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Sunday, July 20, 2008
UGA makes early offer to Newnan safety
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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Newan safety Alec Ogletree, who is one of the state’s top rising juniors, hasn’t ruled out making a college decision this year.
Georgia offered the 6-foot-3, 215-pound Ogletree during the weekend. He also has an early offer from Clemson, and his high school coach expects a dozen more by the start of the football season.
“I’m going to try to wait until my senior year to [commit], but I don’t know,” Ogletree said. “If I really like the school, the coaching staff and feel like it’s a place I have a chance at playing as soon as I get there, I might make up my mind sooner.”
Could that place be Georgia? “I don’t know, but I loved everything about my trip to Athens,” he said.
Ogletree got red-carpet treatment during Georgia’s “Dawg Night” prospect camp last Friday. Shortly after arriving, he was pulled aside for a one-on-one meeting with Georgia coach Mark Richt, who was impressed with Ogletree’s sophomore performances.
Because of Ogletree’s towering frame (6-foot-3, 215 pounds), some schools are scouting him at linebacker, but he prefers to stay at safety in college. During the Georgia camp, he ran through the drills at safety and finished with two interceptions and one more conversation with Richt.
“Coach Richt said he didn’t realize I could move that well at safety until seeing me in person,” Ogletree said. “He said, ‘I’d like to offer you a scholarship. We want you to be part of our team.’”
Ogletree said he was still in awe how everything seemed to happen so quickly at Georgia.
“The offer really surprised me; it caught me off guard. I wasn’t even expecting [Richt] to talk to me. I’m both shocked and really excited about it all.”
Permalink | Comments (6) | Post your comment | Categories: Clemson, UGA
LSU’s Miles reaffirms offer to Myles Jr. on weekend visit
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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Darren Myles Jr. met in Baton Rouge on Sunday with LSU head coach Les Miles, who reaffirmed his scholarship offer to safety from Carver of Atlanta.
Myles Jr. then reaffirmed his desire to wait until after his high school season before making a decision but said that LSU was among his handful of favorites.
“Coach Miles told us that safety is a position of need, that he likes his ability to come up and force the run and he felt like he can help right away,” Darren Myles Sr., the player’s father and high school coach, said by phone from Baton Rouge. “He told us he was willing to take his commitment right now. Then he paused.”
And Myles Jr. did not answer.
“The [Miles] followed with, ‘Of course, you don’t have to make a decision now.’ Darren knows not to say anything. We’ve got an understanding. It’s not going to be a surprise. So I said, ‘At this time, we’re not going to commit. But of course, you stand right up there at the top. If we did a top five, you’d be in there. But to commit now is not something we’re ready to do.’ ”
Myles Jr. is rated the No. 5 safety nationally by Rivals.com and No. 12 by Scout.com. He was among several high-end recruits visiting LSU this weekend. Others included linebacker Jarvis Jones of Carver-Columbus, cornerback Branden Smith of Washington and quarterback Russell Shepard of Houston, who is committed to LSU. Myles spent much of his time with Smith, his rival from Atlanta city schools.
Myles Sr. said this was his son’s sixth unofficial visit to a top school. He also has seen Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia and Georgia Tech. He also wants to visit Ohio State and West Virginia, but those probably will not come until the fall as official visits, Myles Sr. said.
Myles Sr. grew up in Louisiana and attended Douglass High of New Orleans and was recruited by LSU in football before going to Purdue. Myles Sr. came to Atlanta’s Douglass High in 1996, when Myles Jr. was 6. But Myles Sr. said that his family’s ties to Louisiana would be no factor in his son’s decision.
“He hasn’t been there since he was 6,” Myles Sr. said. “Darren’s 17 now. Just because we’re from New Orleans, it’s not a shoo-in. It’s what they offer him now as a football player and student-athlete. It has to be a good situation.”
Permalink | Comments (7) | Post your comment | Categories: Alabama, Auburn, Florida, LSU, Other schools, Tech, UGA
Highly-regarded OL Jackson commits to Ga. Tech
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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Will Jackson, a 6-foot-4, 280-pound guard for Farragut High in Knoxville, Tenn., committed to Georgia Tech on Saturday.
He chose the Jackets during an on-campus visit.
“The entire time Georgia Tech has stuck out to me,” Jackson told Rivals.com. “Basically, I sat down and kind of re-evaluated everything. I looked at the coaches. And Coach [Paul] Johnson has won everywhere he’s been, so I knew the coaches would be fine.
“There’s a lot of stability because it’s a new staff. The facilities and living conditions are great, the weight room, everything. They’re even making improvements to make it even better.
“The academics are great as well. Georgia Tech is one of the top schools in the country. It’s only two and a half hours away from my house. It was just everything. There’s not one thing I didn’t like about the program.”
Jackson, who is considered the 24th-best guard in the nation by Rivals.com and Scout.com, picked the Jackets over Kentucky, N.C. State, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt and Wake Forest.
He is Tech’s 10th commitment in the class of 2009.
Permalink | Comments (70) | Post your comment | Categories: Tech
