Monday, February 1, 2010

Sharrod Golightly chooses South Carolina's superior academic programs

Well, Vandy finally has a recruit who says he's basing his decision solely on academics (check) and playing time (check).

And then he chooses South Carolina. His reason? He liked South Carolina's defensive scheme. Hey, what was all that about finding the right business school?

Yes, Phil Kornblut of The State reports that the Gamecocks have landed Sharrod Golightly. And it makes sense. I mean, don't kids commit to the place they're visiting the weekend before signing day? That's why Chris Boyd said he canceled his Georgia Tech visit on the same weekend; he didn't want to be confused.

Anyway, we wish Golightly the best. It's hard to root against a kid whose mother's serving our country in Afghanistan. South Carolina isn't a bad school. My brother-in-law went there and he seems pretty smart — at least, he speaks Russian and he married my sister.

But we'd be remiss if we didn't recap the guys who've jumped ship. Hopefully that's it, though I've got to say I don't have a good feeling about Jerrell Priester. I hear he's still not academically qualified for Vanderbilt. Oh, and check out his My Space page.

Here's the list of fellas who've bailed on us after making verbal commitments.

1. Davis Dudchock, TE (Stanford)
2. Myron Ross, RB (Temple)
3. Bradley Roby, ATH (Ohio State)
4. Nash Nance, QB (Tennessee)
5. Sharrod Golightly, S (South Carolina)

It's not the end of the world, and it's not like we had one scholarship reserved for a safety; we've got two more, and both of them are well regarded.

Here's how they rate:

1. KENNETH LADLER (5-11, 188)
Scout: 2 stars; No. 105 safety
Rivals: 3 stars; No. 42 safety
ESPN: 3 stars; No. 43 safety (78 rating)

2. ANDRE SIMMONS (6-1, 195)
Scout: 2 stars; No. 148 safety
Rivals: 3 stars; No. 35 safety
ESPN: 3 stars; No. 59 safety

3. SHARROD GOLIGHTLY (5-11, 167)
Scout: 3 stars; No. 85 safety
Rivals: 3 stars; No. 56 safety
ESPN: 2 stars; No. 109 safety

3 comments:

Aaron said...

Just wondering, but where were you going with JP's myspace? It looked fairly normal unless you count the blue background, but I wouldn't look much into that.

Aaron said...

In terms of JP not being qualified right now, he isn't but he has to retake the ACT and do better in order to qualify, but that doesn't mean he still can't sign with us, but I'm with you in that I still don't have a good feeling about him signing with us.

Dimon said...

Not sure where I was going with it, Aaron. I had two thoughts:

1. This isn't a typical Vanderbilt student athlete.
2. As a school and as a football program, VU needs more kids like JP and I'm glad BJ is recruiting him.

Overall, I guess I just doubted not that we would want him bit that he would want us.

Of course, Joe B Wyatt wouldn't have accepted Priester in a million years.