Chubb’s Patience Pays Off
Georgia Football fans will remember Aaron Chubb, the defensive end from the late 80′s. He played on some of Coach Dooley’s last teams. His son Brandon is a senior LB at Hillgrove High School and I just learned a little of his recruitment this past year.
Going in to the 2010 season, Brandon’s best offer had been from the University of Tennessee/Chattanooga. During the course of the year, the coaches, especially Head Coach Phil Ironside encouraged Brandon to remain patient and just keep playing. As the season went along, Hillgrove made a deep run into the playoffs, beating Stevenson and Camden County is successive weeks. Playing well against those types of teams helped Chubb’s stock rise, but still mostly Southern Conference teams were the only ones calling.
These were the only offers at the time because at 6′ tall, he’s not the proto-typical SEC/ACC linebacker. Just before Christmas, based again on play-off game film, Appalachian State entered the picture. App State has been one of the most successful programs on the “1-AA” level for several years, having beaten Michigan in 2008 and winning National Championships in 2005, 2006 and 2007. This was a very positive development, but still Chubb waited to commit.
Well last week, a college coach visited Hillgrove HS to inquire about Brandon Chubb. It seems his program had lost a linebacker commitment to The University of Texas and now they were looking to replace him. The old domino effect. So now, when signing gets here on Wednesday, Brandon Chubb will be signing a Letter of Intent and will be attending Wake Forest University. Wow.
Good for you young man. All the best.
MHS Football Finds New Direction
Georgia High School Football has it’s newest member to welcome to the fraternity. My old Alma mater, Marietta High School has hired Virginia coach Scott Burton as it’s newest head coach(click). Burton, replaces James “Friday” Richards who stepped down earlier this year(click). The Marietta School board voted 7-0 to hire the 37 year old coach. Burton is committed to both athletic and academic excellence and some interesting methodology to get there.
Welcome coach, I will be by to try and sell you something very soon.
Why is it Always The Good Ones?
I never met Rajaan Bennett, but I’ve met many young men like him. I have coached on teams where your greatest hope as a coach, is that young men in your sphere of influence stay in the game. By staying in the game I mean, keep their priorities straight long enough to get their diploma and if they worked hard and were fortunate, and chance to go to college. Football can provide that dream and that focus.
From everything I am hearing, Rajaan had his priorities in order. A scholarship to Vanderbilt is solid evidence. The fervent hope and the security a degree would afford he and his future family. That future ended today. His mother’s ex-boyfriend took that away from Rajaan and then killed himself.
I never understood the selfishness of a murder-suicide.
If you want to go, by all means go, but leave the innocent to their own pursuit of happiness. Young black men in America have enough hurdles to overcome. Most can be negotiated with the right focus and determination.
But bullets are one threat no one can outrun.
Stephenson Was Loaded
Georgia Bulldogs fans were thrilled that Stephenson’s Mike Thornton signed with the Dawgs February 3rd. Thornton became the icing on the cake when Dawg fans thought they would have to eat their’s dry. What I didn’t realize is the sheer number of quality football players that were on this 11-1 Stephenson Squad. Most teams would love to have a senior class this large, much less 29 kids that could play on the next level.
Below you’ll find a list of Jaguar signees. I’m curious, what is the largest signing class in the history of Georgia High School Football?
STEPHENSON SIGNEES
- Martin Adebowale – Presbyterian
- Miles Ashmon – Fort Valley State
- Kelvin Billups – Johnson C. Smith
- Tyrone Cornileus – Miami (FL)
- James Farmer – Tusculum
- Idris French – Concordia (AL)
- Denzel Hartley – Johnson C. Smith
- Thomas Hubbard – St. Francis (IL)
- Jabari Johnson – Kentucky
- Jacob Johnson – Tusculum
- Kenny Ladler – Vanderbilt
- Jeremiah Mahoney – Concordia (AL)
- Gary McIndoe – LaGrange
- Armond Mitchell – Belhaven
- Edward Passmore – Concordia (AL)
- Joshua Polk – Presbyterian
- Blake Rennels – Belhaven
- Jordan Rhinehart – Tusculum
- Raymond Sanders – Kentucky
- Chris Sharpe – Middle Tennessee State
- Ronnie Shields – Kentucky
- Brandon Smith – Miles
- Quinton Spencer – Johnson C. Smith
- Malcolm Strong – Marshall
- Steven Thomas – Tusculum
- Mike Thornton – Georgia
- Ephesia Tisdale – Concordia (AL)
- Franchot West – Southern
- Doral White – Valdosta State
A New “Day” at Marietta?
I got a call Friday night about James “Friday” Richards decision to retire as head coach of the Marietta Blue Devils. Some of you may not realize that Marietta is my Alma mater, so this coaching change is of some import to me. Coach Friday graduated from MHS in 1972 and came back from the University of Florida just in time for my senior season(1976).
I’ll never forget his encouragement in a triple overtime classic against Douglas County that fall. My extra point made the difference after the Tigers kicker missed his to make it 38-37. He started teaching and coaching officially the next year and the rest is history. As the head coach for 15 years, his record at Marietta was 107-58.
When I started selling sporting goods six years ago, everywhere I went around the state, coaches wanted to know when “Friday was going to retire”? A few years ago, he started talking to me about it some, but this fall his mentions of retirement accelerated. I was at Marietta Thursday and it came up again, but some details had yet to fall into place. That happened Friday and again, one of his assistants called me that night with the news.
Suffice it to say, Marietta will be inundated with applications for this job. When coaches think of Marietta, they think of the Dexter Wood years and the success they enjoyed in the early 90′s. It will be very interesting to see the direction the administration goes with the new hire.
Athletic Director Paul Hall is half-way through his first year on the job and now will be involved in hiring someone for a job that was ear-marked for him a couple of years ago. Friday mentioned that possibility on more than one occasion to me. Hall was a long-time assistant coach for Richards and would have been a great choice. The x-factor at this point is a school administration that may or may not be committed to excellence on the field. They have already made a let’s say, “interesting” choice in replacing another legend, basketball coach Charlie Hood, with a first time head coach. The team is 3-8 in Region 5-AAAAA and 5-13 over-all.
The kids of Marietta deserve the best opportunity to succeed,
academically and athletically.
I hope that is kept in mind.
Atlanta Floods 2009
I had some things I wanted to say today, but the rains and subsequent flooding have diverted my attention. If you have seen the TV reports about the rain in Metro Atlanta you may have seen the multi-colored maps showing the various amounts measured. If you have noticed the little white area that stretches from Douglas County up through SE Paulding County and into West Cobb, thats where I live. They say as much as 15-18 inches fell here Sunday and Monday.
We are fine, but we are in such close proximity to the real devastation that I don’t have the heart to talk football today. Alot of the footage you have seen on TV in Powder Springs and Austell are close. Real close. My wife and I went to Martin’s in Powder Springs for breakfast this morning. The couple in front of us had their home under water. They were able to save their cars and clothes, but little else. The cashier at Martin’s described how she had seen a dead baby floating in a swollen creek nearby.
I’m sorry but I can’t just take the position that life goes on, because it doesn’t.
Not for everyone.
Hillgrove QB commits to Tech
Georgia Tech may have have found another piece of the puzzle this week. Synjyn Days of Hillgrove High School has chosen the Jackets over Oklahoma State believe it or not. Hillgrove is a customer of mine and I have seen Synjyn play for several years. He is a tough kid. In fact, many schools were recruiting him to play defense, probably an outside linebacker or strong safety type. But Georgia Tech wants him at quarterback. There is a good reason.
Hillgrove runs a version of the option, similar to Tech and that means Paul Johnson may have someone that can take his offense to another level. That’s bad. What’s not bad, is Synjyn himself. He is a quiet unassuming kid that works hard and I can’t hate him for that. There are too few kids like him.
Congratulations Synjyn, I hope you have a lot of success and may you never ever beat Georgia.
Tell me what you really think!