Don't get on that plane!

On November 29th, 2010, the worlds of cubicle-dwelling middle-aged men throughout the southeast were thrown into a tempest when their creepy voyeurism of a seventeen-year-old kid unearthed the following chestnut on his Twitter account:

"I continue to pray about my early decision although others are starting to make a stronger argument"

That phrase was dispensed by none other than Durham, NC QB and 2011 Georgia Tech commit Vad Lee, a player who some would suggest is the Crown Jewel of what has been an underwhelming class for Coach Paul Johnson. The proceedings quickly invoked memories of Dontae Aycock, another Johnson QB recruit who committed to Tech in 2009 but had his offer revoked after subsequently catching a fateful plane ride to Auburn. The AJC has in fact confirmed that Lee "may" take visits to competing schools.

Aycock

Why was Aycock's offer so hastily pulled? Because Johnson's feeling is that once a 17 year old kid makes his decision to attend a university, he is locked in forever. The slightest manifestation of apostasy thereafter, even if it takes form in the mere visitation of a rival's campus for sightseeing purposes, is immediate reason to yank the scholarship and shoot the kid out the airlock.

This cruel practice is likely a vestige of Johnson's time at Navy and in the lower divisions, where he did not have to participate in the major-league recruiting battles typical of the BCS level. He has hence only damaged Georgia Tech’s program, as highly-regarded prospects have been loath to commit early in the process, handicapping the school in accumulating the positive momentum often so vital in the embryonic phase of the recruiting period.

Of course in their everlasting fanaticism the average Johnson Kool-Aid slurper will argue that "low character" athletes are thus weeded-out who would have washed out at almighty Tech anyway. A simple rebuttal can be found in Johnson's frequent attempts to compromise the allegiance of players already committed to other schools. In fact when the shoe is on the other foot, Johnson flippantly claims that a prior commitment is "not [his] problem" and looks the other way, with the rationale being that he doesn't know the details of the player's agreement with the other school, and that it might only be a "soft" commitment, but he won't bother to check. This juxtaposition of attitudes thus exposes Johnson's "virtuous principle" as a bizarre, self-serving hypocrisy.

Have Tech fans so easily forgotten the legendary 2007 class?  The momentum created by a couple of early blue chip commits was required to get it rolling. Certainly if Paul Johnson had been Georgia Tech head coach that year, fans may not have been privileged to cheer for some of the most talented athletes ever to suit up for the white and gold.

Furthermore, even if a player commits with the intention of following through with his other visits, his self-identification as a "Georgia Tech commit" is an invaluable tool in retaining his fidelity throughout the process. Someone who has never announced for Tech in the first place is all the more likely to find himself floating further away as other schools make their push. So can the value of an early commitment be seen in the case of Lee, who has been swayed by other schools but still refers to Tech as "we" and continues to speak of his future days at Tech, despite the fact that he is so obviously playing both sides of his recruitment.

Johnson's practice then plainly spurns kids like Lee and Aycock who may not have considered all options before making their commitment. These are 17 and 18 year old kids for christsakes! Common sense tells you that this type of recruit, with a number of attractive choices in play, will generally be among the more highly sought after. How many of these players is Coach Paul Johnson willing to lose for the sake of his ill-conceived double-standard?

Lee

The LAST thing Tech needs is an artificial limitation imposed upon itself in the recruiting process. And so has Coach Paul Johnson once again shown his lack of understanding in the operation of a major college football program. Is he willing once again to reject a gifted, yet indecisive athlete like Lee against the best interests of Georgia Tech football? Will he continue to allow recruiting momentum to slip away at the behest of his "principles"? Or will he make a simple, belated adjustment to place his program on an even ground with the vast majority of competing schools?

Considering Lee's value to this 2011 recruiting class, as well as to the future of the QB position at Georgia Tech, we may find our answer soon enough.