Depth Chart is Here

[Boomergump]

My thoughts.


WR - lots of inexperience. Wouldn't surprise me to see this be a strength in the coming years, but I fear that it will be our weak link on offense this year. Need to avoid situations where we are forced to throw imo.

-

I hear you. To be honest, I don't have any fear about the situation necessarily. However, I do feel the least well informed about this position compared to the others. My direct observation of this group is minimal. On the positive side, WR is one of those positions that is easiest to have an impact without a ton of experience. Hopefully that will be the case. There are freshman receivers all over the country making impacts every year. In our offense, there is a premium placed on blocking and high pointing. That makes us even a greater wild card because I am not sure most WRs in HS are getting a ton of blocking attention in their development. Most guys starting at WR in HS are two way players and can be seen "taking plays off" just to save energy when they are not getting the ball.

 

[LargeFO]

I doubt we are redshirting Marcus Marshall at this point. He will probably come in pretty quickly Thursday night after Skov.

 

[ATL1]

Marcus may start.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

... How was our class not ranked any higher?

All this shows is that our 3 stars this year are better (on average) than the three stars in the last two classes. What we very well could see over the years is a re-ranking like happened with our 2007 class.

Seriously, we beat up the recruiting ranking ideas two and three years ago pretty good. We don't get many 4 or 5 stars since they "know" they are going to the NFL and want to focus on that rather than a college education.

Just makes winning that much sweeter. Especially against the Fulmer Cup champs to the NE.

 

[stinger 1957]

A few thoughts.

Not suprised at all to see Jabari as starting NT. He is the best athlete we have on the DL. Best feet, best hand fighting, and most quickness. Any talk to the contrary was just related to him having to learn his role and "earn" the position. C'mon folks, it's obvious. We are much better off being able to push Gamble to SDE. He will come off the field in obvious passing downs, but he is our best option out there. We need the physicality and size to set the edge better.

I am happy to see that Kallon has held off the freshman for the #2 spot. They are real football players with a longer history in the game than he has. Good for him. It means he has come along some.

I am glad to see Alford in the mix in LB group, but he is the guy coming off the field in the nickel situation. Still, his role is huge. Stopping the run is no joke.

I am not surprised to see Whitehead left off. I was a little underwhelmed by him in a scrimmage I saw last year. He is light in the pants and probably just overtaken by the other kids. It happens. He will have a long time to prove himself. Raising the bar is good for the team, even if it causes casualties.

I am surprised by TaQuan. Hey, maybe he is pretty good at dumping DBs on their heads. We will need it.

Think about RG on offense for a minute. Shamire can push you around at the point of attack like nobody's business and Klock is so athletic he can pull into space with the best of them. What a tandem! Fire and ice.

Why not sometimes play Gamble at NT and put JHD at DE, he could be a real destroyer there seems to me, more than a lot of OTs could handle, move the pieces around a lot depending on situation. I bet CMP is licking his chops over all the possibilities he now has, what a difference a year and one player plus a few others can make!!!

 

[Boomergump]

Why not sometimes play Gamble at NT and put JHD at DE, he could be a real destroyer there seems to me, more than a lot of OTs could handle, move the pieces around a lot depending on situation. I bet CMP is licking his chops over all the possibilities he now has, what a difference a year and one player plus a few others can make!!!

Interesting thought.

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

Wonder if we can go jumbo some this year with Hunt Gamble Kallon Gotsis.

 

[mndojckt]

I know most people don't pay attention to the long snapper... Tobin is a senior and has done a fantastic job... Stroebel is a junior but has never used a redshirt... they have Casey Wilson (a redshirt freshman preferred walk on) listed as the backup there, but Stroebel is still listed on the roster. Is TS redshirting this year to give him 2 more years?

He got injured and is missing the first few games I think

 

[FatPat]

I love it when you guys talk special teams- makes me think of 50 plus field goals, broken hedges and just makes me want to walk around feeding fish in my naked room!!

 

[strong90]

Great to see the Fr showing up at the skill positions on O. It's an indication of the talent that we're getting in the door and bodes well for the future of our offense. However, the future can wait; this is the year.

Many have said 2017, but the stars are aligned for us now. A strong & experienced OL, national media attention, nationwide fan support, and a schedule that would test any team. Have you noticed that football fans across the country, including SEC folks (outside of the ignorant sidewalk hydrant pissers), respect us...even like us?! We have a reputation for old-school smash-mouth football, wide receiver U, SEC spoiler, and student athletes who take calculus. We are "in the discussion" so to speak, and I think a few big wins this year puts us on the radar for several years to come. It's great to be a Yellow Jacket and our time is now.

My only reservation is our D...championships simply aren't won without a respected, if not dominant, Defense. While it's exciting to see some new names on the depth chart, let's not forget where we came from. My exuberance is dampened by the fact that, with few exceptions, we are seeing the same Hancocks on the field that we've seen before. I don't say that to criticize any individual on our team, but we simply weren't as good as we should be. This year experience helps, and I'm confident that JHD is a game-changer, but how much difference can one player make on a team that struggled (cough, cough) so much last year? I understand the implications of his impact with regard to the pass rush, double-teams, freeing up LBs, and time allowed the DBs to maintain coverage...but still....it's just one dude. Maybe his dominance will allow us to play wildly aggressive (which I like) and that changes everything. Hope so... but I'm merely cautiously optimistic.

It's been said that the biggest indicators of success in college football is the level of experience of the OL and/or the effectiveness of the D. We have one...can we have both?

Hope so, but the time is now.

 

[BabyJacket1990]

Great to see the Fr showing up at the skill positions on O. It's an indication of the talent that we're getting in the door and bodes well for the future of our offense. However, the future can wait; this is the year.

Many have said 2017, but the stars are aligned for us now. A strong & experienced OL, national media attention, nationwide fan support, and a schedule that would test any team. Have you noticed that football fans across the country, including SEC folks (outside of the ignorant sidewalk hydrant pissers), respect us...even like us?! We have a reputation for old-school smash-mouth football, wide receiver U, SEC spoiler, and student athletes who take calculus. We are "in the discussion" so to speak, and I think a few big wins this year puts us on the radar for several years to come. It's great to be a Yellow Jacket and our time is now.

My only reservation is our D...championships simply aren't won without a respected, if not dominant, Defense. While it's exciting to see some new names on the depth chart, let's not forget where we came from. My exuberance is dampened by the fact that, with few exceptions, we are seeing the same Hancocks on the field that we've seen before. I don't say that to criticize any individual on our team, but we simply weren't as good as we should be. This year experience helps, and I'm confident that JHD is a game-changer, but how much difference can one player make on a team that struggled (cough, cough) so much last year? I understand the implications of his impact with regard to the pass rush, double-teams, freeing up LBs, and time allowed the DBs to maintain coverage...but still....it's just one dude. Maybe his dominance will allow us to play wildly aggressive (which I like) and that changes everything. Hope so... but I'm merely cautiously optimistic.

It's been said that the biggest indicators of success in college football is the level of experience of the OL and/or the effectiveness of the D. We have one...can we have both?

Hope so, but the time is now.

Really good post ! @CuseJacket give this man some points for this.

 

[GTonTop88]

My thoughts.

QB - no surprise.
BB- surprised Skov is the starter to be honest. No experience in our offense, minimal rushing experience in college, and will only be here one year. Get the feeling he won the job through ball security, letting OL and QB play be the driving force behind picking up the yards. Anyways should be fine, but I hope we decide early whether to RS Marshall or not. Him being tied for 2nd has me thinking the coaches are trying to make up their mind on that.
AB - I think this could be the year that we finally see a true stud AB emerge. I could see us using WRs to run in plays and allow Snoddy and Willis to be in on most plays. We've had some good performances, but never gotten more than 744 yards, from Godhigh, from a single ABack. Possible AB leading rusher?
OL - Looks filthy. Lots of experience.
WR - lots of inexperience. Wouldn't surprise me to see this be a strength in the coming years, but I fear that it will be our weak link on offense this year. Need to avoid situations where we are forced to throw imo.

DL - Freeman, Gotsis, and Days look to be a very strong front, and I think either Gamble or Chungong will be a a good complimentary piece. I imagine Kallon will be playing both the DT and NT spots, so I look for him to have a breakthrough year as well.
LBs - Like Davis. I think this group is solid, but probably the weakest of the defensive units.
DBs-

Can't afford to RS Marshall at this point. If CJ and Quaide were healthy and had a full camp maybe, but not now.

 

[BabyJacket1990]

Can't afford to RS Marshall at this point. If CJ and Quaide were healthy and had a full camp maybe, but not now.

I look for CJ to be a-back at some point.

 

[Skeptic]

Great to see the Fr showing up at the skill positions on O. It's an indication of the talent that we're getting in the door and bodes well for the future of our offense. However, the future can wait; this is the year.

Many have said 2017, but the stars are aligned for us now. A strong & experienced OL, national media attention, nationwide fan support, and a schedule that would test any team. Have you noticed that football fans across the country, including SEC folks (outside of the ignorant sidewalk hydrant pissers), respect us...even like us?! We have a reputation for old-school smash-mouth football, wide receiver U, SEC spoiler, and student athletes who take calculus. We are "in the discussion" so to speak, and I think a few big wins this year puts us on the radar for several years to come. It's great to be a Yellow Jacket and our time is now.

My only reservation is our D...championships simply aren't won without a respected, if not dominant, Defense. While it's exciting to see some new names on the depth chart, let's not forget where we came from. My exuberance is dampened by the fact that, with few exceptions, we are seeing the same Hancocks on the field that we've seen before. I don't say that to criticize any individual on our team, but we simply weren't as good as we should be. This year experience helps, and I'm confident that JHD is a game-changer, but how much difference can one player make on a team that struggled (cough, cough) so much last year? I understand the implications of his impact with regard to the pass rush, double-teams, freeing up LBs, and time allowed the DBs to maintain coverage...but still....it's just one dude. Maybe his dominance will allow us to play wildly aggressive (which I like) and that changes everything. Hope so... but I'm merely cautiously optimistic.

It's been said that the biggest indicators of success in college football is the level of experience of the OL and/or the effectiveness of the D. We have one...can we have both?

Hope so, but the time is now.

Can't argue with much of it, but in Hunt-Days case, if Shaq Mason is to be believed, less is gonna be a lot more. If he turns out that well, Tech will be anchored at the D tackles with two mobile and aggressive attackers requiring some double teams and giving Freeman, et al, some relief and at long last, Tech putting pressure on a QB. Only an astonishing performance by the offense in the OB kept that thing from being unnecessarily close because that QB simply took the snape, rocked back on his back foot, and waited for a receiver -- or two -- to pop open. Had he not run the ball a couple of times he wouldn't have mussed his jersey. In my mind HD = quarterback pressure, and that is all to the good of the defense.

 

[gtg936g]

JHD at NT seems the best to me against spread teams. I think the hope is that he will require a double team by the G-C combo. In most spread formations there are 5 offensive linemen to block 4. If they can be blocked with 4 the C or G picks up a LB blitz. If it takes 5 to block 4 DL the offense has to add a TE or RB to pick up pressure. This allows the defense to play more zone since they have a numbers advantage. The spread teams try to get their best WRs one on one in man coverage. If you can take that away you can take away a lot of big plays. I think what we saw last year is that our secondary guys are not outmatched from a speed/skill perspective even when they are in man coverage.

 

[33jacket]

just remember jhd has never taken one snap at NT in D1A live football....I see him making his impact after multiple games. Is it 3? 6? 8? I don't know. Erin Joe came on after 7 or so games.....

Bottom line is, we needed DT depth and got it. And it appears he has a skillset to be good...when do we see it consistently...who knows. Don't expect Suh. My guess is Sean Green with more athleticism at first and maybe blossoms into Vance Walker or Anoia etc

 

[Boomergump]

Great to see the Fr showing up at the skill positions on O. It's an indication of the talent that we're getting in the door and bodes well for the future of our offense. However, the future can wait; this is the year.

Many have said 2017, but the stars are aligned for us now. A strong & experienced OL, national media attention, nationwide fan support, and a schedule that would test any team. Have you noticed that football fans across the country, including SEC folks (outside of the ignorant sidewalk hydrant pissers), respect us...even like us?! We have a reputation for old-school smash-mouth football, wide receiver U, SEC spoiler, and student athletes who take calculus. We are "in the discussion" so to speak, and I think a few big wins this year puts us on the radar for several years to come. It's great to be a Yellow Jacket and our time is now.

My only reservation is our D...championships simply aren't won without a respected, if not dominant, Defense. While it's exciting to see some new names on the depth chart, let's not forget where we came from. My exuberance is dampened by the fact that, with few exceptions, we are seeing the same Hancocks on the field that we've seen before. I don't say that to criticize any individual on our team, but we simply weren't as good as we should be. This year experience helps, and I'm confident that JHD is a game-changer, but how much difference can one player make on a team that struggled (cough, cough) so much last year? I understand the implications of his impact with regard to the pass rush, double-teams, freeing up LBs, and time allowed the DBs to maintain coverage...but still....it's just one dude. Maybe his dominance will allow us to play wildly aggressive (which I like) and that changes everything. Hope so... but I'm merely cautiously optimistic.

It's been said that the biggest indicators of success in college football is the level of experience of the OL and/or the effectiveness of the D. We have one...can we have both?

Hope so, but the time is now.

This is an outstanding post btw, outstanding and well thought. I agree with you wholeheartedly that defense wins championships and that without marked improvement on that side of the ball we are highly unlikely to make noise on the national level. The long history of our sport makes that point very clear. I also agree with you that Hunt (I believe he is going by Hunt now, no?) is only one guy and this is a team game. I offer you this as a mitigating thought: if you had to make defensive improvements on our team (pretty much ANY team really) with just one guy, you would want that ONE GUY to be a DT. My firmly held belief is that good defenses are built from the inside out. Good DTs are like a good foundation to a house. Without it, no house is worth the value of the rest of the materials. Hunt's impact is obviously yet to be seen. I am hopeful in his case.

If you dissect what was going wrong with us last year on defense it basically revolves around two main things: inability to get pressure on the QB without sending the house and inability to consistently hold point in the trenches making run fits for LBs difficult. This one guy has a chance to help in those areas. First and foremost, having Hunt (and the development of Kallon and the addition of psuedo ready freshman) allows us to move Gamble out to DE. He did a much better job of holding point and setting a firm edge than the others. In my mind this is a huge factor. I believe Hunt will be enough of a pest on the inside to draw quite a few double-teams. He is laterally quick enough that a single guy will be really challenged to get a hat on him in the right way. When that happens, the numbers structure changes for the rest of the defense in a favorable way.

To take this even further, I don't beleive it will be just ONE GUY helping to make a difference. We were thin, young, and inexperienced along that front line last year. Freeman was a good player, for a freshman, but lets be real, if we had the kind of quality depth at that postion as most teams do, he would have worn a shirt. It is my opinion that he was not truly physically ready to play at the level that he is going to play moving forward. He was undersized and not quite physical enough, forcing him to simply rely on his athleticism and tenacity to survive. He is a stock that you would have wanted to buy in 2014. That is for sure. Most players make their biggest jump between year 1 and year 2. Last year's experience and this year's work in the weight room has a chance to really pay off. You may feel like that is the end of the list but other guys were forced into service before they were ready too, guys like Simmons and Merriweather, who are both very athletic players.

I don't really know what we have in Whitehead, but it seems to me we will get to the passer better this season, with him or without him.

Having the same "Hancocks" (love the expression) in the defensive backfield this year is a good thing for us, not a bad thing. I think they were dealt a very bad hand last year. They are good players who did the best they could. You can't "fold 'em" in football and wait for the next hand. You just have to do your best and play through it. Staying coverage against elite athletes for ridiculous periods of time is pretty much impossible for anybody.

Who knows really? We may finish this season and I will be one disappointed dude in terms of our defense. However, I honestly don't believe that will be the case. Having watched a ton of DVR replay last year and seeing how things broke down, I can visualize the improvement I am trying to describe quite easily. If I can see it, I know the coaches and the players can see it. We just have to go do it.

 

[Jean-Baptiste Rochambeau]

http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools...depth_chart_event/depth_chart_20150828aaa.pdf

Go Jackets!

Relatively light in the DL, and no killers at LB. Hope Ted has some schemes ready.

 

[strong90]

Can't argue with much of it, but in Hunt-Days case, if Shaq Mason is to be believed, less is gonna be a lot more. If he turns out that well, Tech will be anchored at the D tackles with two mobile and aggressive attackers requiring some double teams and giving Freeman, et al, some relief and at long last, Tech putting pressure on a QB. Only an astonishing performance by the offense in the OB kept that thing from being unnecessarily close because that QB simply took the snape, rocked back on his back foot, and waited for a receiver -- or two -- to pop open. Had he not run the ball a couple of times he wouldn't have mussed his jersey. In my mind HD = quarterback pressure, and that is all to the good of the defense.

Hope you're right about the difference JHD will make. Nothing more nerve-racking than watching the opposing qb stand flat-footed while checking literally all of his reads. Meanwhile, and painfully ironic, we're counting a slow 5 Mississippi before we even begin to pressure. Unfortunately, it wasn't just against Ms St. There were times I thought our rush D was pretty good last year, but I still cringed with every snap.
I want to believe that we will be demonstrably better on D but I'm not sure we can fix it without some new parts.

 

[AE 87]

This is an outstanding post btw, outstanding and well thought. I agree with you wholeheartedly that defense wins championships and that without marked improvement on that side of the ball we are highly unlikely to make noise on the national level. The long history of our sport makes that point very clear. I also agree with you that Hunt (I believe he is going by Hunt now, no?) is only one guy and this is a team game. I offer you this as a mitigating thought: if you had to make defensive improvements on our team (pretty much ANY team really) with just one guy, you would want that ONE GUY to be a DT. My firmly held belief is that good defenses are built from the inside out. Good DTs are like a good foundation to a house. Without it, no house is worth the value of the rest of the materials. Hunt's impact is obviously yet to be seen. I am hopeful in his case.

If you dissect what was going wrong with us last year on defense it basically revolves around two main things: inability to get pressure on the QB without sending the house and inability to consistently hold point in the trenches making run fits for LBs difficult. This one guy has a chance to help in those areas. First and foremost, having Hunt (and the development of Kallon and the addition of psuedo ready freshman) allows us to move Gamble out to DE. He did a much better job of holding point and setting a firm edge than the others. In my mind this is a huge factor. I believe Hunt will be enough of a pest on the inside to draw quite a few double-teams. He is laterally quick enough that a single guy will be really challenged to get a hat on him in the right way. When that happens, the numbers structure changes for the rest of the defense in a favorable way.

To take this even further, I don't beleive it will be just ONE GUY helping to make a difference. We were thin, young, and inexperienced along that front line last year. Freeman was a good player, for a freshman, but lets be real, if we had the kind of quality depth at that postion as most teams do, he would have worn a shirt. It is my opinion that he was not truly physically ready to play at the level that he is going to play moving forward. He was undersized and not quite physical enough, forcing him to simply rely on his athleticism and tenacity to survive. He is a stock that you would have wanted to buy in 2014. That is for sure. Most players make their biggest jump between year 1 and year 2. Last year's experience and this year's work in the weight room has a chance to really pay off. You may feel like that is the end of the list but other guys were forced into service before they were ready too, guys like Simmons and Merriweather, who are both very athletic players.

I don't really know what we have in Whitehead, but it seems to me we will get to the passer better this season, with him or without him.

Having the same "Hancocks" (love the expression) in the defensive backfield this year is a good thing for us, not a bad thing. I think they were dealt a very bad hand last year. They are good players who did the best they could. You can't "fold 'em" in football and wait for the next hand. You just have to do your best and play through it. Staying coverage against elite athletes for ridiculous periods of time is pretty much impossible for anybody.

Who knows really? We may finish this season and I will be one disappointed dude in terms of our defense. However, I honestly don't believe that will be the case. Having watched a ton of DVR replay last year and seeing how things broke down, I can visualize the improvement I am trying to describe quite easily. If I can see it, I know the coaches and the players can see it. We just have to go do it.

I hope you're right. My take on our problems on D is not that simple. I think our LBs often lacked gap discipline, and our DBs often lacked eye discipline. Maybe we were trying to compensate and to make a play thru freelancing, but I don't think it was just good play getting beat because Green wasn't Hunt. Jmo