Expectations for the 2021 season

[SOWEGA Jacket]

I would not give up on GT Football or the players, However the fact is that Coach Geoff Collins would be showing weaknesses in managing games and other non-recruiting elements. I mean the fact is that CGC and GT have gone 6-16 in the last two seasons and that is the worst B2B record in 26 years to top it off 14 were double-digit blowouts and one was to Citadel from the FCS, not to mention he has coached Tech to the largest margin of defeat in modern era (Clemson 73-7). The points allowed were exceeded only by Auburn’s 94-0 win in 1894, Tech’s third season of football. There has yet to be a win over a team that finished with a winning record. I am not expecting Coach Collins to win the ACC or even take us to an OB. But asking him to take a team with far more talent than Coach Johnson had and go .500 in OOC and in ACC play shouldn't be much of a stretch. If he can only squeeze five wins out of a schedule that has him playing:


Kennesaw State
NIU
PItt
Duke
UVA
VT
BC
Miami

I would say if he won only five games this year in year three with all these transfers and the uptick in recruiting than the program is not in a rebuild, it will have been set back. Does it mean that Coach Collins won’t be able to compete for a division title in year four or five? No, with the talent on this team at some point he may. But the issue isn't talent or recruiting....It may just be Coaching! 6 wins in 2021 for me, means that Coach Collins is developing the program in the positive way. But for me I have drawn the line in the sand. I am hopeful CGC can start walking the walk after talking the talk the last few years! ( and no If CGC is not the answer I do not want to go back to the option) I am just saying we need to be coaching everyone up and if we do that we should be able to compete at the .500 level. IMHO it is not a big ask unless you are not a good head coach. (see Ted Roofs Duke era)

We all know this. We hired an unproven head coach to tear down the old and start anew. It’s not like we had a line of high end coaches lining up to take the job. It was either retread guys or an unproven coach. Everyone in the coaching community knew GT was gonna struggle after Johnson and it was compounded by GT having no D1 QB’s on the roster. I’m rooting for Collins but if it doesn’t work out we will be nicely positioned to get a quality coach because we’ll finally have a roster of D1 players. I think Collins will be fine though.

 

[stinger 1957]

I just think everyone on here is pressing a year early, we have one recruiting class that will have college FB experience of one year, way too high expectations, granted the grad transfers could help make a difference and based on expectations on here they will need to make a sizeable difference, I certainly hope they do so. I have never thought we could completely rebuild this program, as we are having to do, in two years. I always thought it would take until CGC's 4th season to have a good record. People don't seem to understand what condition we were in when CGC got here, thus a 7 year contract because of the massive rebuild that CGC needed to do, which tells me somebody did understand, someone that was in the know.

 

[Pointer]

I just think everyone on here is pressing a year early, we have one recruiting class that will have college FB experience of one year, way too high expectations, granted the grad transfers could help make a difference and based on expectations on here they will need to make a sizeable difference, I certainly hope they do so. I have never thought we could completely rebuild this program, as we are having to do, in two years. I always thought it would take until CGC's 4th season to have a good record. People don't seem to understand what condition we were in when CGC got here, thus a 7 year contract because of the massive rebuild that CGC needed to do, which tells me somebody did understand, someone that was in the know.

Yes if you buy into the logic that GT didn't have a football team prior to cgc getting here, then this would hold true.

 

[Coloradojacket]

I just think everyone on here is pressing a year early, we have one recruiting class that will have college FB experience of one year, way too high expectations, granted the grad transfers could help make a difference and based on expectations on here they will need to make a sizeable difference, I certainly hope they do so. I have never thought we could completely rebuild this program, as we are having to do, in two years. I always thought it would take until CGC's 4th season to have a good record. People don't seem to understand what condition we were in when CGC got here, thus a 7 year contract because of the massive rebuild that CGC needed to do, which tells me somebody did understand, someone that was in the know.

Well we were a losing team prior to CGC...wait 2016, 9 win, 2017 5 wins, 2018 7 wins..... That is an average 7 wins over 3 years....CGC...3 wins per year and we are all praying that we get to 6 wins....Rebuild no...different direction...sure..as I call the experiment. We are projected to win 5 this year. But lets, hang our hat on that 49th ranked recruiting class from this past year.....

 

[Coloradojacket]

We all know this. We hired an unproven head coach to tear down the old and start anew. It’s not like we had a line of high end coaches lining up to take the job. It was either retread guys or an unproven coach. Everyone in the coaching community knew GT was gonna struggle after Johnson and it was compounded by GT having no D1 QB’s on the roster. I’m rooting for Collins but if it doesn’t work out we will be nicely positioned to get a quality coach because we’ll finally have a roster of D1 players. I think Collins will be fine though.

I guess al those non D-1 players, that took us to an Orange bowl in 2014 and a Gator bowl in 2016 just were useless. You need to talk to players that played for CPJ. They will tell you a different story. Stars mean crap. Player development is what matters and scheme.

 

[WreckinGT]

I just think everyone on here is pressing a year early, we have one recruiting class that will have college FB experience of one year, way too high expectations, granted the grad transfers could help make a difference and based on expectations on here they will need to make a sizeable difference, I certainly hope they do so. I have never thought we could completely rebuild this program, as we are having to do, in two years. I always thought it would take until CGC's 4th season to have a good record. People don't seem to understand what condition we were in when CGC got here, thus a 7 year contract because of the massive rebuild that CGC needed to do, which tells me somebody did understand, someone that was in the know.

Who on here is expecting a good record? Nearly everyone is saying 6 wins and a bowl game. That's really not that good of a record, it would be an incremental improvement which seems reasonable in year three after recruiting well and bringing in 16 transfers. If we go 3-9 or 4-8 this year, im not sure what you are expecting to happen that will turn us into a good team in 2022.

 

[D-man44]

I guess al those non D-1 players, that took us to an Orange bowl in 2014 and a Gator bowl in 2016 just were useless. You need to talk to players that played for CPJ. They will tell you a different story. Stars mean crap. Player development is what matters and scheme.

You are delusional if you think stars mean absolutely nothing.

 

[D-man44]

“To that point, of the 34 rosters to compete in the last 17 national title games, 32 of them were formed with at least one top 10 class. Only Oregon, again, was an exception. But even the Ducks were built with fringe top-10 classes; from 2010 to 2012 Oregon finished 13th, 12th and 13th respectively in the 247Sports Composite Team Recruiting Rankings.”

 

[Coloradojacket]

Who on here is expecting a good record? Nearly everyone is saying 6 wins and a bowl game. That's really not that good of a record, it would be an incremental improvement which seems reasonable in year three after recruiting well and bringing in 16 transfers. If we go 3-9 or 4-8 this year, im not sure what you are expecting to happen that will turn us into a good team in 2022.

Funny thing about these transfers. Many are still not eligible for this year. Also many were not even starters from the teams they are coming from. We have a DT from Old Dominion, 2 star out of high school that has yet to face a D-1 team. Sort of like Freshmen...unknown. Hope they are good but why are they transferring?

 

[Coloradojacket]

“To that point, of the 34 rosters to compete in the last 17 national title games, 32 of them were formed with at least one top 10 class. Only Oregon, again, was an exception. But even the Ducks were built with fringe top-10 classes; from 2010 to 2012 Oregon finished 13th, 12th and 13th respectively in the 247Sports Composite Team Recruiting Rankings.”

And we will never recruit a "top ten class" Calculus, Calculus Calculus.

 

[D-man44]

And we will never recruit a "top ten class" Calculus, Calculus Calculus.

You are probably right but that shows stars aren’t “crap”

 

[Coloradojacket]

You are probably right but that shows stars aren’t “crap”

Julian Burnette, Jerry Mays, Kevin Tisdell, Clynton Lynch, Jaylon Camp, I could go on and on......

 

[GoJacketsInRaleigh]

Julian Burnette, Jerry Mays, Kevin Tisdell, Clynton Lynch, Jaylon Camp, I could go on and on......

On and on so much that you can't even spell half their names correctly while cherry picking a handful of guys?

 

[D-man44]

Julian Burnette, Jerry Mays, Kevin Tisdell, Clynton Lynch, Jaylon Camp, I could go on and on......

And Josh Jacobs was a 3 star! That doesn’t mean 4 and 5 stars that are heavily recruited by major schools are busts lol. You are using a few examples to try and outweigh what facts tell you.

 

[Coloradojacket]

And Josh Jacobs was a 3 star! That doesn’t mean 4 and 5 stars that are heavily recruited by major schools are busts lol. You are using a few examples to try and outweigh what facts tell you.

Go back and look at our 2010 and 2011 recruiting classes that made up 2014. You will find very few 4 stars and many 3s and 2s. Player development is key.

 

[D-man44]

Go back and look at our 2010 and 2011 recruiting classes that made up 2014. You will find very few 4 stars and many 3s and 2s. Player development is key.

Sure it’s awesome! They had a great team and a great year. That team was also a 4 star Alabama commit at one point Justin Thomas away from losing to Georgia southern too.

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

Who on here is expecting a good record? Nearly everyone is saying 6 wins and a bowl game. That's really not that good of a record, it would be an incremental improvement which seems reasonable in year three after recruiting well and bringing in 16 transfers. If we go 3-9 or 4-8 this year, im not sure what you are expecting to happen that will turn us into a good team in 2022.

College Football News weighed in for what it is worth on the Jackets. I will try to summarize as best I can their thoughts on how Tech will do this season.

OFFENSE: Last year Tech averaged 390 yards of total offense and 24 ppg. The main problem to CFN was that Tech failed to score in 10 of 30 trips inside the red zone. Therefore, red zone scoring must improve. They pointed out that the most important number for Tech this year looks to be 27. Other than the opening win against FSU when we scored 16, every time Tech scored over 27 we won. We did that twice. Every time we scored fewer than 27 we lost. Key player on offense, (believe it or not) according to them is the Vanderbilt transfer offensive tackle Devin Cochran. Quite simply the line must get better. Sims, Gibbs, and Mason can't do it by themselves.

DEFENSE: In a word it was awful giving up 459 yards total offense and 37 ppg. Tech is set at the defensive end spots and has two promising linebackers in Maryland transfer Eley who had 111 tackles along with returning linebacker Quez Jackson who was tabbed as Tech's best player on defense by CFN. He had 80 stops last year. According to CFN, the interior remains suspect. In 7 games, Tech lost by double digit margins and in all 7 of those games the opposition ran or passed and sometimes both at will. To CFN, the Tech season hinges on the defense's ability to "STOP SOMETHING". An understandable conclusion given what happened last year.

SEASON: CFN says the absolute "key game" for Tech is the October 2nd match with Pitt. Their reasoning is sound. The first two games are layups against Northern Illinois and KSU. The next two games are games where Tech will be a huge underdog with Clemson and UNC. At that point, Tech will be 2-2 and the Pitt game becomes pivotal. Win that one, and good things may be in the offing. Lose it and the wheels just might fall off.

KEY TRANSFERS: They are both on defense. Defensive end White from Old Dominion and the aforementioned linebacker Eley. They must hit the ground running to help the defense return to some semblance of respectability.

PREDICTED WINS: 4 with a best case scenario of 7 (I think that is right, as this is off memory) and a worse case scenario of 3. IIWII

 

[Root4GT]

Funny thing about these transfers. Many are still not eligible for this year. Also many were not even starters from the teams they are coming from. We have a DT from Old Dominion, 2 star out of high school that has yet to face a D-1 team. Sort of like Freshmen...unknown. Hope they are good but why are they transferring?

All transfers are eligible this year. What do you mean that they aren’t? The ODU transfer played games against two teams in our ACC Division, UVA and VT. Again what do you mean he hasn’t played against a D-1 team.

 

[Lotta Booze]

We have a DT from Old Dominion, 2 star out of high school that has yet to face a D-1 team.

It's almost impressive how many things you can be completely wrong about in 1 sentence

 

[Coloradojacket]

All transfers are eligible this year. What do you mean that they aren’t? The ODU transfer played games against two teams in our ACC Division, UVA and VT. Again what do you mean he hasn’t played against a D-1 team.

The 247 transfer portal does not show that all are eligible. I am just going off that.