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That was my takeaway too. I'm glad CGC also kept it going, keeping him around. Best of luck to the young man.I love how the staff looked after him even though he wasn't playing football.
"The two developed a close relationship in the process. Johnson stayed after Ratliffe to keep up his schoolwork. Over the course of his time at Tech, Ratliffe sometimes skirted trouble, like missing a class, Ratliffe said.
“Coach Johnson was the first to pull me in his office and tell me, ‘Hey, I didn’t bring you here for you to B.S. around,’ ” Ratliffe said. “I brought you here for you to do something with yourself, not go back to Laurinburg and be a nobody.”"
It would have been so easy to just let him figure it out on his own, to simply say we honored our commitment and brought you in, but they also kept on him just as if he was playing. Kudo to the GTAA.
great story. I’m glad he was allowed to stay on schollie even after the coaching change.
Was this comment necessary? Sometimes I wonder at our own fans. What purpose does it serve to negatively qualify someone's positive comment?I don't really think CGC had much of a choice. Since it's a medical scholarship it doesn't count towards the 85 cap and (IIUC) the GTAA determines eligibility for it. As HC, he could recommend removal for violations of rules, but short of that, I don't think it was really his call. Similarly, while CPJ advocated for the medical scholarship for JR in the beginning, it was the GTAA that had to buy off on it and find funding for it.
Plus, CGC would have looked REALLY bad if he comes in as a new coach and cuts a guy off a medical scholarship.
Was this comment necessary? Sometimes I wonder at our own fans. What purpose does it serve to negatively qualify someone's positive comment?
I don't really think CGC had much of a choice. Since it's a medical scholarship it doesn't count towards the 85 cap and (IIUC) the GTAA determines eligibility for it. As HC, he could recommend removal for violations of rules, but short of that, I don't think it was really his call. Similarly, while CPJ advocated for the medical scholarship for JR in the beginning, it was the GTAA that had to buy off on it and find funding for it.
Plus, CGC would have looked REALLY bad if he comes in as a new coach and cuts a guy off a medical scholarship.
What CGC allowed Jaylend to do was leave his team responsibilities on the football team to focus on academics and still keep him on scholarship. CGC could have easily leveraged the medical scholarship as extra help from Jaylend, and GT as we all know is shorthanded versus other school's staffs, but he did what was best for Jaylend.
Bottomline, GT is very lucky to have had 2 coaches who saw the bigger picture for Jaylend. For all of those who say CPJ didn't really care about his players, or CGC is bringing a factory mentality to GT and getting rid of "dead weight", here's a little ammunition that says BOTH coaches really believe in the "family" concept of teams.
On another note, a part of me really wishes he could have seen Jaylend QB'ing our team. He was a good passer in HS, AND a good runner. He had Nesbitt's size and arm, was pretty fast and agile, and had JeT's passing ability. Almost the perfect blend of all of CPJ's QBs. Whatever he pursues in life, I hope he'll find peace with not being able to play football. A GT degree is a HUGE accomplishment!
Ken may not be the best at X and O articles, but these profiles he does are good.
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agree that Ken does a very good job on features and other takeout pieces. He manages to get into details without bogging the story down.
He had PJ butted heads a few times but I think there is still a great deal of trust and respect on both sides if Ken can call up PJ after he's been out of the picture for nearly a year and a half and get him to talk for a story.
I think PJ was frustrated by a couple of things with Ken: 1) That he published a story PJ didn’t want published and 2) PJ doesn’t think Ken knows football
I think Ken knows how much *work* football is, and the grind the players and coaches go through, though.
Ratliffe knows football, though.
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