The Back Alley Archives

Steve Spurrier and the South Carolina Gamecocks are "no longer welcome" at Tucker High in Georgia after revoking a scholarship offer to one of the high school's student-athletes, the The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

Tucker is one of the state's top producers of college football prospects, and coach Franklin Stephens told the newspaper that he spoke to Spurrier on Sunday night. The conflict involves Tucker linebacker Jonathan Davis, who had committed to South Carolina on December 17 but had his scholarship offer withdrawn by the university on Friday. Signing day is February 4.

"The bottom line - what South Carolina did to Jonathan was wrong," Stephens told the newspaper. "Coach Spurrier accepted the blame for the situation • (but he) is not going to do anything to fix the situation, therefore South Carolina will not be recruiting any more Tucker players."

On Friday, Stephens had a "heated" conversation with Gamecocks assistant Shane Beamer, the coach told the newspaper.

Davis turned down scholarship offers from other schools, including Boston College, Central Florida, Louisville and Oklahoma State, Stephens said. After receiving news of the withdrawal on Friday, he made an official visit to Alabama-Birmingham over the weekend, the Journal-Constitution reports.

South Carolina assistant Ron Cooper, who was high on Davis and led South Carolina's offer, was hired by LSU on January 6, the newspaper explained. Davis' grades are not believed to have factored into South Carolina's reversal.

At least one other Atlanta-area school has had a similar issue. Carver-Atlanta coach Darren Myles Sr. told the newspaper earlier that he has banned one Conference USA program from recruiting at his high school because it offered scholarships to two of his players last spring then pulled them when the players were considering committing.