AJC: Georgia State Football Goes 8-3 in 2011

Not much in depth but a score prediction from the AJC's Mark Bradley:

Georgia State will go 8-3. It will, however, lose 51-10 at Houston on Sept. 24. Which, when you consider the Panthers lost 63-7 at Alabama last season, will be a sign of progress.

If we go 8-3 in 2011, I'll do backflips down Decatur Street.  This would be an tremendous success.

Dexter Moody, Former UGA Signee, Enrolls at Georgia State

This.  Is. Huge.

I'm extremely please that we snagged Moody.

From ESPN Scouts, Inc. in 2009:

Moody has one of the best upsides of any defensive prospect in the past few high school classes. He has natural physical gifts and is well-developed for his age. He's tall, athletically built and has a very wide wingspan and long body that should fill out.

He is a tremendous talent and the highest rated defensive player we've ever had on our campus.

I expect him to immediately fight for playing time and should immediately help us at LB. Our LB corps are in great shape moving forward even with the Muasau brothers graduating. Moody will be a RS Sophomore having 3 years helps a ton and I could see him developing into an All conference/All-American type player by his Senior season. He's extremely hungry and makes plays all over the place.

He was asked recently why he chose Georgia State.  Moody's response: "It's Georgia. [My] Family can come to my games."

Welcome to the family Dexter!

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Doug's AJC Blog

AJC: Football Ticket Sales trending up

Good for Doug getting these numbers and this is being spun positive. 

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AJC: Curry Pleased With Spring Practice

Good work by Doug Roberson.  You can definitely see he's bringing an edge to his writing and I think this will be different (not bad different) from Ken's pieces.

One interesting note in the article: 

Curry said the linemen moved their feet properly and were getting into the right defender in the spring, but they need to become stronger and improve their conditioning.

As a team, Curry said in the 12 to 18 months that most of the players have been in the program, he hasn’t seen enough improvement from time spent in the weight room. He said he is working to fix that area, but declined to offer any details.

This screams there will be changes within our S&C staff.  CBC has mentioned workouts being unorganized and this is the third mention in less than a month.  Not good for those in charge of this program.  The term "heads will roll" may be appropriate here.

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AJC: Bilukidi, Felder and Williams named Captains

Good work by our new beat writer Doug Roberson.  Make sure you comment and welcome him to covering the Panther Nation.

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Men's Golf Coach Reflects on Winning Par 3 at Augusta

Pretty cool story about our men's golf coach, Joe Inman, winning the Par 3 contest at the Master's.

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AJC: GSU Knows Success against VCU

Scoreboard don't lie.

Photo Courtesy of Mike Holmes, GSU Sports Communications

Yes we do.  Ask them about that whoopin' in the GSU Sports Arena that lit a fire under them.  Coach Smart, we'll take our fruit basket once you get settled after that enormous raise in either Raleigh or Columbia.

On a serious note, great work by our guy Ken at the AJC. 

I hope you have enjoyed the tremendous coverage in the last 2 months.  There are many working behind the scenes to push Georgia State on the pages and getting in front of new eyes and ears daily.

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AJC: QB Kelton Hill Impressive

Kelton is the clear #1 QB in camp

Photo Courtesy of the AJC's Jason Getz

Very, very good news.  Good work by our guy Ken at the AJC.  I've heard similiar reports as well that he is throwing the ball with great confidence and much better accuracy.  I'd like to see him gain 7-10lbs before Fall but again glad to see KH4 taking advantage of an opportunity.

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AJC: GSU Should Hire Dip

Augusta State's Dip Metress

Photo Courtesy of Augusta State Sports Communications

Mark Bradley gives his thoughts.  Glad to see a column come out considering there has been no less than 4 dedicated to the Georgia Institute of Technology's head coaching vacancy.  Equal time in due time, I suppose.

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AJC: Levick Wants New Coach by Final Four

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More insight on what I've been saying since Barnes was relieved of his duties.  We are a week ahead of others in the area that may be firing their coaches.  Conference Tournaments are under way.  Good write up by our guy Ken of the AJC.

Rod Barnes Fired, Will not coach in CAA Tourney

Georgia State Men's Basketball Coach Rod Barnes was fired today and will not coach the Panthers in the CAA Tournament beginning on Friday in Richmond.  Assistant Coach Paul Graham will assume the helm and will lead our team vs. UNC-Wilmington and any further should we win.

This move has received national attention on ESPN and Fox Sports.  At one point, yesterday afternoon Rod Barnes was a trending topic on Twitter.

Per our guy Ken at the AJC, we will buyout the last year of Barnes' contract which is estimated at $267,000.

What is truly amazing to me is both local and national writers who have not seen us play a single game are smashing us.  It's time to get serious about basketball again. 

SB Nation Atlanta Story

AJC Story

Ken's Blog

Examiner.com Link

National Signing Day: Defensive Talent Infusion

8 players in total signed today.  1 is currently enrolled.  3 DBs, 1 LB, 2 DE, 1 QB, 1 K and 1 OG.  While not sexy, we should very happy with what we received.

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AJC Ben McLane Quotes Link

Examiner.com Link

Panthers Add 3, Lose One

According to Chip Towers of the AJC, we've lost Fatu Ulale (and I've confirmed with Cerritos CC) to New Mexico.  That's the bad news....

The Great News is we have 3 new commits: QB Imonni Carswell, OG David Huey and NG Jakari Kinnie.

Profiles and Highlights found HERE.

Whitewater DE McLain Head is Commit #9

According to the AJC's Chip Towers, Whitewater HS McLain Head has verbally commited to the Georgia State Panthers and will sign his LOI next Wednesday on National Signing Day.  McLain is a 6'4, 245lbs DE who is a high motor guy that played both TE and DE for the Wildcats.

Head will be able to provide depth and could project at 255-260lbs with a college level strength & conditioning program and proper nutrition.

2010 Stats: 38 tackles  (23 solo), 2 Sacks, 2 TFL, 1 fumble recovery

Senior Highlights

GSU Football Heading to FBS Houston

Via GSU Sports Communications:

The Georgia State football team will face its second Football Bowl Subdivision opponent next fall as the Panthers play at Houston, Director of Athletics Cheryl L. Levick and Head Football Coach Bill Curry announced.

The GSU-Houston contest is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 24, 2011 at Robertson Stadium, which seats 32,000. Kickoff time is to be determined.

“We are very pleased to announce a game with a quality FBS program like Houston,” said Levick. “Attractive intersectional matchups like this raise the profile of Georgia State football and help us build our program.”

“This game presents another tremendous opportunity for our football team to test itself against a strong Houston program on their home field,” said Curry. “Houston has an impressive coach in Kevin Sumlin and an outstanding quarterback in Case Keenum, who was injured this season but has been granted a sixth year of eligibility.”

Ken Sugiura of the AJC reports that the payout is expected to be $300,000 from the Conference USA school.  Quite a bit lower than what Alabama paid but the Tide also have much deeper pockets and a stadium nearly 3 times as big as the Cougars.

AJC: Ol' Ball Coach - High Praise for City of Atlanta Recruits

From AJC.com:

Said South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier, "There's more players in a 50-mile radius of Atlanta than there is in the entire state of South Carolina."



My take: No real suprise here.  We know we are sitting on a recruiting gold mine. I'm hoping that others are paying attention. 

AJC: GSU Stocking Up 3rd Class

Good work by our guy Ken at the AJC.  Interesting nuggets including 7 commits at this point (4 public) and that CBC doesn't expect anyone to transfer to this point.

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(Updated with Video) AJC: College Football HOF Selects Site

Current College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, IN

The AJC just confirmed the new site for the College Football Hall of Fame.  Yet another reason to visit before our games or stay downtown after our games.

It's taken a few years but downtown is becoming the destination for sports and we are extremely fortunate to be in that landscape.

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Atlanta Hall Management, Inc. Video

AJC: GSU looks back at Alabama, ahead at 2011

Great job by our guy Ken as we deal with the fact that we will not see another snap of football until the 1st week of April in the Spring Game.

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AJC: Little comes up big for GSU

Good work by our guy Ken Sugiura of the AJC profiling our QB.

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