Eleven of the top 100 Rivals.com high school basketball seniors in the country reside in Georgia, but none of them will be playing for the University of Georgia next season.
The Bulldogs’ struggle to recruit in-state is nothing new, as former head coach Dennis Felton wasn’t just fired for his 26-59 record in SEC play, but for his inability to recruit and add the best talent in the state to the Bulldogs’ roster. Recent high-profile recruits like Jodie Meeks, who is starting at Kentucky, and Chris Singleton at Florida State are just some of the misses.
This year the Bulldogs missed out on Derrick Favors of South Atlanta, ranked the No. 1 center in the country according to Rivals.com. Favors has committed to Georgia Tech. His high school teammate, Andre Malone, has committed to Auburn. Joining Favors at Tech will be Mfon Udofia, point guard for Miller Grove, Glen Rice of Walton, and Kammeon Holsey of Hancock Central. All are ranked in Rivals.com’s top 100 players.
In the press conference that introduced Felton as the Bulldogs coach, he said, “I want the opportunity to build the next great basketball program in the United States. I want it to be a program that is the envy of everyone and the model for everyone.”
The key word here is “build.”
DeMario Mayfield, a three-star point guard recruit from Franklin County High School, chose the Bulldogs over offers from Florida State, Auburn, and South Carolina because of the school’s proximity to home.
“It’s 35 minutes down the road. I grew up watching them,” said Mayfield.
Daniel Miller, a three-star center from Loganville Christian Academy who is averaging 21 points, eight rebounds and eight blocks per game in his senior season, picked the Bulldogs for the same reason.
“They’ve always been my team,” said Miller.
However, both Mayfield and Miller understand why few of the top players in-state want to become Bulldogs.
“They just haven’t been a good team and all the good players want to play for a top team. They want to go somewhere big,” said Miller.
“We need to get a buzz and a winning tradition back,” added Mayfield.
Certainly, Felton was handed the keys to a mess when he was hired in 2003 to replace Jim Harrick Sr. Ezra Williams graduated. Jarvis Hayes jumped to the NBA. Steve Thomas, the Bulldogs’ leading rebounder the year before, was kicked off the team by Felton before the start of his first season.
And thus became the trend as Felton cleared and cut more than built in his time at Georgia, and missed much more often than not at adding talent to the Bulldogs roster.
Felton’s 2005 recruiting class looked extremely promising as guards Louis Williams and Mike Mercer from South Gwinnett committed early in 2004. The class also contained Robert Dozier of Lithonia and center Rashaad Singleton.
Dozier was the first to go as he failed to make the necessary SAT score to enroll at UGA. He would instead sign with Memphis where he has prospered, averaging 12.5 points per game for the 10th-ranked Tigers now in his senior season.
Next to go was Williams as he declared for the NBA draft. Billy Humphrey took his scholarship. Mercer was kicked off the team by Felton on Nov. 19, 2007. Singleton quit less than two months later. Humphrey was kicked off the team on June 24, 2008 after his second arrest involving alcohol, leaving Terrance Woodbury as the only remaining member of Felton’s first recruiting class.
Felton’s 2006 class, highlighted by Albert Jackson, was a disappointment from the beginning. Felton’s 2007 class, led by forward Jeremy Price, showed improvement. Felton’s 2008 class was even stronger with Howard “Trey” Thompkins, Travis Leslie and Dustin Ware, who were all in rivals150.
However, Felton was still not capitalizing on the abundance of high school talent in Georgia. Players like Wheeler High School standout and 2007 McDonald’s All-American J.J. Hickson were getting away. Hickson played at N.C. State one season before jumping to the NBA. Gani Lawal of Norcross, also a McDonald’s All-American, went to Georgia Tech, where he is averaging 15.8 points and 10.4 rebounds per game as a sophomore. Senario Hillman, of Wilkinson County, is averaging 13 points per game for Alabama.
The start of 2009 was especially hard, as the Bulldogs lost out on Favors when he committed to the Yellow Jackets on Jan. 14 and then Georgia lost its fifth consecutive SEC game to Florida on Jan. 8, 83-57. Felton was fired the following day.
Mayfield and Miller both found the news of Felton’s firing disappointing but not surprising.
“I really wanted to play for Coach Felton,” said Mayfield.
Miller, who received offers from Davidson, Minnesota, Stanford, and Georgia Tech, took into account the Bulldogs’ coaching situation when he made his decision.
“I had to consider going to Georgia without Felton,” said Miller.
Neither Mayfield nor Miller have a preference for their next head coach, although both would be thrilled to play for the big three coaches that have only been rumored; Bobby Knight, Tubby Smith and Mike Davis.
Whoever their next coach is, they must do something Felton never quite figured out: how to capitalize on all the high school talent the state has to offer.
Wiley can be reached at dwiley@scoreatl.com.
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