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Georgia finds a sneaky way to gain a recruiting wars advantage over FSU

Every year college coaches find new ways to gain an edge in persuading blue chip players to commit. And every year the NCAA's recruiting rulebook gets a little thicker.

Give Georgia's Mark Richt credit for dreaming up a new one. A creative tactic that most schools can't match and the NCAA probably won't touch.

Richt has promised WR Orson Charles the number 7 -- the one he wore in high school  -- if he signs with UGA. "It was really neat that he said he would hold my No. 7 jersey for me," says Charles, "even if there is another player they’re recruiting that wants it and that guy is [deciding] on signing day.”

C'mon, Bobby, Jimbo -- somebody. FSU needs Charles enough to counter with a similar offer. If Christian Ponder is truly a team player, he'll be eager to switch numbers to help snag the number 7 (what a concidence) WR in the nation, according to Rivals.

One squeezed the Charmin, the other will put the squeeze on FSU's defense

On the left, the original Mr. Whipple, an ad icon from the 60s and 70s (you can catch his act here). The other guy is Miami's new Offensive Coordinator. If ESPN has its way, he'll make his debut calling the plays against FSU in the Labor Day kickoff, just seven short months away. And Whipple, of course, will have the advantage, running a new offense nobody's seen.

So we asked Kartik at Canes Rising what to expect from the other Mr. Whipple:

Will Whipple be a difference maker at UM?
Whipple didn't come cheap. Now we'll finally find out if UM is as broke as many seem to think. We'll know based on whether Shannon hired another DC or coaches the Defense himself. Whipple has also been given the title of Associate Head Coach, a title Miami hasn't given since firing Art Kehoe a few years back.

With a foundation of Jacory Harris and other skill players, how will his offense be different?
My thinking is that Whipple will bring back a pro style offense. Probably more running plays. Graig Cooper has been largely wasted by Nix (the former O.C.). At times he utilized Cooper well (against FSU in 2007 for instance), but all too often quickly abandoned the run or didn't try it at all, ala Jeff Bowden.

Are UM fans fired up to play FSU the first game of the season, or would they rather have a tune-up game?
The UM fans are pretty opposed as I believe many FSU fans are to the Labor Day game. But sadly, we don't really have a say in it. It's up to ESPN. At the basketball game the other day the group I sit by expressed a hope that FSU wouldn't be able to get out of the Maine game, thus forcing the UM game to remain in October.

Honestly I think it is because no one wants to start the year 0-1. Logically it would make sense to move the game because right now Miami will have to play Oklahoma and FSU in back to back weeks (Oct 3 and Oct 10).

Heels steal Noles upset win in a heartbeat

by Bill from Tampa

It was a golden opportunity lost in an instant.

What could have been the signature win of the season so far for Florida State slipped away at the buzzer. Ty Lawson got by Derwin Kitchen at the time line then pulled up just above the key and nailed the game winning three pointer to give 5th ranked North Carolina an 80-77 win over the Seminoles.

FSU seemingly had control of the game holding a 77-74 lead with ninety seconds left. But following a timeout by the ‘Noles Kitchen lost the ball to Danny Green. Taking the ball the distance, Kitchen fouled Green for the three point play tying the game at 77.

But the Seminoles had two more chances at the upset. Toney Douglas’s missed three was rebounded by Chris Singleton with nearly half a minute left. Leonard Hamilton let 14 seconds run off the clock before calling his last timeout to set up the final FSU possession. But Douglas’ shot was partially blocked causing a shot clock violation despite apparently being bumped by Tyler Hansbrough.

Just over three seconds remained setting up Lawson’s heroics.

Hamilton said afterwards “I thought we deserved to win this game. We just came up a little short”

But he also gave credit to North Carolina in making the key defensive play at the end and Lawson’s Hail Mary shot. “That’s what great teams do, make great plays. “

FSU jumped out to an early 7-0 lead and after being tied at nine opened up a 26-17 lead at the 8:04 mark Things even seemed to be going the ‘Noles way when Hansbrough found a seat on the bench after picking up his third foul less than two minutes later and with just two points in the game to that point.

But the Tar Heels dug their way back and you had an uneasy feeling even though FSU was shooting 52% to UNC’s 35% from the floor but were only up by two points.

After Douglas stole the ball from Larry Drew and took it coast to coast for the lay in FSU led 32-28.

And that’s when Hamilton felt his team lost focus that saw UNC go on an 18-3 run over the last 3:57 to take a 46-35 halftime lead.

You don't have to wait til Signing Day to hear where Greg Reid will sign

Will Greg Reid be a Nole next week? You can hear his decision live on-line from Talk 92.1 in Valdosta. Reid will announce his choice the night before Signing Day, between 6 and 8pm on the Winnersville Sports show.

Why Tuesday night? Show host Mike Davis talked Reid into it during a recent interview (heard here) with the red-hot DB prospect.

"FSU has a great chance to get Reid," Davis told us. "He's a great player and a good young man. Always 'Yes, Sir/'No, Sir.' He's also one of the top three high school players ever to come out of Valdosta."

And what about Reid's teammate, FSU commit Gerald Demps? Davis says Demps was "overshadowed by Reid, but is very solid. Safety is where he needs to be. I don't know if he can step on campus and make an immediate impact, but he will in a year or two. FSU will be lucky to have him."

Besides his radio show, Davis delivers a daily dose of South Georgia sports news on his website, Winnersville Sports. And if you don't know why Valdosta claims the nickname Winnersville, read about in this USA Today article.

Bill gives the Noles an A for their D

by Bill from Tampa

Once again I had the time this morning to re-watch our game against the Virginia Cavaliers.

Obviously the defense by FSU got the big amount of attention in that game. I focused a little on that aspect but that was not my primary focus, instead watching the offense more so.

Just briefly on the defense, if you watched the game, you saw the same thing I did. The Seminoles were just everywhere. When the ball made it to a Cavalier there was a Seminole defender right there at the catch. And when someone did drive it in they were met with a host of ‘Nole defenders.

That game had to be quite pleasing to Hamilton who I’m sure will publicly acknowledge that it was good but there is still more work to do. And he’s probably right but it sure didn’t look like it yesterday. There were very, very few open shots Virginia got in the game.

While Sylvan Landesberg got 24 points ending a two game slump I’m not so concerned about that. His shooting percentage was pretty low with the FR guard getting most of his points at the FT line, something he does a lot anyway. But the good part there for FSU was that he didn’t get the three point play. No easy layups were allowed.

And it is just a real treat to watch Toney on defense in how well he anticipates the passes either tipping it away or getting the steal outright. The pass that he tipped away from Sammy Zelinski that ended up with Chris Singleton who smartly tapped the ball back to Toney for the easy one on none layup is just indicative of his abilities in that area of the game.

As for the offense, that had to be the best ball movement and patient offense I’ve seen this season out of this team so far. I counted 27 possessions where we were operating in the half court exclusively. Of those possessions 15 were successful in scoring points.

That’s a 55% conversion rate.

And of those that we didn’t score on, many of those had very good looks at the rim. Not all of them are going to go down. Or we were working the shot clock near the end of the game so much so that we got caught watching the paint dry.

Florida State defense dominates in road win over Virginia

by Bill from Tampa

Following the loss to Miami earlier in the week, Leonard Hamilton was looking for more intensity on defense from his Florida State Seminoles. Hamilton got that defensive effort in holding the Virginia Cavaliers to just three field goals in the first half while opening up a 20 point lead en route to a 73-62 victory in Charlottesville.

The final score was not indicative of how dominating FSU’s defense was in the game. Four turnovers in the final three minutes that included two shot clock violations allowed the Cavaliers to outscore FSU 9-2.

But the ‘Noles maintained complete control the entire game and led by as much as 21 midway through the second half never letting Virginia to get into single digits.

A blocked shot by Solomon Alabi and a lengthy outlet pass from Devidas Dulkys to Toney Douglas made the score 30-10 with 3:12 remaining in the first period and the Seminoles were never really challenged after that.

The Seminole defense was so stingy that the Cavs scored their first basket of the game at the 13:50 mark and did not score another bucket until Sylvan Landesberg’s flip shot with 1:32 left in the half.

The only thing that kept the first half from turning into a complete route was 10 of 12 from the free throw line for Virginia.

Probably the only thing the Seminoles did wrong defensively in the half was allowing Landesberg to go almost the entire length of the floor with 4.2 seconds left and an uncontested layup.

Still FSU led 30-16 at the break and had the lead back up to 20 in just over five minutes.

Former Nole Marcus Ball may be back at Doak as a Tiger or Gator

Last year FSU said goodbye to LB Marcus Ball. Character issues, according to all the buzz. Could be Marcus will have the last laugh.

Ball transferred to Pearl River Community College (Miss.) where he was a first-team JC All-American safety. Now he's a hot commodity in the CFB recruiting wars. The leaders include Ole Miss, Southern Miss, Clemson and Florida, according to the Atlanta Journal Constituion. 

“If there was a better player in our league, I don’t know who he was,” Pearl River coach Tim Hatten told the Clarion-Ledger of Jackson, Miss. “He’s like an NFL player. He’s got a linebacker’s body at safety and an aggressive nose for the football. He’s the best defensive back we’ve had here. By far.”

That makes two. Another premier Safety who parted company with FSU in '08, Anthony Leon played one season of JC ball and will now be an Oregon Duck. Check out video of Leon's hard-hitting style last season at College of the Sequoias.

How and why? Two guys who probably would've been this year's starting safeties failed in conduct or development while at FSU. Seminole fans have to wonder what the heck happened. Leave us a Comment if you have any insights or rants about this on-going mystery of missing Noles. It's part of the bigger discussion about attrition now raging over at Tomahawk Nation.

"We just didn't respond": Hamilton bummed over Noles loss to Canes

Leonard Hamilton called it a winnable game and it almost was. Unfortunately the Seminoles could not stop the senior guard combo of Miami, falling to the Hurricanes 75-69.

Jack McClinton (28 points) and Lance Hurdle (16) combined for 35 of Miami’s 45 second half points.

Despite Miami doing its best to keep the ‘Noles in the game at the end, FSU could not capitalize on the opportunities.

Toney Douglas hit three of four free throws to bring FSU to within three points, 70-67, with 1:20 left to play. But a defensive breakdown left Hurdle all alone to receive a baseball pass down the floor for the easy layup.

Still, Miami left the door open when Dwayne Collins missed two charity shots seconds later. But Douglas missed his next two free throw attempts that would have made it a one possession game with just under a minute left.

And still Miami gave FSU a chance by turning the ball over on the ensuing possession only to see Derwin Kitchen pickup a charging call.

By the time Douglas’ layup did make a it a one possession game at 72-69, there was not enough time left and Miami closed out the Seminoles with three of four from the stripe.

Update: Greg Reid eliminates Florida (thanks for screwing it up, Urban)

Wednesday PM Update: The AJC reports that Greg Reid has told the reptiles, thanks but no thanks. “I wish the Gators the best. It’s just not the place for me.”

Things are changing so quickly for Reid that he said there was only three things he knows for sure: Florida State is one of his finalists, he will take an official visit to UGA on Jan. 30, and he will announce a college decision on signing day (Feb. 4).

Hot prospect Greg Reid clearly prefers the Noles over the reptiles, according to the Atlanta-Journal Consitution. Reid told the paper "I felt like I was at home at Florida State on my [official] visit, it was totally different from the feeling I got [during my recruiting trip] at Florida.”

The Valdosta DB also reports that Urban Meyer "was pretty upset" with Reid's de-commitment and interest in other schools. Reid visited the Swamp last weekend and got the hard sell from Urbie and company to re-commit. But Reid held firm to his decision to wait until he takes all of his official visits. He reportedly is also considering UGA, Bama and Tennessee.

Noles close the door on that sleeper Safety prospect from rural Georgia

At the beginning of the week we heard FSU was among three finalists for Cedric Wilson, a Safety/LB out of Chattahoochee County High near Columbus, GA. Intrigued by a guy who didn't seem to be on the Noles shopping list, we did some digging.

The update: Cedric won't be a Nole.

"FSU decided not to offer him," said Wilson's coach, Josh Kemp. "He got the news this week. Cedric was disappointed because his heart was set on FSU. He'd cancelled some visits he probably should have taken."

Asked why no offer, Kemp said it was "probably a numbers thing." Cedric is now leaning towards Troy.

Wilson was recruited by, and got the bad news from, FSU's DE Coach, Jody Allen.

Character not a problem. The publisher of the county's weekly newspaper, Richard Harris, said Wilson is an excellent player and a good student. "You just know he's going to do something, whether he plays football or not."

Good news or bad? If Cedric was a contingency, Plan B prospect, could it mean that some higher rated player made a silent commitment? Or are the Noles downsizing the '09 recruiting class because they know NCAA penalties will cut deeper than expected?