Johnathon McCrary sees plenty of potential in Vanderbilt’s football program.

That’s why the quarterback from Cedar Grove High School in Ellenwood, Ga., committed to Vanderbilt on Thursday over offers from such schools as Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Florida State and Ohio State.

McCrary, who’s ranked the nation’s No. 80 prospect by Rivals.com, said he noticed the success of first-year head coach James Franklin in 2011 and the way prospects responded in the 2012 class.

McCrary said he believes he can help elevate Vanderbilt’s program to a higher level.

“It feels like it needs someone just to put it on blast and I think I can help,” McCrary said. “I can at least try. That’s a place where you want to start a legacy so when you come back to Nashville you’re legendary. And having Nashville on my back, I think I could change history to my name.”

McCrary will try to bring more talented names with him to Vanderbilt. The first prospect he mentioned was Loganville, Ga., defensive end Robert Nkemdiche, who’s considered by many to be the nation’s top prospect for the 2013 class.

“He said he’s actually interested in Vanderbilt,” McCrary said of Nkemdiche. “That says a lot about his character.”

Of course, every program in the nation is interested Nkemdiche. A signature from him would appear to be a longshot for Vanderbilt. But McCrary believes there are other top prospects in the 2013 class with an interest in the Commodores.

“I have a lot of other athletes in the class of 2013 that look up to me and I look up to them,” McCrary said. “And if I go to Vanderbilt then there’s going to be a lot more recruits come in later on in the year.”

There’s still a question whether McCrary will sign with Vanderbilt. He said he plans to visit other schools, including Alabama, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Oregon and UCLA.

McCrary said it was the advice of his father to make sure he explores all of his options.

“You can’t just sit in one direction and say you can’t go in the other direction,” McCrary said. “Because if you do that, then you’re not going to be successful.”

Still, McCrary insisted he’s “very committed” to Vanderbilt. He’s taking an unofficial visit to the school’s campus this weekend.

“There’s no better place than Nashville,” McCrary said. “Vanderbilt’s a great place to me.”

Cornerback Brandon Beaver from Dominguez High School in Compton, Calif., is considering an official visit to Georgia.

The Bulldogs haven’t offered Beaver but have continued to show interest.

“They’ve recently been in contact with me and they’re a big-time school in the SEC so I’m very interested,” Beaver told Rivals.com. “I am thinking about taking a visit. I want to see what it’s like in Athens.”

Beaver has already taken official visits to Nebraska and Washington. He plans to take an official visit to California on Dec. 9 and is considering UCLA and Utah.

Basketball forward prospect Shaq Goodwin from Southwest Dekalb High School in Decatur, Ga., has committed to Memphis.

Goodwin chose Memphis over offers from Florida, Georgia, UCLA and Arizona.

Memphis is also recruiting forward Alex Poythress, who will announce his choice on Thursday. Florida, Kentucky and Vanderbilt are also in the running for Poythress.

Ole Miss has received a commitment from linebacker Ike Spearman from Lake Central High School in St. John, Ind.

Spearman chose Ole Miss over offers from Cincinnati, Louisville, Minnesota and UCLA. The SEC attraction gave the Rebels the advantage.

“I had a feeling about that place as a whole,” Spearman told The Times of Northwest Indiana. “Of all the schools I looked at, Ole Miss was at the top of my list.”

Spearman is the 12th prospect to commit to Ole Miss for 2012.

When news emerged last week that Renardo Sidney would bypass Mississippi State’s August basketball tour of Europe, the syllables “uh” and “oh” probably popped into most Bulldog fans’ minds.

Sidney has been nothing but trouble since his arrival in Starkville.  He sat for more than a year due to NCAA issues.  He got into a fight with teammate.  The teammate left, Sidney stayed.  He tweeted his support for a teammate’s tweet which was critical of the MSU coaching staff.  The teammate was suspended, Sidney was not.  And now he’s backing out of a European trip to — according to him — try to lose more weight via workouts with ex-NBA player John Lucas in Houston.

So is it true that this just about weight loss?  Would it not be better for team chemistry if Sidney were — you know — an actual part of the team?  Is Rick Stansbury once again allowing Sidney to live by his own set of rules?

When it comes to questions about the talented big man, Brandon Marcello of The Jackson Clarion-Ledger says, “We never know what to believe.”

The coach still says Sidney will be back and will be a member of his team this season.  But Gary Parrish of CBSSports.com warned of trouble on the horizon in a weekend blog:


“The whole Sidney-to-Mississippi State story has been a circus from the start and there’s no reason to think it won’t end that way, too.  Put another way, it won’t end well.  That’s my prediction.  It just won’t end well and Stansbury will end up ever enrolling the troubled prospect — that is if he doesn’t regret it already.”


If he regrets it already, Stansbury should stop allowing Sidney to act as though he’s the captain of his own ship.  MSU’s coach has burned up a lot of goodwill over the past couple of seasons and Sidney has been at the center of much of that. 

How ironic that Stansbury might have gone overboard to land someone other schools were running away from — Southern Cal and UCLA were both moonwalking away from Sidney — and in return it could — if all goes wrong — cost him his job.

If Sidney is more trouble than he’s worth again this season and Stansbury’s “special” treatment of him creates a rift on the team, a squad with great potential could go south.  If that happens, Stansbury could find himself in serious trouble at season’s end.

Last week, Andy Staples of SI.com ranked the 20 best college football jobs in the country.  Not to be outdone Mike DeCourcy of The Sporting News has posted his list of the 10 best college basketball jobs in the US of A.

Want a shock?  John Calipari’s gig at Kentucky doesn’t rank #1.  So it must be behind the North Carolina job at #2, right?  Uh, no.  That would be UCLA. 

So UK ranks third?  Uh-uh.  That’s Texas.  “There’s so much talent and money — and minimal pressure to win it all,” DeCourcy writes of the Longhorns.

And at that point — at #4 on the list — you’ll find Kentucky’s head coaching position.  “Perhaps more than any other program, Kentucky makes certain there is life beyond basketball for those who prove themselves to be committed Wildcats.”

Depending on your point of view, that line could be seen as a positive… or as a possible veiled shot at UK’s history of rules violations.

Reading the comments beneath DeCourcy’s post, it’s clear that most UK fans see their school’s gig as the top job in the country.  And that’s not a shock.

No other SEC jobs make the pundit’s list.

Offensive lineman Michael Flint from Oxford (Ala.) High School is no longer committed to Auburn.

Flint was the first prospect to commit to the Tigers for the 2012 class. He has decided he wants to seek other options.

“I had made an early decision, and I just want to take my other vsits and visit other schools,” Flint told AuburnSports.com. “I just started to realize I should take my chances and see what else is out there.”

Flint said he hopes to visit Oregon and UCLA. He also had received offers from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, LSU, Georgia, Tennessee, Florida State and Notre Dame.

Auburn still has seven commitments for the class of 2012.

Justin Hokanson of AuburnSports.com said Flint and Auburn “mutually agreed to part ways.”

“Auburn’s class in 2012 will be just fine despite the Flint decommitment,” Hokanson tweeted.

The Under Armour “Best of the Best” basketball tournament will take place this weekend at Atlanta Marist High School.

Michael Carvell of the Atlanta Journal Constitution has a list of the top five Georgia prospects taking part in the camp.

The top player: forward William “Shaq” Goodwin from Southwest DeKalb High School. Carvell spoke with analyst Kerry Willis of Courtcred.com about Goodwin:

“Goodwin is the highest-rated player in Georgia (No. 12 by ESPNU) and he has continued to impress scouts with his relentless effort on the boards, his athleticism, and the added ability to be very consistent shooting the ball out to the 3-point line. Plays the game with energy and an infectious smile that crowds love.”

Goodwin is considering Georgia, Florida, Memphis and UCLA, according to the AJC.

For the rest of Carvell’s top prospects playing in this weekend’s tournament, hit the link above.

Best wishes to new Tennessee basketball coach Cuonzo Martin.  This summer he’ll learn what sanctions his program will face due to the actions of his predecessor’s staff.  Then this fall he’ll take a rebuilt roster that lost its two top players from a year ago up against a schedule that includes some of the nation’s most dangerous programs.

“I think our guys will be ready for the challenges physically; it’s a matter of how quickly they pick up the things we want to do on the floor,” Martin told The Knoxville News Sentinel.  “Our returning guys want to prove some people wrong who think we won’t be competitive.  We lost some great players, but our guys continue to work to be champions.”

Championships might be out of reach in the short run.  UT learned yesterday that it will host Pittsburgh in the Big East/SEC Challenge, a year after upsetting the Panthers in their own home city.

That game is added to a nonconference slate that already features road trips to Memphis and Summit League champion Oakland.  The Vols will also play in the Maui Invitational against the likes of Duke, Kansas, UCLA, Michigan and Georgetown.  And, oh yeah, defending national champ UConn will visit Knoxville next season, too.

Tennessee fans will get their wish in seeing the Vols face a top quality schedule.  Whether or not their patient as Martin has to rebuild against said schedule remains to be seen.

When Florida’s season ended in the NCAA Tournament last year, its demise came at the hands of Brigham Young.  So facing the Cougars tonight in the Sweet Sixteen in New Orleans, is revenge on the Gators’ minds?

“No, there’s no revenge,” said Vernon Macklin.  “It’s just a regular game for us.  And for them, also.”

Chandler Parsons agrees.  “I think us going into the game, we’re just worried about their team this year.  We can’t be worried about what we did good last year, what we did bad last year.  We have a new team; they have  a new team, new personnel.  So it’s just going to be us against them.”

Billy Donovan must love having a veteran, savvy team for a change.  Indeed, this Florida bunch is an easy team to pull for.  Too bad tonight they’re facing one of the country’s top college heroes in Jimmer Fredette.  The BYU gunner averaged 28.8 points per game this year tallying 1,002 points… on the season.

“In every game that he’s played, everybody’s trying to stop him, everybody’s trying to slow him down, and he still gets 33 a game,” Billy Donovan said yesterday.  “He still averages 28 a game, he still does it regardless.  I’m not comparing him to Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant, but I did make the comment a year ago that I thought Fredette had more of an impact in a college game than John Wall did. … When you’re dealing with a guy like that, there’s a lot of times that you are at his mercy because he’s got the ball in his hands.”

The Gators’ Kenny Boynton is expected to play following a sprained ankle in his last game against UCLA.  “We just practiced (he said yesterday), and I did everything fully.  I had no problems.  I can cut, I did everything good.”


Sidenote — ESPN’s Jay Bilas says Florida is “good enough to play in the Final Four.”  He also thinks “that Florida is the best team remaining (in its bracket), but it’s not by much.”