Brent Key expected to join Georgia Tech staff

[vamosjackets]

Big picture: these last two years sucked. I mean, we suck. Look at that picture of Qua Searcy during warmups. That’s a leader whose supposed to have been in a 5-year S&C program. We needed a change. I think the recruiting rankings are a better reflection of reality than many of us had been thinking until uga and Clemson started handing out a** kickings. Let’s also stop pretending that the cut blocking rules aren’t working against the TO - now a 5’9 185lb AB has to base block a 6’3 240lb LB rather than cut him. The prior system just wasn’t sustainable. That’s not to say it wasn’t fun to watch or we didn’t enjoy success - we did. PJ was a great coach. But it was time to move on

The whole thing with Qua is so overblown. Kelly Campbell didn't look much different at the end of his career either ... because they weren't trying to be Schwarzenegger, they were trying to be fast and agile ... and they succeeded. How did that lean body look when it was soaring into the UGAg endzone from the 3 yardline to put the winning dagger into their hearts??? I didn't hear anyone complaining about Qua's weightroom routine then. Keith Marshall trolled so many GT fans - we should be smarter than that! I would've wanted to tell Keith, "If Qua is so weak, what does that say about the entire UGAg defense in '16, Stupid. I guess your brother Marcus didn't workout when he was at GT either; hard to believe he could run over so many Ugag defenders in '16 too."

People are going so overboard about the bowl loss too. We lost our bowl game in '08 badly, we lost in '13 badly ... it happens, and you know what we did the next year in both those cases? Went to the freakin' Orange Bowl. That bowl game didn't mean squat as far as future success. If CPJ had stayed or we'd gotten Monken, I'd bet a lot of money GT would be highly successful going forward in the short term because we had 2 special QB's coming up (Graham and Yates), which is really all it took for CPJ's program to go up to that level in the great years. One or two players took us to eliteness. The program wasn't in some crazy decline to little-league as some are trying to write the narrative.

 

[orientalnc]

I am not sure how this applies to SA applicants, but I lived in Alabama for ten years and followed their recruiting closely for a while. The best students at Alabama are probably equal to the best students at any public college. But the dropoff from the best to the median is steep. I doubt that 90% of Alabama students would be admitted to GT even if they had an interest in a STEM degree.

 

[Milwaukee]

The program wasn't in some crazy decline to little-league as some are trying to write the narrative.

It wasn't in a violent decline, it was more of a slow bleed. The gap between us and the elite has never been wider in my lifetime. But it's not like we were headed to 0-12, Paul would've kept us competitive with our normal conference schedule (minus Clemson). The past 2 seasons were the 1st time we've ever came out of the tunnel and I knew we had no chance in hell vs Clemson and UGA. It's going to take years to close that gap.

 

[Jacket 83]

Pretty excited about the coaching hires. I am a little concerned about one thing. Of all that has been mentioned, I don’t see a get back coach mentioned. Do we have one? We can’t just have people all Willy nilly everywhere. Asking for a friend

 

[Techster]

Pretty excited about the coaching hires. I am a little concerned about one thing. Of all that has been mentioned, I don’t see a get back coach mentioned. Do we have one? We can’t just have people all Willy nilly everywhere. Asking for a friend

You just slighted @kg01

Watch your back going forward, that dude is petty...

 

[buzzed]

It wasn't in a violent decline, it was more of a slow bleed. The gap between us and the elite has never been wider in my lifetime. But it's not like we were headed to 0-12, Paul would've kept us competitive with our normal conference schedule (minus Clemson). The past 2 seasons were the 1st time we've ever came out of the tunnel and I knew we had no chance in hell vs Clemson and UGA. It's going to take years to close that gap.

To be fair, the gap between those 2 teams and almost all the rest of college football has gotten wider. The difference between us and them right now has a lot more to do with them.

 

[kg01]

Pretty excited about the coaching hires. I am a little concerned about one thing. Of all that has been mentioned, I don’t see a get back coach mentioned. Do we have one? We can’t just have people all Willy nilly everywhere. Asking for a friend

 

[vamosjackets]

It wasn't in a violent decline, it was more of a slow bleed. The gap between us and the elite has never been wider in my lifetime. But it's not like we were headed to 0-12, Paul would've kept us competitive with our normal conference schedule (minus Clemson). The past 2 seasons were the 1st time we've ever came out of the tunnel and I knew we had no chance in hell vs Clemson and UGA. It's going to take years to close that gap.

Give us 4 years of Graham and/or Yates (maybe 6 years total) and CPJ or Monken and look at the record. I'd predict ACC-CG appearances, big bowls, and 1 out of 3 against Clemson and Ugag. Heck, we were a fumble (by Qua ironically) and a bad half away from winning 9 or 10 games this year ... and that was with Taquon as QB (God bless him and his magic feet). We are 2 season removed from winning 9 and beating a high level SEC team in a bowl. Seriously, GT football had been like the butterfly effect, one player or one fumble or one inch in a play could take us from losing 2 the whole season to winning 2 the whole season. Crap, we were one defensive coordinator away from God only knows what ... (Multiple CFP's???). The CPJ era had elite-capability in any given season.

SORRY, Sorry, sorry! Back to the original topic! It wasn't my fault, I tell you! It was a reply, a REPLYYYYYYYY...

 

[ncjacket79]

It wasn't in a violent decline, it was more of a slow bleed. The gap between us and the elite has never been wider in my lifetime. But it's not like we were headed to 0-12, Paul would've kept us competitive with our normal conference schedule (minus Clemson). The past 2 seasons were the 1st time we've ever came out of the tunnel and I knew we had no chance in hell vs Clemson and UGA. It's going to take years to close that gap.

C’mon man. Slow decline I can maybe buy, but the biggest gap between us and the elites? Unless you are really young you seem to have forgotten the early 80s and the early 90s.

 

[GTpdm]

LOLOLOL at the guys trying to talk down Brent Keys recruiting abilities by saying it was because he was at 'Bama.

Has anyone checked the rankings of our old staff? If I remember correctly, GT had approximately ONE coach ranked in the top 300...and it was CGC!!! He did that in 3 weeks! Outside of CGC, we had ZERO coaches ranked in the top 300. In the last 3 years, only TWO coaches ranked in the top 300 (Andy Mac, and Lamar Owens) and both ranked almost towards the bottom of the 200's.

There are coaches at Tulane, Marshall, UAB, Louisiana Lafayette, and GEORGIA STATE that recruited better than our previous staff. Think about that.

I really thought we should have kept a couple of the coaches because of their recruiting, but upon further evaluation, CGC was correct in letting everyone go. Their returns did not warrant being retained if CGC is putting a heavy emphasis on coaches that can coach and recruit.

That’s all very well but my question is, how highly rated were the agencies that actually ranked the coaches for their ability to recruit highly rated players? Because if it was only a 3* agency that established the recruiting-coach rankings, then I’d hold those rankings highly questionable. And I should add that I am the 3rd-most highly ranked recruiting-coach-rating-agency evaluaters in the country.

 

[GTL]

C’mon man. Slow decline I can maybe buy, but the biggest gap between us and the elites? Unless you are really young you seem to have forgotten the early 80s and the early 90s.

Even the early 2000s with Chan...I know there were more than one UGA game where I knew we had no chance coming out of the tunnel.

 

[Milwaukee]

C’mon man. Slow decline I can maybe buy, but the biggest gap between us and the elites? Unless you are really young you seem to have forgotten the early 80s and the early 90s.

I was a toddler in the 80s, maybe that's a good thing.

 

[buzz_wiser©]

I think it is a good hire.
However, what will he be able to do, to not only recruit , but make sure these 6'5 350lb lineman can even qualify academically ?
How is his recruiting MO any different than what we have experienced?
I realize it's all about presentation, but still, you can't polish a turd.

 

[Madison Grant]

I was a toddler in the 80s, maybe that's a good thing.

Early 80s- you could look on the schedule and think, well, maybe we can beat Air Force, and that was the only sure bet. The times as an Independent and in the Metro 7 in hoops were SMU bleak.

 

[Boaty1]

The whole thing with Qua is so overblown. Kelly Campbell didn't look much different at the end of his career either ... because they weren't trying to be Schwarzenegger, they were trying to be fast and agile ... and they succeeded. How did that lean body look when it was soaring into the UGAg endzone from the 3 yardline to put the winning dagger into their hearts??? I didn't hear anyone complaining about Qua's weightroom routine then. Keith Marshall trolled so many GT fans - we should be smarter than that! I would've wanted to tell Keith, "If Qua is so weak, what does that say about the entire UGAg defense in '16, Stupid. I guess your brother Marcus didn't workout when he was at GT either; hard to believe he could run over so many Ugag defenders in '16 too."

People are going so overboard about the bowl loss too. We lost our bowl game in '08 badly, we lost in '13 badly ... it happens, and you know what we did the next year in both those cases? Went to the freakin' Orange Bowl. That bowl game didn't mean squat as far as future success. If CPJ had stayed or we'd gotten Monken, I'd bet a lot of money GT would be highly successful going forward in the short term because we had 2 special QB's coming up (Graham and Yates), which is really all it took for CPJ's program to go up to that level in the great years. One or two players took us to eliteness. The program wasn't in some crazy decline to little-league as some are trying to write the narrative.

24-25 over the last 4 years is a simple fact. It’s the worst 4 year stretch since Bill Lewis was roaming the sidelines. Trying to spin that as anything other than a program on the decline is just not reality to the average on looker. I get this board was great during the Johnson years. Many very knowledgeable posters provided great insight into what we were doing and it really galvanized this board behind the coach. I think many are having a tough time letting go on this board.

 

[Boaty1]

I think it is a good hire.
However, what will he be able to do, to not only recruit , but make sure these 6'5 350lb lineman can even qualify academically ?
How is his recruiting MO any different than what we have experienced?
I realize it's all about presentation, but still, you can't polish a turd.

I’m confused. Did you just call our program a turd?

 

[Madison Grant]

I think it is a good hire.
However, what will he be able to do, to not only recruit , but make sure these 6'5 350lb lineman can even qualify academically ?
How is his recruiting MO any different than what we have experienced?
I realize it's all about presentation, but still, you can't polish a turd.

2007. I'm still waiting for the naysayers to explain to me how that class happened if we 'can't do this and can't do that'.

 

[inGTwetrust]

2007. I'm still waiting for the naysayers to explain to me how that class happened if we 'can't do this and can't do that'.

1 year ... I think top 30-35 annually is more realistic and every blue moon the stars will align for a 2007 type class.

 

[Lawyer mark]

Part of benefit of a slight improvement in recruiting is good players will find field sooner here. Less depth and they will develop faster due to getting the reps. My theory anyways...

 

[Madison Grant]

1 year ... I think top 30-35 annually is more realistic and every blue moon the stars will align for a 2007 type class.

Mostly agree. I think we can do 20-30 now, and that puts us on a talent level with any team in our conference division. But you never know. String together a few years like 2014, and we could change our program's fortune for a longer time period. As some have pointed out on here, sometimes it is as simple as getting one dynamic player at QB or RB.