AJC > Sports > Football Recruiting > Blog > Archives > 2008 > November > 16 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USCedar Shoals LB DeDe Lattimore not surprised to lack UGA offer
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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It’s no surprise to one of the state’s top linebackers that UGA has not offered him a football scholarship even though he plays 5 miles from Sanford Stadium.
“They don’t really offer around here,” said Cedar Shoals linebacker DeDe Lattimore. “Everyone around here goes somewhere else most of the time. It’s just like that. It’s always been like that.”
Lattimore, a 15-year Athens resident, said he would still consider UGA if they offered.
“But they haven’t offered, so I’m moving on,” he said. “To tell the truth, I just want to get away from Georgia. I want a new start.”
The 6-foot-1, 225-pound linebacker has his first official visit scheduled to Oklahoma State on Nov. 29 to watch the Cowboys take on Oklahoma.
He currently has more than 15 offers, including Michigan, Kentucky, South Florida, Oklahoma State and Louisville.
He said Florida State and Auburn have sent a lot of mail, and he feels Auburn will be next to offer.
“They send me a lot of stuff,” he said. “FSU is my top choice though. I really like the atmosphere down there.”
Lattimore said the biggest factor in his college decision is the atmosphere, the amount of playing time and the coaching staff.
“It doesn’t matter what school I go to,” he said. “I just want to play.” he said.
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Permalink | Comments (9) | Post your comment | Categories: Auburn, FSU, Kentucky, Other schools, UGA
Comments
By Henry
November 15, 2008 12:27 PM | Link to this
The kid is telling the truth. UGA don’t recruit kids from around here. As for carlos and terrell, they both were to soft. Go back to vince dooly, he thought the south ga. kids were better players. Those very same players u don’t recruit comes back to hurt you. Good luck DeDe and pick a school where you can get playing time the fastest and get a good EDUCATION.
By Einstein
November 15, 2008 4:56 PM | Link to this
This doesn’t surprise me. Our “cracker-jack” recruiting staff would rather take the thugs and prima-donnas from the inner city Atlanta schools. They tend to put appearance over substance. Please don’t give up on us…after this season, we may see some intelligence used in our recruiting process, other than the dreds, pimped-up names, etc. CMR is going to shake up our recruiting (idiots) staff.
By DOC REEM
November 15, 2008 6:38 PM | Link to this
Dede is absoultly right UGA doesn’t recruit players from around here! Unless your parents work for UGA like Zack M. and Joe T. If your not from Athens please don’t think you know what goes on. Carlos, and Terrell were both good players but they were easy picks. UGA DARN near HAD to get these two or it would have looked very stupid. To let two nat’l top 150 kids with grades from a high school in Athens go to another school. I don’t think so! UGA has never found any diamonds in the rough or looked hard for any Athens kids that didn’t jump up and bite em the butt! Damion Gary was already being recruited by Fla State when Richt came and Q. Moses was the only one that suprised people. Think about all the years that The Great Billy Henderson of Clarke Central stayed the states top rankings in the highest classification in Ga at the time. How many of his players went to UGA throughout all those years. HUH!!!! Homer Jordan played QB at Cedar Shoals and won Clemson it’s only Nat’l Championship but Uga didn’t recruit him as a QB. True enough UGA is and should hold out for J. Jones but what about C.Vasser, M.Gillard, and Dexter Moody? I’m not saying these guys should’nt have been offered but why not Dede Lattimore? You telling me most of the guys from the Athens area are not UGA type of guys. How can that be when we are all from Athens. You know the place were UGA is located, we grew up on UGA and nothing else. I think kids from Athens deserve better. UGA takes chances on other kids from everywhere alse but won’t take enough chances on kids who live with a view of Stanford Stadium from their backyard!!UNLESS YOUR PARENTS WORK FOR UGA!!!! THAT IS
By Dawgtime
November 16, 2008 11:38 AM | Link to this
Has GT offered every high school athlete in Atlanta?
By Johnny Danger Dawg
November 16, 2008 2:17 PM | Link to this
Einstein, The Dawg’s 2009 linebacker commits are:
Chase Vasser (from Gainesville, GA); Dexter Moody (from Twin City, GA); and Mike Gilliard (Valdosta).
So I wouldn’t say they ONLY want Atlanta kids.
By dawg120
November 16, 2008 9:51 PM | Link to this
Stanford Stadium??? You sure you live in Athens??
By godawgs_uga
November 16, 2008 10:57 PM | Link to this
We need some beef on that d-line. Nothing personal to the Lattimore kid but we have enough linebackers. We need a few 300 pounders on that line and some serious secondary help. Good luck at Oklahoma State!!
By Douglas
November 16, 2008 11:14 PM | Link to this
Jeff Pyburn…Jimmy Payne…Amp Arnold…Danny Rogers…Gosh, I went to Cedar Shoals with all 4 of them….guess where they played football…UGA. UGA even recruited Homer Jordan as a DB but he wanted to play QB…so he did at Clemson and won a national championship….Maybe Lattimore is not just good enough for UGA! Sounds like sour grapes to me!
By D_Costa
November 17, 2008 9:47 AM | Link to this
In regards to Carlos and Terrell, those 2 are classic examples of two locals who actually should’ve left Athens. Carlos should’ve went to Kentucky like he was supposed to because he never developed into the player he was supposed to become (being ranked #3 in the same class as Jason Kidd (#1) and Othella Harrington (#2)), and the same could be said for Terrell who was agile for a big man. And please don’t get me started on Percy Eberhart of Clarke Central. He was without a doubt the best of them all, but UGA never took a look at him. Understandably, he was a JUCO player for 2 years, but UGA never entertained the thought of him ever playing at UGA, while I know other SEC schools did.
As for football, it’s not necessarily sour grapes to call a spade a spade. Maybe he’s just calling it how he sees it. UGA ‘has’ overlooked a lot of top notch talent out of Athens. Dontae Robinson is the most recent that comes to mind. And the most surprising thing about UGA missing the boat on Dontae is UGA hasn’t had a top flight CB since Champ. Sure, Tim Jennings turned out to be good, but Dontae was a top 10 pick w/ the Texans.
I understand that you can’t get all the talent in your state, but it’s kinda hard to overlook top 10 talent right in your own back yard.