Jamal Haynes, Singleton & Rutherford (good news)

Root4GT

Helluva Engineer
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2,454
Malik did feel underutilized, but at the same time Singleton is just THAT good. I would argue Malik looks better at weaving through defenders with the ball in his hands. But singleton looks better for catching on the run, jump balls, and top end speed.
It was almost funny how obvious the plan started to feel on 3rd and long, yet more often than not they couldn’t stop it. Not many guys are that kind of problem.
Mailk caught 44 pases vs Singleton's 47 pass receptions. Singleton gained about 250 more yards than Mailk on 3 more receptions. Different roles for guys with different skill sets.
 

jojatk

Helluva Engineer
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1,368
Malik made an incredible catch for the long first down in the Miami game just prior to the game winner to Leary.
Malik also made a really nice catch and run for our first TD against UNC. It came right after a play where he was blocking for a screen to Singleton and I thought Malik was going to get into a fight with one of the UNC defenders whom he was blocking. He was obviously upset. And his reaction came on the next play with the 42 yard catch and run for a TD (with a nice block by Singleton). Having those two guys back along with Jamal Haynes in the backfield with King directing an offense with another year of experience together should yield some positive results.
 

Root4GT

Helluva Engineer
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2,454
Malik also made a really nice catch and run for our first TD against UNC. It came right after a play where he was blocking for a screen to Singleton and I thought Malik was going to get into a fight with one of the UNC defenders whom he was blocking. He was obviously upset. And his reaction came on the next play with the 42 yard catch and run for a TD (with a nice block by Singleton). Having those two guys back along with Jamal Haynes in the backfield with King directing an offense with another year of experience together should yield some positive results.
Hopefully 4 of the OL as well. Likely only 3 though.
 

Bogey

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1,232
Rutherford is one of the players I thought might move on. There have been games where he was openly frustrated about not getting the ball.

I'm glad he's staying. He's going to be VERY good for this offense next year.

Part of me wonders if Nate McCollum looks at our offense this season and thinks, "Man, I really should have stayed." He didn't put up the same kind of numbers at UNC that he did at GT with a terrible QB situation. He probably would have been WR1 for us even with Singleton.
Before the season started, I thought losing Nate would be a disaster for us but turned out Malik really stepped up his game and Nate had real troubles at UNC. But I will still pull for Nate next year except in our game, if we do play each other, not sure.
 

Techster

Helluva Engineer
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Before the season started, I thought losing Nate would be a disaster for us but turned out Malik really stepped up his game and Nate had real troubles at UNC. But I will still pull for Nate next year except in our game, if we do play each other, not sure.

Slot WRs are like ABs in CPJ's offense. There's different degrees in which they're effective, and they can be effective in different ways.

Roddy Jones, Clinton Lynch, Qua Searcy, BJ Bostic, Robby Godhigh...et al. All brought something unique and different to the table. All were super productive. CPJ found productive guys every year.

Slot WRs in passing offenses are similar. They're very productive and can bring different things. Ahmarean Brown, Kyric McGowan, Nate McCollum, Malik Rutherford...GT has managed to find good slot WRs every year.

The trick now is to find multiple guys to be highly productive every year. We just want to be a nightmare matchup across the board.

As for Nate, you can never hate on a kid that is trying to improve his situation. Looking at it from his POV at the time, GT had no proven QBs, coming off a coaching change with an open question mark at OC, and he had the chance to play with an NFL caliber QB with a wide open offense. That's difficult to turn down.
 

stinger78

Helluva Engineer
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1,997
Slot WRs are like ABs in CPJ's offense. There's different degrees in which they're effective, and they can be effective in different ways.

Roddy Jones, Clinton Lynch, Qua Searcy, BJ Bostic, Robby Godhigh...et al. All brought something unique and different to the table. All were super productive. CPJ found productive guys every year.

Slot WRs in passing offenses are similar. They're very productive and can bring different things. Ahmarean Brown, Kyric McGowan, Nate McCollum, Malik Rutherford...GT has managed to find good slot WRs every year.

The trick now is to find multiple guys to be highly productive every year. We just want to be a nightmare matchup across the board.

As for Nate, you can never hate on a kid that is trying to improve his situation. Looking at it from his POV at the time, GT had no proven QBs, coming off a coaching change with an open question mark at OC, and he had the chance to play with an NFL caliber QB with a wide open offense. That's difficult to turn down.
I don’t blame Nate for jumping, but it does go to show you that things aren’t always as they seem to be. Buyer beware.
 

ThatGuy

Ramblin' Wreck
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I don’t blame Nate for jumping, but it does go to show you that things aren’t always as they seem to be. Buyer beware.
Agreed. While I don't like what wound up happening to him (for his sake), I 1) can't blame him for taking the chance (even though I would likely have been more conservative if in his shoes), and 2) now that it's said and done, I hope he can be used as a future example for more of our team members who fall victim to the "grass is greener" misconception.
 

yeti92

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I REALLY hope so... but injuries add up and take a toll. Dominick Blaylock says hello. I hope they don't take the same path.
Blaylock was 4th on the team in receptions and 3rd in yards, if we can get that out of Blackburn next year that'd be a huge improvement. Anybody seen anything more on his injury/recovery?
 

The Doddfather

Jolly Good Fellow
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482
Except all sasquatch videos are grainy and hard to see - here is our guy in 4k:


Am I the only who thinks that James Bates is hammered every time he calls a game? He has got to be the worst announcer ever, other than rod gilmore. Actually a few others come to mind too, but the point is, Bates has got to be absolutely tanked every time he calls a game.
 

CPJacket

Georgia Tech Fan
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65
Blaylock was 4th on the team in receptions and 3rd in yards, if we can get that out of Blackburn next year that'd be a huge improvement. Anybody seen anything more on his injury/recovery?
Blaylock was the 4th ranked WR coming out of HS. His speed and agility has taken a huge hit because of the injuries. Someone with his talent was not supposed to be the 4th best on our team. That is the point of this convo. I'm glad he was able to contribute for us but you have proven the point.
 

yeti92

Helluva Engineer
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Blaylock was the 4th ranked WR coming out of HS. His speed and agility has taken a huge hit because of the injuries. Someone with his talent was not supposed to be the 4th best on our team. That is the point of this convo. I'm glad he was able to contribute for us but you have proven the point.
MY point was that Blaylock is still contributing at a relatively high level, whereas Blackburn has basically been non-existent due to injuries. Getting him to Blaylock's level, regardless of your feelings on how well they SHOULD have performed, would be a win.
 

Bogey

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1,232
On offense, our biggest jump will come from a running mate for Singleton Jr. to help stretch the field and/or a good possession TE. Right now teams can just key in on Singleton Jr. a d we become a lot less explosive.
A bigger concern for me is a RB to go along with Jamal. I think we have several possibilities either now on this team or freshman coming in that can step up to help Eric, including Blackburn. I can't see that clearly at RB. Jamal with his size is not an every down RB and is more prone to getting bummed up at his position.
 

CPJacket

Georgia Tech Fan
Messages
65
MY point was that Blaylock is still contributing at a relatively high level, whereas Blackburn has basically been non-existent due to injuries. Getting him to Blaylock's level, regardless of your feelings on how well they SHOULD have performed, would be a win.
"Relatively high level"... Relative to what? This is for an entire year. The number 4 wr in his class before his injuries had 337 total yards. Injuries can derail an athlete's career. Not crapping on the kid cause he could not control this. Original point is that I hope our injured guys can come back fully and not skip a beat but, we need to bring in someone in case that dies not happen because performance after two MAJOR injuries is not guaranteed to be seamless.
 

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