Collins - Expectations and time to get things right?

Whiskey_Clear

Banned
Messages
10,486
So we should have no fall off despite a complete overhaul on both sides of the ball?

I think it would be silly to expect there will be none. CGC first year should be a freebie. If it sucks it will be disappointing regardless. If year two sucks also we will be in big trouble and year 3 will have to be good, period.

I do not at all foresee things playing out that bad. This staff looks solid to my untrained eye. There is a buzz of excitement I think the coaches will benefit from onnthe field and onnthe recruiting trail.

I think if we are surprised by results next year it will actually be surprise in how positive year one turns out. If we post two bad years out of the gate I’ll be shocked.
 

bke1984

Helluva Engineer
Messages
3,419
A lot of you seem to be ok with sub-500 seasons. I’m not in that camp. We should have enough talent for 6-6 to be the floor. If we go 5-7 next year I’ll be disappointed. 4-8 and I’ll be pissed.
 

GT_EE78

Banned
Messages
3,605
talent level. just saw this this morning i think it paints a pretty accurate picture.
to get to the top 10/20/30 . I estimated what we need talentwise by averaging the at level with one below and above for 4+5 star athletes
10th/20th/30th rankings has 44/28/14 4+5 star athletes. WE currently have 3 and are ranked 50th.
moving up the ladder by about 7 per year could get us to 30th,20th, then 10th in about 2 years each.
https://247sports.com/Season/2018-F...edium=ExternalEmbed&utm_campaign=TeamRankings

CPJ left the cupboard pretty bare for talent but since he was at about the 80th percentile of the P5 talentwise while winning 50% of P5 games, this supports the notion (as others have posted) that he was a good game coach and was coaching them up.
 

Whiskey_Clear

Banned
Messages
10,486
talent level. just saw this this morning i think it paints a pretty accurate picture.
to get to the top 10/20/30 . I estimated what we need talentwise by averaging the at level with one below and above for 4+5 star athletes
10th/20th/30th rankings has 44/28/14 4+5 star athletes. WE currently have 3 and are ranked 50th.
moving up the ladder by about 7 per year could get us to 30th,20th, then 10th in about 2 years each.
https://247sports.com/Season/2018-F...edium=ExternalEmbed&utm_campaign=TeamRankings

CPJ left the cupboard pretty bare for talent but since he was at about the 80th percentile of the P5 talentwise while winning 50% of P5 games, this supports the notion (as others have posted) that he was a good game coach and was coaching them up.

A lot of people thought the cupboard was bare for CPJ entering 2008. It was not until JfN,Dwyer, Bebe, Morgan, Burnett, etc balled out until we realized the cupboard wasn’t actually as bare as many thought.

The same is true now. Let’s see some on field results before we continue to deride how bad our current players are.
 

eetech

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
195
A lot of people thought the cupboard was bare for CPJ entering 2008. It was not until JfN,Dwyer, Bebe, Morgan, Burnett, etc balled out until we realized the cupboard wasn’t actually as bare as many thought.

The same is true now. Let’s see some on field results before we continue to deride how bad our current players are.
The 2008 NFL draft had as many GT picks as the 2018, 2017 and 2016 drafts combined. If the 2008 cupboard was considered bare based on Gaileys historical recruiting then I shudder to think what the 2018 cupboard should be considered.
 

ncjacket79

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,237
A lot of people thought the cupboard was bare for CPJ entering 2008. It was not until JfN,Dwyer, Bebe, Morgan, Burnett, etc balled out until we realized the cupboard wasn’t actually as bare as many thought.

The same is true now. Let’s see some on field results before we continue to deride how bad our current players are.
I don’t remember it quite that way. People were upset that Chan was wasting the talent we had. The surprise was that they picked up what Paul wanted from them so well. This time around I think we have talented players but they were chosen to fit into a system. It remains to be seen if their skill sets can adjust. To me it’s much easier to think you can teach the option to an athletic QB who has been in a passing offense than take someone who has been running the option and make them a passing threat as an example. But we will see.
 

GT_EE78

Banned
Messages
3,605
A lot of people thought the cupboard was bare for CPJ entering 2008. It was not until JfN,Dwyer, Bebe, Morgan, Burnett, etc balled out until we realized the cupboard wasn’t actually as bare as many thought.

Not if you read the recruit rankings. That group was 15th nationally and 3rd acc.
 

GTJake

Banned
Messages
2,066
Location
Fernandina Beach, Florida
I don't think the cupboard was bare at all for CPJ, as a matter of fact that might have been one of his best rosters the year he took over.
The other knock on Gailey was he couldn't coach-up our QB play ...
 

GT_EE78

Banned
Messages
3,605
Coach Collins is coming into a somewhat talent depleted team. We probably do not have the personnel, in place, to run his systems. I do not expect a very good first year. (could be wrong).
With moderately improved passing, i see no reason we can't duplicate last years 5-3 acc record +/- 1. so 4-4 to 6-2 is enough to be competitive in the coastal.
 

okiemon

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,783
talent level. just saw this this morning i think it paints a pretty accurate picture.
to get to the top 10/20/30 . I estimated what we need talentwise by averaging the at level with one below and above for 4+5 star athletes
10th/20th/30th rankings has 44/28/14 4+5 star athletes. WE currently have 3 and are ranked 50th.
moving up the ladder by about 7 per year could get us to 30th,20th, then 10th in about 2 years each.
https://247sports.com/Season/2018-F...edium=ExternalEmbed&utm_campaign=TeamRankings

CPJ left the cupboard pretty bare for talent but since he was at about the 80th percentile of the P5 talentwise while winning 50% of P5 games, this supports the notion (as others have posted) that he was a good game coach and was coaching them up.

Thanks for this analysis. If nothing else, it gives us a yardstick to check our recruiting progress.
 

FlatsLander

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
910
Not being argumentative, but I strongly disagree with the bold comments above

Strong culture don't win FB games at the P5 level, strong, fast players do

Mind rite
I get what you're saying, but typically in a coaching change situation, teams lose traction due to distractions from players making waves in response to how the new coach is doing things. CPJ consistently focused on the team/next man up mentality. Culturally, we won't have much of that type of battle since our team is used to the mentality of making sacrifices to make the team successful. Also, you could say that our talent is sub-par based on the new personnel needs, but I'm sticking with the argument that we've got talent on the roster, we're not "depleted". I guess we'll know what the next couple years may look like after the first few games this fall.
 

Whiskey_Clear

Banned
Messages
10,486
The 2008 NFL draft had as many GT picks as the 2018, 2017 and 2016 drafts combined. If the 2008 cupboard was considered bare based on Gaileys historical recruiting then I shudder to think what the 2018 cupboard should be considered.

NFL draft year - number of GT picks

2000- 3
2001- 0
2002- 2
2003- 1 (Tony Hollings in a supplemental draft)
2004- 5
2005- 0
2006-3
2007 - 2
2008 - 3
2009- 4
2010- 4
2011- 1
2012- 1
2013- 0
2014- 3
2015- 3
2016- 2
2017- 1
2018- 0
2019- (???? I thought Will Bryan would be a lock before he apparently got screwed out of pt for reasons unknown to me. If it truly was because CH is really that good then CH should be a future draft pick. Now WB will need to have good workouts and interviews. Ditto other seniors)

2010 had 4 picks. Those guys were not apparent locks to do so entering 2008. Anyone who says we have no guys who will get drafted in 2020 or 2021 are foolish.

Possible 2021 picks (not locks but possible)

- P Harvin (ok maybe more likely a undrafted fa but only due to position, not talent. Not many punters get drafted but every team has one good one. 4 punters were picked in rounds 5 and 7 in 2018. He has a shot)

- Braun

- Cooper

-Connor Hansen

- Brandon Adams

-Antwan Owens

- Tariq Carpenter

- Benson

- Cotrell

Off the top of my head and not counting freshmen from 2018. (Charlie Thomas and JT specifically)

I guess we can toss any excitement about our 2017 recruiting class since you must deem them all garbage as well.

Keep talking our players down though. They play better with chips on their shoulders.
 

bravejason

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
307
In his last few interviews CPJ kept scoffing at the idea that the players would struggle to fit into the schemes. His opinion was that these guys are football players. He also said that nine of them spent their high school football careers doing what they did in his offense. He was also complimentary of his freshman class.

Now, I know CPJ isn’t going to badmouth the players, but we also know that he is a straight shooter and says what he thinks. If he really thought there would be difficulties, he would have been more circumspect about the situation. So, I am confident that on the whole the team will be fine.

We’ll have the usual troubles that come with adopting a new scheme, of course (particularly on offense where the change will be dramatic), but 6 wins should be doable. The 2018 team was better than its record, IMO, so 6 wins will be a step back, but given that transitions are happening on both sides of the ball, it’s reasonable to expect a small slide.
 

okiemon

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,783
Collins is on espnU radio now

I don’t have XM is there anyway to listen to this or could someone give the highlights

I listened. It was similar to the messages he has given before: this is his dream job, we're going to compete for championships, he has to implement his new roster management system, he kept commitments to those who had committed before he came, etc, etc.

My favorite parts were these:
1. At the beginning of the interview, they played the Ramblin Wreck song, and the show's hosts both talked about how much they love the song.
2. One of the questions was (I'm paraphrasing) "When it comes to recruiting, what are you going to do to compete in the Atlanta, Georgia, and southeast recruiting grounds with 'the big boys' (who the host identified as Clemson, UGA, Bama, and Auburn)? The first thing CGC said in response was, "We ARE one of the big boys."
 
Last edited:

Gold1

Helluva Engineer
Messages
3,359
I listened. It was similar to the messages he has given before: this is his dream job, we're going to compete for championships, he has to implement his new roster management system, he kept commitments to those who had committed before he came, etc, etc.

My favorite parts were these:
1. At the beginning of the interview, they played the Ramblin Wreck song, and the show's hosts both talked about how much they love the song.
2. One of the questions was (I'm paraphrasing) "When it comes to recruiting, what are you going to do to compete in the Atlanta, Georgia, and southeast recruiting grounds with 'the big boys' (who the host identified as Clemson, UGA, Bama, and Auburn)? The first thing CGC said in response was, "We ARE one of the big boys."
Yeah the big boys comment was pretty awesome
 

Whiskey_Clear

Banned
Messages
10,486
Not if you read the recruit rankings. That group was 15th nationally and 3rd acc.

One very good recruiting class prior to Gailey getting fired. None of those guys had proven much of anything on the field prior to 2008. And they were all very young when CPJ arrived. Not a ton of reasons to think Tech was about to out athlete everyone.

If you want to stipulate it looks now like CPJ inherited more elite guys than CGC is I’ll agree. That appears to be the case currently. It won’t be known for a couple of years though. And it’s still very debatable our cupboard is bare. That I don’t buy at all.
 
Top