Addressing the Suspension: Short Term Pain, Long Term Gain

Yesterday, Coach Bill Curry announced the suspensions of 2010 Starting QB Drew Little and SS Fred Barnes for 4 games and 2 games, respectively.  Starting ILB Femi Opanubi was dismissed.  Starting WR Danny Williams and ILB Evan Bostic are suspended for the first week of Spring Practice which starts in 10 days.  Back up QB Star Jackson and CB Justin Hughes have left the team.  While this incited every reaction from disappointment to shock to worry, I'm here to calm the Panther Nation.

Both players were suspended for a violation of team rules and I will not begin to speculate the nature of the rules that they broke but I'll say this: For every current and future player, the line in the sand has been drawn.  Either you are pulling in the same direction or you let go of the rope. 

So why am I so calm?  We will be without our 2010 leader of the offense vs. Clark Atlanta, Old Dominion, at Jacksonville State and at Houston.  This is not good news for the anticipated results in those games.  We then face Murray State at home and then will have an Open date.  If Drew is prepared to resume his role as the Starting QB, he will have 2 weeks of practice time to regain that title.  If not, he'll likely serve as a back up as I believe the plan is to redshirt incoming Freshman Ben McLane, who will arrive in June.  After this 4 game stretch, I believe our schedule breaks slightly with five of the next seven games are very winnable games. 

Also, from a scholarship side of things, losing Star, Femi and Justin Hughes may look like very bad news but I believe that Star had checked out after a disappointing Fall and I wish him well.  Femi's loss hurts but we've added Qwontez Mallory who is likely to step right in and start once he arrives in May.  Hughes likely saw the writing on the wall as we added a very talented CB in D'Mario Gunn who I project as a starter in Spring.

Coach Curry has been described as "Old School." If that means that you set out expectations to your players and then you enforce discipline when those expectations are not met, then I hope our program stays "Old School" for a long, long time.

"Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishments" - Jim Rohn.

Signing Day Pictures

We will be updating these as we get them...

Matanzas HS Kicker Christian Benvenuto

Brookwood HS QB Ben McClane

Photo Courtesy of Brant Sanderlin of the AJC

Roswell HS Nick Henderson

Whitewater HS DE McLain Head

Photo Courtesy of The Citizen Newspapers

Brookwood HS QB Ben McLane Commits to GSU

State Champion Ben McLane Headed to Georgia State

According to the AJC’s Michael Carvell, Brookwood HS QB Ben McLane of the AAAAA State Champion Brookwood Broncos has verbally commited to Georgia State today and will sign his LOI on Wednesday.

“Coach Curry said we have a great thing going on here on Georgia State, and we want you to be a part of it,” McLane said. “I was sold after my official visit. I told Coach Curry that I’m on board, and that’s an honor to be part of building this new football program into one with rich tradition.”


The 6’1, 215lbs signal caller was targeted late in the recruiting process and it was no secret that Coach Curry desired a QB in this cycle. McLane was a 3 year starter for the Broncos in a very run first scheme. He is an above average athlete, very accurate and can throw the deep ball well.

“I wanted to be part of a startup program that is fairly new,” McLane said. “Georgia State has a great coaching staff, and it’s just a great opportunity. My gut instinct told me that it is the right place for me.”

He looks to likely take a Redshirt in the Fall and compete for a back up role in 2012. He is the 5th HS prospect to commit in this cycle.  He looks like he could gain 8-10lb of quality muscle.

2010 Stats: 144 /237 (61%) , 2342 yards and 15 TDs

2009 Stats: Completed 58% of his passes for 1790 yards and 16 TDs