ATLANTA, GA - Since his hiring in 2016, Georgia Tech Head Coach Josh Pastner has told everyone who is willing to listen, "this is a five year rebuild." He has also maintained that the 2019 recruiting class will ultimately decide whether or not that rebuild will be successful.

Pastner has a sterling reputation as a great recruiter. He recruited the best ever class by ranking as the head coach of the Memphis Tigers.  More recently, he has diligently worked at making those words into a sort of prophecy as September 2018 fills with official visits from high profile players in the 2019 class.

Expected visitors to Georgia Tech this month include:

• Boogie Ellis: A five star point guard out of Mission Bay in San Diego has scheduled his official visit to Atlanta from 9/14-9/16. Ellis is a five star recruit also being courted by Arizona, Oregon, San Diego State and Gonzaga.
• Robbie Beran: One is the biggest risers of the 2018 summer session, Beran is a big wing with the much coveted “Nowitzki game”. Also of note to Georgia Tech fans, he is a 4.0 student with a 1220 SAT. The word is he will be visiting Atlanta officially this weekend.
• Marcus Watson: Watson is the local prospect that all Yellow Jackets fans want and the program needs. He will be on his GT official on 9/21. He is visiting Boston College this weekend.
• Orlando Robinson: A 7 footer out of Las Vegas, Robinson is an interesting player. Louisville is the school to be scared of here, but you have to wonder if he is a secondary option for Chris Mack. Orlando visits Atlanta at the end of September.
• Ismael Massoud: Another big wing with tremendous shooting ability, Massoud is the prototypical Pastner recruit. He will be joining Robinson in Atlanta on 9/28. Also of note, Coach Reveno is the lead on Massoud and he could really use a recruiting win.

Any four-way combination out of that group should be considered a huge recruiting coup for Pastner, and it would generate national publicity for Tech and the class.

While Watson may be the most coveted recruit among Yellow Jacket fans given the desperation to "put a fence up around Georgia", Ellis would be by far the most impactful early on. The younger brother of former GT point guard Justin Moore, Ellis saw his stock explode this summer rising up to the #25 recruit in the country. He is a three level scorer with excellent handles and big time swagger.

The fan base of this program is simply waiting for something to go positively so they can be heard. After an overachieving first season under Pastner in which everything went right, it felt as if 2017-18 was the season where nothing could break our way. In other words, it was a harsh and immediate regression to the mean.

Once again, there is reason to be optimistic in the ATL as this coaching staff has put the program in place to land possibly the best recruiting class, talent-wise, since 2009.

Let's hope that is where the comparison ends between those two classes in Georgia Tech history.