UGA blog finds new home
Morning all. As I’ve said a couple of times this week, we’re converting this blog over to a WordPress platform and it will be a permanent move the first of next week.
Those of you who are regulars probably know that I’m not what you’d call techno-wizard when it comes to these things. But from what I understand the technology offered in this new format should make the blogging and commenting experience better for all. Of course, I’ll be learning as we go along, too. But I’m hoping to provide more pictures and video and things like that which should bring the blog more to life.
Of course, this blog is nothing without all you guys so I want to heartily invite (read: beg) you to come over to the new site by CLICKING HERE ON THE NEW ADDRESS and save it in your browsers. As of Monday, Feb. 23rd, this will be the permanent home of the UGA blog you so love or, in the case of some of you, love to loathe. If you’d prefer to copy and paste or just memorize, the new address is: http://blogs.ajc.com/uga-sports-blog/.
See at the new place!
AJC > Sports > UGA > Blog > Archives > 2007 > November > 14
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Basketball signees offer Dogs hope
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I’m here in the Beverly Chapman Library of The Wesleyan School in Norcross. I just got through writing a story on Howard “Trey” Thompkins, who was having a signing ceremony here along with two of his classmates. As you should know by now, Thompkins officially signed with the Georgia Bulldogs to play basketball for Dennis Felton. The fact that I’m here covering it should be enough to tell you that this is a big deal.
For what it’s worth, you should know that we don’t generally cover signing ceremonies. It’s more of a friends and family thing and, after all, hundreds of kids sign scholarships and we can’t be at all of them so we usually choose to not go to any of them so as to not offend anyone.
I came here today because Thompkins’ signing with Georgia is a big deal. It’s a big deal in and of itself — he’s rated the No. 7 power forward in the nation — but it’s bigger because of what all has been going on with Georgia basketball the last several years. The ruin that the Jim Harrick scandal left the program in is well documented. But then there has been more recent — and seemingly yearly — setbacks that Felton has endured as he’s tried to rebuild the program on a foundation of hard-nosed discipline and personal responsibility. That has proven his most difficult challenge.
The latest setback was starting guard Billy Humphrey’s shocking arrest Tuesday for possessing a weapon on campus. We’re still trying to get to the bottom of why police had a warrant to search the East Campus Village dorm room Humphrey shares with Mike Mercer (word is they were looking for cannabis). But all they found was a souvenir knife Humphrey collected on his trip to South America this past summer as part of a college all-star team. But because it was deemed a weapon with a blade of more than two inches, Humphrey is facing a felony charge. I don’t see how that could stick, but …
Humphrey’s troubles come on the heels of what at one time was 30-games worth of suspensions to three players for failing to meet the guidelines of Damon Evans’ new academic responsibility policy. Takais Brown has since been dismissed from the team and Mercer (15) and Albert Jackson (6) are now suspended a total of 21 games. This in a year the Dogs appeared ready to make a move in the SEC.
But all that came before Wednesday. Today Felton got the signed letters-of-intent of Thompkins, Dustin Ware and Drazen Zlovaric. They’ll join five other top-notch signees who will have an impact on the Bulldogs as freshmen this season.
Felton is in Year 5 of his toilsome tenure at Georgia. Do you think he’s ever going to be able to round the corner with this program and take it where he’s been saying he is for the past several years? Do you see the last two recruiting classes as signs the Bulldogs are almost there or are you more inclined to focus on the negative news that seems to crop up more often than not?
For what it’s worth, I’ve interviewed all three of Georgia’s basketball signees for this year’s class and they’re all very impressive young men. Thompkins in particular has a big loving family and clearly has benfitted from a private-school education here and at Oak Hill Academy. The Dogs got a good one in him and all three say it’s their intention to change the way people view Georgia basketball. Y’all buying it?
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