OL - Heath Batchelor

[CattouseFan]

By Ryan Bass GoJackets.com
Date: Aug 27, 2005

Batchelor's High School got off to a big start on Friday night. Meanwhile, Haleyville's star lineman ponders his future at the next level.

Offensive Lineman Heath Batchelor helped his high school team, Haleyville High, get off to a good start on Friday night.
“We’re looking pretty good,” Batchelor said. “We played last night and we won 39-7.”

Heath is a big Offensive Tackle prospect from the state of Alabama. He’s currently sitting on two offers to play football at the next level.

“I’ve got the Georgia Tech offer and then Troy,” Batchelor said.

When did Tech offer?

“They gave me an offer about two or three weeks ago to come play down there so I’m happy about that,” Batchelor said.

Heath likes the connection between the Tech coach recruiting his area and the position he plays.

“Well, I got lucky because my recruiting coach is Coach (Joe) D’Allessandris and that’s the O-line coach too and that’s what I play,” Batchelor said. “So, I got to talk to him a lot.”

Heath lists some positives for Georgia Tech.

“I like all of the coaches,” Batchelor said. “I like the way it’s in Atlanta but you can’t really tell it’s in Atlanta once you get on the campus because it’s kind of isolated from everything. It has nice people and everything just like what I’m looking for.”

Isn’t Haleyville, Alabama a small town though?

“Yes sir, it’s really small,” Batchelor said. “Maybe four red lights.”

Heath’s thoughts on going from small town to possibly big town?

“I don’t know,” Batchelor said. “You just have to get used to a lot more people being around you all of the time. That’s probably about the only difference.”

Batchelor says that he doesn’t currently have a favorite.

“I’m open to just about anything right now,” Batchelor said.

Besides the two schools that have offered, what other schools would pique his interest?

“Auburn, Stanford, Louisville, Bama, Arkansas, Tennessee, Vandy… all of them are sending me letters and stuff,” Batchelor said.

With Stanford in the mix I guess distance isn’t a big factor?

“No sir, not really,” Batchelor said.

What are some other factors?

“Good football program, just nice people, nice coaches, stuff like that,” Batchelor said.

Heath plays both sides of the ball… for now.

“I’m playing Offensive and Defensive Line,” Batchelor said. As for his college outlook though Batchelor says, “It’s pretty much all offense. I’m not really getting looked at for defense.”

Heath has an interesting take on playing offense versus defense.

“Well, I kind of like defense but offense if fun too because you know what’s going on, you know what you’re going to do before you actually do it,” Batchelor said. “On defense… the reason I like it is you just kind of go full speed and try to kill somebody. So they’re both pretty fun.”

Heath doesn’t seem to want to drag recruiting out until close to Signing Day.

“I was hoping to have all the offers I was going to get and make one (a decision) by maybe the end of the season,” Batchelor said. “Maybe November or some time like that.”

Batchelor has an idea on official visits but no plan yet.

“I really hadn’t thought much about it,” Batchelor said. “I know kind of what I want to do but I haven’t really actually sat down and seriously thought about it yet.”


Player Profile link
http://scout.scout.com/a.z?s=363&p=8&c=1&nid=1802355

[CattouseFan]

Heath Batchelor from Haleyville (Ala.) is one of the biggest prospects in the state. The 6-7, 285 pound offensive lineman made an unofficial visit to Tuscaloosa for the Southern Miss game.
"I thought they looked pretty good," said Heath Batchelor. "I got kind of worried in the first half, but Alabama ended up doing good in the second half."

"I talked to Coach [Bob] Connelly and Coach Cheese [Charlie Harbison] before the game. They were mainly focused on the game, but they were telling me to send them a highlight tape. They said they hoped I enjoy my time down in Tuscaloosa," Batchelor added.

Batchelor is in the process of sending schools across the South his first few game films. Alabama is one school on the list to receive a tape as Batchelor grew up an Alabama fan.

"You could tell it was game day on Saturday. Everyone was hyped. I like Alabama a lot. I like the atmosphere, the location and all the people down there. Coach Cheese is my recruiting coach. He sure is a nice fellow," said Batchelor.

The Scout.com three-star prospect is not naming favorites. Batchelor holds offers from Georgia Tech and Troy, but his offer list should increase once game tapes are received by college coaches.

"I am keeping all of my options open right now, " he said. "I am going to wait to see which schools make offers before I start narrowing down my list."

Batchelor has his team on a winning pace and looking to enter the top ten in Class 4A this week.

"We won at Brooks last week 28-7," he said. "We are looking pretty good right now. We have our homecoming this Friday against Florence County."

Batchelor will attend the Auburn-Ball State game Saturday on the Plains.

[Swordsman]

Notice they never talk about Troy. It is always an, oh by the way...., I look forward to the day when recruits are excited about an offer from us. It will come with hard work.

[CattouseFan]

Haleyville (Ala.) offensive lineman Heath Batchelor has been on the road the past two weeks with trips to Alabama on Sept. 10 and Auburn this past Saturday to see the Tigers crush Ball State 63-3.

The 6-foot-7, 285-pounder visited the Plains along with his mother and a teammate.

"After we got there we went down to the Tigers Den and ate," said Batchelor. "We got to see the Tiger Walk. That was pretty cool. After that we stood out on the field and watched them warm up.

"Their offensive line is big and strong," he added. "When they were warming up, they were going full contact. Our team doesn't really hit during warm-ups. It's a little different."

Batchelor had an opportunity to speak with his recruiting coach Don Dunn along with offensive line coach Hugh Nall.

"Coach Nall came over to me and told me it was nice to see me down there," said Batchelor. "They were warming up on the field and he didn't have much time. I talked to coach Dunn a couple of times. He was just glad to see me there too."

Batchelor also enjoyed his trip to Tuscaloosa to see the Tide's 30-21 comeback win over Southern Miss.

"That was fun too," he said. "We got to go to a place above their weight room and eat. They gave us a tour of the place and when we got to the stadium we watched them warm up. After the game we got to go in the locker room."

Batchelor doesn't plan to attend any games this upcoming week but will be in Nashville Oct. 1 as Vanderbilt hosts Middle Tennessee State. He also plans to attend several other games this fall including a Georgia Tech matchup in late October and the Iron Bowl Nov. 19.

Batchelor is still sitting on offers from Georgia Tech and Troy. But a number of schools are staying in close contact including Auburn, Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisville, Clemson, Memphis, Marshall and Stanford.

"I really don't have a top school," he said. "I'm really interested in everybody that's interested in me. I'm in no hurry."

Recruiting is somewhat on the backburner for Batchelor as he's helped lead Haleyville to a perfect start including last Friday's 41-14 win over Lawrence County.

"Were doing good," said Batchelor. "We had a big win Friday night. This is the first time we've been 4-0 in a long, long time. Everybody is real excited."

Haleyville will play at rival Winston County this Friday.

"They're right down the road and our two schools don't like each other too much. It's a pretty big rival," said Batchelor.

Batchelor runs a 4.9 40-yard dash and has a 405-pound bench press and 520-pound squat. He's interested in becoming a high school coach and teacher or possibly studying engineering. He projects as a full qualifier with a 3.67 GPA and a 21 on the ACT.

[CattouseFan]

VandyMania talked with Haleyville, Ala. lineman Heath Batchelor about his visit to Vandy for the MTSU game. Batchelor has offers from Georgia Tech and Troy.
"We had refreshments when we first got there. Their Chef Majic fixed some real good food. We had a little boiled shrimp, some chicken fingers and buffalo wings. It was pretty good. We got to do the star walk. When the players left they waited just a second and then we went. Everybody was cheering. We got to go down on the field and watch them warm up. Then we went up and sat in our seats on the fifty-yard-line and watched the game. . . I talked to the head coach (Bobby Johnson) and coach Caldwell. . . Vanderbilt has not offered me yet but they told me to 'be ready, we are coming after you.'"

[TrojanWar]

How about Troy recruiting news. I appreciate all the research you are doing, but how many of these players will really end up at Troy? Only if his grades slip or he gets injured will he consider Troy. He grew up an Alabama fan. Don't you think if Bama offers he will be in Tuscaloosa next year? He talked a lot about Georgia Tech as well. He didn't ever mention Troy other than that they made an offer.

We need O-lineman in a bad way. We should be pulling all the stops to get the high profile players to want to be Trojans. Just making an offer isn't enough anymore. I remember the year Arkansas recruited Batman Carroll out of Georgia. He was on everyones list and was one of the highest recruited players in the country that year. No one thought Arkansas had a remote chance of landing him. How did they do it? When he arrived in Fayetteville, one of the Batmobiles from one of the movies rolled up and picked him up and carried him to the campus. They used the Batmobile to get him around all weekend. He was so impressed with the attention to detail Arkansas put forth that he committed to Arkansas on the spot. That's what it is going to take to convince these great players to come to Troy. We have to pull out all the stops.

[BMarkey]

I appreciate this section as well. But how can the writers of these reports consider them professional in nature? How can they refuse to cover any of the Troy angle (or even ask the kid what he likes and dislikes about Troy) and think these reports are fair and balanced? They are garbage.

Why do we never see stories about Troy recruiting from a Troy perspective? Does the Troy staff just refuse to release this info, or are the media covering Troy just too uninterested to care?

[tsugrad89]

there appparently are no rivals or scout.com sites that have Troy recruiting writers

[CattouseFan]

I think you are right about that. If someone mentions Troy while they are interviewing him then they put it on the website.

[ksdtrojan]

I think you are right about that. If someone mentions Troy while they are interviewing him then they put it on the website.

This is probably why Jonathan Chandler is not being shown as already committing to Troy. (Or at least on some the sites I'm looking on.)

[CattouseFan]

Georgia Tech signed a total of six offensive linemen in last year's recruiting class so there wasn't a big need to sign a great deal of players at that position this year. The coaching staff may only sign one offensive tackle in 2006 so they were going to be very picky when handing out offers. Their No. 1 tackle prospect was Heath Batchelor of Haleyville, Ala. and last night the coaches heard the news they'd been waiting for. Batchelor called up offensive line coach Joe D'Alessandris to pledge his verbal commitment to the Jackets.

"I sure did commit," Batchelor said Tuesday evening. "Last night I verbally commited to Georgia Tech. I like Coach D'Alessandris and I like all the coaches there. It just felt right."

Batchelor explained how the actual commitment took place.

"I was in the Wal-Mart with my mom and dad and I was in the sporting goods section," Batchelor said. "I called them then and told them I was ready to commit to them. I just talked to Coach D last night. He was real happy. I haven't spoken to Coach (Chan) Gailey yet."

Batchelor said his family is supportive of his decision, although he had yet to tell his father.

"My mom was real proud of me and my coaches are proud of me," Batchelor said. "My dad doesn't know yet. He just now got home from work so I'm going to surprise him."

Georgia Tech was the first school to offer Batchelor over the summer.

"For about a month I've been thinking hard about committing to Georgia Tech," Batchelor said. "I went there for junior day, then I went for a camp so I've been over there a couple of times."

Batchelor also had an offer from Troy and he was receiving interest from Alabama, Vanderbilt, Arkansas, Auburn and UAB among others.

"I had an offer from Troy and Arkansas called me and told me if I came up to their game this weekend they might be close to offering me," Batchelor said. "But I really felt led to Georgia Tech."

Tech has had a lot of recruiting success in Alabama over the past two years, including four signees in 2005, and they've already got a commitment from Moody (Ala.) tight end Austin Barrick for 2006.

"I actually don't know any players currently on the team though," Batchelor said.

Batchelor is hoping to return to Atlanta soon to check out a home game.

"I'm planning to go to a game, but I hadn't been to a game yet this season," he said. "I think I told Coach D that I was coming on October 29th (vs. Clemson)."

Batchelor said he didn't know what the coaches have planned for him next season-- whether he may have a chance to play or would most likely redshirt. He did set up his official visit though.

"I know I did, but I can't remember the date," Batchelor said. "It might have been December 10th, but I'm not sure."

Batchelor is also an excellent student with a 3.7 grade point average and 21 ACT score.

"I thought maybe I'd major in something like civil engineer or I might think about becoming a coach and a teacher maybe," Batchelor said.

Batchelor, who won the state championship last season in discus, said his football team is currently having a great season.

"We're doing real well," Batchelor said. "We're 7-0 right now. I know I've got a lot of pancake blocks."

Batchelor becomes Georgia Tech's seventh commitment for the Class of 2006 and the first offensive lineman. Tech may only sign one offensive lineman in this class.