The Southern Highland Reader

CULLOWHEE–The Asheville Citizen-Times’s Keith Jarrett reports that Western Carolina University head football coach Dennis Wagner has turned down an offer to join new Kansas coach Turner Gill as an assistant coach.

Wagner said he was offered the job as offensive line coach and assistant head coach by Gill, the former Nebraska quarterback who left the head coaching job at Buffalo to take over the Jayhawks.

“Turner offered me the job Saturday night and I turned it down Tuesday morning,” Wagner said.  “I told him it was in my best interests to stay at Western Carolina.”

Blog post here.

CULLOWHEE–Western Carolina University football player Ja’Quayvin Smalls, a newly-enrolled transfer from Georgia Military College, died Wednesday at Harris Regional Hospital.

Smalls, participating in his first conditioning workout with the Catamounts, stopped breathing while being treated for cramps. He was administered CPR by athletic training staff and reportedly briefly revived before medical personnel arrived, but was pronounced dead at Harris Regional at 7:30pm.

“Any loss of life is a tragedy, but it is especially tragic when someone is taken from us at such a young age,” said Chip Smith, WCU director of athletics. “Our hearts and prayers are with the family and friends of Ja’Quayvin, and with his coaches and teammates.”

Smalls, from Mt. Pleasant, SC, is survived by his parents Henry and LaSonia Smalls and two younger siblings, Jarrel and Ja’Keil.

NATIONAL–The National Collegiate Athletic Association is in the fifth year of its ambitious and intricate plan to improve academic performance across the broad spectrum of college athletics.

The good news is, it’s working. The bad news, for Western Carolina University football fans, is that the NCAA has penalized Western three football scholarships for recent academic progress issues.

Every Division I sports team calculates its APR each academic year, based on the eligibility, retention and graduation of each scholarship student-athlete, and its APR score becomes part of a four-year snapshot of the teams’ progress. A score of 925 is equal to a graduation rate of 60 percent. Scores below 925 can be subject to penalty. Teams can lose up to 10 percent of their scholarships through immediate penalties.

Stiffer penalties exist for programs that show long-term struggles.

Western football fell into the “short-term” category by scoring 919 for 2008, after scoring 928 for each of the two previous years.

NCAA President Myles Brand stressed yesterday that the latest APR data highlight that academic reform has led to improved behavior in the classroom across the board in nearly every sport. The overall four-year Division I APR is 964, with the overall single-year rate up 10 points to 971 compared to five years ago. The number of student-athletes leaving school academically ineligible, meanwhile, continues to sharply decrease.

WCU didn’t win top-ten-percent accolades for any of its athletics squads, but most were comfortably on-par with other Division 1 public institutions, or slightly above average. Exceptions were to be found in coach Danny Williamson’s indoor and outdoor track squads for men and women, whose APRs ranged between the 60th and 80th percentiles among all such Division 1 teams. In addition, the Catamount men won the recent SoCon championship meet. The women placed second.

Across the SoCon:

Chattanooga was banned from postseason play in 2009, and is the first Div. 1 school to be so penalized. The Mocs’ multi-year APR sank to 870.

Also dealing with bad news is Georgia Southern, which lost two scholarships in men’s basketball and 3.02 in football, and Chattanooga basketball (one scholarship).

CLEVELAND–Former Western Carolina standout David Patten, a 12-year NFL veteran, has signed to play with the Cleveland Browns in 2009.

David Patten

He has played for five NFL teams – including the Browns in 2000 – and he won three Super Bowl rings with the Patriots.

Patten, who will turn 35 this year, played the last two years in New Orleans, where he was the team’s second-leading receiver in 2007. He was hobbled by injuries for most of last year, and many thought his career might come to a close. The Browns signed him with some fanfare, though, no doubt in part because of his reputation as a leader. After graduating from Western, Patten began his pro career in a storybook fashion. He was loading heavy bags of coffee beans on a Columbia, SC warehouse dock when his call came from the Albany Firebirds of the Arena Football League. He worked his way up to the NFL from there.

Here are a few links:

The Canton Repository speculates.
The Orange and Brown Report gives the facts.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer puts both together.

Click to read more about WCU sports.

CULLOWHEE–Western Carolina football coach Dennis Wagner and his staff brought an aggressive new recruiting style to Cullowhee, and this Wednesday, after their first full recruiting year, they’ll show off the results.

They’ve already shown extraordinary success in the mountains, impressing high school coaches who hadn’t been impressed by Western for a while, and landing three of the area’s top recruits.

Wagner’s style is to offer often and early, determining a player’s skill set and putting his cards on the table. This is opposed to the poker game some schools play with recruits, demanding early commitments, holding their offers contingent on other considerations, and so forth.

Below is a partial list of recruits, as pulled from newspaper reports and scouting reports. It might represent a third of the kids Wagner is pursuing, and since some of the info was provided by the kids to their local papers, the accuracy could be a little off here and there. Per NCAA rules, the school can’t talk until Wednesday.

Signed

These recruits were rated “Two-star” by Rivals.com

• Ryder Sloan, linebacker, Folkston, GA. Also recruited by: Charleston So., Eastern Michigan, Kent State
• Wesley Cook lineman from Hendersonville, NC. Also recruited by: Middle Tennessee
• JaQuavyn Smalls, cornerback out of Georgia Military College. Recruited by Ga. So., App. St., Middle Tenn., WCU only offer.
• Jacoby Mitchell, Southwest DeKalb, Atlanta, GA. Received offers from Delaware, Furman, Georgia Southern, Eastern Michigan, Bowling Green, Alabama-Birmingham, Middle Tennessee and Akron.
• Brian Johnson, a defensive end from Myers Park High in Charlotte. Recruited by several ACC and SEC schools. WCU and Miami OH offered.
• Michael Johnson, running back, Decatur, GA. Also recruited by Akron, Eastern Michigan.

These recruits weren’t rated by Rivals.com

• Ben Kennon, offensive lineman from York, SC, has signed, according to the Rock Hill Herald
• D.J. Parker, receiver, Bessemer City
• D.J. McClendon, receiver, Thomasville
• Ryan World, quarterback, Coto de Caza, Calif.
• Tanner Hidrogo, defensive back, Colorado Springs
• Buddy Robinson, defensive tackle, Bostic
• Connor Orr, tight end, Suwanee, GA
• Nicholas James, receiver, Winston-Salem
• Richard Hughes, defensive back, Decatur, GA
• Matt Hastings, offensive lineman, Connelly Springs
• Gil Broadway, offensive lineman, Washington, NC
  
• George Richardson, wide receiver, NC Tech/Glenn High School
• Nathaniel Stephenson, linebacker out of Jacksonville, FL’s First Coast High.
• Elijer Martinez, Cartersville, GA, defensive back.
• Quevalas “Boom Boom” Murray a defensive end from Shelby.
• Randy Pressley, a quarterback/defensive back from Weaverville.
• Rashawn Grate, athlete, of South Columbus.

Lost

• Rudy Cabral, Asheville Reynolds linebacker, de-committed Monday, Feb. 2. (Mars Hill)
• Whitefield Academy (GA) quarterback Trey Miller (Navy)
• Newnan, GA, lineman Adam Calhoun (Alabama State)
• Lineman Nick Schmalhofer of Lancaster, PA. (New Hampshire)
• Boiling Springs offensive lineman Jamey Cheatwood (Coastal Carolina)
  
• Lineman Jordan Miller of Kennesaw, GA (Memphis)
• Lineman Perry Owens of Edenton, NC (Old Dominion)
• West Brunswick, NC, quarterback/athlete Ryan Hill (Navy)
• Norcross, GA, defensive back/quarterback Charles King (Hutchinson Community College)(Didn’t make grades)
• Gastonia, NC, running back Jarkeevus Alexander (UNC-Pembroke) (Unclear whether WCU offered)
• Columbia, SC, High Pointe linebacker/runningback Devin Wherry (SC State) (Unclear whether WCU offered)

Undecided

• Newnan, GA, linebacker Will Koran. Has WCU offer, getting looks from UAB, Middle Tennessee State, Akron, Tennessee Tech, Eastern Kentucky and Marshall.
• Larry Raper, wide receiver/safety out of Shelby. From the Charlotte Observer: Raper is the only member of the Observer’s Top 25 North Carolina prospects list who has not yet committed. He is also one of the fastest players in the state, a legitimate 4.4 in the 40-yard dash. He was formerly committed to Clemson, but withdrew from that. Schools such as Toledo, Western Carolina, S.C. State and possibly Appalachian State seem likely now, although a BCS program or two may jump back in after signing day. From The State in Columbia on 2.09.09: “S.C. State remains in the running for Shrine Bowl running back Larry Raper of Shelby, N.C. Raper received late contact from a couple of major programs and is waiting to hear back before making a decision.”
• Shawn Bodtmann, a three-star BCS prospect linebacker out of Pennsylvania who signed with Nebraska last year, has had his scholarship pulled last-minute by the Huskers, and has been offered by WCU and Maine. He will visit WCU this weekend.

Unclear

• Willie Kennedy, a Gastonia Ashbrook linebacker/safety, committed early to Colorado, but the Buffs backed off because of grades. Charlotte Observer reports Kennedy has committed to Western contingent upon making grades. Also offered by Missouri and Marshall.
• King Mountain running back Joe Chambers has a “preferred walk-on” offer.
• Trenton, NC, quarterback Covair Frost was looked at by the Catamounts, but it is unclear whether he was offered.

ASHEVILLE/CULLOWHEE –North Buncombe quarterback and defensive back Randy Pressley, a top regional prospect, has committed to play at WCU, according to the Asheville Citizen-Times.

A quote:

“Western has always been after me the hardest,” Pressley said. “The scholarships to other Division I schools have come and gone, but I didn’t want to go somewhere where I would be the last choice for someone. I don’t want to wait until I’m a junior to play.”

The story is here.