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Opinion: UGA and Carver-Columbus need to iron things out
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The UGA/Carver-Columbus recruiting fiasco has gone on long enough. For those who are unaware, UGA has been banned from the Carver-Columbus (CC) High School by their coach, Dell McGee, after a situation happened at UGA's camp "Dawg Night" where a CC quarterback, Devin Burns, tried to commit to UGA but was told on the spot that his offer had been rescinded.
Since then, there's been a lot of talk over the subject, mainly from Coach McGee (since college coaches are not allowed to comment on specific recruits) who has single-handedly labeled the Bulldog program as unfair in terms of the recruitment game.
Were there mistakes on both sides of the recruitment? Absolutely. UGA cannot get a pass after failing to notify a recruit when his offer was no longer valid, especially before said recruit came to UGA for a camp. That being said, it is the job of the high school coach to watch out for his kids BEFORE things like this happen so that the recruit doesn't leave UGA's camp without being able to commit, especially with UGA filling 10 scholarship spots in between Burns receiving an offer and the camp. Make no mistake, both parties are at fault here, regardless of which side you tend to believe more.
The real injustice occurs when CC's Coach McGee banned UGA from their campus for the time being. It is my opinion, and solely my opinion, that this does nothing but hurt both parties in doing this. It's customary to be so angry with another party that all communication is cut off, but McGee's purpose here is fair to one recruit (Devin Burns) but unfair to the rest of his potential college athletes; namely Isaiah Crowell (RB) and Gabriel Wright (DT). Both players are big targets for UGA in the 2011 recruiting class and have said in the past that UGA was high on their list of potential schools to sign with.
Sure, it's the job of a coach to stand up for his players. Bobby Cox, the certain Hall of Fame manager of the Atlanta Braves, has been ejected out of 147 baseball games for arguing with the umpires. In baseball, a manager will stick up for his player not only to do it because it may be the right thing, but also to show to his team that he'll "go to bat" for them, regardless if it costs him his spot in the dugout.
Coach McGee is serving no one's interest in this situation. I'm sure that Burns will appreciate the sentiment, but what happens when other parents realize their kids have the opportunity to get a scholarship from a Div-I school like UGA and hear that the coach won't allow the school to check in on the recruit on campus? What if a burned bridge over a large misunderstanding keeps a recruit from going to his dream school? Sure, CC is closer to Auburn than UGA, but just like fans in other parts of Georgia or even Athens itself, not every soul walking the street is going to bleed the colors of the school closest to them. If that were the case, Florida would never get players from Atlanta and UGA would never get players from Valdosta.
Coach McGee has stated publicly that UGA has apologized for the snafu. Again, UGA can't comment publicly, so we'll have to go by Coach McGee's words. However, when and if the time comes where Carver-Columbus has the opportunity to iron out its grievances with UGA, I truly hope that happens. The young men who are lucky enough to receive offers to play football from Div-I schools don't need their future hanging on the shoulders of a relationship gone bad. This doesn't just apply to UGA either. Had Georgia Tech, Auburn or Florida been banned, I would say the same thing. Some issues are more important in the big scheme of things.
All in all, it's time for both parties to iron out their differences and move on from this unfortunate situation. At this point, it serves no one beneficially to keep things going like they are right now.
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