Kelly Quinlan on Chuck Oliver Show

[Milwaukee]

Regarding recruiting...could it be as simple that it's really hard to find someone that wants to bust their a** playing football AND bust their a** in the classroom? Most people choose one or the other, but rarely both...

Explain the 07 class then. It can be done at Tech, why people seem to ignore that and use the classroom as a crutch is beyond me. I guess it's convenient.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

Is the "last girl at the bar..." pseudo reality an indictment on GT or an indictment on kids these days or the state of college football? If we have to become a factory or alter our identity to recruit better, then I don't want to. If we can improve recruiting by simply expanding our staff, then we need to do it unless the additional spending is just fiscally irresponsible.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Explain the 07 class then. It can be done at Tech, why people seem to ignore that and use the classroom as a crutch is beyond me. I guess it's convenient.

Even a blind pig.....

 

[dressedcheeseside]

Explain the 07 class then. It can be done at Tech, why people seem to ignore that and use the classroom as a crutch is beyond me. I guess it's convenient.

I used to think so, but a simple glance back through history shows that class as an anomaly. A perfect storm of conditions arose that year wrt to a bond forming among the core group of targets we landed (and their moms).

*Interesting to think that half the guys we signed in '07 never played a meaningful down for GT. Think how we might have been if they did.

Also, conditions have changed since then that make it all that much harder on "academic" schools. Wow, I can't believe I just said academic schools as if it's a rarity.

Imo, our offense is a catch 22. It allows us to compete with tier 2 and lower prospects which is huge because the vast majority of tier 1 prospects are no where near academic matches for GT. However, our limited scope of majors and lower position on the academic prestige totem poll makes it difficult to beat the Stanfords and ND's. Defense is all about getting those extremely rare DL's and that's always going to be difficult due to our geographic location being in the heart of SEC country.

 

[Milwaukee]

Completely agree Cheese.

 

[BigDaddyBuzz]

I have been a member of KQ's site for 15 years and the last couple of years it has become a joke. I never post on there and won't. It is amazing to me the stuff that KQ posts that is just plain made up or his and only his opinion that people take as written in stone.

 

[flea77]

KQ has really good relationships w people inside the Ath Dept. He has a ton of real knowledge. He is one of the few who they trust. He won't post info until it's confirmed. He also does not post things that need to stay inside the locker room. I believe the last girl at the bar quote was directed at the " factory " type of recruits. Face the truth, GT with no easy academic path to maintain eligibility is the " last girl at the bar" for those types. It is what it is. GT looks very good to players who are really interested in getting a Degree w value and playing Big Boy football. GT needs a larger staff to be able to turn over more stones. We are right in the center of the SEC recruiting bread basket. So GT needs the resources to recruit the whole country. JMO.

 

[PBR549]

we don't recruit well on the lines especially. What does this mean?

For me this means not landing 5 star at all. It means more numbers and better talent projection and development. In the past we did a good job developing kids on the lines. Anoai, Walker, Roberson, Oliver, etc; kids that were just avg recruits became all acc and bigtime contributors. We don't do that today well....part is picking the right kid, part is development, part is fitting kid to a scheme (we don't see to have that on D). I think the only kid we really developed along the way well was Gotsis, but to be honest, if he was in the USA; and a high school football kid, he probably would have been a 4-5 star guy...he actually was just a good talent.

Anyway....

Yet WE won 11 games a couple of years ago?

 

[AE 87]

Explain the 07 class then. It can be done at Tech, why people seem to ignore that and use the classroom as a crutch is beyond me. I guess it's convenient.

That was what Kelly was doing with the last girl at the bar comment. See Flea's post. Also, even then it helped having a pretty girl as a wing man, Ambassador or his mom?

 

[kg01]

I used to think so, but a simple glance back through history shows that class as an anomaly. A perfect storm of conditions arose that year wrt to a bond forming among the core group of targets we landed (and their moms).

*Interesting to think that half the guys we signed in '07 never played a meaningful down for GT. Think how we might have been if they did.

Also, conditions have changed since then that make it all that much harder on "academic" schools. Wow, I can't believe I just said academic schools as if it's a rarity.

Imo, our offense is a catch 22. It allows us to compete with tier 2 and lower prospects which is huge because the vast majority of tier 1 prospects are no where near academic matches for GT. However, our limited scope of majors and lower position on the academic prestige totem poll makes it difficult to beat the Stanfords and ND's. Defense is all about getting those extremely rare DL's and that's always going to be difficult due to our geographic location being in the heart of SEC country.

Agree with all this. I'm so tired of people citing that '07 class and saying, "Why can't we do this every year?" That was the exception, not the rule. Next they'll be calling for us to fire CPJ to hire the myth/legend himself, Giff Smith.

 

[ilovetheoption]

KQ has really good relationships w people inside the Ath Dept. He has a ton of real knowledge. He is one of the few who they trust. He won't post info until it's confirmed. He also does not post things that need to stay inside the locker room. I believe the last girl at the bar quote was directed at the " factory " type of recruits. Face the truth, GT with no easy academic path to maintain eligibility is the " last girl at the bar" for those types. It is what it is. GT looks very good to players who are really interested in getting a Degree w value and playing Big Boy football. GT needs a larger staff to be able to turn over more stones. We are right in the center of the SEC recruiting bread basket. So GT needs the resources to recruit the whole country. JMO.

Completely unrelated, but I'm curious. At this time in the year, what is your son focusing on? Strength/mass building? Technique work? Overall athleticism improvement? I'm curious.

 

[Techster]

Imo, our offense is a catch 22. It allows us to compete with tier 2 and lower prospects which is huge because the vast majority of tier 1 prospects are no where near academic matches for GT. However, our limited scope of majors and lower position on the academic prestige totem poll makes it difficult to beat the Stanfords and ND's. Defense is all about getting those extremely rare DL's and that's always going to be difficult due to our geographic location being in the heart of SEC country.

I wouldn't say "vast majority". If you mean kids wanting to come do the work in terms of "academic match", then you're probably not off the mark. In terms of having the academics to get in, our staff gives offers to a lot of the same kids SEC/factory schools are. You just have to look at the guys who end up signing with SEC/factory schools and have offers from us. Obviously the factory type kids represent a larger pool, but "vast majority" is stretching it. A lot of those kids just prefer to play in that type of environment versus the environment at GT.

A major piece of our 2007 class who was a primary piece of our offense in 2008 and 2009 barely got in GT, and that was with Gailey using one of those fabled "exceptions". When I say major, let's just say it's the most important position of any offense. He ended up graduating from GT with a business degree.

But to your point, our pool is definitely smaller than the pool for factory schools, and that's because of several factors beyond just academics.

 

[flea77]

Don't be fooled by "offer list". A lot are not real. GT will also offer pending... The point is if a kid is not a really good student in high school he prob has zero interest in becoming one in college. To answer Ilovetheoption, Will is concentrating on getting stronger, healthier and as always academics.

 

[Techster]

Don't be fooled by "offer list". A lot are not real. GT will also offer pending... The point is if a kid is not a really good student in high school he prob has zero interest in becoming one in college. .

There's no doubt that happens. We've had 2 guys try to commit here the last two years without an offer! I think it happens less often for GT than for say a school like Alabama, FSU, Clemson, UGA, etc. Let's be honest, not many cool points for a recruit trying to claim an offer from GT.

 

[flea77]

Maybe, but it is pretty cool if you can get out of GT

 

[Techster]

Maybe, but it is pretty cool if you can get out of GT

Yes it is!

 

[Milwaukee]

Agree with all this. I'm so tired of people citing that '07 class and saying, "Why can't we do this every year?" That was the exception, not the rule. Next they'll be calling for us to fire CPJ to hire the myth/legend himself, Giff Smith.

A bit dramatic wouldn't you say?

 

[flea77]

Who is Gif Smith?

 

[Techster]

Recruiting coordinator under Chan Gailey often cited as a large reason in Gailey's uptick in recruiting the his last few years. Giff gets a lot of the credit (whether accurate or not I don't know) for landing that legendary 2007 class.

 

[LargeFO]

What always humors me is that a lot of people project 4 players to 25 as this great class. Yes, it had a couple very good players. It also had plenty of busts/non-contributors as well like essentially every class.