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Friday, June 15, 2007
North Gwinnett’s Pritchard commits to Central Florida
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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North Gwinnett defensive end Robert Pritchard will play for Central Florida starting next year, Bulldogs coach Bob Sphire said Friday afternoon.
Pritchard, a 6-foot-4, 220-pounder who played a key role on a stingy North defense as a junior, chose coach George O’Leary’s Knights over Memphis and Virginia.
“He made a couple of visits down there and he just fell in love with the staff, with the facilities and the whole campus,” Sphire said of Pritchard. “He felt like he was ready to pull the trigger.”
Pritchard plans to make his commitment a binding one when he signs a letter-of-intent during February’s national signing day.
Central Gwinnett recruiting update
Central Gwinnett coach Dennis Roland believes his defense contains at least five college prospects. Yet, only one, mammoth nose tackle Dewayne Cherrington, has received a scholarship offer.
Roland isn’t worried, though, and says it’s only a matter of time before college recruiters take notice of his defensive standouts.
As head coach at North Gwinnett in 2004, Roland had four players earn Division I scholarships: South Carolina’s Jared Cook, Air Force’s Brandon Reeves and Kentucky’s E.J. Adams and Ross Bogue.
None of those players received offers before their senior seasons.
“Everybody wants to be a part of that first wave [of players to receive offers],” Roland said. “But I just tell them to be patient and concentrate on improving every day.”
While the trend in recruiting is to get verbal commitments from juniors, Georgia Tech recruiting coordinator Giff Smith tries to leave a couple of scholarship offers open for players that blossom during their senior years, especially in-state prospects.
Roland says defensive ends Michael Longo and Josh Aiken-Phillips and linebackers * Zalton Brooks* and Jarvis Williams are just that type of players, ones that will see their recruiting interest increase throughout the season.
“Those guys are kind of sleepers,” Roland said.
Even Cherrington, the Knights’ most highly touted recruit, is flying a little bit under the radar. The 6-2, 375-pounder has offers from New Mexico State and Alabama-Birmingham.
“He had a good spring and a good semester academically,” Roland said. “He’s concentrating on getting in good shape.”
Gwinnett athletes recognized by Rivals.com
Eight Gwinnett county athletes were recognized in Rivals.com’s recently released national position rankings.
Greater Atlanta Christian’s * Christian Robinson* was the highest rated player from Gwinnett. The Georgia signee was ranked as the 10th best outside linebacker.
Norcross boasts two of the top receivers in the nation in Brice Butler and * Devonta Bolton*. Butler came in at No. 12, and Bolton at No. 61 at their position.
Buford defensive tackle Omar Hunter (No. 21), a Notre Dame commitment, and linebacker T.J. Pridemore (No. 25) also made the rankings.
Peachtree Ridge running back Brandon Davis (No. 43) joined defensive back Derrick Bryant (No. 23) on the rankings in their respective positions.
Dacula safety Khiry Battle came in at No. 42.
Kell’s Hicks a wanted man
Kell quarterback Nick Hicks has offers from Air Force, Buffalo and Newberry, along with heavy interest from Southern Miss, Furman, Middle Tennessee State, Marshall and Elon.
The 6-1, 190-pounder had some tough luck last year, getting injured in the season-opener.
It ruined his chance to display his talents in front of dozens of scouts that showed up for practices and games to watch his teammate, All-America tailback Jonathan Dwyer, who signed with Georgia Tech. Hicks missed the first fives games, but returned for the last four to throw for 800 yards and 8 touchdowns.
Offers continue to arrive for Sprayberry multi-purpose athlete
Sprayberry’s Brynden Trawick, who plays safety and quarterback, has 8 early offers and counting: They are from Boston College, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Indiana, Marshall, Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee State and Connecticut.
Scouts rave about the 6-3, 215-pounder’s overall athleticism, as he was a three-sport standout at the east Cobb school, also playing basketball and track.
He won the Region 6-AAAAA championship in the triple jump, and finished third in the long jump. He also has attracted the attention of more than 20 other schools, including Ohio State and Alabama.
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Class of 2008 thin under center
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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Matt Barkley has a big arm, fleet feet and poise in the pocket, good enough to get him near the top of any college football recruiting list.
That’s just where Barkley will be … in two years. The Mater Dei, Calif., quarterback prospect is about to enter his junior year of high school. But he is already a sought-after commodity.
“He already has [scholarship] offers from Southern Cal and Florida State. [Phillip] Fulmer has offered him from Tennessee,” said Jeremy Crabtree, a national recruiting analyst for Rivals.com. “It’s the middle of June before you have even played your junior year and you have those offers. That is pretty significant.”
And the month to come will only become hotter for Barkley and other top 2009 quarterback prospects like AJ McCarron of Mobile. That’s because there just aren’t many rising seniors who have all of the aforementioned qualities.
There are only five quarterbacks that make most recruiting services’ lists of the top 100 national prospects in the class of 2008.
In past years, that number has been closer to 10. Rivals.com only went 25 deep in its position analysis this year because of the lack of depth at quarterback, Crabtree said. What’s more, around the Southeast, there just isn’t the depth there has been at football’s most inspected position.
“I am going through this top 10 list at every position and I have so many linebackers that I put them into three different categories,” Scout.com analyst Scott Kennedy said while compiling that list for ajc.com. “But I had to stretch to get to 10 quarterbacks.
“It goes in cycles. In the class of 2004, there were about eight or nine quarterbacks signed out of [the state of] Georgia. I don’t think there the state has had that many signed combined since.”
The University of Georgia has not signed one Peach State quarterback in that the time. The Bulldogs’ last four signees at that spot have been from Mississippi (Blake Barnes), North Carolina (Joe Cox), Texas (Matthew Stafford) and Missouri (Logan Gray).
“It’s always a high priority position,” said JC Shurburtt, a recruiting analyst for Rivals.com. “And if there is one year where you maybe don’t get a quarterback because there just isn’t one out there, that puts more pressure on the next year.”
That’s why coaches like Alabama’s Nick Saban and Florida State offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher have beaten a path to McCarron’s door, even though he is still a raw commodity.
It’s also why fans could see many of these young quarterbacks in the high school class of 2009 commit very early.
“I wouldn’t be surprised with all the attention and offers that are out there if you saw somebody commit, not before the end of the summer, but before the end of the next football season,” Shurburtt said.
PRIMETIME PASSERS
Rivals.com’s list of the top 100 recruits in the class of 2008 includes just five quarterbacks:
— Terrelle Pryor, No. 1 overall prospect, Jeanette, Pa. (Undecided)
— E.J. Manuel, No. 18 overall, Virginia Beach, Va. (Undecided)
— Blaine Gabbert, No. 45, Ballwin, Mo. (Committed to Nebraska)
— Andrew Luck, No. 59, Houston (Undecided)
— Dayne Crist, No. 63, Sherman Oaks, Calif. (Committed to Notre Dame)
Carver Columbus’ Furr commits to Auburn
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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After nearly committing to Auburn during a visit on Sunday, Carver Columbus quarterback DeRon Furr made it official at 9 a.m. today when he phoned Auburn assistant coach Hugh Nall with the good news.
“I asked coach Nall if he had jersey No. 17 ready for me,” Furr said. “Coach Nall said ‘yeah, are you ready to become an Auburn Tiger?’”
“I told him ‘yes sir.’”
Furr said he made the decision to commit to the Tigers late Thursday.
“I was sitting down yesterday and thinking about who was recruiting me hard,” Furr said. “And there was nobody who was recruiting me as hard as Auburn and telling me the things I want to hear.”
Furr said his family is elated with his decision.
“They really like it,” he said. “They said I made a good choice.”
Tuggle gains another offer
Justin Tuggle, son of former Atlanta Falcon Jessie Tuggle, has picked up a scholarship offer from Ohio.
The Northview quarterback already had offers from Indiana and Mississippi State.
“I’m interested in Ohio,” Tuggle said. “But I’ll just keep trying to check out which school is right for me.”
Tuggle has visited Mississippi State’s campus twice. He hopes to travel to Indiana before August.
Camps have consumed much of Tuggle’s summer.
“I’ve already been to camps at Ole Miss and Auburn,” he said. “And I’m going to Memphis this weekend. I may go to ones at Maryland and N.C. State.”
Tuggle said his dad is maintaining close tabs on his recruitment.
“He’s very excited about it,” Tuggle said. “He’s trying to play a father’s role and make sure I get put in the right situation and go to a place that’s like home.
“He’d love it if I play close to home. But he’s leaving it up to me.”
Offers continue to roll in for Roswell RB
North Carolina, Mississippi State, South Florida and Virginia Tech are among the 15 offers currently held by Roswell running back Ebele Okakpu.
Okakpu said his first offer, which came from Vanderbilt, remains his most memorable.
“I was really excited over the first offer because after playing my junior season I just wanted one offer,” Okakpu said. “After a couple of offers, you still kind of jump up and down, but it’s not as exciting as the first one was.”
Okakpu said he realizes the expectations will be lofty for the defending Class AAAAA co-champions.
“There’s a lot of pressure because after a great season last year everyone expects us to repeat,” Okakpu said. “Like my coach [Tim McFarlin] says ‘we’re not the same team as last year. This is a different group of seniors.’”
Okakpu said he still has mixed feelings about last year’s title game, which ended in a tie.
“If we had gone into overtime and lost, I would have really been angry,” he said. “At the time, I was furious there was no overtime.”
Top Florida prospect likes UGA
Cory Liuget of Hialeah (Fla.) sounds more like a radio station disc jockey than one of Florida’s most coveted recruits.
“I’m still working on putting together my top 40 list,” Liuget said.
For clarification, that’s scholarship offers, not a musical playlist.
Liuget, who arrived in Illinois on Thursday to participate in a camp, said he was enjoyed his recent visit to Georgia.
“They have a really nice facility,” the defensive end said. “Georgia will be in the top 10 this year or next season.”
Liuget’s stay in Athens included quality time with Georgia defensive coordinator Willie Martinez.
“He’s a great guy,” Liuget said. “He loves the game and is enthusiastic about it. I just like the way he carries himself. It gives me good vibes.”
Two offers for Hart County’s Curry
Duke and Central Michigan have offered Kurvin Curry of Hart County.
The Blue Devils were the first to offer the 5-foot-11, 190-pound quarterback.
“It came during my junior season,” Curry said. “I was surprised.”
Curry attended a camp at Duke on Saturday.
“I’ve actually been there twice,” Curry said. I like how the builds have a look as if it’s from overseas.”
Curry was in camp at Wake Forest on Sunday and Vanderbilt one week earlier. He said each camp is nearly identical.
“It’s about the same thing,” Curry said. “You get there and run the 40, vertical shuttles and positions drills. Then you go one-on-one.”
Curry would like to receive an offer from Georgia Tech.
“I hope Georgia Tech will offer because they been showing me early love,” he said. “During the school year, they would text message me just to check in.”
