How long?

[Augusta_Jacket]

They don't know for sure how any of these guys are going to pan out, so it might behoove them to get a few extra bodies in here so we can have more chances of finding some good ones. If we could get good quality linemen out of high school, we could do just like all the other programs and be fine. The line has been a chronic problem and it's vital to success on the field. One-size-fits-all isn't working. We don't seem to have nearly as much trouble finding good skill players as linemen, so in this case it might make sense to take a couple, two, three extra linemen at the expense of some other positions. What if we shaved one receiver and one DB off the usual quotas and added two linemen? Under the circumstances, that makes a lot of sense to me. Just as a reminder: Shaq Mason was a 2-star.

Gotcha. Maybe you should email your ideas to the coaching staff.

 

[bobongo]

Gotcha. Maybe you should email your ideas to the coaching staff.

Maybe I should. It certainly makes logical sense to me, even if it's (slightly) outside the box.
But surely it isn't such a novel or outlandish idea. It would make sense that there's a coach out there doing exactly as I've suggested, especially with new recruits since OL is such a difficult position to judge.
I'd bet on it. Or we could just plod on doing what everyone else does and not altering it to fit our particular situation, given that it's worked out so well for us.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

Maybe I should. It certainly makes logical sense to me, even if it's (slightly) outside the box.
But surely it isn't such a novel or outlandish idea. It would make sense that there's a coach out there doing exactly as I've suggested, especially with new recruits since OL is such a difficult position to judge.
I'd bet on it. Or we could just plod on doing what everyone else does and not altering it to fit our particular situation, given that it's worked out so well for us.

Maybe we could put 18 QBs on the roster in case of a year like this one...

 

[bobongo]

Maybe we could put 18 QBs on the roster in case of a year like this one...

No, that would be ridiculous.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

No, that would be ridiculous.

So are most of the suggestions by fans on internet boards.

 

[stech81]

Maybe we could put 18 QBs on the roster in case of a year like this one...

18 may be 1 too many 17 would be OK

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

18 may be 1 too many 17 would be OK

After this year 19 might not be enough...

 

[CEB]

Maybe we could put 18 QBs on the roster in case of a year like this one...

To be fair... we could try protecting them instead...

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

To be fair... we could try protecting them instead...

We have tried that. We aren't good at it.

 

[Root4GT]

Key has coached 6 games and GT has averaged 19 points a game during his time as HC. 19 points a game won’t win many games period. 3-3 is a good record considering how bad our offense and punting teams have been.

I suspect tomorrow will expose the defense as not very good either.

Next coach will have a challenge on his hands.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

My thought is that the coaches know better than we do how to construct a team. When our numbers align with major programs, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say they are more likely to be right than fans.

I tend to agree. I think Tech is offering to any lineman they can that looks eligible. We might load up on a few more, if they were there to load up on, but linemen who can play at the college level are rare compared to other positions. Even quarterbacks aren’t as rare since you only need 3 or 4 who can play at any given time on the team vs needing as many as 20 linemen on your team.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

You are absolutely correct. That is how it has played out. My quibble and utter fascination is that those leftover scholarships should be given to linemen instead of the “best remaining athletes”. We should do what others always do to us - which is identify which lower level schools seem to get it right with linemen and then poach from them with those “leftover” schollys. Take a Valdosta State for example. Just offer their linemen who have verbally committed to them. Those guys would love to sign with a P5 team and their mama’s would love for their baby from Schley or Berrien county to get a GT education. Now we just added another 10 linemen. If after year 1 they are clearly not D1 material then they’ll portal out. But if we find 2 contributors out of those 10 then that’s huge. The portal is a weapon we need to use for the lines every year whether it’s getting guys or sending out guys who fail their 1 year audition. But the key is to have coaches who can identify if a player has “It” as a lighter 18 year old and let him grow into a solid junior. It’s just a statistics game and we need numbers instead of bringing in 20 DB’s who will portal out because they never see the field and are just dead spots.

Down here in South Georgia I see linemen every Friday night who aren‘t the envy of the star ratings due to smaller size or lower classification competition who but are just mean SOB’s who get it done. These guys end up at really solid lower level schools and would help GT immensely. Collins came down here and got a Linemen from Lee County all due to size and everyone was scratching their head because they knew the other guys on his high school OLine were way better.

My sense of it is that if linemen were available they would fall into the “best available athlete” group. I’m suggesting they are not there.

I’ll repeat what I’ve said in another post. Linemen who can actually play at the college level are rare. My high school team played for a state championship and we put zero linemen in a P5 college program.

 

[bobongo]

I tend to agree. I think Tech is offering to any lineman they can that looks eligible. We might load up on a few more, if they were there to load up on, but linemen who can play at the college level are rare compared to other positions. Even quarterbacks aren’t as rare since you only need 3 or 4 who can play at any given time on the team vs needing as many as 20 linemen on your team.

Thing is, most coaches will agree that OL out of high school is the most difficult position to judge. Thus the need, in our case, to get more linemen in here to develop. The more we have, the better chance we have of finding good ones. Shaq was 2-stars.

 

[sgreer]

Thing is, most coaches will agree that OL out of high school is the most difficult position to judge. Thus the need, in our case, to get more linemen in here to develop. The more we have, the better chance we have of finding good ones. Shaq was 2-stars.

That’s probably where Tech would capitalize the most if they would invest in their recruiting- targeting OL across the country especially Northeast and Mid West. With an average OL they would be bowling.

 

[bobongo]

That’s probably where Tech would capitalize the most if they would invest in their recruiting- targeting OL across the country especially Northeast and Mid West. With an average OL they would be bowling.

I've heard corn-fed linemen are the stoutest. We need to steal some from the Big Ten, or whatever they call it nowadays.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Thing is, most coaches will agree that OL out of high school is the most difficult position to judge. Thus the need, in our case, to get more linemen in here to develop. The more we have, the better chance we have of finding good ones. Shaq was 2-stars.

So what I’m hearing you say is that you think Tech coaches have been doing it wrong all these years and you have a different approach that they haven’t thought of.

OK.

Thing is, I see Shaq differently than you. He proves to me that we are absolutely scouring the landscape to find linemen others are overlooking. But simple offering to every leftover lineman available regardless of scouting report is probably not going to yield another Shaq.

Just my opinion.

 

[bobongo]

So what I’m hearing you say is that you think Tech coaches have been doing it wrong all these years and you have a different approach that they haven’t thought of.

OK.

Thing is, I see Shaq differently than you. He proves to me that we are absolutely scouring the landscape to find linemen others are overlooking. But simple offering to every leftover lineman available regardless of scouting report is probably not going to yield another Shaq.

Just my opinion.

I'm saying right now the idea of getting a few extra bodies in here at OL seems a good idea. I'm not saying we've necessarily been doing it wrong all these years. But as it stands right now, if it came down to a choice between 4-star at a position we're pretty solid in as opposed to a 3-star OL, I would make room for the 3-star OL, and generally accepted normal quotas for those positions should be skewed a bit in favor of OL. OL is our position of greatest need. That's all I'm saying.

Shaq being 2-star was just pointed out to highlight the fact that this position is particularly hard to judge out of HS. If it takes longer to develop OLs, it stands to reason it's harder to know how a HS prospect will turn out at that position.

 

[bobongo]

We have tried that. We aren't good at it.

Which is precisely why we need to concentrate more recruiting on the OL.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

Which is precisely why we need to concentrate more recruiting on the OL.

Are you asserting that we aren't concentrating more on recruiting OL? Just because they haven't developed yet, there is some real talent on that OL. I wouldn't be shocked if they took a big step forward next year.

Again, all I did was point out facts to counter the false assertion that we had too many WR/DB on the roster. Somehow the goal posts have shifted to we need to have more OL on the team.

 

[bobongo]

Are you asserting that we aren't concentrating more on recruiting OL? Just because they haven't developed yet, there is some real talent on that OL. I wouldn't be shocked if they took a big step forward next year.

Again, all I did was point out facts to counter the false assertion that we had too many WR/DB on the roster. Somehow the goal posts have shifted to we need to have more OL on the team.

We can't have "too many" at any position, but need should dictate our focus. and since 85 is the limit, we'd obviously have to take a couple less at the other positions in order to sign a couple more linemen. That's all I've ever said. Yes, I understand that our recruiting focus currently is according to norm. IMO, that's a problem when we have such a dearth of good OLs. We need to shift that focus a bit, IMO.

We've both made our positions clear on this and I'm done.