NCSA College Athletic Scholarships Blog

It isn’t often that a high school coach bans a Division I football coach from his campus.  Especially when that coach’s name is Steve Spurrier.  But, that is just the case in Atlanta where Tucker High  Coach Franklin Stephens told reporters that Steve Spurrier is no longer welcome.  The rift began when South Carolina told Tucker High LB Jonathan Davis that it was pulling his scholarship offer.

“The bottom line … what South Carolina did to Jonathan was wrong,” Stephens told the Atlanta Journal Constitution. “Coach Spurrier accepted blame for the situation … [but he] is not going to do anything to fix the situation, therefore South Carolina will not be recruiting any more Tucker players.”

Initially this looks like a case of poor recruiting ethics, but beneath the surface things look a little murky.  Rumors are floating about poor grades, and a rogue, since departed, assistant coach who may have offered Davis without the consent from the staff.

Davis has spoken about moving on and realistically it is his only choice.

“No sir, I don’t feel that way about anybody at South Carolina. Actually, I’m thankful they [South Carolina] called me when they did and broke it off … I know it’s late in recruiting, but by letting me know then, it still gives us a little time to find another school. What would’ve been very disappointing would’ve been to sign with South Carolina, get up there next year, and then not get a chance to play because none of the [remaining] coaches wanted me there in the first place. So it’s better we ended things this way. I still have time.”

He is making the best of poor position, but I can’t help but wonder if things would have turned out better if he had some better guidance throughout the recruiting process.  Could he have seen this curve ball coming?  That is anyone’s guess, but I hope that this story will cause recruits to pause and really think about making a commitment.  Without a solid relationship to a coaching staff that commitment might just be an empty promise.

Tags: jonathan davis, steve spurrier, tucker high school

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 13th, 2009 at 2:06 pm and is filed under College Football, Early Signing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.