The whistling football

I don’t know how credible you find Tee Martin to be in analyzing Georgia’s recruiting, but he sounds pretty impressed with the quarterbacks that have committed to the ’09 class.

“I would say the top three in the country are Zach [Mettenberger], [Matt] Barkley and [Aaron] Murray,” Martin said. “Georgia has two [Mettenberger and Murray] of the top three. Or at least two of the top five.”

He would know, too. Martin has worked with all three in his capacity as a coach at Nike combines and the Elite 11 camps. He works with quarterbacks from around the country both in Atlanta and on the road. Last week he was in Tuscaloosa, Ala., and had a chance to work with Mettenberger.

Carter Strickland posed the rhetorical question at the beginning of the article as to whether Georgia might have too much depth at quarterback.  There’s no such thing.

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You’ll never guess who came to our Pee Wee game today.

If you’ve got the impression that college recruiting gets a little more out of control each year, that’s only because you’re right.

This is flat out insane.

… Michael Avery, an eighth-grade guard from Lake Sherwood, Calif., last week made a verbal commitment to attend Kentucky. Wildcats coach Billy Gillispie then got a commitment Monday from Vincent Zollo, a ninth-grade forward from Greenfield, Ohio.

Yet, as nuts as that looks, the response it’s drawn is pretty crazy, too.

“It greatly concerns me,” said NABC executive director Jim Haney. “To me, it sends the wrong message. … I don’t think it completely aligns with the perception that college athletics reflect in a time of increased academic standards.

“Maybe it’s something we, as an association, need to take up and say something like, ‘Our association has agreed that we’re not going to accept (commitments) prior to the summer between a player’s sophomore and junior year.’ “

Perhaps we should draw the line at making offers to 10th graders? Jeezus.

Yeah, I know this is a basketball story, but would you be surprised in the least to hear one day that certain, um, shall we say, aggressive football head coaches might not consider pushing the envelope in a similar fashion?

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UPDATE: Here’s a little taste of that slippery slope.

College football coaches have already begun evaluating the Class of 2010, next fall’s juniors, and most have come to the conclusion that the top three prospects in Illinois are Fremd offensive lineman Christian Lombard, Loyola defensive end Chance Carter and Johnsburg receiver C.J. Fiedorowicz.

Another sophomore to note is defensive back Corey Cooper of Proviso East, who recently committed to Illinois.  [Ed. – Hellooo, Zooker.]

Lombard, a 6-6, 285-pounder, is only 15 years old and hasn’t begun to shave…

Hey, Lemming’s already been to see Lombard play three times…

The daily outrage

Far be it from me to object to anyone who wants to play up Joe Hamilton’s all too brief tenure as Georgia Tech’s assistant director of player personnel (was it shorter than O’Leary’s stint as the Notre Dame head coach?), but it seems to me that using that as a jumping off point to argue that “If sports has ever spent seven days in a more negative spotlight than the past seven, I’d hate to see it…” seems a bit overwrought.

Maybe it’s just me, but I can think of a few things off the top of my head that make Carmelo Anthony’s speeding ticket pale in comparison. Such as…

• cancelling a World Series over a labor dispute
• the CCNY point shaving scandal
• Len Bias
• the Chicago Black Sox

I know the editorial is trying to make a quantity over quality argument, but even that falls short. It just goes to show what a short shelf life these kind of events tend to have in the public’s mind.

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UPDATE: So maybe he was a little premature.

“I was hoping he’d cut my ear off…”

Saying that Mike Leach marches to the beat of a different drum doesn’t do him justice. You get the feeling that he’d find the choice of instrument too restrictive.

(Trent Barnes/Daily Toreador)

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UPDATE: You’d think bloodthirsty pirates would be a little more fearless than this:

… Texas Tech continues its recent tradition of avoiding major teams. The Red Raiders play Eastern Washington, Nevada, SMU and UMass, though at least Nevada is a road game.

(h/t The Wizard of Odds)