• Per the GT Sports Blog, The Jackets have ANOTHER 4-star recruit! Jacoby Monroe, from Jacksonville, FL, is a 6-2, 280 lb defensive tackle who squats 850 yet rcan run a 4.6 40. That kind of speed can be very disruptive against opposing QBs. I'm no expert, but I could see a guy like this moving to defensive end.
  
  According to that article from jacksonville.com, Monroe had a disciplinary issue that had him in an alternative school. I see this as more a positive than a liability, because it sounds like the young man came back to school re-focused; hopefully he learned his lesson.
  
  Another big note from the article; we out-recruited FSU, Miami, AND Florida for this guy. Getting a star recruit from Florida over ALL the big FL schools is no small feat. Our recruiting is just stellar right now.
  
• Duke's HC Ted Roof, former Tech linebacker, has suspended starting quarterback Zack Asack for the season. This was in response to (assumedly academic) plagiarism. Props to Coach Roof for not tolerating academic misconduct by his players. I know we ACC fans have a reputation of being very haughty about academic prestige, but I dig the fact that Duke apparently isn't a sweep-it-under-the-rug/let-athletes-get-away-with-crap kinda place... But then, in a non-Duke lacrosse, non-Auburn scandal atmosphere, maybe it would've been swept under the rug.
• Speaking of the Auburn scandal, Carter Strickland from the AJC writes about the aftermath of whistle-blowing. Linda Bensel-Meyers, Tennessee's recent whistle-blower, apparently had her life pretty much ruined, as well as her families'. The tutor at Minnesota who admitted to writing hundreds of papers for players "had no known history of heart problems, [yet] underwent quadruple-bypass surgery. Depression, illness and stress followed [her] until her 2005 death."
  
  I understand fans getting pissed, and maybe writing an angry email, but the way people get treated for acting with integrity is deplorable. Based on the stories of other whistle-blowers, I hope professor Gundlach moves for his own sake. Otherwise I think his existence will just be crappy, regardless of how much he may like the town. Or, hopefully Auburn's fans won't be jerks... but I wouldn't keep my hopes up.

Posted by Jeff on Thursday, July 20, 2006 at 9:24 AM | Permalink