted that.”

“I mean, I was distraught about it.  I didn’t think I would be good enough for a top-tier school like Georgia. I had to better myself to make sure I was that caliber of player.

“By [Garner] saying that, it really …

Continue reading Davin Bellamy: UGA offers top prospect after blunt feedback »

Does winning six BCS championships in a row give the SEC a recruiting advantage?

We think so, especially when we hear things like this: We asked one of Atlanta’s best prospects if he was hoping for a scholarship offer from one of the ACC’s top programs and he said this:

“They were going to offer but I wasn’t really interested. I mean, it’s a good school but there’s no point in wasting their time. I’m staying in the SEC. The best players and the best competition are in the SEC.”

Yeah, that’s pretty powerful stuff, and brutal for a non-SEC school to have to compete against in fertile recruiting grounds of Georgia.

How does an SEC coach feel about that issue? Does winning six BCS championships in a row help you with recruiting? We asked Tennessee’s Derek Dooley:

Tennessee's Derek Dooley: "I’ve been watching the SEC a long time. There have been times when Georgia has hit a dip, there has been a time when LSU has hit a dip, there’s been times when Bama has …

Continue reading Does 6 BCS championships in a row give the SEC a recruiting advantage? »

Note: Check out the video for a surprising prediction

Will Alabama sign the top two college prospects from the state of Georgia?

One of them is already committed to Alabama, while the other is rumored to have the Crimson Tide as his leader.

These guys are good. Well, they’re grrreat.

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Robert Nkemdiche, the defensive end from Grayson High School, is ranked as the consensus No. 1 prospect in the nation. He’s the first-ever prospect from Georgia to ascend to the top spot.

Reuben Foster is the linebacker who is ranked No. 2 in the nation by Scout, Rivals and 247Sports. He recently transferred from Troup High School to Auburn (Ala.) High School after his coach was fired but we’re still counting him as a Georgia player.

That’s quite a 1-2 punch of prospects.

What about Nkemdiche? He doesn’t claim a favorite but Alabama and …

Continue reading Will Alabama sign the top 2 prospects from Georgia? »

ML King WR Blake Tibbs (left) signed with UGA, while teammate Kenderius Whitehead surprisingly ended up at NC State (AJC)

• RELATED: Nick Saban spends 90 minutes on Skype with UGA’s prized QB recruit

NC State pulled off one of the state’s biggest recruiting upsets this year by beating out UGA and Clemson for DE Kenderius Whitehead.

The 6-foot-5, 210-pounder from ML King High School had UGA as his early frontrunner but backed off on the Bulldogs because they wanted him as outside linebacker and he preferred remaining at defensive end in college. Whitehead talked about recruiting with the AJC:

What was the most creative thing a school or coach did to get your attention? “It was when Mark Richt sang me Happy Birthday, because I went down there on my official visit to Georgia on my 19th birthday [on Dec. 9]. They had something for recruits over at Coach Richt’s house. He, his staff and everybody sang me Happy Birthday. They had me cake and everything. I was surprised and …

Continue reading Recruiting Rewind: DE serenaded by Mark Richt, beats Clemson’s Dabo Swinney in pool »