AJC College Sports Recruiting » LSU

Luc, Rogers happily worn out after long trek to UGA

Chip Towers — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:15:14 +0000

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 …

3 Tech commitments invited to national All-Star game

Chip Towers — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:49:45 +0000

Three members of Georgia Tech’s 2010 recruiting class were selected this week to play in the Offense-Defense All-America Bowl.

AJC Super 11 quarterback/athlete B.J. Bostic of Jefferson County, DT Shawn Green of Grayson and DT Denzel McCoy of Northview were invited to play in the high school all-star game Jan. 2 in Myrtle Beach, S.C. The game, in its third year of existence, pits nationally-ranked high school all-stars from the East against others from the West. It competes with the UnderArmour (Jan. 2, Orlando) and U.S. Army (Jan. 9, San Antonio) All-America games.

Now for some other news and notes:

Word is that Union Grove athlete Jordan Akins is about to land a scholarship offer from Georgia. Akins is a 6-foot-3, 190-pound multi-skilled athlete who plays quarterback, wide receiver, defensive back and kick returner for the Wolverines, depending on where they need him when. He received a scholarship offer from Georgia Tech last week and holds offers from Ole Miss, UConn, …

Checking out Da’Rick Rogers, and other fun stuff

Chip Towers — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:56:13 +0000

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, …

RB Storm Johnson commits to Miami Hurricanes

Chip Towers — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 21:55:22 +0000

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 …

Survey says: Georgia producing the most SEC players

Chip Towers — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:05:55 +0000

Quick, name the state the produces the most football talent for the Southeastern Conference.

If you said Florida, you’re wrong.

According to a survey done by Doug Segrest of The Birmingham News, the state of Georgia has more residents on SEC rosters than any other state with 86. Florida is a close second with 84.

Segrest reveals all kinds of cool facts in his research, including:

Every SEC school has at least two players from Georgia among its top 22 starters. The state of Florida provides at least one on every depth chart. Of course these numbers fluctuate from week to week.
Alabama produces the third-most SEC players with 66 and Louisiana (46) and Tennessee (39) round out the top five.
Somewhat surprisingly, the state that produces the sixth-most SEC players isn’t an SEC state. It’s Texas with 37.
There are 28 home-grown players on Georgia’s two-deep, most of any school. Florida and LSU are next with 25 each.
Vanderbilt has more starters from Georgia (11) than any …

N. Gwinnett’s Uzomah attracting major recruiting attention

Chip Towers — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:50:46 +0000

North Gwinnett's 6-foot-5, 225-pound quarterback C.J. Uzomah has proven to be a much better under center than anybody anticipated, hence dozens of offers as a junior. (AJC Photo By Josh Weiss)

It has all been kind of overwhelming for C.J. Uzomah, but in a good way. Kind of like a warm wave crashing unexpectedly over his head while wading on a beautiful beach.

This time a year ago, North Gwinnett’s big quarterback was just a long, lanky receiver hauling in passes from all-everything quarterback Mikey Tamburo (now at Boise State). Today he is one of the most sought-after junior prospects in the state. He already has more than a dozen offers and they’re all from major SEC and ACC powers and beyond.

“I’m just kind of taking it in,” the soft-spoken Uzomah said shortly before taking the practice field on Thursday. “The first [offer] from UGA was a surprise, all the way to the very last one from Oklahoma State. It’s just a wonderful opportunity to continue my career after high …

Lattimore sets four visits, Georgia not among them

Chip Towers — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 20:02:44 +0000

Marcus Lattimore, one of the nation’s top running back prospects, has decided on the destinations for four of his official visits and Georgia was not among them.

However, the NCAA allows five paid trips and the Duncan, S.C., resident said the Bulldogs will be in the running for that spot along with South Carolina and North Carolina, according to a report on the WLTX.com website.

“I’m going to Florida State on the 9th (of October), Auburn on Halloween, and Penn State on the 6th (of November),” Lattimore said in the report, generated by GamecockCentral.com. “I’m going to go to Oregon after the season.”

Lattimore attended the Georgia-South Carolina game on an unofficial visit along with his coach, Chris Miller, on Sept. 12.

Don’t take Lattimore’s fickleness about visiting South Carolina as a sign of weakness for the in-state team. He has been to Columbia, S.C., so many times he just doesn’t feel like he necessary needs to visit there officially. He said he plans to attend the …

Nation’s No. 1 linebacker Luc ’still interested’ in Dogs

Chip Towers — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 09:23:11 +0000

Treasure Coast High School coach Brian Kelly makes two things clear regarding his magnificent middle linebacker, Jeff Luc: One, Georgia is definitely still in it for him; and, two, Deon Rogers, isn’t some kind of throw-in recruit the Bulldogs grabbed just to try to lure Luc to Athens.

That said, Kelly added that Luc’s relationship with Rogers — who committed to the Bulldogs back in June — is not something to be discounted.

“As long as Georgia is still in it with Deon they’re still in it with [Luc],” said Kelly, who coaches both players at the four-year-old Port St. Lucie, Fla., school. “Deon is one of his buddies and friends and family are very important to Jeff. He and Deon hang out a lot.”

Of course, it will take more than that to win the sweepstakes for the 6-foot-1, 230- pound Luc (pronounced LUCK). A consensus 5-star prospect and the No. 1-rated linebacker in the nation, Luc commanded more than 50 offers at the outset of his recruitment as a junior last season.

“I’ve …

Mallett’s torching of Georgia secondary no surprise to Carr

Chip Towers — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 20:01:45 +0000

A lot of people were surprised to see what Arkansas’ Ryan Mallett did to Georgia’s secondary this past Saturday night in Fayetteville. Lloyd Carr was not.

The retired Michigan football coach was the one who signed Mallett out of Texas High School in Texarkana, Texas, and played him as a true freshman in 2007. The Wolverines beat out Texas, LSU and numerous other schools for the 6-foot-7 quarterback, who was ranked the top prospect in his state and No. 4 in the nation in 2006.

“Yeah, I guess I made at least four or five trips down to Texarkana to see him,” said Carr, in Athens on Tuesday to speak to the Touchdown Club of Athens. “And you know, there’s just no way to get to Texarkana. You have to have connections just to get in there.”

Carr said Michigan was able to beat out Texas because they had a quarterback named Colt McCoy in hand. He said Mallett’s parents, Jim and Debbie Mallett, actually were Arkansas fans. But Houston Nutt was the Razorbacks’ coach at the time and, …

Georgia focusing hard on 10 remaining 5-star prospects

Chip Towers — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 11:36:58 +0000

Georgia has been at 18 commitments and holding for quite some time now and likely won’t have room to sign more than 22 or 23 players when National Signing Day rolls around in February. That has afforded the Bulldogs the luxury of being choosy with its remaining scholarships.

Consequently, Georgia has been able to focus the majority of their recruiting efforts on the pursuit of the best of the best among remaining uncommitted prospects across the country. Currently the Bulldogs are “in the mix” with 10 recruits that command a five-star ranking from Scout.com.

They are:

RB Marcus Lattimore, Duncan, S.C.
DE Jackson Jeffcoat, Plano, Texas
LB Jeff Luc, Port St. Lucie, Fla.
DE Ronald Powell, Moreno Valley, Calif.
LB Jordan Hicks, West Chester, Ohio
CB Lamarcus Joyner, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
WR Christian Green, Tampa, Fla.
DE Corey Lemonier, Hialeah, Fla.
WR Chris Dunkley, Pahokee, Fla.
DE Wayne Dorsey, Perkinson, Miss. (JUCO).

It’s conceivable that Georgia could get none of these …