New England Patriots linebacker Jerod Mayo made the NFL Network’s Top 100 Players list, according to SI.com’s Peter King. It was an honor Mayo’s best friend and teammate Gary Guyton, a former Bradwell Institute and Georgia Tech football player, was happy to comment on.
“The only thing I know is that Jerod’s a great player,” Guyton said in an interview posted on weei.com. “To me, he’s the No. 1 player in my eyes. He does great things. He’s a student of the game. I wish and I pray nothing but the best for him. He’s a good player and a good guy and a good person.”
On May 17, Mike Reiss of the Boston Globe reported that Guyton continues to help people off the field. Guyton hosted a celebrity poker tournament, which raised more than $7,000 for Children’s Hospital-Boston, according to organizers.
After the event, Guyton fielded questions by reporters and said he recently spent some time visiting his mother and vacationing with his brother and father in Miami. He said he also spent a good portion of the offseason at Georgia Tech, where he did some work and took another class.
But Guyton added he has been staying focused on football and preparing for the upcoming season.
“For me, it’s my fourth year now,” he told the Globe. “It’s really just being a better football player and trying to maintain as good as I can. However it pans out, you want to make sure you’re ready, so I’m doing the best I can to be ready. I think everybody is doing the same thing, always trying to work out. I stay in contact and call around, just to see how everyone is doing. I come back here every once in a while to say hello to a few guys, and then it’s back home to work out, which I’m enjoying. We’re all staying motivated. I’m doing the best I can to position myself for whatever happens in the future.”

Dustin McGowan
Long County native and former Toronto Blue Jays No. 1 draft pick Dustin McGowan continues to make strides as he attempts to come back from two surgeries. McGowan hasn’t pitched in the majors since July 2008.
According to an article posted in the Dunedin Patch, the former Blue Jays starter is looking to regain his form and threw 15 pitches on Tuesday against the Pirates during extended spring training. Nine of those 15 pitches were strikes, the article noted, and one pitch was clocked at 95 mph and left spectators in awe.
Afterward, McGowan tossed a few more pitches in the bullpen. On May 14, McGowan pitched at the Phillies’ complex, where he threw a fastball clocked at 93 mph.
In McGowan’s four-year career at Toronto, he had a 20-22 overall record with an 4.75 ERA in 75 games.  His best year was 2007, when he went 12-10.
McGowan had surgery to repair a torn shoulder and another surgery later to repair a torn rotator cuff.

Jordan McRae
In an article posted on InsideTennessee.com, new Tennessee Volunteers’ basketball coach Cuonzo Martin gave his take on former Liberty County High School basketball player Jordan McRae.
McRae saw few minutes during his freshman season, but the coach said he has seen McRae’s potential.
“I thought he did a good job,” Martin said. “You could see his athleticism, what he’s capable of doing. Now it’s a matter of him taking the next step — getting minutes under his belt, playing at a high level, being in the trenches of a live situation where there’s a minute left in the game and he’s involved in the game. I think that’s the next phase for his game.”
In an article written for Rocky Top Talk, Will Shelton said he thinks McRae will be among the starting five this season.
“So let’s just say that any good we get from our redshirt freshman would be greatly appreciated,” Shelton wrote. “Kenny Hall and McRae, to me, are the difference between the sort of rebuilding year where the Vols just get hammered and the sort of rebuilding year where the Vols can still compete.”

Patty Leon is sports editor of the Coastal Courier.