2022 GT Roster Ranked 30th Nationally in 247 Talent Composite

[GT33]

1. I'm not sure about that. That's because there isn't much proof that the composite ratings tell us much about the available talent. I've already cited Cinncy and Wake. By the composites they should have a hard time beating anybody. Yet remarkably …

2. Yep. I share both your sentiments and your analysis. A call to Wake might be in order soon.

Good coaching can make lower rated players play better individually and as a team. We're in year 4 of this experiment. The age old excuses & impediments still exist and are unresolved with no plan in place to fix- The Hill and lack of commitment from President, bottom of barrel ADs fighting an increasingly disinterested fanbase with a challenging demographic and a mountain of debt, a crappy conference that is falling further behind. However, the new ones and I can't remember if any other GT coach in my lifetime suffered these: I regularly can't get plays in, I don't know when to call a timeout, players aren't on the same play or understand assignments, lack of discipline, embarassing displays of ignornace, leaving your key players unused or misusing them, etc are what's solvable by the current coach.

 

[4shotB]

Good coaching can make lower rated players play better individually and as a team. We're in year 4 of this experiment. The age old excuses & impediments still exist and are unresolved with no plan in place to fix- The Hill and lack of commitment from President, bottom of barrel ADs fighting an increasingly disinterested fanbase with a challenging demographic and a mountain of debt, a crappy conference that is falling further behind. However, the new ones and I can't remember if any other GT coach in my lifetime suffered these: I regularly can't get plays in, I don't know when to call a timeout, players aren't on the same play or understand assignments, lack of discipline, embarassing displays of ignornace, leaving your key players unused or misusing them, etc are what's solvable by the current coach.

Excellent post and I think it summarizes things perfectly. The increasingly disinterested fan base has become that way for the reasons you point out - there are large systemic issues "with no plan in place to fix it" or evn an expressed interest in fixing it or even an acknowledgement that there is an issue. Meanwhile, people foam and froth at the mouth here wanting new AD's and/or coaches. I guess there is hope that exists that you can get lucky and find another Homer Rice, a Bobby Ross or a Bobby Cremins. That strategy (imo) is similar to buying lottery tickets as a form of investment and retirement planning.

I am not saying that the coaches aren't part of the problem. I am just saying (as you did above) that there are much larger issues as well that churning coaaches will not fix.

 

[InsideLB]

When a ranking like this comes out folks dont look at why sucj a ranking may or may not paint an accurate picture. People simply point to the 24/7 talent ranking and say "we're 30th so if our team doesn't finish 30th our coaches have underperformed".

But think about it a little deeper:

40% of our 4-stars that 24/7 based this ranking on were transfers in. We all can agree our 4-star transfers out (for example Gibbs, Ivy, Domineck) have been better than our 4-stars transferring in (for example WR Ezzard, Harris from Bama, DBs Allen from ND & Sims from Michigan). We even had a 5-star transfer in (DE from U of Florida) who had a 2-star effect in 2 years.

Second, the 24/7 rankings do not take into account the AGE of the players, only their rankings. So lets say you have a bunch of 3-star with high composite rankings and 4-star who are very young. That talent has not developed physically in and experientially in your system. They will not perform as well as a team laden with upperclassmen who have developed.

Third, as others have mentioned, games are won and lost in the trenches. Factories stockpile 4-stars at key positions like DT, DE, OL and mature them over years. Best way to make a 4 star QB, RB, or DB bad is to have bad lines.

Strength of schedule matters as well, including how schedule sets up/who you play when/on the road.

Clearly to me we could and should have won a few more games these last 3 years and coaching HAS been a problem. But I am not buying we have the 30th most talented roster.

 

[pinglett]

Sometimes good coaching is getting the players in the right positition. A player, that was a couple of years behind me in high school, was an All State Linbacker and played his first year at the linebacker position in college. His second year he was moved to center. He hated the move, but he did it. At center he played 17 years in the NFL with 6 probowls and 1 superbowl. I'm sure there are others that were great athletes (players) that were in the wrong position.

Was that Bill Curry?

 

[iopjacket]

Sometimes good coaching is getting the players in the right positition. A player, that was a couple of years behind me in high school, was an All State Linbacker and played his first year at the linebacker position in college. His second year he was moved to center. He hated the move, but he did it. At center he played 17 years in the NFL with 6 probowls and 1 superbowl. I'm sure there are others that were great athletes (players) that were in the wrong position.

Somebody (I guess Dodd) had a hell of an eye for talent needed to play a certain position. I guess Curry grew to like the move.

 

[GTLorenzo]

Good coaching can make lower rated players play better individually and as a team. We're in year 4 of this experiment. The age old excuses & impediments still exist and are unresolved with no plan in place to fix- The Hill and lack of commitment from President, bottom of barrel ADs fighting an increasingly disinterested fanbase with a challenging demographic and a mountain of debt, a crappy conference that is falling further behind. However, the new ones and I can't remember if any other GT coach in my lifetime suffered these: I regularly can't get plays in, I don't know when to call a timeout, players aren't on the same play or understand assignments, lack of discipline, embarassing displays of ignornace, leaving your key players unused or misusing them, etc are what's solvable by the current coach.

If they ranked out coaching staff the last three years, I doubt it would rate in the Top 120 of 130 DI schools.

 

[GTLorenzo]

Was that Bill Curry?

Slightly better than Collins, but not much. Did do better when he got hood assistants. Let’s hope history repeats itself.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

When a ranking like this comes out folks dont look at why sucj a ranking may or may not paint an accurate picture. People simply point to the 24/7 talent ranking and say "we're 30th so if our team doesn't finish 30th our coaches have underperformed".

But think about it a little deeper:

40% of our 4-stars that 24/7 based this ranking on were transfers in. We all can agree our 4-star transfers out (for example Gibbs, Ivy, Domineck) have been better than our 4-stars transferring in (for example WR Ezzard, Harris from Bama, DBs Allen from ND & Sims from Michigan). We even had a 5-star transfer in (DE from U of Florida) who had a 2-star effect in 2 years.

Second, the 24/7 rankings do not take into account the AGE of the players, only their rankings. So lets say you have a bunch of 3-star with high composite rankings and 4-star who are very young. That talent has not developed physically in and experientially in your system. They will not perform as well as a team laden with upperclassmen who have developed.

Third, as others have mentioned, games are won and lost in the trenches. Factories stockpile 4-stars at key positions like DT, DE, OL and mature them over years. Best way to make a 4 star QB, RB, or DB bad is to have bad lines.

Strength of schedule matters as well, including how schedule sets up/who you play when/on the road.

Clearly to me we could and should have won a few more games these last 3 years and coaching HAS been a problem. But I am not buying we have the 30th most talented roster.

Wait. You're using reason and logic to try and make people who live for the 140 character viral twitter hot take understand?

 

[CheCha54]

Was that Bill Curry?

No, Ray Donaldson. Played at Georgia.

 

[takethepoints]

Slightly better than Collins, but not much. Did do better when he got hood assistants. Let’s hope history repeats itself.

One thing Curry and co. were good at was using - gasp! - technology to help recruiting. One reason Bama hired him was to get the high(!) tech(!!) recruiting systems Tech was using to identify and evaluate potential recruits. What this boiled down to was decent database management, but that tells you something about how primitive all this was at the time.