Archive: October 2007
Hoosier Assistant Resigns Amid Probe
An Indiana University basketball assistant coach has resigned after it was found he made improper telephone calls to recruits. From an outsider's perspective, it seems as if this case is getting ready to blow wide open. Coach Kelvin Sampson, already in the NCAA's bad graces from his time at Oklahoma,...
By Josh Barr | October 30, 2007; 12:39 PM ET | Comments (0)
Dunbar Players Make Their Picks
Two Dunbar football players made their college choices last week. Defensive tackle Reggie Ellis opted to join the stream of local players going to Illinois, becoming the fourth player from Dunbar to commit to Illinois in the past three years. Defensive end Ugo Uzodinma picked Virginia over Illinois, prompting Crimson...
By Josh Barr | October 29, 2007; 1:50 PM ET | Comments (0)
Dodson Ineligible at Pitt, Heads to Juco
Darnell Dodson got a lot of attention last year as one of the Washington area's top players, earning first-team All-Met honors. He signed with Pittsburgh, enrolled and began taking classes while he awaited word from the NCAA Clearinghouse on whether he would be eligible to play. The answer came last...
By Josh Barr | October 29, 2007; 10:52 AM ET | Comments (0)
Bailey Says He Prefers Orange
I go away for a few days and it turns into a busy week on the recruiting scene. Let's start with this one, passed along by St. John's football coach Joe Patterson, who this morning reports that running back Antwon Bailey committed to Syracuse on Friday. Patterson notes that Bailey...
By Josh Barr | October 29, 2007; 10:11 AM ET | Comments (0)
Gilchrist Says He'll Be a Terp
The biggest news of the weekend comes from Augustus Gilchrist, who took an official visit to Maryland and committed to play for the Terrapins. It's somewhat of a surprise, given that Gilchrist attended Georgetown's midnight madness and it was believed that Florida was also in the hunt for the 6-9...
By Josh Barr | October 22, 2007; 9:45 AM ET | Comments (16)
McNamara Point Guard Makes His Pick
I've been slow in posting this one. Bishop McNamara Coach Marty Keithline sent along an email that point guard Marc Hill has committed to play basketball for North Carolina A&T. Have to say, though Hill is only 5-8, he's done an excellent job controlling the game when I've seen the...
By Josh Barr | October 19, 2007; 11:23 AM ET | Comments (0)
Yep, Thomas to Ohio State
As anticipated, Friendly running back Lamaar Thomas tonight pledged to play football for Ohio State. Thomas said he picked the Buckeyes over Illinois after eliminating Maryland from consideration because he wanted to leave the Washington area. "I felt real comfortable at Ohio State," Thomas said. "That's where I wanted to...
By Josh Barr | October 18, 2007; 8:32 PM ET | Comments (0)
Thomas Bound for Ohio State?
That's my guess. Friendly standout running back Lamaar Thomas is set to announce his college choice tonight at 7:30 on ESPNU. He's narrowed his list of choices to Ohio State, Maryland and Illinois. My guess is that he's going to be a Buckeye. We'll see....
By Josh Barr | October 18, 2007; 5:22 PM ET | Comments (0)
Hill Lands Another For K-State
Here's an update on former Bladensburg standout Wally Judge, who transferred to Arlington Country Day in Jacksonville for his junior year. He's committed to play basketball at Kansas State, where former D.C.-area standout Dalonte Hill remains an assistant coach. Guess the "Little Apple" is somehow appealing to Washington teenagers....
By Josh Barr | October 18, 2007; 9:15 AM ET | Comments (0)
Meggett Has Been Impressive Thus Far
Here's a profile of Maryland recruit Davin Meggett. I covered Surrattsville's 36-24 loss to Douglass last Friday in part to see Meggett, who certainly has burst onto the scene this year. He's more explosive and with quarterback Andre Johnson back in the lineup after missing last season because of a...
By Josh Barr | October 17, 2007; 1:06 PM ET | Comments (0)
Locksley and Illinois Are Rolling
Colleague Eli Saslow was out in Champaign earlier this week and writes about the "East Coast swagger" Washington-area players have brought to Illinois. Obviously, the hiring of Mike Locksley as offensive coordinator has helped the Illini recruit in D.C. Remember, when Maryland parted ways with Charlie Taaffe - anyone think...
By Josh Barr | October 17, 2007; 11:44 AM ET | Comments (0)
Scouting Report on Terps' Latest Hoops Recruit
Just got off the phone with South Kent Prep Coach Raphael Chillious. He offered this scouting report on junior forward Jin Soo Kim, who over the weekend committed to play basketball at Maryland: "He doesn't play AAU here. A lot of people don't know him nationally because he plays so...
By Josh Barr | October 16, 2007; 1:47 PM ET | Comments (1)
U-Md. Goes International; GMU Gets Recruit; Local Chooses ODU
Three basketball items I'm working to get more info on. One, Maryland has gotten a verbal commitment from Jin Soo Kim, a junior forward at South Kent School in Connecticut. Here's an old profile that talks about Kim, who some basketball followers expected to return to Asia and turn professional...
By Josh Barr | October 15, 2007; 2:38 PM ET | Comments (0)
G'town Makes Big Splash
In case you missed it over the weekend, Georgetown got a verbal commitment from one of the nation's top high school seniors, 6-10 forward Greg Monroe of Harvey, La. Monroe was in attendance Friday night as the Hoyas opened preseason practice. The announcement was somewhat of a surprise, given that...
By Josh Barr | October 15, 2007; 9:58 AM ET | Comments (3)
U-Va. Lands Hoops Recruit
Center John Brandenburg of St. Louis last night committed to play for Virginia. The 6-11 senior at DeSmet High picked the Cavaliers over Stnaford. He's Virginia's second recruit for next fall, joining forward Sylven Landesberg from Queens....
By Josh Barr | October 15, 2007; 7:42 AM ET | Comments (0)
Hoopster Gives Up Scholarship for Recruit
Maybe I'm jaded. But does anyone think a player would come up with the idea on his own to give up his $25,000 a year scholarship just in case his team gets too many recruits for the following year? Did the kid know on his own how many scholarships the...
By Josh Barr | October 12, 2007; 11:27 AM ET | Comments (2)
Big Frank Bound for Beantown
Looks like local products Tommy Amaker and Kenny Blakeney are going to upgrade the Harvard basketball program. The Crimson got another commitment from a highly-regarded local player when O'Connell center Frank Ben-Eze pledged to play for Harvard. A few weeks ago, Gonzaga guard Max Kenyi committed to Harvard. Both players...
By Josh Barr | October 12, 2007; 10:58 AM ET | Comments (1)
Some Morning Reading Material
A few non-recruiting links to start the day. Ever wonder what happened to Terence Morris? Well, he's got a game tonight at Madison Square Garden. Morris now plays for Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv. Not to be an NCAA shill, but the ability to go way back in the time machine...
By Josh Barr | October 11, 2007; 9:49 AM ET | Comments (1)
Former All-Met Has Highlight Play
In case you haven't seen it, former Forestville All-Met football player Andre Jones finished off one of the plays of the season as he completed an 89-yard punt return on the game's final play to give Akron a 39-38 victory at Western Michigan. The video isn't too clear, but the...
By Josh Barr | October 10, 2007; 9:48 AM ET | Comments (0)
One-Time Local Set For Fresh Start
Here's a good read on one-time Montrose Christian player Herb Pope. Once regarded as an elite prospect and wooed by Maryland just last year, Pope is a freshman at New Mexico State, where former D.C. area travel-team coach Chris Pompey is an assistant coach. The short story: Heavily recruited, Pope...
By Josh Barr | October 9, 2007; 4:43 PM ET | Comments (0)
Local Product Set For First NFL Start
Sorry folks, was away from blogging for a few days, so there should be plenty of things to look at this week. Let's start with former Eleanor Roosevelt lineman Jared Gaither, who not too long ago was a high school senior playing organized football for the first time. Now an...
By Josh Barr | October 9, 2007; 11:11 AM ET | Comments (0)
Tate an All-American
DeMatha All-Met wide receiver Kenny Tate, my top-ranked recruit in the Washington area, will be named to the U.S. Army All-American Bowl this weekend. A spokesman for the game says three other local players will be honored shortly. Completely in the dark, but I'll take a guess that the players...
By Josh Barr | October 4, 2007; 4:04 PM ET | Comments (2)
Should Eleanor Roosevelt Be Dropped from the Rankings?
Okay, this post isn't about recruiting. But I think it will appeal to most of the readers who follow high-level high school sports. In advance of getting ready to do next week's football rankings, I'm interested to hear what folks think The Post should do with Eleanor Roosevelt. In case...
By Josh Barr | October 3, 2007; 12:47 PM ET | Comments (17)
Austin Continues to Light It Up
Here's a quick update on Dunbar's sensational junior, Tavon Austin, who already holds a scholarship offer from Maryland. He was The Sun's Offensive Player of the Year as a sophomore last year and has scored 62 career touchdowns....
By Josh Barr | October 3, 2007; 10:16 AM ET | Comments (0)
Mason Makes A Splash
Point guard Andre Cornelius had narrowed his college choices to South Carolina, Toledo and George Mason before he took an official visit to Fairfax this past weekend. By the time he left on Saturday morning, the Charlotte native had made his decision. "I felt like it was the best fit...
By Josh Barr | October 2, 2007; 9:55 AM ET | Comments (2)
Good Counsel Forward Makes His College Choice
Good Counsel forward Jordan Clarke has committed to play basketball for Vermont. Clarke, a 6-7 senior, averaged a team-leading 15.3 points per game last season. "It was really a comfort level," Clarke said. "It felt right. I really liked it when I went up on the visit. I had good...
By Josh Barr | October 1, 2007; 7:39 PM ET | Comments (0)
Former All-Mets Awash in G'town Garb
Ran into Austin Freeman and Chris Wright -- among other basketball folks -- at Saturday's St. John's-DeMatha football game. While their alma maters were meeting on the football field, Wright -- with his broken right foot in a protective boot -- said there was no friendly wager on the outcome...
By Josh Barr | October 1, 2007; 4:25 PM ET | Comments (0)
Trip to Frederick Was Worth It
So this past Friday night, I had an unusual assignment, covering the Christchurch School at St. John's (Md.). Christchurch isn't in our coverage area. And having now covered St. John's (Md.) twice, I believe that to be an all-time high among Post writers, one that surely never will be broken....
By Josh Barr | October 1, 2007; 10:28 AM ET | Comments (0)
