Coach Johnson scored an enormous get on Tuesday as 5-Star DE Stephon Tuitt out of Monroe switched his verbal commitment from Notre Dame to Georgia Tech. Tuitt is one of the top players at his position nationally and would represent the FIRST player of the recruiting season that Tech has successfully acquired who has also possessed an offer from UGA. It should be added however that UGA, for whatever reason, was eliminated from Tuitt's radar early in his recruitment, and did not finish among his top choices.
We mentioned the possibility of Tuitt's decision on Sunday, when Johnson obtained the commitment of his Monroe High School teammate and reported best friend Demontevious Smith, an "under-the-radar" prospect who held mostly mid-major and FCS offers. Suspiciously enough, Smith did not possess a Georgia Tech offer before last weekend, when both he and Tuitt were scheduled to visit. This brings into question the ethics of Johnson in potentially offering a scrub player who he fully intends to warm the bench simply to obtain the services of a more highly-prized associate. In fact it makes you wonder how long Demontevious will even remain on the Tech roster now that he has outlived his "usefulness."
Furthermore, Tuitt is yet another previously-committed player which Johnson has attempted to steal away, despite his reported disdain for players who shop around after committing to Tech. As we've pointed out again and again, Johnson's "excuse" for this hypocritical behavior is that he turns the other way in such a circumstance and does not bother to inform himself of the player's "arrangement" with the other school, so it's somehow "not his problem." You would think though that if only Coach Johnson would have asked Notre Dame, they would have been more than forthcoming about how unhappy they would have been with his encroaching on their committed recruit.
Of course the party has already begun for Coach Johnson's toadies. While they are the first to bash the "star system" of the recruiting sites when Johnson is mopping up two and three star leftovers, they become positively giddy whenever a rare 4 or 5 star player of note deems it practical to choose Tech. The truth is, these purveyors of The Johnson Problem would have found reasons to feel good about themselves regardless of the player's rating. If he's a 5-star, well, all hail Scout and Rivals! If he's a 2-star, don't listen to Scout or Rivals... look at this tape of him dominating in a high school game! Either way, you end up with the same oblivious euphoria.
Tuitt is certainly reason for celebration for the rational Tech fan-- he would be our first 5-star commit since Calvin Johnson pledged to Chan Gailey in 2004. Though we have misgivings about the way he obtained the commitment, kudos to Coach Johnson for finally securing a prospect fans can get excited about. Now if he could only do it on a more consistent basis, and without all the Sun Belt filler, this program might actually start going places.
Do you even know what hypocritical means?
ReplyDeleteLast I checked, Johnson never said opposing coaches could not recruit players committed to Tech. Further, last I checked, Johnson himself is not taking any visits - official or unofficial - to any other schools.
Nice try though, dolt.
Last I checked, apparently you weren't aware of Johnson's stated policy on committed athletes visiting other schools. Perhaps you should go back and do some more checking.
ReplyDelete“I view anybody that’s still visiting [other] schools as not committed. That’s just me. That’s just the way I do it. Well, people say ‘That’s a double standard because you let other kids visit [Tech] who are committed [to other schools]. That’s not my problem. Maybe it’s a soft commitment. There may be a [college] coach somewhere else saying ‘Give me a soft commitment and go ahead take your visits.’”
- Paul Johnson
http://bit.ly/en1ZJp
I don't think it's safe to say that CPJ considers Demon to be a scrub player that will be warming the bench. Most of this recruiting class is made up of scrub players that were recruited without ulterior motives, so I'd say that Demon has a real shot at seeing the field.
ReplyDeleteMostly mid-major and FCS schools... oh, and Virginia Tech. You're an idiot. People like you shouldn't even be allowed to publish websites.
ReplyDeleteTo James,
ReplyDeleteSince when is Virginia Tech a recruiting powerhouse? Since when do they field a team capable of doing anything more than rolling through a weak ACC? They are hardly a team I think of when I think of top-shelf talent capable of competing with the best teams.
He was likely going to be a project player for them as well. What other major offer did he get besides VT & GT? When 90% of the teams after a kid are mid majors and FCS, that tells the story right there.
To anon @ 7:02AM:
ReplyDeleteLOL. Touche. I hadn't considered it that way.
Still, I'd say a smoking gun here is the fact that Johnson had not offered a scholarship to Smith until this weekend, when he just happened to be visiting with his best buddy Tuitt.