The meaning of commitment

According to preliminary indications from a HIVe insider, Coach Paul Johnson may be backing down from the "Aycock Rule" in the circumstance of 2011 commit Vad Lee. And predictably the same toadies who waxed poetic about Johnson's "principles" and all those high-character kids he was recruiting are now the same ones laying the groundwork of excuses. Among the early candidates:

• The Aycock affair happened later in the process.
  
  
• Aycock was dishonest with the coaches about his visit to Auburn.(though it's been established that he told the coaches about the Auburn visit and was instructed not to go)
  
  
• Johnson and Lee have some kind of special "agreement" that allows him to take visits.(If that's the case, isn't that a little unfair to the rest of the recruits?)
  
  
• Tech stopped recruiting another QB as a result of Aycock's commitment.(that doesn't apply in Lee's case??)
  
  
• Aycock had some kind of "character flaw" that Lee does not have.
  
  
• The AJC writer reporting on Lee's wavering is a UGA grad and is thus stirring things up against GT.
  
  
• There never was a "policy" to begin with. And Oceania has never been at war with Eastasia.
  
  

In case you're new to the situation, here is a refresher on what "commitment" (apparently) means to Coach Paul Johnson:

“We tell kids all the time in our office ‘Look around and make sure this is what you want to do,’” Johnson said. “I am not trying to keep kids from looking around. I think they need to look around. But when you decide and commit, then you’re giving people your word that you’re coming. It’s not a game. It’s not ‘Ok, I’ll take this one unless I can find something better. Or let me lock this down there so I can shop around for some other spots.’ If you’re doing that, you’re not committing.”

“Commitment to me means if they tell me they are coming, then I expect that they are coming. If they tell you you’re coming, then why are they taking more visits?”

“I view anybody that’s still visiting [other] schools as not committed. That’s just me. That’s just the way I do it.”

“... Dontae would tell you that I made him call Lousville and tell them that he wasn’t coming. I told him that’s only fair to Louisville. He went [the following day] and did that. There was a lot more to it. Then he got some bad advice. And maybe not. Maybe he wanted to go to Auburn anyways. That’s what I took it as. If he wanted to visit Auburn, then he wanted to go there.”

More on this situation as it develops.

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.