Addressing the Vad Lee situation

[Essobee]

Vad told Coach Johnson on New Years eve sometime by around noon because I knew by 1:15. Coach Johnson was ambivalent as he accepted the news and commented to several people that it really didn't matter because Vad didn't fit his system anyway.

Since that point, I found out that they told Matthew Jordan when he came on his official visit to be ready because they expect him not to redshirt now but to potentially get some backup time and that the coaches have had some indication this might be coming. Vad's high school coach and his family have been in his ear quite a bit about the move all year long. His family just want him to be happy but his HS coach encouraged him to go to a school that passes the ball more.

Vad felt mislead because CPJ had told him that, once he had a passing QB, the offense would be opened up to the pass more and wouldn't be so run heavy. As a matter of fact, if you can find the video of an interview with Vad after an allstar game following his HS senior year, he commented to this effect. At the time, he was verbally committed to Tech but hadn't signed a LOI. But when the question was posed about a passing QB going to a running offense, he commented, "Coach Johnson has told me they've just been waiting for a passing QB so they can open up the passing game and throw more" or WTTE.

I don't blame Vad for leaving. If he thinks he has a legitimate shot at playing QB in the NFL, he won't get an opportunity to do that if he stays in this offense...like it or not, but a QB from this offense is not going to get serious attention at the QB spot by an NFL team. The NFL has become a passing league and a team that averages 12 passes per game isn't going to give them enough footage for them to see him throw the entire route tree.

However, I am very disappointed that CPJ knew this was a possibility and still didn't get more PT for Justin. At the very least, he knew for the bowl game that this was a possibility but I'm told he knew as far back as mid-season that it was possible. If you want your program to be successful long term, you have to get more of the valuable snaps for your future guy. We didn't do that.

Perhaps this would this explain why Vad's run production fell off so much this year compared to last year. Ours is a run first offense, but with little or no commitment to the running game by the QB, it had little or no chance of development. If Vad wants a pass happy offense, he can find them but he will be under heavy competition from a ton of other QBs who want to pack their pass stats in hopes of impressing the pros.

Yeah, CPJ was obviously too loyal to Vad to pull him in favor of Justin. However, if he had pulled Vad and Justin didn't perform better than Vad, CPJ would have a lot of explaining to do. Catch 22.

 

[AlabamaBuzz]

If Vad doesn't go to a FCS school, he will probably go and play for Cutcliffe

 

[GTonTop88]

Not looking good for our recruiting going forward. You hear of backups transferring but not starting QBs. Its gonna be hard to sell a true dual threat QB to this system when the other schools bring up this situation

 

[gtdrew]

You & I will have to just disagree on this one. If he recruited the kid and told him at the time they'd put in more of the run & shoot component of the system, then he lied.

Also, if he knew it was even a remote possibility that Vad might transfer (and he did), then he's just flat out dumb to keep giving 99% of the snaps to the guy who might be leaving the program and giving none to the guy who is going to have to take over.

I don't disagree with you on the second statement. I DO think, even if I tell my kid I'm going to let him drive to school every day, if he wrecks more than one car, I'm driving him, despite what I said before. Statements like "we're going to open the offense up more" come with an element of common sense that suggests "unless it doesn't work." This OL couldn't block, Lee REPEATEDLY ran himself into worse situations than necessary, couldn't make reads in the option game, and played scared in big moments. None of those outcomes would've been altered by continuing to try to throw more...

 

[AlabamaBuzz]

Not looking good for our recruiting going forward. You hear of backups transferring but not starting QBs. Its gonna be hard to sell a true dual threat QB to this system when the other schools bring up this situation

Agreed, this is a very sad icing on a very depressing cake....

 

[ramblinvak]

Anyone that follows the players on social media know what is being said currently? I know a lot of them like JT, so it perhaps end the fragmented locker room debate but im not sure.

 

[daBuzz]

Anyone that follows the players on social media know what is being said currently? I know a lot of them like JT, so it perhaps end the fragmented locker room debate but im not sure.

Most of the younger players preferred JT anyway; whereas, the older ones were bigger fans of Vad. From a locker room fragmentation issue, I don't think this is a problem. It's just more of a lack of depth/experience issue now.

 

[BainbridgeJacket]

Not looking good for our recruiting going forward. You hear of backups transferring but not starting QBs. Its gonna be hard to sell a true dual threat QB to this system when the other schools bring up this situation

What this means, to me, is that JT is going to have to be more electric than anyone else we've seen in the Paul Johnson era if he wants to make it through this year.

 

[ATL1]

Anyone that follows the players on social media know what is being said currently? I know a lot of them like JT, so it perhaps end the fragmented locker room debate but im not sure.

Please name names if you are gonna make this statement I follow a number of kids on twitter and I'm not seeing this opposition towards Vad.

 

[CuseJacket]

Jamal Golden and Freddie Burden

 

[ramblinvak]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/heartbreak_4G">@heartbreak_4G</a> Hate to see one of our teammates go but you have to do what&#39;s best for you.. Oh yea JT is going to take off along with TY</p>&mdash; Man Of The Year (@FHB_GT) <a href="">January 3, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

From the look of it, it looks is Golden is going to be one of our stronger vocal leaders. Perfect understudy of iPOD these last few years.

 

[southernhive]

How do you pass more when you don't have the OL to block for a passing QB? Have you noticed the size of the OL commits over the last two years. They are bigger which tells me CPJ is trying to get the players necessary to pass more. His base offense will still be the option, but like Auburn and other similar offenses, he will pass to take advantage of the secondary cheating to stop the option.

I wish the best for Vad. I think he is the best passing QB we have had since Godsey, but he won't play any meaningful downs in the NFL at QB.

 

[Kmag]

Probably the best drop back qb to sign with tech within the last 10 years and we lose him. Come on PJ make some changes to what you are doing. He should bring in an OC to run a more spread type offense that you can run a little bit of option. I really hate we are losing this kid and he seems like the kind of kid you want leading a team.

 

[LibertyTurns]

Anyone that follows the players on social media know what is being said currently? I know a lot of them like JT, so it perhaps end the fragmented locker room debate but im not sure.

Come to think of it I can't remember him LEADING the team. You might be right.

Think GTDrew nailed it as well. Why would a coach stop passing if it was working so well? Nesbitt suffered from Stone Hands. Someone who remembers better than I would have to tell me if Vad had more/less drops than his predecessors. Early data looks like a drop off in passing despite better blocking on the line.

 

[Rodney Kent]

John: I believe his completion rate would have been much better if he was in a system where he passed more. It is a fact that you get better at the things you do consistently. If you are in a system that passes as much as running, you are building up consistency with the receivers. You learn them and they learn you and the passes come easier. When you just use an occasional pass, it is somewhat foreign to your method of operaton and is never as smooth as it is in a passisng system.

 

[gtdrew]

John: I believe his completion rate would have been much better if he was in a system where he passed more. It is a fact that you get better at the things you do consistently. If you are in a system that passes as much as running, you are building up consistency with the receivers. You learn them and they learn you and the passes come easier. When you just use an occasional pass, it is somewhat foreign to your method of operaton and is never as smooth as it is in a passisng system.

His habits were too bad to pass more than we did. He consistently threw off his back foot and ran himself into trouble. This is a minor annoyance when placed behind a capable offensive line. Behind THIS ol? Impossible to overcome.

 

[BigDaddyBuzz]

Guys- in 2008 vs ugag we threw ONE pass and scored 45 pts and won the game. That was when we could run the true triple option. We could not run it this year bc of Vad and that is why we could only run the dive and rocket toss. Lets see how we do running our true offense before we go jump off a ledge.

 

[ramblinvak]

From an eye test perspective, Vad was a much better passer when defenders werent coming after him unblocked. Three plays that do stand out to me are the two long balls this year one to Smelter during the pitt game and the other to Waller during the bowl and the first pass completion to Waller during the UGA game. I honestly believe our short comings this year can be attributed to o-line play, and due to this, we may lose one of you better players on the team. He may not be a perfect fit as we thought he would, but I do think he is athletic enough to be able to excel in this offense.

 

[daBuzz]

Guys- in 2008 vs ugag we threw ONE pass and scored 45 pts and won the game. That was when we could run the true triple option. We could not run it this year bc of Vad and that is why we could only run the dive and rocket toss. Lets see how we do running our true offense before we go jump off a ledge.

Not trying to be argumentative, but if Justin was so much better at running the base offense than Vad, why wasn't he starting this year? Or at least playing more?

 

[southernhive]

Two things I have learned from reading these posts:
1. CPJ is a liar since he supposedly lied to Vad about passing more, which he did pass more.
2. CPJ really wants to lose, which is why he refuses to pass.