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caduniya · 5 years

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Alabama gets commitment from 4-star Muscle Shoals LB

Muscle Shoals linebacker Jackson Bratton is Bama’s second commitment for the Class of 2020. (Photo from Jackson Bratton, via Twitter) Auburn running back JaTarvious Whitlow (28) had a 70-yard touchdown run during the Tigers’ first spring scrimmage on Saturday. (Julie Bennett/[email protected])

Gus Malzahn wasn’t ready to say if any of Auburn’s five running backs created any separation in the Tigers’ ongoing backfield battle, but one definitely stood out among the pack during the team’s first scrimmage Saturday morning.

Each running back received between five and 10 carries during the roughly 100-play scrimmage at Jordan-Hare Stadium, but JaTarvious “Boobee” Whitlow made the most of his touches. The redshirt freshman made perhaps the most impressive play of the scrimmage, breaking off a nearly 70-yard touchdown run, according to a source, after reversing field behind the line of scrimmage.

“It was something like you see on ‘Madden,’ where you just go one way and he reversed the other way,” left guard Marquel Harrell said. “It was a good run. It brought some energy to the field. It was a good run for him.”

Whitlow’s highlight-reel touchdown run was one of the bright spots for an offense that committed five turnovers, including four interceptions, on the day.

It was also something that wasn’t completely unfamiliar to his teammates, who have almost come to expect such playmaking ability from the 6-foot, 216-pound running back.

“I saw that about Boobee, I think, last fall camp,” right guard Mike Horton said. “I’ve always seen that about him. I’ve always spoke highly about Boobee. I know he’ll be a great player. I love him a lot.”

Whitlow redshirted last season after injuring his ankle during fall camp, but the LaFayette native impressed in his limited opportunity before the injury and then gained some notoriety within the team for his explosiveness and elusive running style when he was cleared to return for practices during the Tigers’ bowl preparation at the end of last season.

His rise has continued this spring, as he competes with the likes of Kam Martin, Devan Barrett, Asa Martin and Malik Miller for the starting running back position in an offense needing to replace its two best running backs, Kerryon Johnson and Kamryn Pettway.

“Boobee’s been pretty impressive all spring,” linebacker Darrell Williams said. “I told him today, pretty much, the ball’s in his court. Whatever he wants to be, that’s what he can be…. I feel like Boobee is a guy who has a lot of spotlight on him right now just because of the improvement that he’s been doing. He had an injury last year, so he was kind of under the radar, but he’s coming out a little more, so that’s pretty good.”

Malzahn said that he saw good things from all of Auburn’s running backs on Saturday, while multiple players also pointed to the performances of Kam Martin and Barrett out of the backfield during the first scrimmage. Still, there’s something about Whitlow’s ability to create something out of nothing that has made the former three-star recruit an offseason standout.

Malzahn and coaches will review the film from Saturday and start to establish a pecking order among the running backs–and it wouldn’t be surprising if Whitlow continues to rise to the top of that depth chart this spring.

“It’s funny, because I don’t know where he got the name Boobee from, but it’s like (the movie) ‘Friday Night Lights,’” Harrell said. “When you put Boobee in, we gonna win. That’s kind of what reminds me of Boobee. He brings great energy, which we need at times.”

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.

Report: Alabama in talks for home-and-home series with Notre Dame, Texas Alabama’s Michael Williams, middle, celebrates his 3-yard touchdown reception in the first quarter against Notre Dame in the BCS National Championship game at Sun Life Stadium on Monday, January 7, 2013, in Miami Gardens, Florida. (C.W. Griffin/Miami Herald/MCT)

Alabama is in talks to hold home-and-home series with two college football powers at some point in the future, The Tuscaloosa News reported Saturday.

According to The News’ article, the Crimson Tide is trying to hammer out deals with Notre Dame and Texas — two of the teams Alabama defeated to win national titles during the Nick Saban dynasty years.

Alabama last played a home-and-home series against a non-conference opponent in 2010 and 2011, when Penn State came to Tuscaloosa and Alabama visited State College, Pa. in consecutive years.

The Tide has opened the season against high-profile programs at neutral sites the last six seasons.

In September, Alabama will face Louisville in Orlando.

Read full post at: http://www.caduniya.com/2018/12/05/alabama-gets-commitment-from-4-star-muscle-shoals-lb/

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caduniya · 5 years

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Cushman & Wakefield Arranges $51M AL Sale

Cushman & Wakefield has arranged the $51 million sale of The Apartments at the Venue in Valley, Ala. Valley is a city of approximately 10,000 residents situated on the Alabama-Georgia state line about 45 miles northwest of Columbus, Ga.

The decade-old, Class A, 618-unit apartment community features a number of amenities, including three resort-style pools, a pair of state-of-the-art clubhouses with business centers, a fitness center, detached garage units and private access gates.

More than $1 million has been invested in the property in the last three years, giving the next investor flexibility to focus on value-add and additional development land.

The Apartments at the Venue is situated in one of the Southeast’s prime auto corridors. It is 20 minutes southwest of Kia, which employs 3,000, and the upcoming Sentury Tire plant, which will offer 1,000 jobs by next year.

Tertiary market

“The biggest challenge was finding a $20 million to $25 million equity check for a tertiary market, as the attractive in-place loan was low—55 percent—leverage,” Cushman & Wakefield’s executive managing director Jimmy Adams told MHN.

“Ultimately we had a very competitive process, which we accomplished by focusing resources on investors looking for growth, scale or balancing their portfolio leverage.”

The Apartments at the Venue sold for $82,524 per unit.

In the transaction, Adams, Robert Stickel and Craig Hey of Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller, Irinda Capital Management and BRT Realty Trust. Hamilton Point Investments purchased the asset.

“The Apartments at the Venue arrived to the market with strong in-place yield and an attractive, low-leverage full-term IO assumable loan,” Adams said.

Read full post at: http://www.caduniya.com/2018/12/05/cushman-wakefield-arranges-51m-al-sale/

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caduniya · 5 years

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$4.6M student housing project in progress near USM Gulf Park

Image of the interior design for the student housing complex. (Photo Source: WLOX) The old Triton building in Long Beach will be converted into student housing for USM students at the South Mississippi campus. (Photo Source: WLOX)

LONG BEACH, MS (WLOX) –

A developer is converting the old Triton building in Long Beach into a student housing complex.

Encompass, a Kentucky-based company, is working with Gulf Coast Student Housing LLC. to turn the structure into Friendship Oak Village.

This is a $4.6 million conversion on a tight timeline. The proximity to the campus will invite students to walk to class.

“The students will be here on September 15, so we want to be available then. Right now, we’re going through our demo phase. We’ll be done with demolition in a few weeks and then we’ll start doing construction on the inside,” Parrish said.

Work is currently underway to demolish interior walls in the structure on Railroad St., across the tracks from the University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Park Campus.

While the university has talked about building dorms on the Gulf Park campus, this private project will offer student housing and bring opportunities for USM to attract more out of state students to the coast.

“Eventually this is going to be 122 unit student housing. Each room will be two students per room. It’ll be 74 units that will be extra large rooms, and we’ll have 48 rooms that will be normal dormitory style rooms,” said contractor Lee Parrish.

The project is not associated with the University of Southern Mississippi, but the dormitory style development could go a long way towards attracting students to the Gulf Coast campus. That’s why the City of Long Beach is excited about the opportunity.

“We want them to be bigger and better because kids who are living in Kentucky or Wisconsin could come and go to college on the beach, give back to Mississippi and work here,” according to Jenny Levens with the City of Long Beach.

Even though it’s a private venture, housing will be offered at a per semester rate. Multiple lounge areas will be available along with study rooms, a gated pool and controlled access parking.

There will be an official groundbreaking ceremony at Friendship Oak Village on Monday. Construction is expected to be completed by mid-August.

Read full post at: http://www.caduniya.com/2018/12/05/4-6m-student-housing-project-in-progress-near-usm-gulf-park/

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caduniya · 5 years

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Auburn defeats Alabama in dramatic fashion to win SEC title

When it comes to excitement, the match-play format in college golf often lives up to the hype.

That trend continued Sunday in the SEC Championship final, a battle between archrivals Auburn and Alabama. It was an Iron Bowl matchup for college golf, and it came to an astonishing conclusion.

The Tigers edged out the Crimson Tide, 3-2, at Sea Island Golf Club’s Seaside Course in St. Simons Island, Ga., to earn an SEC title. But they only pulled it out after epic deciding match.

The matches were tied 2-2 as the final duo of Wells Padgett (Auburn) and Jonathan Hardee (Alabama) played their last two holes.

Padgett was 2 up at that point and just needed to halve one of the final two holes to close out his match and give Auburn the SEC title. But Hardee didn’t shy away, in fact nearly acing the par-3 17th on his way to a kick-in birdie and a win to push the match to 18.

Jonathan Hardee nearly aced the par 3 17th hole! Nevertheless, Hardee birdies it and we are all square going to Hole No. 18! Incredible shot by the senior from Greer, S.C.! #RollTide pic.twitter.com/nsMPFrieac

— Alabama Men’s Golf (@AlabamaMGolf) April 29, 2018

The senior had the momentum and it made sense that turn would unnerve his freshman opponent. Uhh, not quite.

Padgett played the 18th textbook and left himself a slippery 20-footer for birdie to close out a 1-up win and the championship.

He hit a perfect putt that he knew was in a good 5 feet from the cup.

What a moment.

The celebration came after Auburn had clinched its first SEC Championship crown in 16 years. The No. 7 Tigers were Golfweek‘s fourth-highest ranked team in a loaded SEC field this year and played exactly to that billing in the stroke-play portion.

Auburn posted an 8-over 848 to finish in a tie for fourth in stroke play, and with the top eight squads making match play, they easily moved on.

The fourth-seeded Tigers pulled out a narrow 3-2 triumph over No. 5 Arkansas in the quarterfinals and then downed top-seeded LSU, 4-1, in the semis.

Alabama, which also posted 8-over 848 but earned the sixth seed, defeated No. 3 Vanderbilt – the defending champs – 3-2 in the quarters and took down Florida, 3-1-1, in the semis. The Crimson Tide actually earned the first two points in the final, as Lee Hodges defeated Jovan Rebula, 2 and 1, in the opening match and Davis Shore blitzed Ryan Knop, 6 and 5, in the third match.

But Trace Crowe made a statement with a 2-and-1 in the second match over Davis Riley, and Brandon Mancheno followed with his own 2-and-1 triumph over Wilson Furr. And then Padgett stepped up to close things out.

After going winless in their first five events of the season, the Tigers have now won four of their last six.

You can keep up with all men’s conference championship results here. Coverage of women’s conference championships reside here.

Read full post at: http://www.caduniya.com/2018/12/05/auburn-defeats-alabama-in-dramatic-fashion-to-win-sec-title/

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caduniya · 5 years

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WATCH: 5-star LB Owen Pappoe predicts undefeated run against Alabama after Auburn commitment

Owen Pappoe, Auburn’s new 5-star linebacker commit, has a bold prediction for the Tigers’ performance against Alabama in future Iron Bowl matchups with him on the Plains.

Last Tuesday, the player from Grayson High School in Loganville, Ga., and a member of the Class of 2019 spoke to FOX 5 Atlanta shortly after his commitment to Auburn. He didn’t hold anything back when asked if he had a message for Alabama.

“Man, we’re going to go 4-0 against them,” Pappoe told FOX 5 Atlanta. “We’re going to go 4-0.”

Check out the full video below:

That’s a strong statement from Pappoe, who likely was dealing with a rush of emotions after making his college choice known. You can understand his excitement. Still, it’s probably not the best idea to predict a 4-0 run against Alabama.

After all, the Crimson Tide have won three of the last four Iron Bowl matchups. As long as Nick Saban is coaching Alabama, it will be hard for Auburn to string together consecutive victories against the Crimson Tide. The Tigers won each meeting between the rivals from 2002-07. But since then, Auburn has claimed just three victories in the series.

Still, Tigers fans — and new Auburn commits — own bragging rights for the moment after Gus Malzahn’s team beat Alabama last November. That is, if you ignore that little detail that the Crimson Tide went on to win the national title despite not claiming an SEC West crown.

Read full post at: http://www.caduniya.com/2018/12/05/watch-5-star-lb-owen-pappoe-predicts-undefeated-run-against-alabama-after-auburn-commitment/

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caduniya · 5 years

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Latest MLB draft projections for South Alabama’s Travis Swaggerty

South Alabama center fielder Travis Swaggerty (21) is expected to be a first-round pick in the 2018 MLB draft on Monday. (Mike Kittrell/AL.com)

South Alabama’s Travis Swaggerty likely won’t have to wait long to hear his name called in the 2018 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.

Swaggerty, the Jaguars’ two-time All-Sun Belt Conference center fielder, is projected as a first-round pick in the draft, which beings Monday (6 p.m. Central, MLB Network). If selected in the first round, he’d be the first USA player taken so early since pitcher Mike Zimmerman went No. 27 overall to the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1990.

The lefty-swinging Swaggerty batted .296/.455/.526 with 10 doubles, 13 home runs, 38 RBIs and nine steals in 57 games for the Jaguars in 2018. The Denham Springs, La., native scored 57 runs and finished among the national leaders with 53 walks, while also displaying fine range and a powerful arm in the outfield.

Swaggerty — who was not drafted out of high school — is one of six prospects expected to attend the draft in person at MLB Network’s New Jersey studios on Monday night. Set to join him are Wichita State third baseman Alec Bohm and a quartet of high school players: first baseman Triston Casas (Pembroke Pines, Fla.), shortstop Xavier Edwards (Wellington, Fla.), catcher Anthony Seigler (Cartersville, Ga.) and pitcher Carter Stewart (Melbourne, Fla.).

Swaggerty burst onto the 2018 MLB draft scene following an excellent showing last summer with the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team, proving to be one of the best players on the roster. Though his junior season at South Alabama did not live up to its preseason All-America promise, he’s still expected to be a first-round pick on Monday.

The Oakland Athletics, who hold pick No. 9, are a popular potential destination for Swaggerty. ESPN’s Keith Law has projected Swaggerty to Oakland in all three of his mock drafts, while MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo did the same in his final mock draft released on Wednesday. (Update: Law’s final mock draft posted on Monday morning has Swaggerty going at No. 14 to the Seattle Mariners).

However, there is some late buzz that Swaggerty might slip to later in the round due to his uneven performance as a college junior. CBS Sports’ Mike Axisa has Swaggerty lasting until the Washington Nationals at pick No. 27 in a mock draft released Sunday, while Baseball America’s Carlos Collazo hinted via Twitter on Saturday at some potential drop in Swaggerty’s stock.

Has Travis Swaggerty dropped out of the top 10 or he’s still guaranteed to be drafted that early?

— Toan (@sportsfantoan) June 2, 2018

Definitely not a guarantee now. It sounds like his fall is pretty real. Could get into the 20s. Check out where he goes in our latest mock: https://t.co/W7TMHQRWiK #MLBDraft https://t.co/5hHy8nlQ9t

— Carlos Collazo (@CarlosACollazo) June 2, 2018

Should Swaggerty go in the Top 10, he’d be guaranteed a signing bonus of more than $4.5 million according to MLB’s draft slotting system. If he lasts until the latter stages of the first round, he’d still be looking at a guarantee of more than $2.2 million.

With only the top 78 picks set for Monday (Rounds 1 and 2, plus compensation and competitive balance picks), Swaggerty is the only South Alabama player expected to be taken on Day 1 of the draft. Outfielder Dylan Hardy, third baseman Brendan Donovan, first baseman Wells Davis, catcher Carter Perkins, pitchers Tyler Carr and Zach Greene, as well as Jaguars signees Zach Young (a junior-college pitcher) and Ethan Wilson (an outfielder from Andalusia High School) could all be selected in the later rounds.

Rounds 3-10 of the draft begin at noon Central on Tuesday, with Rounds 11-40 commencing at 11 a.m. Wednesday. The final two days of the draft will stream live via MLB.com.

Read full post at: http://www.caduniya.com/2018/12/05/latest-mlb-draft-projections-for-south-alabamas-travis-swaggerty/

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caduniya · 6 years

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Latest MLB draft projections for South Alabama’s Travis Swaggerty

South Alabama center fielder Travis Swaggerty (21) is expected to be a first-round pick in the 2018 MLB draft on Monday. (Mike Kittrell/AL.com)

South Alabama’s Travis Swaggerty likely won’t have to wait long to hear his name called in the 2018 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.

Has Travis Swaggerty dropped out of the top 10 or he’s still guaranteed to be drafted that early?

— Toan (@sportsfantoan) June 2, 2018

Definitely not a guarantee now. It sounds like his fall is pretty real. Could get into the 20s. Check out where he goes in our latest mock: https://t.co/W7TMHQRWiK #MLBDraft https://t.co/5hHy8nlQ9t

— Carlos Collazo (@CarlosACollazo) June 2, 2018

Rounds 3-10 of the draft begin at noon Central on Tuesday, with Rounds 11-40 commencing at 11 a.m. Wednesday. The final two days of the draft will stream live via MLB.com.

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caduniya · 6 years

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Reverse Migration Might Turn Georgia Blue

The Democratic nominee for governor of Georgia, Stacey Abrams, at a watch party Tuesday night

ATLANTA—Adrienne White remembers the first time she visited Atlanta as a junior in college. White, who is black, walked into a grocery store in an affluent neighborhood while she was staying with her uncle, and by the time she walked out, she hadn’t seen one white person. “I was shocked,” White told me. “That left a really good taste in my mouth.” So when White, an accountant who is now 37, was looking for a place to move from Virginia more than a decade ago, Atlanta made a lot of sense. It was a place where people were friendly, where there were good jobs, and where there was a strong black middle class.

White, a Democrat, has never lived in a Georgia run by Democrats. The state, solidly blue for most of the 20th century, has been run by a succession of two-term Republicans, Sonny Perdue and Nathan Deal, since 2003. Republicans have held control of the state Senate since 2003 and the state House of Representatives since 2005. But the increase in people like White—black migrants from different parts of the country—are giving Democrats hope that they can soon turn Georgia blue.

Democrats in Georgia don’t want to wait, and are hoping to turn the state blue this year. They think their best hope lies in Stacey Abrams, a black lawyer who was the House Minority Leader for the Georgia General Assembly. Abrams routed her Democratic opponent, Stacey Evans, Tuesday, winning by a three-to-one margin. If she wins the general election, Abrams would be the first black woman to be elected governor in the country.

Atlanta could play a big role in turning Georgia blue. It has been the epicenter of what demographers are calling the “reverse Great Migration,” a trend that is seeing black people whose great-grandparents may have moved up north for better job opportunities during the Jim Crow era, move back south. The Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell metro area gained 251,000 black people between 2010 and 2016, which made it the metro area in the United States that added the most black people over that time period, according to William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution. “The increasing black presence via continued in-migration will almost certainly help to make Georgia a swing state in future elections,” Frey told me.

Abrams’s race for governor could also send a clear message to Democrats: Appealing to progressives can be a winning strategy. As the 2016 race between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton showed, the Democratic National Committee has at times been hesitant to embrace progressive candidates. Targeting moderates and one-time Republicans could be especially intriguing this year, as Republicans wary of President Donald Trump may be convinced to vote Democratic. But Abrams’s campaign is a chance for Democrats to take a different tack, as my colleague Elaine Godfrey has written—one that focuses instead on progressives and minorities. It’s a strategy that makes sense demographically: The country is projected to become majority-minority by 2044, and diversity is something the DNC has said it cares about. It’s also a strategy that some parts of the Democratic Party have recently been pushing. Prominent progressives, including California Senator Kamala Harris, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, and even Sanders himself, endorsed Abrams ahead of the primary.

Abrams’s campaign is approaching the elections with a different strategy than those of previous candidates in Georgia, including that of Jason Carter, the grandson of U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who lost the gubernatorial race to Nathan Deal in 2014. Carter and previous Democratic candidates reached out to white, suburban voters who might lean Republican, and tried to convince them to vote for Democrats. Abrams’s campaign has instead targeted reliable Democratic voters like black people throughout the state who may have stayed home in 2014 and 2016. Her campaign has painted her as progressive, rather than moderate: fiercely pro-choice, in favor of public schools and gun control. Statewide Democrats have lost previous races by 200,000 or so votes, a number Abrams’s campaign thinks it can pick up from black people and progressives who might have been turned off by the moderate messages of previous Democratic candidates.

The reverse migration of black people to Georgia might help her cause. The new migrants to the Atlanta region are often young, black, and more progressive than the people who already live in the region, according to Sabrina Pendergrass, a sociology professor at the University of Virginia who has studied the reverse Great Migration. Their education background is a contrast to the people who moved north during the Great Migration that began in 1916—those migrants were often less educated than the black people who already lived in cities in the Northeast and Midwest. Unmarried black people, college-educated black people, and women seem to be moving South in especially large numbers, Pendergrass said. They’re moving for better job opportunities, for lower housing prices, and to get out of neighborhoods in industrial cities that may be still struggling with crime, she said. Atlanta now has the largest black Millennial population in the country.

Bianca Keaton is one such transplant who might help propel Abrams to victory. Keaton, who is 34, black and originally from Chicago, attended college in Georgia, and then moved to Washington, D.C., to work in government. She and her husband moved to Georgia in 2014. She voted for Abrams in the primary because she felt like Abrams would do a good job “galvanizing cases that may have traditionally felt left out,” she told me. As a black woman, Keaton said, she also likes the idea of someone being in office whose experiences are reflective of her own. It may seem simplistic to assume that black people will just vote for a candidate who looks like them. But black voters may be more motivated to get to the polls if they think someone who will represent their interests is running; Barack Obama proved a much greater pull for black voters in Georgia than did Hillary Clinton, for example. Just 59 percent of black voters went to the polls in 2016, down from 66 percent in 2012. “If [Abrams] has the potential to be the first black female governor in the country, that might be a rallying call for African American voters in the state,” said Andra Gillespie, a political science professor at Emory University.

I met Keaton at a gathering of the Gwinnett Democrats, which was held in a suite in a dying mall in suburban Georgia. Gwinnett is one of the most rapidly diversifying counties in the country, as well as one of the fastest-growing counties, population-wise: It has grown 14 percent since 2010, and it is now one of the most populous counties in Georgia. It is another example of why Democrats are hoping they can turn Georgia blue sooner than pundits think. The county’s black population grew 30 percent between 2010 and 2016, according to Frey. That’s partly because today’s black migrants to the South are often ending up in suburbs that a decade or two ago were predominantly white, says Pendergrass. Gwinnett County’s population was 91 percent white in 1990—by 2015, it was 42 percent white, according to the Pew Research Center. The Gwinnett Democrats are courting people who aren’t traditional suburban residents—blue and white posters in the suite read “Gwinnett Democrats, We Stand for Diversity.” Collages on the wall featured black leaders like Barack Obama, Jesse Jackson, and Shirley Chisholm. Gwinnett was one of the six “reverse pivot” counties nationally—counties that chose Republican presidential candidates in 2008 and 2012, but voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016. (Two other reverse pivot counties were also in suburban Atlanta.) Before that, it had not chosen a Democratic presidential candidate since 1976. “We’re going to win reelection from here on out,” the Gwinnett Democrats party chair, Gabe Okoye, said, as he called the meeting to order, looking out over a few dozen attendees who were both black and white, and young and old. A few black college students showed up, joining the meeting for the first time. One older black woman brought her granddaughter.

Gwinnett and the northern suburbs of Atlanta are also where Democratic strategists are hoping to flip state legislative seats. Adrienne White, the migrant from Virginia, is also the chair of Red Clay Democrats, a group trying to jumpstart Georgia’s progressive young professionals’ involvement in politics. She says this year is Democrats’ first chance to win seats that have long been Republican. Previously, Republicans had run unopposed for those seats, but this year, she said, Republican incumbents aren’t running again—perhaps because they see the writing on the wall in their majority-minority districts—and fresh Democratic and Republican candidates are running against each other. These seats include the Georgia 48th district Senate seat, the Georgia 51st district House seat, and the Georgia 79th district House seat. There are 14 districts, she told me, that Hillary Clinton won in 2016 but a Republican held the state seat. “That’s potential opportunity,” she told me. Georgia’s 7th Congressional District is also centered mostly in Gwinnett County, and Democrats are hoping to give Republican incumbent Rob Woodall a competitive race. Democrats are also running in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District against Republican Karen Handel, who narrowly defeated Democrat Jon Ossoff, 52 to 48 percent, last year. Two Democrats will face off in a runoff in July to see who will run against Handel; one of those two Democrats is projected to be Lucy McBath, a gun-control activist whose black son, Jordan Davis, was shot and killed at a gas station by a man objecting to the music he was playing in his car.

That Democrats are even running in these districts is a sea change from a few years ago, and one that would not have been possible without the increasing diversity of these regions. Bianca Keaton, the Washington, D.C., migrant, said she got involved in politics in Gwinnett because she was surprised how few Democrats were on the ballot. (Despite its diversity, Gwinnett’s Board of Commissioners is still completely white, and one of its commissioners caused an uproar last year when he wrote a Facebook post calling Civil Rights leader John Lewis a “racist pig.”) This year, though, Okoye told me, Democrats are running in all the state Senate district seats in Gwinnett, and also in all the School Board and County Commission seats that are up this year—previously, Republicans had run unopposed.

Of course, it could be a long time before Democrats regain control of the state legislature. Charles S. Bullock III, a political science professor at the University of Georgia, predicts that might not happen until the mid 2020s. But Republicans’ support is definitely eroding as the state gets more diverse, he said. “The situation is that the Republican Party has crested in Georgia and is now sliding downhill,” he said. “They’ve maxed out in terms of their share of the vote.” In 2006, the Republican gubernatorial candidate, Sonny Perdue, got 58 percent of the vote—by 2014, the Republican gubernatorial Nathan Deal, an incumbent, won with just 53 percent of the vote.

It’s possible that Democrats could lose some moderate voters by focusing on more progressive issues. One black migrant told me she was much more liberal than her Democratic neighbors, who didn’t seem interested in public transportation because so many people in Georgia are used to driving themselves, and who support charter schools. Some of Georgia’s diversity also comes from an increase in Latino and Asian voters, who aren’t as reliably Democratic as black people.

What will be key this November, Bullock said, is whether Abrams’s campaign—and other Democrats on the ballot—can get black voters to the polls. It was black voter turnout that helped Democrat Ralph Northam beat Republican Ed Gillespie in Virginia’s gubernatorial race, and that helped Doug Jones beat Roy Moore in a special election for Alabama’s U.S. Senate seat last year—Jones won 98 percent of black women. Black people make up about 32 percent of eligible voters in Georgia, according to Frey, of Brookings. If black turnout is high, and white turnout low, and black people make up about 37 percent of people who vote, Abrams might have a chance, Bullock said. That would mean more than half of registered black voters need to come out and vote, he said. The black turnout rate in 2014 was just 40.6 percent, Bullock said.

But Stacey Abrams’s campaign says it has been focusing on turnout from the very beginning. “We know that in order to turn Georgia blue, we needed to build infrastructure in these communities early and engage meaningfully with voters about the issues that impact them in every part of the state,” Priyanka Mantha, Abrams’s spokeswoman, said. The campaign started reaching out to voters a year ago, she told me. Previous Democratic campaigns didn’t embrace minorities, she said, whether it was the LGBT community or the rural black community. Abrams, she said, is. The campaign is not taking potential voters for granted, she said, but also trying to put forward an inclusive message that appeals to people that have long been ignored in Georgia politics. That includes white voters, too. Democrats in the South know all too well that demographics alone may not be enough to turn a state blue—Texas is majority-minority, but Republicans are still in power. Georgia Democrats are hoping things go different with the black vote.

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caduniya · 6 years

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WATCH: 5-star LB Owen Pappoe predicts undefeated run against Alabama after Auburn commitment

Owen Pappoe, Auburn’s new 5-star linebacker commit, has a bold prediction for the Tigers’ performance against Alabama in future Iron Bowl matchups with him on the Plains.

“Man, we’re going to go 4-0 against them,” Pappoe told FOX 5 Atlanta. “We’re going to go 4-0.”

Check out the full video below:

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caduniya · 6 years

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Auburn defeats Alabama in dramatic fashion to win SEC title

When it comes to excitement, the match-play format in college golf often lives up to the hype.

That trend continued Sunday in the SEC Championship final, a battle between archrivals Auburn and Alabama. It was an Iron Bowl matchup for college golf, and it came to an astonishing conclusion.

The Tigers edged out the Crimson Tide, 3-2, at Sea Island Golf Club’s Seaside Course in St. Simons Island, Ga., to earn an SEC title. But they only pulled it out after epic deciding match.

The matches were tied 2-2 as the final duo of Wells Padgett (Auburn) and Jonathan Hardee (Alabama) played their last two holes.

— Alabama Men’s Golf (@AlabamaMGolf) April 29, 2018

The senior had the momentum and it made sense that turn would unnerve his freshman opponent. Uhh, not quite.

Padgett played the 18th textbook and left himself a slippery 20-footer for birdie to close out a 1-up win and the championship.

He hit a perfect putt that he knew was in a good 5 feet from the cup.

What a moment.

Auburn posted an 8-over 848 to finish in a tie for fourth in stroke play, and with the top eight squads making match play, they easily moved on.

The fourth-seeded Tigers pulled out a narrow 3-2 triumph over No. 5 Arkansas in the quarterfinals and then downed top-seeded LSU, 4-1, in the semis.

After going winless in their first five events of the season, the Tigers have now won four of their last six.

You can keep up with all men’s conference championship results here. Coverage of women’s conference championships reside here.

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caduniya · 6 years

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$4.6M student housing project in progress near USM Gulf Park

LONG BEACH, MS (WLOX) –

A developer is converting the old Triton building in Long Beach into a student housing complex.

Encompass, a Kentucky-based company, is working with Gulf Coast Student Housing LLC. to turn the structure into Friendship Oak Village.

This is a $4.6 million conversion on a tight timeline. The proximity to the campus will invite students to walk to class.

"The students will be here on September 15, so we want to be available then. Right now, we’re going through our demo phase. We’ll be done with demolition in a few weeks and then we’ll start doing construction on the inside," Parrish said.

Work is currently underway to demolish interior walls in the structure on Railroad St., across the tracks from the University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Park Campus.

"Eventually this is going to be 122 unit student housing. Each room will be two students per room. It’ll be 74 units that will be extra large rooms, and we’ll have 48 rooms that will be normal dormitory style rooms," said contractor Lee Parrish.

"We want them to be bigger and better because kids who are living in Kentucky or Wisconsin could come and go to college on the beach, give back to Mississippi and work here," according to Jenny Levens with the City of Long Beach.

Even though it’s a private venture, housing will be offered at a per semester rate. Multiple lounge areas will be available along with study rooms, a gated pool and controlled access parking.

There will be an official groundbreaking ceremony at Friendship Oak Village on Monday. Construction is expected to be completed by mid-August.

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caduniya · 6 years

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Cushman & Wakefield Arranges $51M AL Sale

More than $1 million has been invested in the property in the last three years, giving the next investor flexibility to focus on value-add and additional development land.

Tertiary market

“Ultimately we had a very competitive process, which we accomplished by focusing resources on investors looking for growth, scale or balancing their portfolio leverage.”

The Apartments at the Venue sold for $82,524 per unit.

In the transaction, Adams, Robert Stickel and Craig Hey of Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller, Irinda Capital Management and BRT Realty Trust. Hamilton Point Investments purchased the asset.

“The Apartments at the Venue arrived to the market with strong in-place yield and an attractive, low-leverage full-term IO assumable loan,” Adams said.

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caduniya · 6 years

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Alabama gets commitment from 4-star Muscle Shoals LB

Each running back received between five and 10 carries during the roughly 100-play scrimmage at Jordan-Hare Stadium, but JaTarvious "Boobee" Whitlow made the most of his touches. The redshirt freshman made perhaps the most impressive play of the scrimmage, breaking off a nearly 70-yard touchdown run, according to a source, after reversing field behind the line of scrimmage.

"It was something like you see on ‘Madden,’ where you just go one way and he reversed the other way," left guard Marquel Harrell said. "It was a good run. It brought some energy to the field. It was a good run for him."

Whitlow’s highlight-reel touchdown run was one of the bright spots for an offense that committed five turnovers, including four interceptions, on the day.

It was also something that wasn’t completely unfamiliar to his teammates, who have almost come to expect such playmaking ability from the 6-foot, 216-pound running back.

"I saw that about Boobee, I think, last fall camp," right guard Mike Horton said. "I’ve always seen that about him. I’ve always spoke highly about Boobee. I know he’ll be a great player. I love him a lot."

"Boobee’s been pretty impressive all spring," linebacker Darrell Williams said. "I told him today, pretty much, the ball’s in his court. Whatever he wants to be, that’s what he can be…. I feel like Boobee is a guy who has a lot of spotlight on him right now just because of the improvement that he’s been doing. He had an injury last year, so he was kind of under the radar, but he’s coming out a little more, so that’s pretty good."

"It’s funny, because I don’t know where he got the name Boobee from, but it’s like (the movie) ‘Friday Night Lights,’" Harrell said. "When you put Boobee in, we gonna win. That’s kind of what reminds me of Boobee. He brings great energy, which we need at times."

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.

Alabama is in talks to hold home-and-home series with two college football powers at some point in the future, The Tuscaloosa News reported Saturday.

Alabama last played a home-and-home series against a non-conference opponent in 2010 and 2011, when Penn State came to Tuscaloosa and Alabama visited State College, Pa. in consecutive years.

The Tide has opened the season against high-profile programs at neutral sites the last six seasons.

In September, Alabama will face Louisville in Orlando.

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caduniya · 6 years

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Auburn football makes top 10 for Georgia ATH, named No. 1 choice for Alabama LB

Welcome to SEC Country’s daily Auburn Tigers football recruiting notebook with Auburn recruiting beat writer Benjamin Wolk. It’s Monday, and one Georgia Class of 2019 athlete amended his top schools list in a conversation with SEC Country. Also, a 2020 linebacker has the Tigers on top.

Georgia ATH amends top-schools list to add Auburn

When Tra Wilkins released his top 10, Auburn didn’t make the list.

The 6-foot-2, 210-pound athlete — recruited by most as an outside linebacker — had a top group of Georgia, Clemson, Florida, Florida State, Nebraska, Alabama, South Carolina, Michigan, Tennessee and Mississippi State. The Auburn omission came as a bit of a surprise given Wilkins’ background at Stephenson High in Stone Mountain, Ga., which has given recent commitments to Auburn in the form of Carlito Gonzalez and Jalil Irvin.

Wilkins only needed one trip to the Plains to amend his top 10.

He told SEC Country that Auburn is now firmly within his top 10 and should even be considered one of his favorites. Wilkins attended the Tigers’ most recent junior day. That resulted in the change in heart regarding Auburn.

As of now, Wilkins doesn’t have a timeline for a decision.

2020 linebacker places Auburn on top

Jackson-Olin High School has been good to Auburn the last few recruiting cycles.

The Birmingham, Ala., school has provided the Tigers with 2017 linebacker TD Moultry and 2018 defensive tackle Coynis Miller. Jammal Abrams and Vonta Bentley are the 2019 recruits who Auburn is targeting, though Abrams is already committed to Florida. The trend won’t stop in the 2020 class, either.

Auburn offered 2020 linebacker Quandarrius Robinson last summer. He has since picked up offers from South Carolina and Oregon. Robinson is 6-4 and 200 pounds, so his sheer size stands out on a football field.

He has always had major interest in Auburn. For the first time (to my knowledge), Robinson announced the Tigers were his No. 1. In an interview with Rivals.com’s Chad Simmons published Monday, Robinson called Auburn the leader for now.

“I have visited Auburn five or six times and I went to a lot of their games last season, so I am really liking them a lot right now,” Robinson told Simmons. “They are my No. 1 school because I believe they really want me. I know it is not time for me make a decision yet, but they are recruiting me like it is my time and like I am a priority.”

Miss a previous Auburn recruiting notebook? Find every daily recap of Auburn Tigers recruiting right here.

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caduniya · 6 years

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Thousands of Georgia, Alabama students leaving millions in college money on the table | Columbus Ledger-Enquirer

It’s less than two weeks before the priority application deadline, and Georgia and Alabama high school seniors lag behind most of their American peers to receive the most college financial aid this year.

According to the latest data from the National College Access Network, Georgia is 47th and Alabama is 43rd in the ranking of states by percentage of high school seniors who submitted a completed Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

Only 33.9 percent of high school seniors in Georgia and 36.0 percent in Alabama have submitted a completed FAFSA this year. Tennessee has the highest percentage, 71.2; Alaska has the lowest, 24.9.

March 1 is FAFSA’s “priority” deadline, meaning students who submit their application by then will have the best chance to get the best assistance package for which they qualify. The federal deadline is June 30, and the deadline to change an application is Sept. 14. Students should check with the colleges they are interested in attending to determine whether those institutions have different deadlines.

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Last year, $24 billion in available financial aid at the nation’s colleges wasn’t awarded because not enough students applied, according to the Alabama State Department of Education.

“One of the biggest reasons families don’t complete the FAFSA is that they don’t think they will qualify for financial aid,” Kristina Scott, executive director of Alabama Possible, said in the department’s news release. “However, 85 percent of families who complete the FAFSA do get help paying for college.”

Alabama Possible is a nonprofit organization dedicated to removing barriers to prosperity – barriers such as folks thinking lack of money must mean lack of education.

“Financial aid is limited,” Scott said, “and that’s why everyone who plans to go to college in the fall should complete their FAFSA before the March 1 priority deadline.”

Walt Rabon, media relations specialist for the Georgia Student Finance Commission, told the Ledger-Enqurier in an email, “While we can’t definitively state why Georgia’s rank is such, we do know that many students struggle with the form’s complexity and length. We can report that GSFC is keenly focused on increasing the completion rates in Georgia. GSFC actively promotes FAFSA completion through its College Goal Georgia events, which are hosted statewide and invite students and parents on site for one-on-one assistance.”

Submitting a completed FAFSA makes students eligible for grants, loans and work-study programs. Even students with merit or athletic scholarships may qualify for money to help pay for housing, books, meal plans and transportation, the ALSDE news release says.

The good news is that the FAFSA application rate in Georgia and Alabama is improving. Compared to this time last year, Georgia’s rate increased by 7.7 percent, 11th-best improvement nationally, and Alabama’s increased by 8.8 percent, ninth-best improvement nationally.

In Georgia, to be considered for the HOPE Scholarship or the Zell Miller Scholarship, students must submit a FAFSA or a GSFAPPS, the Georgia Student Finance Application. The FAFSA must be completed each year, but the GSFAPPS is good for seven years.

Students don’t have to be accepted to a college or apply to a college before submitting a FAFSA, but they must designate which schools they want to receive their financial information.

“The main thing to keep in mind when submitting the FAFSA are the deadline dates,” Rabon said, “though each college may set its own deadlines for priority consideration.”

According to the U.S. Department of Education, here is when the FAFSA can be submitted for a given school year and what tax information is required:

Students attending college July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2018: FAFSA can be submitted Oct. 1, 2016 through June 30, 2018; requires 2015 tax information.

Students attending college July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2019: FAFSA can be submitted Oct. 1, 2017 through June 30, 2019; requires 2016 tax information.

Students attending college July 1, 2019 through June 30, 2020: FAFSA can be submitted Oct. 1, 2018 through June 2020; requires 2017 tax information.

Mark Rice: 706-576-6272, @markricele

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