Archive for the ‘Auburn’ Category

It’s going to be a busy, compressed week, what with the Thanksgiving holiday coming, Georgia Tech and Georgia getting ready to tee off and the quarterfinals of the state high school playoffs upon us.

To get us started for the week I’m just going to give you a quick rundown of what’s out there regarding Tech and Georgia recruiting:

• Believe it or not there were some positives to come out of the Georgia-Kentucky game for the Bulldogs. According to Scout.com’s Chad Simmons, Valdosta tight end Jay Rome came to the game and said “the visit helped Georgia a lot. A whole lot.” The 6-foot-6, 240-pound Rome may be the top tight end in the South next year. He also likes Clemson and Florida.
• Both Scout and Rivals.com wrote stories over the weekend about Georgia being back in it for Washington wide receiver Antonio Goodwin. The 6-foot-2, 175-pound Goodwin, who was also in Athens for the Kentucky game, is a four-star receiver in the Class of 2010 and committed to Auburn this past summer. …

Continue reading Some positives for UGA from Kentucky game »

Auburn and Georgia are in a tug-of-war over Warner Robins defensive tackle Jeffrey Whitaker (55). (AJC photo by Jason Getz)

His senior high school football season is over. But Warner Robins’ Jeff Whitaker is not hanging his head.

“I’m good. I’m fine,” the Demons’ 6-foot-3, 290-pound defensive tackle said. “I have no regrets. I played as hard as I could.”

The Demons finished 6-4, which meant a rare playoff miss for the four-time state champions. But Whitaker had a fantastic individual season.

“He’s a great player,” coach Bryan Way said. “And a good kid, too.”

Apparently college recruiters think so, too. Whitaker, a four-star prospect who shot up as high as 11th in the nation at his position in recruiting rankings, landed more than a dozen major college scholarship offers.

His season now officially over, this U.S. Army High School All-American has trimmed down his list to five schools:  Georgia, Auburn, California, North Carolina and South Carolina. Most recently Whitaker went …

Continue reading Whitaker talks Georgia-Auburn and recruitment timeline »

It was not long after lunch when I reached Deon Rogers on Monday and by then it had already been for him a very long day.

It began about 4 a.m. when he and Treasure Coast High School teammate Jeff Luc arose in an Athens hotel room for the ride to Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport to make an 8 a.m. flight. By now he was back in Port St. Lucie, Fla. — just north of Miami on Florida’s east coast — driving to practice to begin preparations for a first-round playoff game Thursday night.

“Yeah, I’m pretty tired,” said Rogers, a 6-foot-2, 190-pound linebacker who committed to Georgia this past summer. “But it was a really good trip. I really enjoyed myself. It was kind of like this summer. I had fun with Coach [John] Jancek and Coach [Mark] Richt and the other players. I’m loving Georgia and I’m feeling real comfortable there.”

That’s good news for the Bulldogs. Next to Frostproof, Fla.’s, Nickell Robey, Rogers is probably considered the shakiest of their commitments for the 2010 …

Continue reading Luc, Rogers happily worn out after long trek to UGA »

It can be a bit of a dice roll when you put as much stock in one recruiting weekend as Georgia did when it played host to Auburn.

The Bulldogs had around 100 prospects on campus for the game, including some of their most coveted remaining targets. And it must have been quite uncomfortable for all involved when Georgia quickly fell behind 14-0. But the Dogs rallied then held on at the end for a resounding 31-24 victory. The win touched off quite a celebration in Athens and left a favorable impression on the prospects that came to see it.

I was unable to make but a couple of calls on Sunday due to a previous family commitment and haven’t heard back from any of the prospects yet. But I’ll be following up all week to get reaction from key recruits. In the meantime, here’s some links to the few reports out there as of Monday morning:

• An official visit from linebacker Deon Rogers of Port St. Lucie, Fla., reinforced his commitment to the Bulldogs, according to UGASports.com. But he …

Continue reading UGA visitors impressed with victory over Auburn »

A staggering number of prospects will converge on Athens and Sanford Stadium this weekend as Georgia plays host to Auburn.

Bulldogs coach Mark Richt couldn’t say exactly what will be the number, which includes recruits and their family and guests. But in general such weekends can range from 250 to 400.

“We’ve got a lot. It’s big. It’s very big,” Richt said this week. “It’s about what you’d expect for Georgia-Auburn. I couldn’t even tell you the number that it is. But I know as we cover the names that are coming in, not only is it a long list but it’s a list of outstanding players.”

There is a little bit of it all in this group. There will be at least five 5-star prospects on campus. There will be three players that rank No. 1 at their respective positions by at least one recruiting service — linebacker Jeff Luc (pronounced Luck) of Port St. Lucie, Fla., cornerback  LaMarcus Joyner of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., and safety Matt Elam of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

There will be …

Continue reading Richt, Bulldogs brace for massive recruiting weekend »

Georgia got the fifth and final official visit from Marcus Lattimore, the No. 1 running back prospect in the country, according to Scout.com.

Lattimore told Scout’s Chad Simmons that he definitely intends to make an official visit to Athens on Jan. 29 (subscription required), the last weekend before national signing day on Feb. 3. He made an unofficial visit to UGA on Sept. 12.

“Georgia mainly got the last visit because I like the coaches down there,” Lattimore told Simmons on Thursday. “I especially like Coach [Mark] Richt and how he treats his players down there. I never really got a chance to hang out with any of the players when I visited there before, so I am going to do that and just check out the campus this time.”

A number of schools had been battling to get the final official visit from Lattimore, who has already had paid trips to Auburn (Oct. 31) and Penn State (Nov. 7). He currently has official visits scheduled for Oregon on Jan. 15 and North Carolina on Jan. 22. …

Continue reading Nation’s top back Marcus Lattimore to visit Georgia »

By all accounts, Stephenson defensive tackle Mike Thornton will choose between Georgia and Auburn sometime between now and Christmas. So surely he plans to be at their game this Saturday at Sanford Stadium.

Guess again.

“I don’t know if I’m going up there or not,” the 6-foot-2, 280-pound senior said. “Probably not. I definitely won’t be there for an official. Got some things to take care of.”

When it comes to his recruitment, Thornton — the top uncommitted defensive lineman in the state — is laid back to the point of being supine. While college coaches and fans pull out their hair wondering where and when Thornton might commit, the Jaguars’ hulking noseguard remains cool as the November breeze.

“I’m just taking my time, trying to enjoy the process,” he said.

I had a short telephone call with Thornton earlier this week. Here is an abridged Q&A of that conversation:

Q: How was your visit to Penn State this past weekend?

A: “It was good. Everything went like it was supposed to. I …

Continue reading Thornton: No plans to be in Athens for Georgia-Auburn »

As you may or may not know, today (Wednesday, Nov. 11) is the first day of the early signing period in college athletics. Of course, the most notable of the sports to participate in this process is basketball.

So far there hasn’t been much in the way of surprises. Those who had committed before the week-long window in which you can actually sign a scholarship have done so, for the most part.

For instance, Georgia got a letter-of-intent from the one commitment it had gotten for the Class of 2010 — 6-foot-8 power forward Cady Lalanne of Orlando-Oak Ridge High. Lalanne signed early this morning. The Bulldogs did receive some bad news, however. Center Shawn Kemp Jr., who’s at Hargrave Military Academy in Virginia but hails from Canton, signed with Auburn earlier today. He was actually an Alabama signee out of high school but did not qualify.

Georgia State has received the paperwork from two of the three commitments it got this fall: point guard DaVonta White of Roswell-Centenniel …

Continue reading Georgia gets one, loses one on first day of early signings »

The college football coach that ends up with Adrian Hubbard on his team come national signing day in February will need to send a thank you note to senior class at Norcross High School.

Why? Because, ultimately, they were the ones that allowed Hubbard to return to the football field after a year’s hiatus. And now, the 6-foot-7, 227-pound defensive end/tight end is one of the unexpected grand prizes in Atlanta’s recruiting class of 2010.

Hubbard is a rarity in the modern age of college football recruiting. That is, he came into his senior year a virtual unknown. Hubbard played football as a sophomore at Peachtree Ridge but he transferred to Norcross as a junior in order to play basketball for the Blue Devils. He did not play football.

This past summer, Hubbard came to coach Keith Maloof and told him that he missed the game and wished to come out for the team. You could only imagine Maloof’s delight as he stared up at the at the towering athletic figure. But he did not accept …

Continue reading Norcross ‘late bloomer’ Hubbard covered up with offers »

Michael Dyer, one of the top-ranked tailbacks in America, committed to Auburn on Friday.

Dyer (5-foot-8, 200), from Little Rock Christian in Little Rock, Ark., is considered the No. 1 running back in the country by ESPN, and No. 3 by Scout.com and Rivals.com. He chose the Tigers over Arkansas, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Florida and Alabama.

The big question is how Dyer’s commitment will affect the nation’s otehr top-rated backs. Marcus Lattimore of Duncan, S.C., and Lache Seastrunk of Temple, Texas, ranked 1 and 2 by the other services, were also considering Auburn.

The general thought was that two backs of that ilk wouldn’t go to the same school. But Dyer insists there is a possibility that Lattimore could also end up on the Plains.

“The last few weeks, me and Marcus Lattimore have had conversations and sent texts back and forth trying to figure out what’s going on and to see if he’s going to go to Auburn or not,” Dyer told ESPN’s JC Shurburtt. “I told him it would be great for …

Continue reading Auburn lands ESPN’s No. 1 back in America, Michael Dyer »