2023 Fall Practice Notes

g0lftime

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I just watched the replay of the Pitt game. We are really going to miss Charlie Thomas. He had to sit the first half and was a beast in the second half with a big fumble recovery and interception.
On offense Hall was outstanding with some big runs. We are going to miss him. He has quick feet and could hit the hole really fast. I sure hope we have someone else to complement Dontae who is more of a yards after contact guy.
 
AUFC

AUFC

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g0lftime said:
We are really going to miss Charlie Thomas.
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Understatement of the year. Plus Keion White and Ace Eley. I'm expecting a huge step back for the defense this year. Because the offense had them on the field constantly, their statistics last year didn't really show how ridiculously they crushed the eye test. I've said this elsewhere but the first 3 quarters of the Duke game last year were so much fun with how the crowd and defense were playing off each other's energy. It was like a return to the good ole days at BDS.
 
Lil G

Lil G

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AUFC said:
Understatement of the year. Plus Keion White and Ace Eley. I'm expecting a huge step back for the defense this year. Because the offense had them on the field constantly, their statistics last year didn't really show how ridiculously they crushed the eye test. I've said this elsewhere but the first 3 quarters of the Duke game last year were so much fun with how the crowd and defense were playing off each other's energy. It was like a return to the good ole days at BDS.
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Charlie Thomas definitely felt like the heart of the defense. But our secondary should be among the best in the nation, and our interior line looks strongest it’s been in awhile. I’m hopeful that Sylvain has a breakout year, he really wants to play at the next level and this is his last shot.

Braelen Oliver looks like an absolute nightmare, I just hope he or somebody has half of the football instinct CT did.
 

alagold

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AUFC said:
Understatement of the year. Plus Keion White and Ace Eley. I'm expecting a huge step back for the defense this year. Because the offense had them on the field constantly, their statistics last year didn't really show how ridiculously they crushed the eye test. I've said this elsewhere but the first 3 quarters of the Duke game last year were so much fun with how the crowd and defense were playing off each other's energy. It was like a return to the good ole days at BDS.
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yep, last night on tv game White showed out bigtime-I think the Def will be much weaker esp to start out
 

SOWEGA Jacket

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billga99 said:
I think to early to write off the defense. A lot of new coaches, more depth and experience in most positions. Also, our DC now has more flexibility in choosing his own path now that Collins is gone. We can't do any worse against Ole Miss.
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Ole Miss will absolutely be a marker game for Thacker. Everyone has heaped all that was bad regarding our defense on Collins. Fine. Thacker has been given a new life after his defenses have been near the bottom of the ACC since day 1. Ole Miss will cut through the BS. We either make strides or we won’t. Kiffen will be Kiffen so that game will be a real measuring stick.
 

MacJacket

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SOWEGA Jacket said:
Ole Miss will absolutely be a marker game for Thacker. Everyone has heaped all that was bad regarding our defense on Collins. Fine. Thacker has been given a new life after his defenses have been near the bottom of the ACC since day 1. Ole Miss will cut through the BS. We either make strides or we won’t. Kiffen will be Kiffen so that game will be a real measuring stick.
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It all starts up front. If we don’t have the horses it could easily look like the last time we played them. Our secondary should be good, but the front seven is still TBD.
Kiffen is a great schemer and they have a great RB too. This will be a big challenge for Thack.
 

SOWEGA Jacket

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MacJacket said:
It all starts up front. If we don’t have the horses it could easily look like the last time we played them. Our secondary should be good, but the front seven is still TBD.
Kiffen is a great schemer and they have a great RB too. This will be a big challenge for Thack.
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Yep. We’ll see if Thacker being retained was the right call or not. We all love the guys energy and he seems like a good overall person. Great. But he isn’t getting paid to be a great overall person, he’s being paid to not have a way below average defense. Kiffen Is his test because Kiffen will do nothing fancy. He‘ll have his receivers running the route trees, his QB will be accurate (or he won’t be the QB), and his OLine will pound the ball. There is no secret so we’ll see if Thacker can have our defense in the right place. Again, I don’t mind losing or getting scored on if the other team earns it with a great pass and nice catch. But, that garbage we saw last year against them where our DB’s were confused on basic routes and we had no control of the first 5 yards off the line of scrimmage was absolutely embarrassing. I purposely sat in the north end zone so I could watch the plays development and our defense was as lost as I’ve ever seen them and Kiffen did nothing special but run the basics of his offense which everyone has tape on. Heaven help us if he comes up with some wrinkles.
 
AugustaSwarm

AugustaSwarm

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stinger 1957 said:
Does Kevin Sherrer bring anything to the defense beyond being a good LB coach?
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Sherrer brings several things: attitude, grit, toughness, experience, etc. I know that sounds fluffy, but having pedigree from coaches actually matters and he has it. He's been around good, successful programs. He's also been around some dumpster fires. So, he's got experience and that's exactly what we need.

IMI, one of the most impressive things about CBK so far has been his ability to bring in quality coaches. If you talk to anyone around, all of his hires have been very well respected coaches with good experience. Some have even turned heads nationally. CBK passes my eyeball test and seems to be building towards something meaningful at Tech. He seems to "get it" at Tech. He's instilling an identity into this program that was missing under TFG. I'm all in and I hope there's a lot more like me!
 
AugustaSwarm

AugustaSwarm

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SOWEGA Jacket said:
Yep. We’ll see if Thacker being retained was the right call or not. We all love the guys energy and he seems like a good overall person. Great. But he isn’t getting paid to be a great overall person, he’s being paid to not have a way below average defense. Kiffen Is his test because Kiffen will do nothing fancy. He‘ll have his receivers running the route trees, his QB will be accurate (or he won’t be the QB), and his OLine will pound the ball. There is no secret so we’ll see if Thacker can have our defense in the right place. Again, I don’t mind losing or getting scored on if the other team earns it with a great pass and nice catch. But, that garbage we saw last year against them where our DB’s were confused on basic routes and we had no control of the first 5 yards off the line of scrimmage was absolutely embarrassing. I purposely sat in the north end zone so I could watch the plays development and our defense was as lost as I’ve ever seen them and Kiffen did nothing special but run the basics of his offense which everyone has tape on. Heaven help us if he comes up with some wrinkles.
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I agree. The Ole Miss beat down last year was one of the lowest points that I've ever seen for Tech football. It was a nationally televised embarrassment and it put the dysfunction of the program on national display.

Kiffin's comments in the media afterwards made it even worse. He wasn't taking a dig at Tech either, he was just being honest. They could have scored 100 points on us if they wanted to. I really hope and pray that our boys use the sting of the arse whuppin' as motivation this year.
 

stinger 1957

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AugustaSwarm said:
Sherrer brings several things: attitude, grit, toughness, experience, etc. I know that sounds fluffy, but having pedigree from coaches actually matters and he has it. He's been around good, successful programs. He's also been around some dumpster fires. So, he's got experience and that's exactly what we need.

IMI, one of the most impressive things about CBK so far has been his ability to bring in quality coaches. If you talk to anyone around, all of his hires have been very well respected coaches with good experience. Some have even turned heads nationally. CBK passes my eyeball test and seems to be building towards something meaningful at Tech. He seems to "get it" at Tech. He's instilling an identity into this program that was missing under TFG. I'm all in and I hope there's a lot more like me!
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I did not frame my question very well, glad you pointed out all of his attributes, some I was already aware of, but is he not also co defensive coordinator and maybe could bring something to the table from the aspect of best utilizing the personnel we have on defense so they are the most effective they can be? As you say he has a wealth of experience around some of the best. Maybe I just answered my own question :)
 
4shotB

4shotB

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AugustaSwarm said:
I agree. The Ole Miss beat down last year was one of the lowest points that I've ever seen for Tech football.
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I was at that game unfortunately. Due to distance I only get to one game a year and my buddies and I chose that game due to the novelty of playing Ole Miss. The only positive of the day was that it was such an epic beatdown that it set into motion the termination of Collins sooner rather than later and allowed an almost full year of on the job training for Coach Key.
 
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