DL could be really, really good

[dressedcheeseside]

I don't know how you define average. I think JHD being a solid player (assuming grades) is pretty good. He should contribute a good bit if eligible. The rest of the guys I have hope in, but we were REALLY bad last year on the line. I think around #70 in sacks and tackles for loss if not worse. And we gave up something like 6+ yards rushing per play (excuse the stats, they are off the top of my head). We were bad in most DL metrics.

I like the optimism, but even getting JHD back, and even assuming a good deal of improvement up front, you are looking at an average or slightly above average line. I think that's probably all we need to give our offense some chances, especially if the sack total goes up. Realistically, you are going to see the turnover rate come down some so we will need the D to step up at the line.

I expected skepticism so that's why I said the words "could" in the title and "average" and "most" in the final sentence. I think Keshun being bigger and better, Gotsis and Gamble being "incrementally" better, Simmons and Merriweather getting a little bigger yet staying fast, and getting something/anything from the freshman stand a "better than average" chance of happening. That is "most" of the items I listed originally. JHD and Kallon being major contributors is below average, imo.

My main point is that GT fans generally expect bad things to happen and not the opposite when the possibility exists for both. Heck, most guys expected JT to struggle last year and he exceeded expectations. I'm not saying we should expect a very good DL, only to acknowledge the possibility.

 

[dubjacket]

If these guys are way better I think we will see a monster year from Gotsis because he won't be facing the double teams!

 

[deeeznutz]

I live in a state whose motto is "To be, not to seem", a dig at those north and south, of us, and there has been too much seeming. Another thread ponders the otherwise innocuous question of who will have the best offense in the league; GT and UNC are expected to more or less duke it out. The better discussion might be who will have the worst defense, and there again UNC and GT may go to the mat. The coaches have to demand high standards and achievement. We may have to deal with reality, meaning maybe we'd better have the best offense. A 4th or 5th cup of coffee will brighten my day, but any thought of moving higher than the 7th or 8th we finished in the polls in '14 has to begin with a rebuilt defense. I'd love to see it, because a D that can hold for three or even four TDs will have us in the hunt.

Aren't you just a ray of freaking sunshine. You must be a blast to watch games with, always waiting for things to go south. We won our division last year playing our best football on both sides of the ball at the end of the season, have 8/11 starters returning (one loss at each level), and have some legitimately talented players either adding in (Jabari & Kendarius) or rising up, yet you still feel the need to try and crap on the people looking optimistically at the upcoming season. Maybe you'll be able to relax and enjoy the ride when they finally legalize the green up where you live.

 

[Jerry the Jacket]

DressedCheeseSide is getting his mind right. If our defense follows suit, they will be talking GT football 24 / 7 come late September 2015.

Go Jackets!

 

[Skeptic]

Aren't you just a ray of freaking sunshine. You must be a blast to watch games with, always waiting for things to go south. We won our division last year playing our best football on both sides of the ball at the end of the season, have 8/11 starters returning (one loss at each level), and have some legitimately talented players either adding in (Jabari & Kendarius) or rising up, yet you still feel the need to try and crap on the people looking optimistically at the upcoming season. Maybe you'll be able to relax and enjoy the ride when they finally legalize the green up where you live.

I am optimistic, too. Just not about the defense.

 

[Eastman]

but even getting JHD back, and even assuming a good deal of improvement up front, you are looking at an average or slightly above average line. I

Candidly, with an average or slightly above average line I think our defense will be above average and with the talent on offense, we will have another great year. If Kallon and Jabari shine then the sky is the limit.

 

[DCSS]

I live in a state whose motto is "To be, not to seem", a dig at those north and south, of us, and there has been too much seeming. Another thread ponders the otherwise innocuous question of who will have the best offense in the league; GT and UNC are expected to more or less duke it out. The better discussion might be who will have the worst defense, and there again UNC and GT may go to the mat. The coaches have to demand high standards and achievement. We may have to deal with reality, meaning maybe we'd better have the best offense. A 4th or 5th cup of coffee will brighten my day, but any thought of moving higher than the 7th or 8th we finished in the polls in '14 has to begin with a rebuilt defense. I'd love to see it, because a D that can hold for three or even four TDs will have us in the hunt.

Esse quam videri

The North Carolina state motto.

"To be, not to seem" was actually their second choice after "UNC sucks balls."

 

[Jean-Baptiste Rochambeau]

It's been said many times that if Paul Johnson could get a Defense that would end up in the Top 30 or so; at least make stops more consistently than they have his first seasons, then the Yellow Jackets would have a chance to contend for Championships because our Offense has been consistently effective.

I said last season that I thought 2014 would be the springboard for a run at a National Championship in 2015, and I thought it would happen because the Defense would be under Ted Roof's control for a full three seasons, meaning the players should be playing instinctively rather than thinking so much, he'd be abe to put in more of his playbook, and he'd have had a chance to "cycle-out" Al Groh's 3-4 "players" (he recruited players for a 3-4 alignment that were different physically and different "positions"). Also, in 2015, I knew it was going to be a more experienced defense.

I anticipated the team would play better last season than most sportswriters were projecting, thinking 9 wins was very realistic, and that they had a good chance for a Top 25 ranking at the end of the season. I was concerned that Justin Thomas might need a bit of time getting acclimated to the speed of the game early, and I knew the back-end of the schedule was difficult and we've historically had injuries, which I was concerned might cost us a win or two. I was thrilled they exceeded even my expectations, and I stand by statements that I think they are well positioned to win it all next year.

Assuming a second straight New Year's Six (or better) bowl win, and a second straight Top Ten ranking, and the defense is the featured facet, does Roof get a head coaching gig?

 

[DCSS]

Assuming a second straight New Year's Six (or better) bowl win, and a second straight Top Ten ranking, and the defense is the featured facet, does Roof get a head coaching gig?

He's tried that before. I guess anything is possible, but people who know Ted have said on this and other forums that he's happy here.

 

[redmule]

I remember reading many years ago something that Bear Bryant said. WTTE that the field between the 20's is for the fans, the field between the 20's and the goal line is to decide the winner. On offense, I'd take us over just about anybody else when we get inside the 20's. On defense, my recollection is we were pretty stout inside the 20's last year. Would be interesting to know what percent of the points we gave up came from outside the 20. The back seven (where we have more success recruiting) come into play more when the field is short. Bend but don't break, don't give up the home runs, control the field from the 20's to the goal and score TD's while the other team is scoring FG's, play for the turnover, eliminate stupid penalties, eat up the clock and minimize the other team's possessions, kickoff into the end zone, have good punt coverage. Not a bad strategy for winning games, and all of those are very doable with our offense and our current talent level on defense. We do those things consistently, and we put ourselves in position to win 9-10 games. I think that's where we are now. To get the other couple of wins and make the playoffs, you need some luck, scheduling help, a couple of three stars that develop into five stars, or a down year for some of the dwags, tiggers, tar holes, turkeys, semiholes, and blowhards. I think that may sound harder than it actually is given where the program is now. Self confidence is a key ingredient to success. I think in the past that may have been lacking, but hopefully is now ours.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

All excellent points. The defense is, I think, at a "show me" point. Roof is in his 3rd year with a new contract, and in the ACCC game and Orange Bowl it surrendered 74 points and lord knows how much yardage. (I know one of the MSU TDs was kind of funky, but it counted for six points.) It's true they played better inside the 20, when a constricted field of play helped enormously, but giving up 600 or so yards elsewhere is not a formula to build on. Got my fingers crossed.

Orange Bowl points and yards given up did not bother me at all. Tech had essentially won the game by the 3rd quarter and was "allowing" Missy State to take the long road to catching up (a very smart defensive strategy) which meant they would have needed at least two more quarters to catch up at that rate and that is only if Tech decided to quite scoring touchdowns every time they had the ball. As it was, Missy State tacked on a bunch of big offensive numbers that meant nothing.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

I remember reading many years ago something that Bear Bryant said. WTTE that the field between the 20's is for the fans, the field between the 20's and the goal line is to decide the winner. On offense, I'd take us over just about anybody else when we get inside the 20's. On defense, my recollection is we were pretty stout inside the 20's last year. Would be interesting to know what percent of the points we gave up came from outside the 20. The back seven (where we have more success recruiting) come into play more when the field is short. Bend but don't break, don't give up the home runs, control the field from the 20's to the goal and score TD's while the other team is scoring FG's, play for the turnover, eliminate stupid penalties, eat up the clock and minimize the other team's possessions, kickoff into the end zone, have good punt coverage. Not a bad strategy for winning games, and all of those are very doable with our offense and our current talent level on defense. We do those things consistently, and we put ourselves in position to win 9-10 games. I think that's where we are now. To get the other couple of wins and make the playoffs, you need some luck, scheduling help, a couple of three stars that develop into five stars, or a down year for some of the dwags, tiggers, tar holes, turkeys, semiholes, and blowhards. I think that may sound harder than it actually is given where the program is now. Self confidence is a key ingredient to success. I think in the past that may have been lacking, but hopefully is now ours.

Could not agree more. I am probably in the minority but I liked our defensive strategy last year. We made the most of a talent deficit and schemed each game in a way that gave us the maximum chance of winning. If that same defense improves a little here and tightens up a little there, Tech will be opposing coach's worst nightmare, a team that does not beat itself and a team that you are going to have to play a perfect game against to beat.

 

[Skeptic]

I remember reading many years ago something that Bear Bryant said. WTTE that the field between the 20's is for the fans, the field between the 20's and the goal line is to decide the winner. On offense, I'd take us over just about anybody else when we get inside the 20's. On defense, my recollection is we were pretty stout inside the 20's last year. Would be interesting to know what percent of the points we gave up came from outside the 20. The back seven (where we have more success recruiting) come into play more when the field is short. Bend but don't break, don't give up the home runs, control the field from the 20's to the goal and score TD's while the other team is scoring FG's, play for the turnover, eliminate stupid penalties, eat up the clock and minimize the other team's possessions, kickoff into the end zone, have good punt coverage. Not a bad strategy for winning games, and all of those are very doable with our offense and our current talent level on defense. We do those things consistently, and we put ourselves in position to win 9-10 games. I think that's where we are now. To get the other couple of wins and make the playoffs, you need some luck, scheduling help, a couple of three stars that develop into five stars, or a down year for some of the dwags, tiggers, tar holes, turkeys, semiholes, and blowhards. I think that may sound harder than it actually is given where the program is now. Self confidence is a key ingredient to success. I think in the past that may have been lacking, but hopefully is now ours.

Hard to disagree with about anything here, but just to note: in the first half against FSU we held the ball almost 20 minutes. They had it 10. They led, 28-21. Ball control has to be accompanied by defense.

 

[Longestday]

Keep in mind so much can change in a year. Snoddy was counted out at one point, but last year he broke out.

 

[DCSS]

Keep in mind so much can change in a year. Snoddy was counted out at one point, but last year he broke out.

I don't like your choice of words in that last sentence.

 

[AE 87]

We have reasons to be optimistic but shouldn't rewrite history. We were #111 in points/dr allowed. We did ok in redzone D, #26 in TD% allowed.

We must have given up a lot of long tds

 

[dressedcheeseside]

We have reasons to be optimistic but shouldn't rewrite history. We were #111 in points/dr allowed. We did ok in redzone D, #26 in TD% allowed.

We must have given up a lot of long tds

#26 is pretty darn good considering.

 

[DCSS]

Also, didn't Roof leave linebacker U to take the same position here? I don't think he's leaving any time soon.

 

[gtalltheway]

Our biggest problem last year was our line not winning the line of scrimmage and getting pressure on the qb very often which allowed qbs to pick us apart at times when we actually have good athletic dbs, if kallon steps up and freeman stays playing solid ball with whitehead on the other side and having Gotsis plus if hunt-days is eligible and plays like they say he is,we will be in good shape I saw coach pelton at the gym and he said that hunt-days is so atheletic and moves so good I honestly think if these guys play well and up to their potential it could change our defense tramedously from last year to this year because they will own the line of scrimmage and make qbs uncomfortable plus it will give roof the ability to do more stunts and move guys around if he wants and this will help out our dbs and lbs so I don't really see it being out of the ordinary for this to happen and I won't be surprised by it at all

 

[jacket fan in dairyland]

I am cautiously optimistic about this team. I have said for years , we had good ( not great ) players , but what we needed was playmakers. Last year we actually had some : DJ White , Jamal Golden, Keshun Freeman among others on defense.
JT , Smelter, Laskey , Mason and others on the offense. I am hopeful that the attitude that made last year's team special continues this year . With continued hard work, confidence , and a no-quit attitude, I feel we may have another great year. We won't crown ourselves National Champs as some team's fans in Georgia would do, but just remain quietly confident as the season approaches.