3 Injuries that Impacted this Season

[FlatsLander]

I hadn't seen anyone point this out before, so here goes.

It's well known that while Taquon wasn't originally recruited as a QB, he played to the best of his ability and was able to make a some plays when we needed them. However, I think people are quick to forget that we had at least 3 QB prospects that should have been in line before him that didn't pan out.

1.) Matthew Jordan - Came to Tech in spring of 2014 (I believe). He was pegged to be the starter this year before his injury in the spring. I'm sure he would have progressed a lot from 2016 if he had had all of spring, summer, and fall camp to develop.
2.) Jaylend Ratliffe (sp?) - I think he was a fall 2014 freshman. Jaylend was injured before his senior year of high school and was not cleared to play college football.
3.) Christian Campbell - He might have been a fall 2015 freshmen, not sure. Christian would have been at the QB position to compete, but he broke his hand and was moved to DB, and never moved back.

That all being said, I'm expecting one of the true QB recruits on the roster will pass Taquon and take over the starting position by next fall.

 

[bravejason]

Those didn't help, and of those three I think Jordan was the most impactful. However, I believe that the most damaging losses were those on the lines, both OL and DL. CPJ mentioned that in a number of games were running with only six available on the OL and at times just five. That has been my biggest frustration with CPJ. It seems like we are always running short on OL players. As far as I can tell, he makes it a point to have adequate numbers when allocation scholarships and looking at the roster it usually looks like there are enough, but when we get into the games half the time we never have enough players. I'm at the point that I'd rather cut back on the number of scholarship WR and AB to have more scholarship OL and take my chances that during the season we might have to convert a DB/LB/BB to WR or AB.

 

[TampaGT]

I might be wrong but I think CC came in as a S and not QB. Not to diminish what TM and KB did this year but I think the season looks totally different if we had our #1 qb and B.B. MJ and DM

 

[RedPete]

Great observation! From both Ratliffe’s and Campbell’s dazzling high school films running option offenses, they each looked to be sure-fire stars at Georgia Tech, before their injuries. And we all know about Jordan’s flashes of brilliance against VT last year and brief effectiveness vs Clemson before re-injuring his foot. Hard to pinpoint what might have been but no doubt Marshall’s skills translate well to A-back too


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[kg01]

I might be wrong but I think CC came in as a S and not QB. Not to diminish what TM and KB did this year but I think the season looks totally different if we had our #1 qb and B.B. MJ and DM

I also recall it being reported, during his recruitment, that CC did not want to be a QB in college. It was why so many were confused as to why he still came here since many expected him to just go to LSU to play DB.

That uncle/insider that used to post here confirmed that IIRC.

 

[Scubapro]

Jayland is a HUGE ‘what if’ He was a phenom in High School and had the ability to tilt the field in College. But who knows what would have happened with him playing QB
As far as players who hit the field IMO we really missed marcus marshal and D mills this year

 

[jeffgt14]

Jaylend was the biggest. Kid just seemed to have that IT factor about him.

 

[takethepoints]

People keep blaming Coach for our OL numbers problem.

It wasn't his fault that Griffin, a sure all-ACC and perhaps AA, and Whitley had career ending injuries. Or that Marshall needed longer to recover (hope he does). Or that Klock and Fromayen and Brown choose to end their football days to pursue other careers. That's six OLs in the last three years. If we have these people out there in 2017, we have no problems with depth. And we really didn't this year; we could have played some of our frosh OLs besides Hanson, but Coach, quite correctly, would rather have them develop regularly in the system.

Hindsight's 20/20, of course, and if we had known that the attrition rate would be as great as it has been, then no doubt we would have recruited more OLs, like we did last year. But we didn't and carrying an extra six OLs would have meant attrition of another kind as players left to get playing opportunities. Besides starving the skill positions, of course.

Like all fan bases, we have a tendency to blame as lack of foresight what is actually just plain bad luck. Shoot, I've done it myself a couple of times here. But that's what it was: plain bad luck. Let's hope the Football Gods give us a payback next year.

And, yes, losing Ratliff was a major blow. I feel for the young man and I'm proud of how Tech handled his misfortunate.

 

[RedPete]

^^^THIS! Absolutely 100%. There’s a limit to how much a coach can control to account for bad luck.


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[CTJacket]

People keep blaming Coach for our OL numbers problem.

It wasn't his fault that Griffin, a sure all-ACC and perhaps AA, and Whitley had career ending injuries. Or that Marshall needed longer to recover (hope he does). Or that Klock and Fromayen and Brown choose to end their football days to pursue other careers. That's six OLs in the last three years. If we have these people out there in 2017, we have no problems with depth. And we really didn't this year; we could have played some of our frosh OLs besides Hanson, but Coach, quite correctly, would rather have them develop regularly in the system.

Hindsight's 20/20, of course, and if we had known that the attrition rate would be as great as it has been, then no doubt we would have recruited more OLs, like we did last year. But we didn't and carrying an extra six OLs would have meant attrition of another kind as players left to get playing opportunities. Besides starving the skill positions, of course.

Like all fan bases, we have a tendency to blame as lack of foresight what is actually just plain bad luck. Shoot, I've done it myself a couple of times here. But that's what it was: plain bad luck. Let's hope the Football Gods give us a payback next year.

And, yes, losing Ratliff was a major blow. I feel for the young man and I'm proud of how Tech handled his misfortunate.

All good points, um, @takethepoints (I honestly didn't intend that as I started typing). The only thing I'll point out is that Klock wanted to come back, but didn't get into grad school here. Oddly enough he got into a higher rated program @ Northwestern. So he was a Hill casualty.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

Add Brenton King. If our kicker doesn't suffer a groin injury over the summer, I think we make at least one of the 2 FGs vs UT, and our KO game isn't so terrible. I could easily see a 2-3 game swing just by having a legitimate kicking game from the beginning of the season.

 

[FlatsLander]

People keep blaming Coach for our OL numbers problem.

It wasn't his fault that Griffin, a sure all-ACC and perhaps AA, and Whitley had career ending injuries. Or that Marshall needed longer to recover (hope he does). Or that Klock and Fromayen and Brown choose to end their football days to pursue other careers. That's six OLs in the last three years. If we have these people out there in 2017, we have no problems with depth. And we really didn't this year; we could have played some of our frosh OLs besides Hanson, but Coach, quite correctly, would rather have them develop regularly in the system.

Hindsight's 20/20, of course, and if we had known that the attrition rate would be as great as it has been, then no doubt we would have recruited more OLs, like we did last year. But we didn't and carrying an extra six OLs would have meant attrition of another kind as players left to get playing opportunities. Besides starving the skill positions, of course.

Like all fan bases, we have a tendency to blame as lack of foresight what is actually just plain bad luck. Shoot, I've done it myself a couple of times here. But that's what it was: plain bad luck. Let's hope the Football Gods give us a payback next year.

And, yes, losing Ratliff was a major blow. I feel for the young man and I'm proud of how Tech handled his misfortunate.

Exactly my point. After seeing all the frustration with CPJ's supposed lack of recruitment, it's important to realize that without these strangely concentrated injuries/departures in QB, OL, and DL, we may have had a vastly different year this year.

 

[RedPete]

Hell, without 2 unlucky plays vs Miami and Virginia we may have had a vastly different year this year. (Hint: Coastal Champs)


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[gtpi]

kids who do not have the nfl as their top priority are always at risk of ending their football playing time early.

that seems to be a big issue for us. parks n recreations vs a high paying job as an engineer? if im not nfl bound the sooner i can start my new career the better IF YOU GO TO GT imo.

 

[JStewart2227]

Where’s Tobias Oliver played high school ball at is local to me and I will say I believe he could be our next QB. He ran some option in high school and does it well. Real smart kid with a high football IQ as well. I may be biased but i think he can end up getting the job. Maybe as soon as next season but then again they may let TQ keep the job for his senior year

 

[GTFLETCH]

Where’s Tobias Oliver played high school ball at is local to me and I will say I believe he could be our next QB. He ran some option in high school and does it well. Real smart kid with a high football IQ as well. I may be biased but i think he can end up getting the job. Maybe as soon as next season but then again they may let TQ keep the job for his senior year

He ran the Inside Veer Option... TO is going to be a force when it is his turn!!!!

 

[Skeptic]

I hadn't seen anyone point this out before, so here goes.

It's well known that while Taquon wasn't originally recruited as a QB, he played to the best of his ability and was able to make a some plays when we needed them. However, I think people are quick to forget that we had at least 3 QB prospects that should have been in line before him that didn't pan out.

1.) Matthew Jordan - Came to Tech in spring of 2014 (I believe). He was pegged to be the starter this year before his injury in the spring. I'm sure he would have progressed a lot from 2016 if he had had all of spring, summer, and fall camp to develop.
2.) Jaylend Ratliffe (sp?) - I think he was a fall 2014 freshman. Jaylend was injured before his senior year of high school and was not cleared to play college football.
3.) Christian Campbell - He might have been a fall 2015 freshmen, not sure. Christian would have been at the QB position to compete, but he broke his hand and was moved to DB, and never moved back.

That all being said, I'm expecting one of the true QB recruits on the roster will pass Taquon and take over the starting position by next fall.

Well, injuries impact everybody. But: the only one you noe that might have affected Tech was Jordan. I am not sure he was anointed the starter. You may be right, but I don't recall Johnson saying that. If he we might have thrown better but run worse. The off-trail injury kid was literally years ago; besides which, are you assuming he would be a good one in college? Because you can't do that. Campbell? Well, if Johnson left him at DB it's because that is where he was best, and we can't assume QB proficiency in this offense.

I think everybody hopes one of the backups can break through and Marshall return to Aback. But they had all season and to me that is not encouraging.

What I am pretty sure about is that Marshall will not be a better passer of the ball. There might be plays and patterns to break him free for short stuff, the yardage Johnson says he can run to get. And we were so bad this year does anyone have a clue whether we have receivers who can go get it? That was a huge weakness -- I think -- this year. We aren't WR U any more.

Injjuries on the O line hurt, and that may be the one lead pipe cinch improvement in 2018. If so, things look better. If not ...

 

[MacDaddy2]

Add Brenton King. If our kicker doesn't suffer a groin injury over the summer, I think we make at least one of the 2 FGs vs UT, and our KO game isn't so terrible. I could easily see a 2-3 game swing just by having a legitimate kicking game from the beginning of the season.

Or the signing week Judas that went to Bama.

 

[Skeptic]

kids who do not have the nfl as their top priority are always at risk of ending their football playing time early.

that seems to be a big issue for us. parks n recreations vs a high paying job as an engineer? if im not nfl bound the sooner i can start my new career the better IF YOU GO TO GT imo.

Whether or not you have any interest at all in things engineering? Hardly a recipe for success.

 

[BleedGoldNWhite21]

Jayland is a HUGE ‘what if’ He was a phenom in High School and had the ability to tilt the field in College. But who knows what would have happened with him playing QB
As far as players who hit the field IMO we really missed marcus marshal and D mills this year

Benson had a really good year. A little more depth at BB would have helped, but I really don't know if MM and DM would have gotten us any more wins than what we got. Maybe Miami since our lack of BB depth definitely hurt us that game.

O-Line and QB seemed to be the biggest issues on O. Taquan is a good kid and he played his heart out, but I think we need someone who can make better reads and throws.

Our veteran ABacks were essentially wasted this year. Every QB struggled to pitch in the spring game, so I guess it should have been expected.