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Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Cartersville’s Alexander to visit Louisville
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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Cartersville’s Morgan Alexander has scheduled an official visit to Louisville on Nov. 22, when the Cardinals host West Virginia.
Louisville is one of four schools that have extended scholarship offers to Alexander. The others are Arkansas, Indiana and South Carolina State. Coaches from North Carolina State met with Alexander at Cartersville last week and told him that they would be offering soon. Additionally, Tennessee and Clemson have begun recruiting Alexander, who has seven touchdowns in three games this season — five rushing, one receiving and one 91-yard kickoff return.
“I haven’t started to narrow down my list yet, but I know I need to,” Alexander said. “I’ll probably start doing some research on the [internet] on each school, to see what they have to offer.”
Alexander said he likely will take official visits to Arkansas and Indiana. He’ll take unofficial visits to the other schools, including Tennessee on Saturday, where he will watch the Vols host Florida.
“I’ve been in that atmosphere before. I went to see them play Georgia last year,” Alexander said of the scene at Neyland Stadium. “It will be exciting for me. Like a fat kid in a candy store.”
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Cedartown’s Brown to watch Georgia Tech this weekend
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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Cedartown running back/defensive back Brandon Brown (6-foot-2, 185 pounds) has one official scholarship offer, from Navy.
But he has several teams actively recruiting him, including Georgia Tech, Auburn, Wake Forest, Vanderbilt, and lately, Georgia. While he is happy with the offer from Navy, which he received over the summer, Brown would rather see some offers from the other schools recruiting him.
“Navy is cool, but I really like Georgia Tech, Auburn and UGA,” he said, Tuesday evening. When asked if he prefers those schools to Navy because they play in better known conferences than the Midshipmen, Brown said, “yeah, something like that.”
While he remains undecided on where and when he will take his official visits, Brown said he will be at Tech on Saturday afternoon to watch the Jackets take on Mississippi State.
“I don’t know when any of them will offer me,” Brown said of the larger, more prominent schools recruiting him. “I hope they do soon.”
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Tech flirts with Duke commit Putnam
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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Sandy Creek defensive end Brandon Putnam’s commitment to Duke remains intact, though Georgia Tech continues to pursue him.
“Who’s still recruiting me? Just Georgia Tech,” the 6-foot-3, 225-pound Putnam said when asked about the subject. However, the Yellow Jackets have not offered a scholarship.
Putnam, an AJC’s The Georgia Top 150 selection who committed to the Blue Devils in July, cautioned against reading too much into his decision to attend Tech’s season opener against Jacksonville State last month.
“And I’ll probably go to some other games in the area,” he said. “I just love football.”
Putnam witnessed Duke’s 41-31 victory over Navy in Durham, N.C. on Saturday.
“It’s nice there, with everything going on,” he said. “There’s a lot of new tradition up there. Duke is definitely moving forward and not backwards.”
Putnam said he tentatively plans to be at Bobby Dodd Stadium on Oct. 4 when the Jackets host the Blue Devils.
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Big-time recruits line up to attend Georgia Tech game on Saturday
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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With No. 3 Georgia playing on the West Coast this weekend, Georgia Tech’s home game against Mississippi State will be front-and-center for many of the area’s top recruits.
Flowery Branch defensive end Izaan Cross, Eastside quarterback Justin Wray and Salem offensive lineman Sam Watts are among the players who have indicated they plan to attend Saturday afternoon’s Georgia Tech-Mississippi State contest at Bobby Dodd Stadium.
Cross, who has a scholarship offer from the Jackets, is considering several programs including Clemson and Tech.
Wray, who has been offered by Central Florida, is eager to see if the Jackets will follow suit and do the same this weekend.
“We’re just talking right now,” he said of his scholarship chances with Tech.
Watts will cheer for the Bulldogs. He committed to Mississippi State during the summer.
Milton running back Toney Williams, who committed to Tennessee in May, will travel to Knoxville on Saturday to watch the Volunteers host Florida.
He’ll likely bump into Stephenson linebacker Nigel Mitchell-Thornton, a Tennessee commit who intends to drive to Neyland Stadium after his team returns home from Waycross early Saturday morning. Stephenson plays at Ware County Friday evening.
Henry County quarterback Drew Little doesn’t have a visit scheduled this weekend, but he does plan to drop in on an ACC program next month.
“Boston College is very interested in me,” he said. “I plan on visiting there in about four weeks.”
Each player is a member of the AJC’s The Georgia Top 150.
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Walton DE Paulsen receives offer from Oklahoma State
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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Walton’s David Paulsen received an offer from Oklahoma State on Tuesday, and the Cowboys immediately moved into his top five.
Paulsen, a 6-foot-3, 240 pound defensive end, indicated via text message that Oklahoma State has joined Miami (Ohio), Duke, Tulane and Georgia as his top choices. The Walton senior said he likes what Oklahoma State has to offer, especially the fire from head coach Mike Gundy, who you’ll remember from this YouTube rant.
Paulsen is a member of the AJC’s The Georgia 150. He just returned from an official visit this weekend to Tulane. His next trip will be to see Miami (Ohio) on Oct. 4.
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Central Gwinnett’s Diante Drake returns to football
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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Central Gwinnett running back Diante Drake will play his first game Friday against Dacula after serving a two-game suspension for an Aug. 4 arrest on marijuana possession. Drake, who is on the AJC’s The Georgia 150 list, is a tailback who ran for 1,501 yards and 18 touchdowns last season. He continues to draw interest from Boston College.
“Boston College has been making contact with him; he gets a ton of mail from those guys,” said Central Gwinnett’s first-year coach Ed Stokes. “No solid offers, [but] there’s a lot of interest in him.”
Central Gwinnett is looking for its first victory of the season after dropping games to Mainland High School (Fla.) and Mill Creek. Having a big-play threat like Drake back in the lineup can only help.
“Our guys know Drake can go at any time; any time he touches the ball,” Stokes said. “He’ll bring up the level of play.”
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Inside the Stat: Parkview’s Brandon Jacobs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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3 — Touchdowns by Parkview’s Brandon Jacobs, who is committed to Auburn and a member of the AJC’s The Georgia 150, in the Panthers’ 28-7 victory against Berkmar.
His best game?
“My best game was against Chattahoochee. I had more than 200 yards. But three touchdowns was the most I’ve ever had in a game.”
Favorite TD run?
“Most fun was probably the last one. Great blocking, I had a lot of room to work with. I came to the line on the right side. They were blitzing, and I cut back to the left, made a move on the corner.”
You scored three TDs … Auburn scored three points against Mississippi State. Thoughts?
“I think they had a bad game. Of course I’d like to help them out a lot next year.”
What’s better, 200 yards or three touchdowns?
“Probably scoring three touchdowns, because that keeps my team in the game.”
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UCF recruit Hill gets overtures from UGA and Tennessee
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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Miller Grove’s Stephen Hill, one of DeKalb County’s leading receivers, said that increased interest from Georgia and Tennessee hasn’t made him waffle about his commitment to Central Florida.
Hill said Georgia was “recruiting me hard last week … but right now I’m still with UCF. That’s the school that has recruited me since Day 1.”
Hill plans to attend the Alabama-Georgia game next weekend in Athens.
In three games for Miller Grove (1-1-1), the 6-foot-4 Hill has nine receptions for 240 yards and four touchdowns.
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UGA-bound Jones not surprised to see teammate back off Clemson
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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Northside-Warner Robins defensive tackle Abry Jones, who committed to Georgia, said he was not surprised to see his teammate, linebacker Eric Fields, back off his commitment to Clemson.
Both Northside players are AJC Super 11 selections. Fields, who was unavailable for comment, has said he still favors Clemson, but wants to take official visits with the Tigers and Georgia.
“He has been saying that for a while, so it wasn’t a big deal when it came out [in the media],” Jones said. “I pretty much figured he’d go ahead and do it [back off the commitment].”
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UGA defensive coordinator Willie Martinez takes notice of Warner Robins DB
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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Georgia has expressed some interest in Warner Robins cornerback Rashad Wynes, who has committed to Alabama-Birmingham.
Georgia defensive coordinator Willie Martinez noticed Wynes when he was watching film of the Warner Robins-Peach County scrimmage. Martinez was studying junior defensive tackle Jeffrey Whitaker, who has already been offered by the Bullodgs.
“I had about 4-5 pass breakups, and [Martinez] told my coaches that he wanted to see me in person,” said Wynes.
The 6-foot-1, 210-pound Wynes was offered recruiting tickets for Georgia’s game against Alabama on Sept. 27. Wynes said he has not had any direct contact with the Bulldogs, nor does he know how to interpret the situation.
“It’s all good, I haven’t thought about it a lot,” Wynes said. “I’m just going to go to the game and see what happens.”
Wynes has exceptional size and athleticism for the defensive secondary. With Georgia, he is likely a backup target in case the Bulldogs fail to land one or both of the state’s top uncommitted defensive backs, Washington High’s Branden Smith or Carver-Atlanta’s Darren Myles.
Ole Miss has offered a scholarship and is strongly pursuing Wynes, who said he remains loyal to Alabama-Birmingham.
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