Surprise, surprise: Young taking game to ACC
The drama is over. Thaddeus Young is headed to Georgia Tech. The nation's most versatile player announced his much anticipated decision on Monday morning at a press conference at Mitchell High School in Memphis, Tenn.
In one of the most dramatic recruiting battles of the year, Young narrowed his choices down to three: Arkansas, Georgia Tech and Kentucky. On Monday, Young, the No. 3 overall player in the country, announced that he will play for Paul Hewitt and the Yellow Jackets.
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"I laid out the criteria that I was looking for in a school back in July and tried to find a school that had it all," Young said.
"I liked Georgia Tech because they have a lot of big men and I didn't want to go somewhere that I would have to play inside," Young told HawgSports.com's Otis Kirk who was at the press conference.
With rumors running rampant amongst fans from all of the schools involved, things often times got ugly on the message boards with conspiracy theories of where the five-star prospect would go. There was even speculation on Monday that he had given a silent pledge to Roy Williams and North Carolina.
"I never committed to North Carolina but when they got (Brandan Wright), I had to take them off the list," Young said.
The Memphis media pounded Young with questions about why he didn't stay and play for John Calipari and the Tigers.
"I didn't want to stay close to home," Young simply said. "Coach (John) Calipari did a great job of recruiting me but I wanted to look at other places outside of Memphis."
Young also sent the message home that there was no second place team in the process. Both Arkansas and Kentucky "did a great job recruiting me, too."