Johnson to WVU?

Rumors have been swirling all day about Georgia Tight Ends coach Dave Johnson leaving to become offensive line coach at West Virginia. Scout.com is reporting this as fact, but there is still no official word from either school.

The AJC is analyzing the impact the move would have on recruiting, if it turns out to be true. They were able to find one recruit who said the move could affect his commitment to Georgia.

Tight end Dwayne Allen of Fayetteville, N.C., would be affected if Johnson were to sign a contract with West Virginia.

"Drastically," Allen said. "He is one of the main reasons I am committed to Georgia."

While I'd hate to lose a kid like this, I can only wish the best for Coach Johnson. You can't fault a man for taking a promotion at his alma mater.

Related:
Rumor: Georgia TE Coach to WVU as OL Coach (GSB)

Felton Lands a Big One

We've had the Grecian Sensation. The Blockin Morrocan. Now, the basketball team will have the Serbian...crap, I can't think of anything.

Drazen Zlovaric has verbally committed to Coach Felton and the Georgia Bulldogs over Texas, Arkansas, and others. I have no idea why I'm so excited about this. I know absolutely nothing about this guy. Most likely, it has something to do with how much fun the Deaner and I have pronouncing the names of Vanderbilt players. Now we can enjoy such things with a player on our own team.

They are saying he is a 6'9" two guard though. Wow. Let's hope he can develop into a serious ball player.

Vance Cuff Still Ineligible

There were rumors flying around yesterday that Cuff had qualified to enroll at Georgia. Unfortunately, those rumors were proven false. It sounds like the appeals process will continue, but you never know when you are dealing with the NCAA.

Tight End Situation

I noted before that NaDerris Ward was going to need to step up with the impending suspension of Tripp Chandler. You'll be pleased to know that Ward agrees with that statement. Chip Towers gives us some good info about why Ward sat out due to shoulder surgery last year. I really hope he is able to step in and be productive right off the bat.

As far as Tripp Chandler's situation goes, the Athens Banner Herald's John Kaltefleiter had an article this weekend about Chandler's and Barnes' arrests being unnecessary. I agree that this was the case; however, I don't agree with the entire article.

It's just so ironic that Barnes and Chandler were charged with breaking the open-container law when on Saturdays in the fall in Athens, the police turn a blind eye to the infraction.

Open containers are more prevalent around this town during game day than the fans inside Sanford Stadium at kickoff. And if you don't think there's not underage drinking around every corner, you're either blind or that stupid.

Mr. Kaltefleiter obviously has not walked down Lumpkin on a game day recently. The cops hand out open container tickets like no body's business.

But, they hand out tickets...not arrests. I don't see why these two were arrested. If they were given alcohol related tickets as opposed to being arrested, I'm not sure that the mandatory suspension for 10% of the season would apply.

One more thing on tight ends...Rising high school senior Bryce Ros, son of former Bulldog captain and member of the 1980 national championship team Frank Ros, committed to Georgia over the weekend. The 2008 recruiting class is ridiculous.

AJC Article on Howard Thompkins

The AJC has an article up today on Howard "Trey" Thompkins. It was easy to miss, as the headline was kind of buried. But they just changed the headline for the story and put it in a more prominent spot on the main sports page on AJC.com. I wonder if Chip Towers was upset with the initial placement and got it moved...

This is a good article by Towers. As I've said before, I'm definitely not big into recruiting. I didn't know about Thompkins leaving home to play at Oak Hill Academy. The article is about Thompkins coming home not only to play for Georgia, but also to finish high school where he started at Wesleyan, a Gwinnett County private school.

It sounds like there are big expectations for Thompkins for his senior season of high school. I hope he lives up to them both at Wesleyan, and at Georgia. I also hope he can help Felton land some more five star recruits!

Image from Scout.com

Recruitin' Roundup

Caleb King Qualifies
Caleb King has met the requirements to enroll at Georgia. If you are wondering how good news this is, just watch this.

Video uploaded to YouTube by Skinnedy.

Granted that video is awesome, I don't know how much Caleb will contribute as a freshman. I think it all depends on Thomas Brown's recovery and how well Caleb learns the blitz pickups. We all know how big Richt is on the running backs being not only good ball carriers, but good blockers as well.

Howard "Trey" Thompkins Commits to Coach Felton
Everyone is weighing in on this commitment the Hoop Dawgs landed. I'm not going to claim to be in the know on basketball recruiting, but this seems to be huge. I'm happy for Coach Felton. Here's a video of Thompkins' AAU team, the Atlanta Celtics. If anyone can point out which one is Thompkins, that would be great... Video uploaded to YouTube by BallIsLifeDotCom.

Recruitin' Roundup

King Commits
Unless you've been under a rock, you've heard by now that Tavarres King commited to the Dawgs. King and A.J. Green are the most highly touted pair of wide receiver commits in the same class since Durrell Robinson and Reggie Brown signed with the Dawgs in 1999. However, neither of those guys made it into school initially. And as I've pointed out before, Robinson never really panned out. I'm hoping these two will have a more immediate impact, but you never know with this stuff.

Ward, Not So Much...
In other recruiting news, it does in fact look like Martin Ward has opened his recruitment process back up.

"Martin had never really been exposed to a Saturday in Athens before with 80,000 people and they all know you and want you to be there," Laws said. "Once he started to get the national attention a light went off in his head."

Laws is Ward's current coach, Jarrett Laws. It sounds to me like he committed really fast and wants to see what else is out there. Don't be surprised if this kid still ends up in Athens.

Hoops Recruitin'
I'm way late on this, but Coach Felton signed guard Troy Brewer out of Maryland. Here is how Coach Felton describes Brewer...

He is a terrific guard with good size and length. Shooting the basketball is considered his specialty, but just as important, Troy is simply accustomed to winning.

Felton talks a lot about knowing how to win. Getting a winning culture will hopefully help the team avoid collapses like we had against both Western Kentucky and Alabama last year.

Recruiting News

I know the guys that write the stories don't write the headlines, but headlines like this from the AJC really annoy me.

Ward waffling on UGA commitment? Tyson isn’t

Basically what I'm getting from the article is that Ward is going to visit Florida. Plenty of kids take official visits to other schools after they've committed. I really don't think the story warrants the headline. However, Ward's former coach Bob Ryan isn't helping matters by coming up with a conspiracy theory about Ward's new coach's intentions.

I don’t think my replacement wants him to go to Georgia. He’s a Florida guy.

Time will only tell on this one...which is why I try my best not to follow this stuff.

The other part of that headline is good news. Statesboro defensive tackle Deangelo Tyson continues to be a solid committment to Georgia.