Expectations?

[Jmonty71]

Welcome back from the world of wherever you've been, but you sure do have low expectations. I say we have 7 wins minimum.

I really can't call it an expectation. More a long shot guess. New coaches, new schemes..... Same players... Not enough data to really formulate an expectation.

 

[forensicbuzz]

Surprise the hell out of all of you with low expectations.

 

[iceeater1969]

I expect by the end of the season my wife's cooking will still suck when and if she cooks, I expert to be a year older in Oct unless well you , I expert my colonoscopy next month to suck big time.

All this stuff about how the players have gotten bigger and stronger is true. All this stuff about how Paul didn't develop them is horse-picky.

The spread option needed, as I've said before here, lean, mean, fighting machines on the OL. The blocking scheme required more mobility and speed then a shotgun does, especially for downfield blocks (hence the "missed assignments" laments). It was a real challenge to get the kind of blocking we wanted with really big guys . We went big once in 2013-14 with good success, but even those lines would be considered small in comparison to, say, Ugag. Sooooooo … the development program focused on speed and endurance. We had some really big guys - Shamire - but even they got replaced in some circumstances - Parker over Shamire - when the need arose. The results of this speak for themselves.

Now we need a different kind of OL and we are getting them; the old OL simply got bigger since the need for speed and flexibility has decreased. Different styles of blocking -≥ different requirements/training for the OL.

I think we'll do just about as well this year as last, but I'm not expecting more then 6 wins. We'll look like chickens with our heads cut off for the first couplee of games.

Great points

However i think we will look ok for first 4 games and for 4 games then teams will get a read on our tendencies. In those 4 games we will - at times - look clueless. Last 4 games will be chance to show who we are against some teams that are hitting stride.


.i am strangely optimistic that the more generous rotation of playing tjme for the reserves will pay off at the ebd of season.

As always i think we will be very proud of the effort our players.

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

It's not the colonoscopy, it's all the preliminary stuff.

That's for damn sure !!!

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

I really can't call it an expectation. More a long shot guess. New coaches, new schemes..... Same players... Not enough data to really formulate an expectation.

Same players have talent no matter what scheme. I am more concerned with the D than the O, but I would have been concerned with the D even if CPJ had stayed.

 

[wesgt123]

What kind of meltdown will happen if on the first defensive series we line up our corners 10 yards off the LOS?

 

[RickStromFan]

Not just speaking of the oline. The whole team as a whole. Our corners and linebackers were just not nearly as strong or developed.

Collins and crew are running laps around Johnson in that department. These guys will be NFL built and ready by next year. Where before most of our guys would of been a project to build the size.

To make a point. Searcy would be 200lbs under Collins and staff. That's my belief.

Agreed. The belief that getting bigger meant we had to sacrifice speed is erroneous. I think it's simply clear that...whether it was PJ's fault or not, the current S&C coach is much, much better than the previous one and Coach Collins is emphasizing it more.

It'll be nice to not get pushed around by Duke and not have opposing WRs push our CBs to the ground so often anymore. Like you said, there was no excuse for being so undersized on D.

 

[takethepoints]

Agreed. The belief that getting bigger meant we had to sacrifice speed is erroneous. I think it's simply clear that...whether it was PJ's fault or not, the current S&C coach is much, much better than the previous one and Coach Collins is emphasizing it more.

It'll be nice to not get pushed around by Duke and not have opposing WRs push our CBs to the ground so often anymore. Like you said, there was no excuse for being so undersized on D.

Well, the original gripe was about the OL. Both of you are moving the goalposts. Again.So, a few points about the OL:

• The old regime emphasized both speed and flexibility and endurance. The whole point of the blocking schemes was to get pad levels down. Way down. This, if you've put on some around the waist as you age, you will find harder to do with a gut. Same with moving fast for intense intervals for 3 - 4 hours. As in a football game.

• This showed up in the later quarters for the team when we weren't playing, say, Clemson. It showed up most clearly when we played an opponent who hadn't faced us for awhile. We'd usually cut thiose teams - almost always bigger - to ribbons.

• But, since you bring up the DL and overall conditioning, I'll say that we could have used more strength over there but I think that that was more because of the continuing (see the URLs on recruiting above) problem we have had at Tech of brining in top of the line DL talent. This is something I hope Coach addresses successfully as he goes on..

• Finally, this isn't to say that I think our present S&C staff aren't pretty good. It is obvious they are. I think the present program, well-suited to a shotgun O - will pay off. And I Ialso hope it'll help on the D side.

 

[RickStromFan]

Well, the original gripe was about the OL. Both of you are moving the goalposts. Again.So, a few points about the OL:

• The old regime emphasized both speed and flexibility and endurance. The whole point of the blocking schemes was to get pad levels down. Way down. This, if you've put on some around the waist as you age, you will find harder to do with a gut. Same with moving fast for intense intervals for 3 - 4 hours. As in a football game.

• This showed up in the later quarters for the team when we weren't playing, say, Clemson. It showed up most clearly when we played an opponent who hadn't faced us for awhile. We'd usually cut thiose teams - almost always bigger - to ribbons.

• But, since you bring up the DL and overall conditioning, I'll say that we could have used more strength over there but I think that that was more because of the continuing (see the URLs on recruiting above) problem we have had at Tech of brining in top of the line DL talent. This is something I hope Coach addresses successfully as he goes on..

• Finally, this isn't to say that I think our present S&C staff aren't pretty good. It is obvious they are. I think the present program, well-suited to a shotgun O - will pay off. And I Ialso hope it'll help on the D side.

But S&C is for the entire team and this thread is about Expectations for this year's team, not last year's.

"It showed up most clearly when we played an opponent who hadn't faced us for awhile." -

that's true for anything a team does that's unique to that team. From watching us the past few years, it didn't seem like this blocking style was giving us any real advantage anymore, esp. not against the teams we did face every year. The ones we need to beat to win the Coastal. Also, almost every GT fan I know IRL and read here complained about our poor blocking! That scheme needed a change and we've got the best in college football doing that too now.

 

[ncjacket79]

But S&C is for the entire team and this thread is about Expectations for this year's team, not last year's.

"It showed up most clearly when we played an opponent who hadn't faced us for awhile." -

that's true for anything a team does that's unique to that team. From watching us the past few years, it didn't seem like this blocking style was giving us any real advantage anymore, esp. not against the teams we did face every year. The ones we need to beat to win the Coastal. Also, almost every GT fan I know IRL and read here complained about our poor blocking! That scheme needed a change and we've got the best in college football doing that too now.

We don’t know yet if it is scheme or talent. Or whether we have talent but lack depth. This is a “pull for the team and stay positive no matter what” year. If we figure it out and have the pieces that fit it could be fun. If it takes a while to gel it may be a long year. Either way we need to stay upbeat and look to the future.

 

[Bogey]

I never bought in to the philosophy that the only way we could compete is by recruiting lesser talented players and running the offense we did. So I am very excited about the direction we are headed, and the way our kids are being motivated by this staff. I don't have much expectations regarding number of wins but I hope and believe by the last half of the season we will be able to compete well with anyone we play, barring any key injuries.

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[forensicbuzz]

I never bought in to the philosophy that the only way we could compete is by recruiting lesser talented players and running the offense we did. So I am very excited about the direction we are headed, and the way our kids are being motivated by this staff. I don't have much expectations regarding number of wins but I hope and believe by the last half of the season we will be able to compete well with anyone we play, barring any key injuries.

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We didn't recruit lesser talented players. That's a strawman argument.

 

[takethepoints]

But S&C is for the entire team and this thread is about Expectations for this year's team, not last year's.

"It showed up most clearly when we played an opponent who hadn't faced us for awhile." -

that's true for anything a team does that's unique to that team. From watching us the past few years, it didn't seem like this blocking style was giving us any real advantage anymore, esp. not against the teams we did face every year. The ones we need to beat to win the Coastal. Also, almost every GT fan I know IRL and read here complained about our poor blocking! That scheme needed a change and we've got the best in college football doing that too now.

Yes, but, as usual, that quickly degenerated into Paul bashing. See above. All I did was reply. But to get to your points.

When the head coach complains about missed assignments and poor blocks - and Paul, who was hard to please, spent 11 years doing that - then the fans are bound to pick it up. Especially some people we know who wanted to replace him.

But complaints about execution came with the territory; spread option blocking is a lot harder then what we are trying to do now. For all that we were perennially in the top 5 of all teams on rushing and led the country in multiple years (like, say, 2018). As has been pointed out here, the proof is in the pudding. Losing our starting BB in two successive years didn't help our win percentage much, but the blocking was good enough.

Sooooooo … if Tech leads the nation in any offensive category in the next four years, I'll be very happy. If we don't - and that's what I betting - then I'll keep my mouth shut as long as we win at least as much as Paul did. That's a deal for you!

 

[Oldgoldandwhite]

On defense, I expect us to be aggressive on every down. And to get burned occasionally.
On offense, I have no clue. If we complete close to 60% of our passes and have a 1000 yard rusher, we could be decent.

 

[jacketup]

We didn't recruit lesser talented players. That's a strawman argument.

Correct. We are just as talented as Clemson or Georgia. We should be .500 against them at least.

We were 20-7 Paul Johnson's first two years, but went to 12-12 his last two years, not because we recruited lesser talent, but because he forgot how to coach.

You are a football genius! You nailed it!

 

[Bogey]

We didn't recruit lesser talented players. That's a strawman argument.

It's the way it worked out.

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[LibertyTurns]

I think we are severely undervaluing the amount of effort these kids are putting in for Collins that they didn't put in for Johnson. Say every player is at 100% effort right now, I'd dare to say they were at max 70-75% under johnson

If this was true why would the AD not have done the following:
A. Hired someone to get 100% out of the slackers.
B. Hired recruiters to improve the crappy recruiting

Stansbury is running a business. If you have a far superior system where you could take crappy players half assing their way thru every season & got the results we did, why wouldn’t you hire an expert in that system that was great in getting players motivated & could attract average talent? We’d win the damn national championship every other year with that formula!

Hell we’d have so much money we wouldn’t know what to do with it & wouldn’t be floating $100M bonds to keep up with WF & Dook.

 

[forensicbuzz]

It's the way it worked out.

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Yeah....nope. Always recruited about the same, with obvious outlying classes.

Now, some of the kids we brought in on offense (especially the AB) weren't heavily recruited because they didn't fit most offenses, but did fit ours. But that's one position. Oh yeah, and we never recruited highly regarded tight ends for some reason. That being said, there were a lot of high end recruits who were not interested in us, but we did recruit them (without much success on offense).

 

[boger2337]

If this was true why would the AD not have done the following:
A. Hired someone to get 100% out of the slackers.
B. Hired recruiters to improve the crappy recruiting

Stansbury is running a business. If you have a far superior system where you could take crappy players half assing their way thru every season & got the results we did, why wouldn’t you hire an expert in that system that was great in getting players motivated & could attract average talent? We’d win the damn national championship every other year with that formula!

Hell we’d have so much money we wouldn’t know what to do with it & wouldn’t be floating $100M bonds to keep up with WF & Dook.

Stansbury is rather new... he did get rid of johnson. Trust me I think there is more to the story than Johnson was tired of football or the dumbest statement I've heard "he knew this team wouldn't be good". Stansbury felt the heat from donors and from fans alike. He probably had a nice chitchat and convinced Johnson it's best to leave before it go worse. He made a move to bring in a guy to save the program from falling permanently to the ranks of wake forest, duke, and Syracuse.

I firmly believe by year 5-8 we are every bit of a factory school and in a playoff or have been in a couple.

 

[stinger 1957]

Just my opinion, but with Johnson we won off of an offensive scheme more than players and with cgc we will win more off players than schemes.