GT Football notes

Story on Chris Reis flourishing at linebacker............ Kenny Scott is having an "explosive" spring. You can tell from the quotes this guy is a major competitor and wants to play every snap.......... Here's a detailed look at all the position experiments Coach Gailey has tried this spring.

Chris Bosh's coach fired

Kevin O'Neill has been a big supporter of Chris Bosh and his development, but their improvement this year was not enough to save his job (story here).

A look at the NFL Draft

Here's an overall look at the draft, including mention of D-Smith.......... Here's a profile on D-Smith......... JP Foschi is mentioned in the top 20 tight-ends available here.......... Here's a look at O-Line prospects with Nat Dorsey #8.......... Here's another look at the O-Line.

More on UK and 'ship situation

Story on Adam Williams going to prep school

Attend Spring Scrimmage

Check it out - 10:30 am Saturday - it's free - be there.

Okafor makes it official

Wow - he's going pro - what a surprise.

UK 'Ships and Morris

Story on the UK situation and the waiting game with R.Morris.

Chris Reis stepping up

Every time this guy got into a game last year, good things happened. Looks like we are in store for more good things (story here).

Where are they now - Travis Best

I'll tell you where they are - sitting home on the couch watching the Mavericks playoff games. Best was left off the playoff roster in favor of Tony Delk (story here). That seals it - I hope the Mavericks get smoked in round 1.

Clemson hoops recruiting

Editorial on recruiting as it pertains to Clemson hoops.

Coach Hewitt helped Smith / Fredrick get to Pitt Classic

Article here. Quote - "The Classic is gaining so much attention that Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt, who led his team to the NCAA title game, called scouting coordinator Marvin Wright to ensure that two of his recruits -- Jeremis Smith and Frederick Zam -- would be invited to the game."

Article on how recruiting has changed

Notice the mention of GT (story here). From article - "Greg Oden is ranked as the top recruit in the sophomore class by rivalshoop.com, and Mike Conley is No. 39, but National Collegiate Athletic Association rules prohibit coaches from contacting them until their junior season. Instead, coaches leave messages for Keefer. A Georgia Tech coach called during the Final Four and concluded a message with, "Say hello to Mike and Greg."

Since you mentioned UConn...

... in some of the comments, here is a story on two of their recruits coming in, one of whom is still considering the NBA. Also notice the mention of Dennis Scott

From the article:
"The atmosphere is nothing like, say, 1986, when a young sharpshooter from Flint Hill (Va.) named Dennis Scott, who was coached by Vetter and rated the top high school player in the nation, never thought twice about attending Georgia Tech. Scott left for the NBA after three seasons with the Yellow Jackets.

"Probably the best player I coached in high school was Dennis Scott. He was by far the best player in the country, and there wasn't even talk about [going straight to the pros]," Vetter said.

"Dennis could have done it. He's in the category of a Rudy Gay. It just shows how high school basketball has grown every year."

More on Morris

Well, the speculation is really heating up now. Let me re-cap what people are saying:

- An Insiders.com article that came out yesterday quoted Morris's father as saying the NBA is OUT. It will be GT or UK.
- UK insiders believe he is UK bound, and have not wavered much on that position in the last few weeks.
- Bob Gibbons, a national recruiting analyst, has said it was down to GT and the NBA
- A handul of GT people who claim to have "inside contacts" say he is GT bound for sure. However, their credibility is completely unknown
- RamblinRed, who is probably the most credible GT poster on hoops has said he doesn't know and believes the NBA is a stronger option than we have been led to believe.

Meanwhile, one of the subplots has been the availability of 'ships over at UK. The GT 'ship situation became clear when Jim Nystrom headed back to Europe. Over at UK, news just came out that recruit Adam Williams has agreed to attend prep school for one year (story here), which basically gets them in compliance with the 5/8 rule. However that is BEFORE Morris. So it is not clear if they would qualify for the 5/9 exemption that allows one additional player is someone leaves early but is in good academic standing.

What is clear is that a decision will not occur until May. Stay tuned.

On another note, it looks like at least one of UNC's recruits will go to school this season - Marvin Williams (story here)............ Also, it is confirmed that David Padgett will transfer out of Kansas - his finalists were UNC, AZ and Standford originally. And remember who recruited him to Kansas - Roy Williams. Here is another story on that.

Reggie and the shotgun

Reggie Ball seems to be handling the shotgun well (story here). Also note at that Coach Gailey attended the UConn final four game. A lot of changes going on in the line-up this spring.

Beesball team loses to UGAg

... on an HR in the 8th inning, 6-5. Tough home loss for the Jackets. (story here).

More hoops notes

MORRIS STILL UNDECIDED
Story from Savannah paper - no decision expected until May.

OKAFOR WILL ANNOUNCE ON FRIDAY
We all know he is going pro, and he will make it official on Friday.

CLEMSON'S PURNELL LANDS SOLID 1ST CLASS
Don't expect Clemson to stay at the bottom of the ACC. Oliver Purnell has brought in a solid 1st class to Clemson, signing 5 players (story here).

More hoops draft notes

Story on Howard and his decision............ Julius Hodge has decided to return for his senior campaign at NCST, which will make that team a real contender again next season. Good news for the ACC as Felton / McCants / May at UNC also announced their return.......... The Big East takes a hit as both Omeka Okafor and Ben Gordon made their NBA departures official.

On the high school recruiting front for GT, here is a nice story on Alex Galindo, someone we are looking at depending on the outcome of the Morris / Pettway saga.

Lastly remember a guy Coach Hewitt was recruiting awhile ago - Davis Nwankwo (6-9-1/2, 235, Georgetown Preparatory Academy / North Bethesda, Md.). Today he committed to Vanderbilt along with another big power forward. I would say they just landed a top 25 class with those guys. Nwankwo wanted to go to AZ but his parents wanted Standford. Not sure what happened, but he is SEC bound.(story here)

College Recruiting Notes

DWIGHT HOWARD SURPRISE
Well, Dwight Howard announces his decision. Was there a surprise? Actually YES. He announces he will be enrolling at UNC................BBBBBBUUUUUUTTTTTTT he will ALSO be entering his name in the draft. So he will forgo his college eligibility to play hoops, but will enroll as a student and NOT forgo his education. How about that? (story here)............. To read Dwight's personal account, click here - you can also find out what "ride" he plans to buy.

Guess who is going to be riled up over this? How about UNC fans!! Talk about ironic. You know the old saying "A bird in the hand sometimes is just as bad as one in the bush".

ONE MORE POSSIBLE RECRUIT ON THIS YEAR'S RADAR
We know about R.Morris and A.Pettway. There could be another outside possibility on the radar - Alex Galindo. A 6'7" forward who originally signed with UTEP but was released from his LOI when the coach left for Texas A&M. RamblinRed over at the Hive describes him (thread here) as a very versatile guy who does many things well, but nothing great. Can score, shoot, handle the ball - top 75 type player. We'll see if anything materializes depending on what happens with Morris / Pettway.

ROY WILLIAMS GETS SOME GOOD NEWS
Roy may lose up to 3 of his new star recruits, but he got good news - that R.Felton and R.McCants will be staying put for at least another year. Sean May also previously announced his return as well.(story here). Pretty "confident" bunch.

Nice story on Eric Henderson

Story here............. Here's more on the dance shuffle of shifting positions on the football team in spring practice.