Freshman Austin Smith to play, says CPJ...

GTRambler

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”He’s got some punch,” days CPJ. At the Offensive Guard position. Per report this evening by Ken Sugiura in the AJC.

Other comments on Austin Smith by CPJ (I’m paraphrasing here):

“He’s got to learn at the college level. It’s not just two steps and watch.” (I laughed at this one)

“He’ll be fine.”

“He’s just got to play.”

WOW! High praise, indeed, from the ‘ol Coach. Especially since Austin is just a freshman...

So pencil him in for some playing time this season, folks.
 

InsideLB

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Thought on his HS film he looked a little stiff moving laterally for a defensive lineman, but very strong going north south.
 

MWBATL

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I recall a guard with "punch" who turned our O Line into a machine when combined with the mobile guys round him. Plays for the Patriots now last I looked.....he was good for 4 yards running behind him no matter who the D linemen were.
 

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IIRC, he requested to move to OL because he saw a faster path to playing time. With the new defense, there are 5 OL and 3 DL. Plus, we have a ton of people hurt and banged up on the OL right now.
 
ilovetheoption

ilovetheoption

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33jacket said:
Imo could be a solid nt in this scheme as well.
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You know, I'm not confident saying I know what looks good in this scheme yet.

I'm actually still not a hundred percent sold that ASA is big enough.

Lol, years of football successes when I was expecting failures and failures when I was expecting successes have crushed my self-confidence in this regard :)
 

GTRambler

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I agree with Dustman: Austin will probably play some and still qualify under the new redshirt rule.

But, who knows? If he learns quickly and performs well enough — and some of the other O-linemen get hurt or underperform, he might end up blowing through the redshirt rule.

Have y’all seen the pictures of him? He looks like a stud already. He’s 6-5, 285. Gee .... !
 
Dustman

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GTRambler said:
I agree with Dustman: Austin will probably play some and still qualify under the new redshirt rule.

But, who knows? If he learns quickly and performs well enough — and some of the other O-linemen get hurt or underperform, he might end up blowing through the redshirt rule.

Have y’all seen the pictures of him? He looks like a stud already. He’s 6-5, 285. Gee .... !
Click to expand...
I realized after I posted that I was probably splitting hairs and we were probably on the same page. CPJ did say that "he just needs to play" which I interpreted as he needs more reps so he can get better. On the other hand, he went on to say Maye is on the scout team, so Austin has a chance to play this year. Guys in that group will almost certainly play against Alcorn St but we are limited to traveling 70 guys for the next 2 games against legit teams and then we play Clemson. His next chance may not come until we play Bowling Green.

I think I read somewhere that his high school coach had a role in persuading him to switch to OL.
 
vamosjackets

vamosjackets

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Dustman said:
I realized after I posted that I was probably splitting hairs and we were probably on the same page. CPJ did say that "he just needs to play" which I interpreted as he needs more reps so he can get better. On the other hand, he went on to say Maye is on the scout team, so Austin has a chance to play this year. Guys in that group will almost certainly play against Alcorn St but we are limited to traveling 70 guys for the next 2 games against legit teams and then we play Clemson. His next chance may not come until we play Bowling Green.

I think I read somewhere that his high school coach had a role in persuading him to switch to OL.
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Yeah, when I heard the CPJ Q&A where these quotes came from, it didn't sound like he was saying Smith was going to play. It sounded like he was just saying he had good ability for the position and needed some time to get better, get acclimated to the system and CFB in general. I'm not sure Ken is interpreting him right, but he was there while I was just watching a video.

Also, yes, I remember an article (maybe by WhiteAndGoldBlog or something like that) where his old coach was saying he could be a very good DL but could be a next level good OL. That was a big part of my excitement about the new D-scheme is that it might free a couple of our good DL athletes who wouldn't be needed in the 3-DL scheme to go over to the OL with a chance to be a very good OL. This is one of those benefits.

ETA: I can't find White and Gold Blog anymore. Anybody know what happened to it? It had great quality content.
 
bobongo

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GTRambler said:
I agree with Dustman: Austin will probably play some and still qualify under the new redshirt rule.

But, who knows? If he learns quickly and performs well enough — and some of the other O-linemen get hurt or underperform, he might end up blowing through the redshirt rule.

Have y’all seen the pictures of him? He looks like a stud already. He’s 6-5, 285. Gee .... !
Click to expand...

He's 295, according to his bio on the GT website. Big enough for OG, OT, or nose guard.
 
Whiskey_Clear

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He has a great frame. Needs some work maturing and building on that frame to become a force at this level imo. Not saying he can’t play this year and contribute some. But his impact will be felt more in a year or two I think.

What they say about opinions applies. I may have said the same things about Parker Braun year one bit he did make an immediate impact.
 
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