Bobinski Pivot

[cyptomcat]

I hope we don't regress, but I can very easily see how we could. For starters, the starter at QB has fewer than 100 snaps under his belt, so despite his all-world athleticism, we really don't know just how he's going to perform versus the Miamis, Clemsons, Virginia Techs, and UGAs on the schedule. That could easily be an offensive problem because, it all begins with the trigger man. And rarely do you see a first year starter who doesn't make some epically bad decisions in at least a few games that first year.

As far as defense is concerned, we had one very dominant pass rusher in Attachou and another pretty solid one in Brandon Watts and they're both gone, so until someone proves in a game time situation that they can replace those two, we really don't know how much pressure we'll be able to generate on opposing QB's without having to sell out & blitz all the time.

Again, I would love to be wrong but I think our biggest saving grace we have this year is an easy schedule.

With Godhigh, Attaochu and Thomas, you can say the team lost the 3 best players on the team. It's scary...

The schedule is easier this season, so we should still win a good number of games.

 

[Eric]

With Godhigh, Attaochu and Thomas, you can say the team lost the 3 best players on the team. It's scary...

The schedule is easier this season, so we should still win a good number of games.

Kind of hard to argue that...Personally I think Attaochu and Thomas are bigger losses than people realize.

 

[daBuzz]

Kind of hard to argue that...Personally I think Attaochu and Thomas are bigger losses than people realize.

I agree with you, Eric. I had indeed forgotten about Jemea but that kid was a baller. Not super impressive measurables by an NFL standard and that will likely hurt him in the draft. But that's a kid whom I think ends up not only sticking on an NFL roster but he will contribute. He just has a knack for making plays and he would be a great special teamer for the pros as well. He will be definitely missed.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

The past is prelude.

I think we'll be a little better on offense this year, but that depends on how much the OL steps up. We've got some serious talent on the OL, but they're young.

We'll take a step back on defense due losing two high impact guys in Jeremiah and Jemea, and the very underrated Watts.

All in all, the gains we might make back in O could be negated by the step back we might experience on D.

That's pretty fair. Don't forget we get some guys back on defense who we're out all or most of last year, namely IJ and JG. There's also the move on the learning curve in the second year of the Roof era. These factors will mitigate, to some degree, the loss of Sneezy, Watts and Jemea. We're also adding some young but impressive RS freshmen, Gotsis is already proven and looks to continue improving and there's the immediate impact of the Juco transfer at DE.

 

[AE 87]

I'm hoping that greater depth at DB will help us overcome the loss of Jemea. I still think IJ has next level skill and that Golden and White at least have that potential. Smith, Griffin, Noble have all shown ability.

We also have some big potential at DL and LB. We may not have the proven playmaker, but we're not without talent. If Roof can do with our talent on D what CPJ has done with comparable talent on O, we should do well.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

With Godhigh, Attaochu and Thomas, you can say the team lost the 3 best players on the team. It's scary...

The schedule is easier this season, so we should still win a good number of games.

We also lost Vad. He was the starting QB since he was the best we had. (Even I agree with CPJ on starting Vad every game, just not how much he played.) He was only a sophomore and had two more years. He could have gotten a lot better if he got his head straight.

So I think we lost 4 of our top 10 (or so) players on the team. Smelter, Gotsis, Golden, IJ, Butker, et al ... will be back.

Good point about an easier SOS this year though. We'll finish with 7-8 wins but probably be about third in Coastal with the talent we lost. But we'll start off 3-0 with great stats and everyone high on kool-aid. So buy those season tickets now before the Woffard tickets sell out.

 

[Rodney Kent]

Each year, most every team loses seniors that were the biggest playmakers on the squad. Many of these teams come back the next year and perform even better. I have seen this happen in the workplace. You lose the worker who carried the load of the office or work group. Everyone depended on him, and he tended to lead the group. You wonder how the group will survive, or be as efficient as it was after he left or was promoted.

In most every case, either someone steps up and becomes the leader and does as well as the last leader, sometimes even better. I have also seen the whole group get better because they now have to depend on their own merits and no longer has the expertise of the departed one. The team becomes better sometimes because they must produce more if the group is effective. This can also happen on a team of athletes. I bet others fill the gaps sufficiently to overcome the loss of these players.

 

[UgaBlows]

You could probably say the same for almost every single team in college football every year, you are going to lose your best players to graduation or the draft, there's something wrong if this is not the case imo.

 

[alaguy]

I hope we don't regress, but I can very easily see how we could. For starters, the starter at QB has fewer than 100 snaps under his belt, so despite his all-world athleticism, we really don't know just how he's going to perform versus the Miamis, Clemsons, Virginia Techs, and UGAs on the schedule. That could easily be an offensive problem because, it all begins with the trigger man. And rarely do you see a first year starter who doesn't make some epically bad decisions in at least a few games that first year.

As far as defense is concerned, we had one very dominant pass rusher in Attachou and another pretty solid one in Brandon Watts and they're both gone, so until someone proves in a game time situation that they can replace those two, we really don't know how much pressure we'll be able to generate on opposing QB's without having to sell out & blitz all the time.

Again, I would love to be wrong but I think our biggest saving grace we have this year is an easy schedule.

very well said,-only add that a young Oline won't help JT get control of OFF

 

[daBuzz]

very well said,-only add that a young Oline won't help JT get control of OFF

Very true.
I was thinking about this the other day and wondering about the following:

Offensive line injuries are pretty common on all teams. On most teams, they seem to have leg injuries such as knee &/or ankle injuries more commonly than we do at GT. Now, certainly part of that should be true due to Tech requiring them to wear the knee braces. The brace may limit mobility a little but sure seems to add more stability and strength to the knee area.

Conversely, we seem to (at least to my recollection) seem to have more shoulder injuries among our OL than most other schools. Does anyone else wonder if this is due to the number of cut blocks we do? In other words, the increased impact of a 300'ish pound guy landing on his arms/chest/shoulder area on the ground just tends to move the injured area from lower body to upper body?

Anyone else ever considered that or have an opinion on it?

 

[redmule]

Last year this time, we were confident at qb, and worried about receivers. Receivers stepped up, qb stepped down.
Last year this time, we were worried about DT. Gotsis stepped it up.
Last year this time, we were worried about losing Big ol' Orwin at A-back. Little bitty Godhigh stepped up and was better than Smith IMHO.
Last year this time, our FG kicker was still in high school.
We were high on ILB, and again IMHO, Hunt-Days and Nealy stepped back while Harrell stepped up and Davis came out of nowhere.
We were feeling good about DB, then Golden, Johnson, and Holton were unavailable and Young disappointed. White really started to come on
at the end of the season; Noble and Milton were thrown in the fire, and came out a little scorched, but improved as the year played out.
We and CPJ thought OL would be the strength of the team. Injury bug fixed that. But Braun, Roberts, and O'Reilly showed flashes, and I'm thinking
that now when we least expect it, we might get the OL we thought we had last year.
And that's why I love college football, especially Tech football. It's the variability and the unexpectedness. Worries become strengths and strengths become worries.

Just think, injuries wiped out our OL and DB last year, our QB was more concerned with staying healthy than executing, we began the year with essentially no WRs, and we had new coaches and alignments on D. Yet, we won 7, took uga to double overtime, stomped the Division champion on the road, survived an outrageous schedule alignment, and were a Thursday night brain fart away from being Coastal winners. (Can you tell I'm a half full type?)

You never know what Tech is going to do. In September 1989 we were the worst team in the conference with not much hope of things getting better. I dreaded another football season, but dutifully showed up each week and just tried to enjoy the tailgate. The next 16 months were marvelous and made even more special by their unexpectedness. The skid down to '93 and '94 hurt even worse because of the unexpectedness. Auburn seems to be on that same roller coaster the last few years. Hell of a ride, and I wouldn't miss it for the world.

 

[jwsavhGT]

Last year this time, we were confident at qb, and worried about receivers. Receivers stepped up, qb stepped down.
Last year this time, we were worried about DT. Gotsis stepped it up.
Last year this time, we were worried about losing Big ol' Orwin at A-back. Little bitty Godhigh stepped up and was better than Smith IMHO.
Last year this time, our FG kicker was still in high school.
We were high on ILB, and again IMHO, Hunt-Days and Nealy stepped back while Harrell stepped up and Davis came out of nowhere.
We were feeling good about DB, then Golden, Johnson, and Holton were unavailable and Young disappointed. White really started to come on
at the end of the season; Noble and Milton were thrown in the fire, and came out a little scorched, but improved as the year played out.
We and CPJ thought OL would be the strength of the team. Injury bug fixed that. But Braun, Roberts, and O'Reilly showed flashes, and I'm thinking
that now when we least expect it, we might get the OL we thought we had last year.
And that's why I love college football, especially Tech football. It's the variability and the unexpectedness. Worries become strengths and strengths become worries.

Just think, injuries wiped out our OL and DB last year, our QB was more concerned with staying healthy than executing, we began the year with essentially no WRs, and we had new coaches and alignments on D. Yet, we won 7, took uga to double overtime, stomped the Division champion on the road, survived an outrageous schedule alignment, and were a Thursday night brain fart away from being Coastal winners. (Can you tell I'm a half full type?)

You never know what Tech is going to do. In September 1989 we were the worst team in the conference with not much hope of things getting better. I dreaded another football season, but dutifully showed up each week and just tried to enjoy the tailgate. The next 16 months were marvelous and made even more special by their unexpectedness. The skid down to '93 and '94 hurt even worse because of the unexpectedness. Auburn seems to be on that same roller coaster the last few years. Hell of a ride, and I wouldn't miss it for the world.

Give 'em hell Jackets!

 

[Rodney Kent]

dabuzz: Some good questions and points posted.

 

[Boomergump]

And we did lose a lot of D starters. They were starters for a reason.

Yes Nuke. We did lose some starters and they were starters for a reason. But you do realize, using that logic alone means that every team gets worse every year. I'm getting technical here I know. The big question is in the reloading. Just because a kid was a starter in 2013 doesn't mean he would have been able to hold off his pursuers forever. Watts was wicked fast and it will be hard to find another LB as fast or versatile in coverage as he was, but we wasn't an elite tackler. I think we can probably expect moderate upgrades everywhere except JA and JT. We would be very fortunate to just break even at those positions. This is what makes the off season so much fun.

 

[ramblinwise1]

I'm sure if next season goes badly that Bobinski has time to repivot on CPJ's effectiveness. Economics probably dictates that CPJ will be here until his contract expires or at least until the buy out would be manageable. Can't rag on Bobi for talking up the program and being positive.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

Yes Nuke. We did lose some starters and they were starters for a reason. But you do realize, using that logic alone means that every team gets worse every year. I'm getting technical here I know. The big question is in the reloading. Just because a kid was a starter in 2013 doesn't mean he would have been able to hold off his pursuers forever. Watts was wicked fast and it will be hard to find another LB as fast or versatile in coverage as he was, but we wasn't an elite tackler. I think we can probably expect moderate upgrades everywhere except JA and JT. We would be very fortunate to just break even at those positions. This is what makes the off season so much fun.

There are a lot of unknowns for all teams. The reloading is what everyone has to do. But you reload a lot better when you have recruited better and more players. We have recruited a lot of good players. Some of our competition got better ones on average. That's why recruiting is so important (statement of the obvious). I'll be working on the recruiting stats this weekend and expect the status quo to be upheld.

 

[COJacket]

Last year this time, we were confident at qb, and worried about receivers. Receivers stepped up, qb stepped down.
Last year this time, we were worried about DT. Gotsis stepped it up.
Last year this time, we were worried about losing Big ol' Orwin at A-back. Little bitty Godhigh stepped up and was better than Smith IMHO.
Last year this time, our FG kicker was still in high school.
We were high on ILB, and again IMHO, Hunt-Days and Nealy stepped back while Harrell stepped up and Davis came out of nowhere.
We were feeling good about DB, then Golden, Johnson, and Holton were unavailable and Young disappointed. White really started to come on
at the end of the season; Noble and Milton were thrown in the fire, and came out a little scorched, but improved as the year played out.
We and CPJ thought OL would be the strength of the team. Injury bug fixed that. But Braun, Roberts, and O'Reilly showed flashes, and I'm thinking
that now when we least expect it, we might get the OL we thought we had last year.
And that's why I love college football, especially Tech football. It's the variability and the unexpectedness. Worries become strengths and strengths become worries.

Just think, injuries wiped out our OL and DB last year, our QB was more concerned with staying healthy than executing, we began the year with essentially no WRs, and we had new coaches and alignments on D. Yet, we won 7, took uga to double overtime, stomped the Division champion on the road, survived an outrageous schedule alignment, and were a Thursday night brain fart away from being Coastal winners. (Can you tell I'm a half full type?)

You never know what Tech is going to do. In September 1989 we were the worst team in the conference with not much hope of things getting better. I dreaded another football season, but dutifully showed up each week and just tried to enjoy the tailgate. The next 16 months were marvelous and made even more special by their unexpectedness. The skid down to '93 and '94 hurt even worse because of the unexpectedness. Auburn seems to be on that same roller coaster the last few years. Hell of a ride, and I wouldn't miss it for the world.

Redmule has said it best and supported with facts what Boomer means by "This is what makes the off season so much fun. "

 

[gtpi]

THIS^^^^ Man if we could put 2 and 2 together... Then weve got a juggernaut on our hands. If we have a top 25 overall offense along with a D like last year. Thats a dream scenario for GT. Just have been on a bad streak... My Dad thinks it has to do with CPJs attitude. Not as a human being so much, but the sideline antics and media relations make him come off as a pompous ***.

have you seen some of the antics from other coaches? cpj aint the only one by a long shot. saban has that kind of rep as well. matter of fact he was the guy who stepped over an nfl player who was suffering heat issues. stepped over him without any regard for the guy.

if cpj was winning more... this would be a non issue imo.

 

[Ggee87]

have you seen some of the antics from other coaches? cpj aint the only one by a long shot. saban has that kind of rep as well. matter of fact he was the guy who stepped over an nfl player who was suffering heat issues. stepped over him without any regard for the guy.

if cpj was winning more... this would be a non issue imo.

IF.... Big IF. If Saban was sucking it up I could imagine.Bama.fans complaining about this. My father believes the lack of respect is the reason were losing games.

 

[forensicbuzz]

I would have to politely disagree with your father. Based on what I've seen, I don't think his attitude affects anything. There are much bigger jerks out there that have plenty of success. (and that's saying CPJ's a jerk, which may not be the perception from players/recruits after they meet him).