Tony Woods commits to Wake Forest

NORTH AUGUSTA, SC — Strike Tony Woods off the prospects list for the Florida Gators. The 6-11, 230-pound center from Rome, Georgia eliminated the Gators and Georgia Wednesday night when he committed to Wake Forest.

“I committed to Wake Forest last night,” said Woods Thursday morning after he scored nine points, grabbed nine rebounds and blocked seven shots for the Georgia Stars in the first round of the Nike Peach Jam. “I just felt it’s the best place for me.”

Woods joins a Wake Forest recruiting class that includes 7-0 Ty Walker of Wilmington (NC) and Georgia Stars teammate Al-Farouq Aminu (6-8, 200, Norcross, GA). Aminu committed to Wake Forest after the Thursday morning game.

With Woods off the board, Florida’s big man recruiting centers around 6-10 Angel Garcia of East Chicago (IN) East Central, who is playing with the Puerto Rican national team in Serbia this week. Speculation is that Garcia will commit to the Gators when he returns from Europe.

The Gators are also very much in the hunt for Storm Warren, (6-8, 225, Monroe, LA Richwood), who playing with Louisiana Select at Peach Jam, and Xavier Gibson, a 6-10, 210-pound center that impressed the Gator coaching staff last week at the King James skills camp in Akron, Ohio.

Florida is considered a player for JaMychal Green (6-8, 225, Montgomery (AL) St. Jude). Green, who is also targeted by both Alabama and Georgia Tech, had a monster game against Georgia Stars, scoring 19 points and grabbing 16 rebounds despite having his shot blocked six times. 

Franz Beard
Back in January of 1969, the late, great Jack Hairston, then the sports editor of the Jacksonville Journal, called me on the phone one night and asked me if I wanted to work for him. I said yes. The entire interview took 30 seconds. It's my experience that whenever the interview lasts 30 seconds or less, I get the job. In the 48 years that I've been writing and getting paid for it, I've covered Super Bowls, World Series, NCAA basketball championships, BCS championship games, heavyweight title fights and what seems like thousands of college football, baseball and basketball games. I'm a columnist and special assignments editor for Gator Country once again, writing about the only team that ever mattered to me, the Florida Gators.