Sunday, January 31, 2010

Men's Basketball: Have we Improved & A Critical Look at Next Season

With last night's latest loss to VCU, I find myself asking "Are we better than the Mike Perry years?"

I know, the coaching seems better with Coach Barnes but let's look at the records:

Mike Perry
52-66 Overall
8-28 CAA
Signature OOC Win: at Auburn

Rod Barnes
30-55 Overall
16-31 CAA
Signature OOC Win: ?

2009-10 OOC Wins this season and RPI Rank as of 1/29/10:

Jacksonville - 134
Georgia Southern - 297
Howard - 309
Utah Valley - 337

Record wise, yes we are better.  Are we better equipped for CAA competition?  I say no.  We have only 2 impact players on this year's team in Joe Dukes and Trae Goldston.  That's not even close to enough.  The transfer experiment has worked miserably and we are averaging a little more than 61 ppg.  That would rank us 299th out of 334 Division 1 teams.  That's a huge problem.  We have played an awful OOC schedule (ranked 246th) and have 4 wins to show for it.

We will be hitching our wagons to 3 freshman next year.  We are staring at yet another losing season (our 7th straight) and I'm not sure how those who support the program cannot become apethitic.  With football grabbing the headlines, attention and financial support, Coach Barnes will not be in any danger this offseason.  Next year does not bring much hope as I'm not confident in the returning players.  If you can name me an impact player in the list below, I'll be very impressed.

Seniors:
Marques Johnson
Dante Curry

Juniors:
Jihad Ali
James Fields
Jamar Taylor

Sophmores:
James Vincent
Mi'Kyel Nero

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Football Practice Site Update

The Eye in the Sky Don't Lie


As signing day draws near and the smell of spring practice less than two months away, construction continues on Georgia State's new football practice facility being built on MLK Drive, just a block and a half away from the GSU Sports Arena.


Within the last few weeks, sod was put down for the 60-yard grass field. The final pieces are being installed for the synthetic turf field which will be installed in the coming weeks, with plans of everything being set for the first day of spring practice, March 17th.

This is the second of four phases at the site as the Panthers prepare to begin play in 2010. Lights and the coaching tower were also installed recently.

The third phase is to build the field house, followed by the final phase, which will be to expand the field house to include a weight room and coaches offices.

Link: http://www.georgiastatesports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=12700&ATCLID=204875194

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Good Article & Video on the Expanded Weight Room


Brent McClendon putting work in


Georgia State student-athletes are now conducting their workouts in a brand new strength and conditioning facility in the GSU Sports Arena.


Located on the third floor of the Sports Arena adjacent to the arena floor, the new facility covers 5,500 square feet and is used by student-athletes in all sports.

Link: http://www.georgiastatesports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=12700&ATCLID=204874862

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Football grabs Rivals.com #10 FB Cole Moon




Georgia State got probably its most significant commitment since quarterback Drew [Little] agreed to sign on when Cole Moon pledged Sunday night to sign with the Panthers. The 6-foot-3, 205-pound fullback from St. Pius is rated a three-star prospect by Rivals.com.  In the end it came down to State and Georgia Southern for Moon, who wanted to play close to home. “I’m really excited about playing there,” Moon said Monday afternoon. “They have a great coaching staff and I know a lot of kids on the team. I had a couple of other offers but this is just a great situation.” Moon garnered recruiting interest from Purdue, Western Kentucky and Southern Miss and had offers from the service academies and Georgia Southern.

Rivals.com Link: http://rivals.yahoo.com/sectionsports/football/recruiting/player-Cole-Moon-73299

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CI0IxHF4xL4

AJC Link: http://blogs.ajc.com/recruiting/2010/01/26/ten-at-10-georgia-state-nabs-one-of-its-best-recruits/?cxntfid=blogs_recruiting

We've now teamed with PantherTalk.com




Check out the two greatest forces of Georgia State Athletic Coverage melding into one.

Jump on board today!

Link: www.PantherTalk.com

Monday, January 25, 2010

Men's Basketball and Football have new Radio Home



"Our partnership with JW Broadcasting is an important step forward as we launch Georgia State football and grow our entire athletics program," said Director of Athletics Cheryl L. Levick. "This partnership will help us broaden our reach in the Atlanta market, and even more importantly, it gives us a starting point from which we can build a state-wide radio network."

Link: http://www.georgiastatesports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=12700&ATCLID=204874272

Saturday, January 23, 2010

5 More Football Commits

According to the AJC:

Keeping with their season-long recruiting theme of looking for defense and muscle, the Panthers received five new commitments from linemen. Jeff Holmes, a 6-foot-3, 295-pound defensive tackle from Cincinnati, played at Independence (Kan.) Community College. Willie Huggins, a 6-2, 285-pound defensive lineman, played at Clewiston (Fla.) High School. LaDeven Kirkland, a 6-5, 340-pound offensive lineman from Miami, played at Yuba College in Marysville, Calif. C.J. Stephens, a 6-4, 255-pound defensive tackle, played at Woodland (Ala.) High School. John Ulrick, a 6-4, 260-pound center, played at Bradwell Institute (Hinesville).

Link: http://www.ajc.com/sports/gsu-football-facility-ahead-281174.html?cxtype=rss_news_128746

Football Practice Facility Ahead of Schedule

According to the AJC and Sr. Assoc. AD James Grenwell:

"...the work on the second phase of the football team’s new practice facility is slightly ahead of schedule. The second of four phases consists of the delivery of synthetic and natural grass for the playing surfaces. The next phase is to build the field house. The final phase is to expand the field house to include the weight room and coaches offices. Greenwell said the completion of all four phases is part of a three-year program, which is driven in part by fundraising.



“We expect to have the synthetic grass field by spring practice, which is March 17,” Greenwell said. “The grass field will be completed, but it’s a Bermuda grass and that’s dormant in the winter time, and it’s not growing right now. We’ll probably stay off of that until the fall.”

Link: http://www.ajc.com/sports/gsu-football-facility-ahead-281174.html?cxtype=rss_news_128746

Friday, January 22, 2010

Port St. Lucie High ATH Albert Wilson commits

Port St. Lucie High School standout Albert Wilson has verbally committed to play football at Georgia State University.

Wilson made his first official visit over the weekend to GSU and committed to the school and head coach Bill Curry. The Panthers will be competing as a first-year program next season.

Wilson's play as quarterback this year earned him honors as Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers All-Area Football Offensive Player of the Year. He will play defensive back and on special teams for the Atlanta school.

Wilson totaled 2,631 all-purpose yards and 22 touchdowns for the Jaguars (1-8) this season. He recorded 1,029 passing yards, 824 rushing yards, 81 receiving yards, 132 interception return yards and 565 kick/punt return yards.

Link: http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2010/jan/20/port-st-lucie-high-quarterback-albert-wilson-commi/

Monday, January 18, 2010

Curry highlighted in AJC Article about Coaching & Stress

We love to talk about how noble we are for working 100 hours a week. It’s the culture of our business, and we’re all driven competitors. I was born that way. My dad was that way, and I was taught that at all times, do my best, never give up and work harder than the next guy, no matter what. That gets into your hard-drive.


“Then you get into football, already obsessed from the inside and now you’re adding external pressures of people watching you, the media watching, ESPN watching. But working harder than the next guy, no matter what, does enormous collateral damage.

“While I was at ESPN, I had very prominent coaches pull me into their office before games and say, ‘I’ve got a son that I love, but I don’t know him. Do you have a suggestions?’ I’d say, ‘Yeah, but you’re not going to take my advice. Go home after practice. Make sure you see your family at one end of the day. Come to work early, get home early, or go in late and stay late. I promised my staff at GSU I would do that.

“I destroyed my health in 21 years of coaching and got to the level of fatigue where I couldn’t operate as a good decision-maker, with migraines and exhaustion overtaking me. If I could do it over again, I’d do it differently. I have children who have gotten sick of me apologizing over the last 15 years for not being there. I thought that was what I was supposed to do.”


Link: http://www.ajc.com/sports/viewpoints-coaches-and-stress-276713.html

AJC Article: Georgia State Recruiting for Defense

Full run down on verbal commits.

Link: http://www.ajc.com/sports/georgia-state-recruiting-for-276777.html

Friday, January 15, 2010

Settling the Men's Basketball Retired Jersey Issue

As I've discussed, I had been efforting an answer about the Men's Basketball Retired Jersey/Banner Issue.

Here's our definitive answer:

The JERSEYS are retired, not the numbers. The Athletic Dept. did look into that before issuing those numbers [to Marques and Mi'Kyel].

It is fairly common to hang someone's jersey without taking the number out of circulation.

To retire the actual number would be a step above and would have to be reserved for truly unique accomplishments - i.e. National Player of the Year or Heisman Trophy winner.


And as you noted, we are re-doing the banners as part of our overall re-branding.

Hopefully this should clear up any confusion.

Signing Event Planning Underway

Just confirmed that the Athletic Dept. will be hosting a Signing Day Event on Wednesday, Feb. 3rd at 5pm in the Student Center Ballroom.

More details to come...

Football Eligibility Update & Starting QB, RB Projection

Quarterbacks - 4
Kelton Hill - Fr.
Drew Little - Fr.
Bo Schelecter - Fr.
Matt Collins - Fr.

Projected Starter: Kelton Hill. With a young O-Line, we need a mobile QB to start from Day 1.

Running Backs - 8
Rosevelt Watson - Soph.
Nate Anthony - Fr.
Sam Burkhalter - Fr.
Travis Evans - Fr.
Mark Hogan - Fr.
Darris Hughes - Fr.
Parris Lee - Fr.
Darren McCray - Fr.

Projected Starter: Travis Evans. A smaller back but has very good burst and will do very well in our Spread Offense.

Wide Receiver - 8
Justin Brown - Jr.
Sidney Haynes - Jr.
Victor Cephus - Soph.
Brent McClendon - Soph.
Jordan Giles - Fr.
Zach Jones - Fr.
Danny Williams - Fr.
Ethan Souther - Fr.

Tight Ends - 4
Kelan Jenkins - Jr.
Emmanuel Ogbuehi - Soph.
Cole Abernathy - Fr.
Bo Carter - Fr.

Offensive Lineman - 15
Michael Brandenburg - Jr.
Ben Jacoby - Jr.
Jeremy Little - Soph.
Kameron Cheatham - Fr.
Harrison Clottey - Fr.
Ramell Davis - Fr.
Michael Davis - Fr.
Grant King - Fr.
Scott McQueen - Fr.
Cade Yates - Fr.
Austen Wiley - Fr.
Pax Vestal - Fr.
Robert Truitt - Fr.
Bryson Strickland - Fr.
Nicholas Nesmith - Fr.

Offensive Recruiting Strategy: With only a projected 15 scholarships being spent on the 2010 recruiting class, I can only see 5-6 scholarships used on offensive players.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Football Team Adds 3



Northeastern transfer Jocquez Fears and junior college standouts Olufemi Opanubi and Kalan Jenkins have joined the Georgia State football program for the spring semester. All three are enrolled at GSU, will participate in spring practice and be available to play next fall.

Link: http://www.georgiastatesports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=12700&ATCLID=204868121

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Rashanti Harris will not play for Georgia State in 2009-10



No dunking from this guy in the Sports Arena this season

We've been holding out hope but from our sources the NCAA Clearinghouse would not clear him to play.  Small outside shot that we could bring him in this summer but I'm not confident.

With 2 scholarships available for the 2010-11 season, Barnes and staff need to focus on bringing in 2 impact forwards.

2010 Football Recruiting Update - 1.10.10

A big shout out from my man DJ for all he does in regards to recruiting information.  We are 24 days and counting away from signing day and here's a list of our 8 Verbal (Public) Commits as well as those who were have currently offered.

Verbal Committments:
OLB Eric Odonkor - Peachtree Ridge HS - Suwanee, GA
http://rivals.yahoo.com/auburn/footb...Odonkor-100994

CB DeMarius Matthews - McEachern HS - Powder Springs, GA
http://rivals.yahoo.com/alabama/foot...Matthews-95451

LB Blake James Little Rock, AR
http://rivals.yahoo.com/olemiss/football/recruiting/player-Blake-James-84723

DL Sherrod Loud, Worth County HS
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ucf/football/recruiting/player-Sherrod-Loud-103592

OL Tyler Pitt, Telfair County HS
http://www.maxpreps.com/athletes/Bk4MEDk_F0mQOkBSxF79Eg/football-fall-09/profile-tyler-pitt.htm

TE Joey Gilkey, Etowah HS
http://insider.espn.go.com/ncf/recruiting/tracker/player?recruitId=79771&season=2010&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fncf%2frecruiting%2ftracker%2fplayer%3frecruitId%3d79771%26season%3d2010

CB Justin Hughes, Treasure Coast HS, Port St. Lucie, FL
http://rivals.yahoo.com/fiu/football/recruiting/player-Justin-Hughes-99704

TE Drew Pearson - Pepperall HS
http://hsgeorgia.scout.com/a.z?s=37&p=2&c=921544

Offered but not committed:
Jerick McKinnon - WR - Sprayberry HS - Marietta, GA
http://rivals.yahoo.com/kentucky/foo...McKinnon-99224

Chris Mooney - DE - Walton HS - Marietta, GA
http://rivals.yahoo.com/alabama/foot...-Mooney-104224

Steven Funderburk - WR - Treasure Coast HS - Port St. Lucile, FL
(This kid is a 6'4" receiver from the same high school as our CB commit, Justin Hughes)
http://rivals.yahoo.com/alabama/foot...nderburk-99924

Rob Fronk - TE - Hargrave Military Academy - Chatham, VA
http://rivals.yahoo.com/alabama/foot...b-Fronk-103178
Note: Will likely take a preferred walk-on to NC State

Rashad Blackwell - TE - Hargrave Military Academy - Chatham, VA
http://rivals.yahoo.com/alabama/foot...ackwell-103177

Martaze Jackson - DE - Demopolis HS - Demopolis, AL
http://rivals.yahoo.com/alabama/foot...-Jackson-79149

Josh Gebhardt - DE - Landmark Christian HS - Fairburn, GA
http://rivals.yahoo.com/alabama/foot...ebhardt-105662

Greg Clark - DT - Northside HS - Warner Robins, GA
http://rivals.yahoo.com/alabama/foot...g-Clark-103228

Jarrell Robinson - OLB - Portal HS - Portal, GA
http://rivals.yahoo.com/alabama/foot...Robinson-96762

2010 Football Target Danny Palmer committs to Furman

Link: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/recruiting/os-recruiting-danny-palmer-commits-to-furman-0108,0,4088517.story

Men's Basketball - Halfway Home

Through 16 games, we are exactly where I thought we'd be, 8-8, 2-2 in the CAA. I do not anticipate us winning more than 8 more games the rest of the year. The question is out there: Is that good enough for you?


Starters
G Joe Dukes - For being a Preseason second-team All-CAA, he really started slow. 13.5ppg 5.4 rebounds per. His scoring and rebounding are up from 2008-09 but assists are down.

G Trae Goldston - Sharp shooter who also started slowly but has been the best shooter on our team. 12.6ppg which is up from 2008-09 and both FG% and 3pt FG% is up as well.

G Marques Johnson - Really not sure about him. Not much of a scoring threat and handles the ball well but I need a scoring threat from a starting player. 2.2ppg 2.2assists per. Not enough. Period.

F Xavier Hansbro 8.4ppg 4.2 rebounds per. Improvements in both categories from last year. I believe he has adequately replaced Rashad Chase.

F Trey Hampton 6.8ppg 5.3 rebounds per, 1.5 bpg (9th in CAA). Improvements in every category and is a solid scoring threat in the post. All we can ask for at this point.

Bench Production - 18.5 ppg - James Fields and Jihad Ali are starting to show flashes of defensive and offensive ability, respectively and Ous gives us every ounce every time out. Not much else past those 3.

Next 5 Games - Home vs. Northeastern, @ G Mason, Home vs. VCU & UNC-W and @ Delaware. I see 1 win there folks.

Bracketbuster - It looks like if the Bracketbuster was announced today, we'd likely have a home date with Winthrop.

Looking towards 09-10: We will be very young (up to 3 freshman and 2 sophmores in the 8 man rotation). If we can have Ali, Fields and Vincent take steps to becoming better that will certainly help. Two Seniors on the Roster in Johnson and Curry don't have me hopeful for much leadership. I really hope we can get another impact big man for the spring signing period (begins April 14th).