Georgia Tech’s Inability to Land In-State Talent is Becoming Problematic

techdad

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
103
The blame for this doesn't fall solely on CPJ's lap. I coached high school football for 8 years in the highest and one of the best regions in Georgia. There were many players that I know wanted to play at GT but the GT coaches came in ill prepared to talk to these players or did not recruit them at all. Many of these players WANTED a GT education but when a coach comes to your school and knows nothing about you despite the fact you are being recruited by everyone in the SEC or ACC is a problem.
 

smathis30

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
732
I always hate articles like this. Like just pretend they are giving this article as a speech to the recruitment team. What are they gonna say when they hear it? "Oh gee thanks why didn't we think of that?"
Hell nah
Elephants in the room are triple option readiness for offensive non-WR skill positions, the fact that we are the B or C brand in state depending on how close to the borders you live, and the effects of academic restrictions
 

nod

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
706
AJ Gray was player of the year when Tech got him.
Dedrick Mills was region player of the year.
Saint-Amour was all state.
Q Searcy, Austin twins were best player to player in their region in years.
Tobias Oliver dominated state high school football for 3 years.

We got a lot of players better then what the recruiting sites call blue chippers. In fact Will Bryan plays more then the on blue chipper they reference in Devine. I take the better football player, don't care what you label them.
 
Messages
2,034
My take, all this is horse crap. This article is written on the idea of rating kids in high school and their star status. Eason over rat UGA was a 5 star....playing in Washington State where there is no football. At best he is a 2 star quarterback. We can go down a list of great players at Tech and many on our current roster that were not in the ESPN 100. They are beating Virginia which is loaded with 4 star tied water players. A kid in high school is not grown. He plays against a bunch if kids that will never play college ball. He may run up great stats against a bunch o kids that are slow. when a guy gets to about 20, he is starting to mature. Fact is men are not truly physically mature until their early 30's. I know this because my rugby team full of 30 and 40 somethings would kick the crap out of college teams we played. CPJ develops players and fits them into his scheme. And guess what, this is what college football is doing. Nobody hardly runs pro-schemes any more. And pro football will have to change.

This idea to measure a team based on how many players go to the NFL is a joke. Let's see Miami in the last 5 years has sent how many to the NFL......and they have won how many Coastal Championships.
 

northgajacket

Banned
Messages
1,150
My take, all this is horse crap. This article is written on the idea of rating kids in high school and their star status. Eason over rat UGA was a 5 star....playing in Washington State where there is no football. At best he is a 2 star quarterback. We can go down a list of great players at Tech and many on our current roster that were not in the ESPN 100. They are beating Virginia which is loaded with 4 star tied water players. A kid in high school is not grown. He plays against a bunch if kids that will never play college ball. He may run up great stats against a bunch o kids that are slow. when a guy gets to about 20, he is starting to mature. Fact is men are not truly physically mature until their early 30's. I know this because my rugby team full of 30 and 40 somethings would kick the crap out of college teams we played. CPJ develops players and fits them into his scheme. And guess what, this is what college football is doing. Nobody hardly runs pro-schemes any more. And pro football will have to change.

This idea to measure a team based on how many players go to the NFL is a joke. Let's see Miami in the last 5 years has sent how many to the NFL......and they have won how many Coastal Championships.


You are exactly right. Eason played in a mediocre state in terms of hs football. Remember historically Univ. of Washington has always relied on out of state talent for their football team because the talent pool in the state is shallow.
 

ilovetheoption

Helluva Engineer
Messages
2,803
Meh, recruiting ratings matter in the grand scheme of things. All things being equal, a team full of 5 stars is going to beat a team full of 3 stars more often than not. I won't pretend otherwise.

I think it's perfectly fair to say that Coach Johnson has proven that he cannot recruit 5 stars at Georgia Tech. The question is, is there somebody who can and, if so, can Georgia Tech hire him?
 

ilovetheoption

Helluva Engineer
Messages
2,803
This discussion is the worst part of the offseason. Every year the same people make the same posts as if the conversation has never occurred before.

The head coach is not the only variable factor in recruiting. I doubt it's even the biggest factor for us.

FWIW, this was my point. Almost nobody is going to recruit 5 stars at GT, and those that could are not guys that a) want to coach at GT, and b) GT can afford.

So, then, given that consistently recruiting like a powerhouse is probably not in the cards for GT no matter what, what do you want to do about it? To my mind "hire a dude who has a systematic advantage, that allows him to compete WITHOUT having top notch recruiting" is a pretty good plan.
 

crl85

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
431
Location
Greenville, SC
AJ Gray was player of the year when Tech got him.
Dedrick Mills was region player of the year.
Saint-Amour was all state.
Q Searcy, Austin twins were best player to player in their region in years.
Tobias Oliver dominated state high school football for 3 years.

We got a lot of players better then what the recruiting sites call blue chippers. In fact Will Bryan plays more then the on blue chipper they reference in Devine. I take the better football player, don't care what you label them.

Also mike carvel called MLD the best running back in Georgia in his class. So...
 

SlawDog

Banned
Messages
295
I can't figure why we even recruited this guy:
... Hauled in 68 passes for 1,394 yards and 18 touchdowns during final gridiron campaign ... Named first-team all-America by MaxPreps and first-team all-state as senior ... Three-time all-district and all-area selection ... Also garnered all-district and all-area recognition in both basketball and baseball ... Student Body President as senior ... Vice President for National Honor Society ... Member of High Honor Roll all four years ... Ranked third in class with 4.3 GPA.
 

flea77

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
934
Im not sure about other peoples recruiting experience. I do know about Wills. The two schools that recruit alike are Stanford and GT. Both of those schools wanted grades and contacted the school about his academic attitude before approaching him about playing football. I also know the difference between two schools ( UGA and GT ) path towards a degree having one son attend and play sports at both schools. The difference is real and HS coaches and HS players know it. Obviously people who write articles about recruiting don't have a clue about the academic part. The other thing that I don't have much faith in is the HS ranking of players. A lot of it is hype, the more "offers" a kid has etc... GT gets some serious guys who don't play the " recruiting game". If GT really has the "talent gap" the self proclaimed ranking experts ( most are journalist ) claim, our record would be 2-10 every year...
 

Deleted member 2897

Guest
uGA gets so many 4* and 5* recruits that they don't even know what to do with them all. And most years they don't even finish the season ranked.

Second, the resources Tech gets are worse in the ACC. Our coaching staff and administrative staff size is literally last place. By several positions. And we don't have majors in areas like Underwater Basketweaving. Its all things we've always known.
 

jayparr

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,441
Location
newnan
Also I have never seen the inside of Tech's indoor practice field! So does it have a bowling alley, putt-putt, nap room, an arcade, fun slide, and a barber shop like Clemson"s which is worth $55,000,000 or Oregons ' $68,000,000?!?
 

33jacket

Helluva Engineer
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4,635
Location
Georgia
Gt has has some bad assistants recruiting in the past. It did hurt some local high schools relationships. When i say in the last i am referring to the last many years over a few coaches. Some of those things linger.

With that said. In 40 years who is and has landed 4-5 star guys consistently. Please. That is not a world gt lives in to win. Its silly. It's simply not how the school is set up
 

PBR549

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
837
Tech has always recruited differently than most schools. Tech not only has to get the athlete in but the athletes have to be able to stay in with difficult academics. We see some who can't make it. It's a tough trick to get the ones who can make it academically and be competitive in football. Most others don't have to worry about that. Some coaches can recruit that way and others can't. That's why having coaches on staff who understand Tech recruiting is so important.

A few years ago I was involved with a kid who was a great football player and a Tech football legacy who's father was a good player. Tech couldn't recruit him because of his academics. There wasn't any way he would have made it even if he had been able to get in. He played four years at an SEC school and got drafted and is now in the NFL. This scenario is common in Tech recruiting.
 

TheSilasSonRising

Helluva Engineer
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3,729
Biggest problem is we like to create & make excuses. We have no leadership saying what we want and should expect.

Anyone know what the goals are for GT football (except making the players take a math course)? GO'L stated he wanted to be a top 20 program.

We want to drive across the county without a map or should say GPS. How often does the AD expect to beat ugag in football, BB, and baseball. Is being competitive in the Coastal the only goal? (If so, I can understand why they would keep it quite because that will bankrupt the GTAA)

We make too many excuses. Their are MANY players who can succeed at GT and we do not do a good enough job of recruiting them,and selling them.
 

Deleted member 2897

Guest
Biggest problem is we like to create & make excuses. We have no leadership saying what we want and should expect.

Anyone know what the goals are for GT football (except making the players take a math course)? GO'L stated he wanted to be a top 20 program.

We want to drive across the county without a map or should say GPS. How often does the AD expect to beat ugag in football, BB, and baseball. Is being competitive in the Coastal the only goal? (If so, I can understand why they would keep it quite because that will bankrupt the GTAA)

We make too many excuses. Their are MANY players who can succeed at GT and we do not do a good enough job of recruiting them,and selling them.

You hit some major points here. We all know we have tons of challenges and we don't get hardly any resources compared to everyone else. So its stupid to expect to be top 25 each year if we get similar resources to programs around #100. So I think what we need to do is craft a plan and set goals (to your point), and then list out what we need to do to get there and what it will cost. And then also set forth a fundraising plan to get there and ask for it. And for those of us who do care (which is a much smaller subset compared to other schools) we will have to decide if we're willing to pay more than our fair share, which is what it will take to accomplish those goals.
 

kg01

Get-Bak! Coach
Featured Member
Messages
14,332
Location
Atlanta
Agree with @AE 87 on this one. This is a yearly narrative that usually pops up in a "brand new" article each offseason. It's tired and stale.

Could we be doing better? Sure. But, as other have stated, these articles are being written by people who actually don't know the ins and outs of how/why we can be doing better.

I'll do the same thing I did with the previous iterations of this same article .. wipe my digital arse with it.
 
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