My jaw is on the floor. Dennis Felton has landed Trey Thompkins (6'8" and 225 lb power forward) of Atlanta picked the Georgia Bulldogs over the Florida Gators and several other elite programs.(Image: Scout.com)
Thompkins is ranked as the #16 overall prospect in the nation by Scout.com and #13 by Rivals.com.
This is the b-ball equivalent of Richt signing Caleb King...only much, much less expected. I'm positively thrilled for Coach Felton. Excluding Louis Williams, who never enrolled at UGA, this is the highest rated hoops prospect to officially commit to Georgia since at least Jumaine Jones...if not all the way back to Carlos Strong.
Who knows if he'll live up to the billing, but just getting him to say yes is HUGE for Felton's credibility with fans, AAU coaches and the administration.
See Also:
-- Thompkins picks UGA -- AJC
PWD
9 comments:
Oh, this vastly bigger than King, Paul. CK may redshirt. He's a piece, (really more of a spare part now), in quite a well oiled machine.
Maybe DJ Shockley is a parallel --the new guy proving he can get it done. An absolute breakthrough for DF. He ain't perfect, goodness knows, but the question is: can he get it done? And this is a big, big sign that he can.
Thompkins is a top talent, from one of the big AAU programs, just couldn't be better. Plus he'll likely stay at least two years to build an NBA body.
I believe Mike Merce was also ranked as a 5 star when felton recruited him to Georgia along with Williams. He just didn't get as much pub as Williams.
Mercer was ranked as high as 35 or so. But yes, he was also a big recruit. Just not "this big".
And yeah - Stick, you're right. It's much bigger on a relative basis for Felton than King is for Richt.
Maybe the analogy is Will Witherspoon for Donnan. Mr. Football in the State of Florida picking us over the Gators in '98. Only bigger than that too.
PWD
Yeah, in basketball not all 5* players are created equal. Mercer is not nearly the level of recruit that Thompkins is. Huge get for Felton, he had to land of the bigs from Georgia in this class and he did.
I'd love to see Georgia basketball rise to a level where the annual GT v. UGa basketball game gets national attention - both programs look in pretty good shape right now. The state certainly puts out enough high school talent for both of us.
PWD, this is yet another sign of the gradual improvement of the program under Felton. It's hard to really fault the guy so far when you can chart on paper his improvements (as you did before), and this is another ascending mark on the graph.
Last week's commitment head scratcher notwithstanding, the rest of the class (rankings-wise) is an obvious improvement over previous years, and '08 looks to continue the upward trend...especially if we can get Woods or another of the ubiquitous Georgia top-100 high schoolers.
How do you get over the dismissal of Paul Oliver? Get Caleb King qualified, Tavarres King and Howard Thompkins committed, and win two national championships with two of the most dominant teams their respective sports have ever seen. All without stooping to the level of the Auburns of the world. Damon Evans is a god among men.
I am really excited about Georgia Basketball. There is no reason on earth why we can't be championship calibre each and every year. Maybe this is the beginning of something truly grand. The college basketball landscape has changed, especially in the SEC. Kentucky will never rule the conference like they did since, well, forever. Congratulations, coach Felton. Now, coach 'em up!
I agree w/ Nathan - I'd love to see our rivalry get some national attention. Great job by Coach Felton, another milestone in the long road back from (as Orson would say) Name Redacted.
About friggin time...
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