2023 Fall Practice Notes

GetYourBuzzOn

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7979 said:
SOWEGA writes,
"I can simply ask why they didn’t address it with the portal with multiple players? We added slot receivers via the portal at a position we are over stocked but yet on day 3 the staff is talking about OLine depth."
This is a fair question and observation.
Frankly, I think we'll be better upfront... C, OGs are fine..... OT's are iffy.... Depth is great but OL starters will play 90+% of snaps anyway...need a third OT and a third OG/C....
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One of our biggest areas of opportunity to improve is the OL, and specifically the continuity along the OL. Have a look at the OL Continuity stats from '23- we were second to last among P5 teams, and you saw how that affected our offensive success rate. The fact that we are starting the same 5 that started the last game last year could yield much better results. However, if we suffer any OL injuries I think the results will be disastrous due to the lack of depth. My feelings are similar to SOWEGA's- I'm fine with giving Key a "start over pass" regarding the OL, but if it is a disaster again I expect his seat to warm up quicker than some expect.
 

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Root4GT

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GetYourBuzzOn said:
One of our biggest areas of opportunity to improve is the OL, and specifically the continuity along the OL. Have a look at the OL Continuity stats from '23- we were second to last among P5 teams, and you saw how that affected our offensive success rate. The fact that we are starting the same 5 that started the last game last year could yield much better results. However, if we suffer any OL injuries I think the results will be disastrous due to the lack of depth. My feelings are similar to SOWEGA's- I'm fine with giving Key a "start over pass" regarding the OL, but if it is a disaster again I expect his seat to warm up quicker than some expect.
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His seat is not warm nor will it be regardless of this season. We have had OL issues for decades just as we have had DL issues for decades. They just have to be decent this year and not bad. That is realistic. We are never going to have an OL where we lose 3-4 guys to injury and simply replace them with the same quality players. We never have been able to do that.
 
Buzztheirazz

Buzztheirazz

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Gotta love the guy that takes a one second sound byte about needing a back up center and turns it into our O-line is god awful. Pretty sure Key said he plans on having 8 or 9 guys that will be ready to play multiple positions.

And it’s always the guys I have on ignore that someone responds to and I have to see the stupid **** they posted. Guess I’m mad at myself.
 

alagold

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SOWEGA Jacket said:
We are always worrying about depth in the OLine yet we continue to sign dozens of DB’s and WR’s who never see the field yet the one area where we are weak every year we don’t over recruit. It’s just maddening.

And whenever I bring it up I’m told we recruit the same number as everyone else so I shouldn’t worry. Except that when UGA signs 5 a class they get production from 4 at some point down the road. When we sign 5 we are lucky to get production from 1 down the road. Now, when the sport goes from tackle to flag then we will be built for it no doubt since it seems like we get commitments every week from a DB. Maybe our plan is to convert DB’s to the OLine.
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Absolutely.I thought this for yrs.
 

alagold

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SOWEGA Jacket said:
I get it but usually it’s at least week 3 until we start hearing about the lack of our OLine. Now, it’s the 3rd day of practice. And this Is Key’s 5th year on the payroll as a coach. He doesn’t get a pass from me especially since he was the OLine coach for 4 recruiting cycles. If they haven’t fixed the problem then they own the problem. But when we are having this same discussion next season and the season after that we’ll still have posters giving the coach a pass. Without a decent OLine we will lose any skilled position player who proves himself to the portal. That’s just a simple fact of this sport these days.
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I agree but it may not that we can get the quantity --we can always sign a 300 lb guy that verbaled to NC Central probably.Its the RIGHT quality to succeed thats needed..--Mike Maye was a 2nd unit All-State in Ala for the best team in state and almost never played here. .hmmmm.
 
Jerry the Jacket

Jerry the Jacket

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orientalnc said:
It's comforting to know Key doesn't have to make roster decisions alone. He has advisors on the Swarm who have more experience than him and his staff. I am certain he consults their counsel frequently.
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Actually, we should just buy the linemen we want. With NIL, we can just fund a Linemen Wanted Tranche, target a few all Americans and just pay them to come to Tech. That would be a lot easier than recruiting guys, hoping they develop and being lucky if you get a 25% success rate. That is actually what I would do if I were running the show.
 

57jacket

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Root4GT said:
His seat is not warm nor will it be regardless of this season. We have had OL issues for decades just as we have had DL issues for decades. They just have to be decent this year and not bad. That is realistic. We are never going to have an OL where we lose 3-4 guys to injury and simply replace them with the same quality players. We never have been able to do that.
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For once I agree with you root. Hooray. Big uglies are the most difficult position for GT to recruit. Many academic reasons,
 
Sean311

Sean311

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Buzztheirazz said:
Gotta love the guy that takes a one second sound byte about needing a back up center and turns it into our O-line is god awful. Pretty sure Key said he plans on having 8 or 9 guys that will be ready to play multiple positions.

And it’s always the guys I have on ignore that someone responds to and I have to see the stupid **** they posted. Guess I’m mad at myself.
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Ya you’re right we are solid on the O-line…probably the deepest in the country. No issues at all.
 

SOWEGA Jacket

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Ha ha. So we are bad fans because we actually acknowledge what every coach and every fan sees when they see a GT team - weak lines. And we address the issue by taking WR’s via the portal. And many of our fans won’t even acknowledge why we lose. We haven’t lost games because Collins wore short socks or took stupid timeouts or gave bad handshakes. We lost games because we couldn’t pick up yards when we needed to and we couldn’t stop anyone when we needed to.

And if we don’t fix the OLine fast then expect whichever guy wins the QB job to transfer out when they get offers (and of course the guy who doesn’t win the job will also transfer out because no 4 star is going to sit the bench for 3 years).
 

stinger 1957

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I don't know a lot about the OL except that it takes cohesion, communication and playing together which tells me you are never going to have lots of depth on any OL that can have all those qualities, maybe more than we presently have. Since I know so little it's hard for me to tell the number that can be effective but I would guess about 8.
 
jacketup

jacketup

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The offensive line problems go back to running the option, which takes a different size of player and type of talent than a balanced offense that FBS teams run. It can take years to rebuild an OL, especially at OT, which is what we are seeing.

When you have just graduated Calvin Johnson and have BayBay Thomas on your squad, hiring a coach that doesn't throw the ball is just dumb. We could have been WR U, but the GT Athletic Board killed that, and left us with what we are still trying to rebuild from.
 
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