What Could Have Been: Lefty's son Chuck could be coaching Panthers

Good write up by Carroll Rogers talking about our former coach and his family in the AJC.

One nugget that struck me:
Chuck learned about his father’s “I must” from inside the huddle. The third of Driesell’s four children, and only son, was a fixture on the bench “since he could sit up,” Lefty said. He went from ball boy to player at Maryland to nine-year assistant coach to Driesell at James Madison. The only reason he didn’t follow his dad to Georgia State was because of a nepotism rule.

As many of you long time Panther fans know, when Lefty woke up on New Year's Day 2003 and told his wife, I'm done with coaching.  The reins were immediately passed to his top assistant Michael Perry (which caused a rift on the coaching staff and possibly within the team) who had 16 years of coaching experience at Virginia Union, Richmond and 5 years on Lefty's bench.  I'm not 100% sure that Lefty would have handed it to his son but it's very possible that things may have changed slightly.

AJC: GSU Offers Johnson County WR Zack Walker

From the AJC's Chip Towers Ten@10:

Another in-state player on Georgia Tech’s radar is Johnson County wide receiver Zach Walker, whose prolific career came to an end in the second round of the Class A playoffs. Georgia High School Football Daily reports that Walker got an offer from Tulane last week and has offers from Western Kentucky, Georgia Southern, Appalachian State, Georgia State and Illinois State. The Yellow Jackets are actively recruiting him but have not offered. Walker, who is not related to Johnson County native Herschel Walker, had 69 catches for 1,187 yards and 18 touchdowns this season.

My take: If Georgia Tech doesn't put an offer in front of Walker, we have a great shot at signing him in February.  I've been told he's looking to stay in state.

Monday Quick Hitters - 11.29.10

Happy Monday Panther Nation!  I hope you've cleaned out the Thanksgiving leftovers out of your fridge and your Holiday decorations are hung with care. 

Onto the links...

Recruiting Update: As CBC said in his call in show last Monday, we have 8 scholarships to give for the 2011 season prior to academic and football related  (playing time, home sick, etc.) attrition.  Our official scholarship total is at 55.5.  We have one commit in DE Roderick Thompson from Mays HS.  We will be updating this each Monday and I'll be giving you my projected breakdown closer to Signing Day.

Recruits Still in the GHSA Playoffs: It's no secret that we are after a Kicker to replace Senior Iain Vance.  What's unclear is which kicker(s) we are after.  We have mutual interest in both Roswell's Ty Long and Starr's Mill's Ryan Nowicki.  The latter will face Tucker this weekend in Final 4 Playoff action.

Even Practice Squad Football Players Make the Paper: Nice Profile of Freshman OL Andrew Newsmith from Forsyth Central HS. Forysth News Link

Could GSU Athletics be Making the Switch to Nike?

Could these fill our practice facility for Spring Practice 2011?

Our current Adidas contract is up at the end of the year and it's possible that Georgia State athletics could have a new apparel sponsor as early as Q1 2011 according to some people I've talked to.

All 16 athletic teams are covered under the Adidas apparel deal and only men's golf receives additional sport specific items from its contract with Ping.

My take: With football opening many more doors, this could give us some leveraging power that we haven't heard before in recent years.  Only in the last 5 years have we unified our athletic brand and that's a huge credit to Cheryl Levick and her staff.  We are seeing more and more Georgia State gear in the marketplace and a partnership that included apparel and a sum of money for athletics tells me we are again building the right way.

Georgia State Falls at Home to Samford 70-61 in OT

This one hurt a little bit and reminded fans of our recent past.  Samford, our old rival from the TAAC, came in having played 6 games on the season to the Panthers 3.  That game experience and Senior leadership of Andy King, Josh Davis and Josh Bedwell combined with inexplicable fouls by the Panthers late in the game allowed the Bulldogs to climb back from an 11 point second half hole.

Yes, this is one game and this team is learning to win.  The current upperclassmen on this team have only seen 13 Division 1 wins in the out of conference schedule the last 3 years so we must continue to be patient with this bunch.

Next: Tuesday at Hampton.  Tip is 7:00pm.

Happy Thanksgiving Panther Nation!

From my family to yours, Happy Thanksgiving!