Wednesday, May 26, 2004

Daily Swarm

BEESBALL TEAM FACES MD TODAY
Round 1 - ding ding ding. Time to continue the streak - because winning now matters a lot now - only surpassed by the big "dance". Story here. Collegiate Baseball has us now ranked #5 in the nation, while Baseball America has us #10.......... Brandon Boggs has been a big part of the winning streak and has really picked up his game in the 2nd half of the season - good story here......... For GT to win all the way to Sunday they are going to have to rely on someone else in the pitching staff to come through. Owings / Kown / Burks are not going to be starting on Sunday so time for someone to step up - story here......... Here's the full game schedule and gametracker links as well.......... Here's a nice story on Coach Hall and his family background.

ACC HAS NOT WON A CHAMPIONSHIP SINCE 1955 IN BEESBALL
Did you know that? I didn't. This story focuses on how the level of ACC baseball competition is stepped up with powerhouse Miami in the league.

GT AND THE LINEBACKER POSITION
A nice overview of our linebacker situation.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW - KEYARON FOX
Key Fox is learning the pro game just like Tony Hargrove and others. Here is a nice story on K-Fox. My favorite quote from Dick Vermiel -

"I'm impressed,” Vermeil said. “He can close, he has good instincts, he has very good work habits. You can see that he was very well coached in college..."

FOOTBALL RECRUITING
Blurb on an up-and-coming player from Florida who has a 'ship offer form GT - Neefy Moffett. Now tell me that's not a cool name.
Recruit on the rise: Another in the Palm Bay line -- defensive end/linebacker Neefy Moffett, who is listed among the nation's top 100 recruits by both rivals.com and theinsiders.com. He already has received offers from LSU, Georgia Tech, Southern Cal and Notre Dame, among others.
Here is an article talking about the background of Tony Clark, our first verbal commit. Best quote -
"I knew I wanted to play for them, so it was pretty exciting when they made the offer," Clark said. "It's a good school academically and they play defense the way I like to play. I think I can succeed there."
Also note the quote at the bottom of the article where it talks about other recruits interested in GT:
Groves' DeMasi said two more of his players have also drawn interest from Tech. Barrod Heggs, a 6-3, 220-pound defensive end, made 16 sacks as a junior in 2003, while running back Jonathan Armstrong led the Rebels in rushing with more than 1,000 yards.

NCAA rules prevent Georgia Tech's coaches from commenting on recruits until they sign a letter of intent next February.

In other recruiting news, Florida's 2003 leading rusher says he is considering Georgia Tech along with Ohio State and Southern California. Maurice Wells rushed for 3,000 yards and 31 touchdowns last fall for Jacksonville's Sandalwood High School.

Wells, the Florida Times-Union's 2003 Offensive Player of the Year, is coached by Adam Geis, the son of Georgia Tech assistant coach Buddy Geis. Wells' teammate, standout linebacker Marvin Sapp Jr., also lists the Yellow Jackets among his favorites.


BEST BACKCOURTS IN THE NATION
Over at this AZ hoops site, they have made a list of the top 20 backcourts. Why - well, AZ has quite a storied tradition with PG's, much like GT. So it is nice to see GT 3rd on the list, with Jack, Elder, Bynum and even Fredrick getting billing. Thanks to Buzzweiser over at the Hive for the link. Who is #1 - Wake Forest, and that is hard to argue with Paul and Grey. UNC comes in 2nd.

STANFORD MAY BE BETTER WITH TRENT JOHNSON
Based on this article. Trent is a guy who will the offense go a bit more and is probably a stronger recruiter. Time will tell.......... In other coaching news, it looks like nepotism is alive and well, as Eddie Sutton's son will take over the reigns at OSU when he is done, which could be a couple of years out.

STANFORD AND GT - RECRUITING STYLES
No doubt Stanford and GT have something in common - we have to draw from the same limited pool of players that can play sports at the highest levels, but also excel in the classroom. This article about Stanford and Trent Johnson's challenges mentions one of our recruits that Stanford lost - Zam Fredrick -
From the high school class of 2004, Montgomery couldn't get two elite student-athletes past the admissions department. One, shooting guard Zam Frederick, had a GPA better than 4.0 and was taking afternoon classes at a local community college because he wanted the challenge. Frederick ended up at Georgia Tech. Not a bad school.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW - DEAN KEENER
Well now that he is gone, he has been named one of the top 25 recruiters in the nation by Rivals.com. Well ain't that great. Congrats to him, but hopefully Coach Hewitt can replace what he brought to the team, particularly on the recruiting trail.

MAJOR DISRUPTION IN THE POWER ALLEYS AT UGAg
Check out this article. UGAGg just severed ties with its main fund raising foundation. Fascinating and it will be interesting to see if this has some type of ripple effect with other state schools.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW - TARA KNUDSEN
The former Yellow Jacket softball star has signed with the pro softball team the New England Riptide. She still holds the ACC and GT marks for career home runs with 45 - story here.