Kyle Efford is a playmaker!

[CuseJacket]

Is it possible that we will have an Efford-based defense next year?

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

Is it possible that we will have an Efford-based defense next year?

 

[GTRambler]

What makes you think he would? He went from No minutes early season to starter minutes by season’s end. He seems set at GT. He would have no assurance of starting at most better programs.

No doubt, he’s an attractive commodity to some (or many?) coaches of other schools now.

It’s wide open with the Transfer Portal and NIL nowadays, like it or not.

 

[Bogey]

I count 8 freshman LB's on our roster and guessing all of them will red shirt. Maybe 1 or 2 can step up and play next year as red shirt freshmen like Efford?

 

[alagold]

Tatum is 6'2" 215, not much smaller than Efford. Put another 10 lbs. of muscle on him and you have a 6'2" 225 lb. Will LB who can move. Those two could be a pretty darn good tandem next year.

I was slightly disappointed in Tatum.He missed too many tackles badly to put him in Effords class at this point.

 

[stinger78]

I was slightly disappointed in Tatum.He missed too many tackles badly to put him in Effords class at this point.

He's probably not at this point, but then he's a very different player than Efford, too. He missed far fewer as the season went on, though.

 

[alagold]

No doubt, he’s an attractive commodity to some (or many?) coaches of other schools now.

It’s wide open with the Transfer Portal and NIL nowadays, like it or not.

I would think Key will look to portal for exp LB help again.

 

[Jerry the Jacket]

Kyle played a good game, but he missed the one tackle we had to have late in the game when we needed to get the ball back. Had the UGA back within his reach for a 2- or 3-yard loss on Third and 4 and missed him, allowing UGA to convert the first down and then run the clock out. Those are plays you have to make if you are going to win close games. He should only get better and maybe that play will motivate him to work that much harder toward being a great player.

Go Jackets!

 

[stinger 1957]

Linebacker appears to be so instinctive to me so I expect there's a learning. Before it becomes instinctive which then allows them to play fast and hard. That's just my two cents worth

 

[1979jacket]

i still need to finish 2nd half film review but all the linebackers need to shed blockers and maintain gap responsibility better. #13 was the worst but none were good. There were way too many gaps left open and appeared to me that LBs were primarily responsible. It was ugly at times.

 

[Jacket05]

Kyle played a good game, but he missed the one tackle we had to have late in the game when we needed to get the ball back. Had the UGA back within his reach for a 2- or 3-yard loss on Third and 4 and missed him, allowing UGA to convert the first down and then run the clock out. Those are plays you have to make if you are going to win close games. He should only get better and maybe that play will motivate him to work that much harder toward being a great player.

Go Jackets!

I agree that the missed tackle was critical to the game. However, he is taught in that moment to get to the outside to cut the runner off from getting to the sidelines and force him back inside where you are supposed to have more help. He did exactly that but I think he may have over committed to cutting the runner off causing him to miss the tackle and there was no support from anyone else to clean it up on the inside.

 

[UgaBlows]

i still need to finish 2nd half film review but all the linebackers need to shed blockers and maintain gap responsibility better. #13 was the worst but none were good. There were way too many gaps left open and appeared to me that LBs were primarily responsible. It was ugly at times.

#13 made a couple of big plays (Miami fumble recovery!) but overall is one of the least instinctive LB’s i have ever seen on the Flats, I never understood how he got so much playing time this season

 

[LongforDodd]

I hope we can keep Efford from going into the Transfer Portal.

I think we're good with Efford. We were his highest ranked offer, I think, and I just feel that being from the area he understands what opportunity he has in getting a GT degree. He may have value to other programs but I just feel he stays with us.

 

[Jerry the Jacket]

I will not be surprised by any of our players declaring for the transfer portal. These guys are young and have little awareness of the consequence of such a decision. Most of them think the grass is greener somewhere else with NIL and more PT somewhere else. Coach just needs to sit down with each one of them, look them in the eye and secure a commitment to stay or go. I'm sure he is in the process of doing this. I am also sure several will be told they need to leave, so hit the portal.

Go Jackets!

 

[FlatsLander]

I will not be surprised by any of our players declaring for the transfer portal. These guys are young and have little awareness of the consequence of such a decision. Most of them think the grass is greener somewhere else with NIL and more PT somewhere else. Coach just needs to sit down with each one of them, look them in the eye and secure a commitment to stay or go. I'm sure he is in the process of doing this. I am also sure several will be told they need to leave, so hit the portal.

Go Jackets!

I wonder if you could hand out a spreadsheet of all the guys that left over the last few years and where they transferred to. The only one I can think of that went to a definitively better situation was Gibbs to Bama. Maybe you could say Stone and Walton, possibly Domenick. A lot of the other guys left and haven't played much.

 

[Root4GT]

I wonder if you could hand out a spreadsheet of all the guys that left over the last few years and where they transferred to. The only one I can think of that went to a definitively better situation was Gibbs to Bama. Maybe you could say Stone and Walton, possibly Domenick. A lot of the other guys left and haven't played much.

Ivey to Ole Miss

 

[g0lftime]

Chico Bennett to UVA . Not even lateral but he starts.

 

[LargeFO]

All 3 of the ole miss defects hurt. Especially 2 quality DL.

 

[yeti92]

Ivey to Ole Miss

Yep Gibbs and Ivey the most. Wesley Walker, Stone, and Walton are all putting up similar stats to what they did here, and I guess they are on more winning teams. Mike Lockhart looks like he improved this year for WV.

McCollum's stats are slightly worse between not being the #1 WR and injury. Domineck was only a backup at Arkansas, which is crazy cause dude had a ton of sacks, and now he's at Colorado which didn't qualify for a bowl. Derrick Allen has seen almost no playing time for UNC. Jeff Sims got benched at Nebraska. Chico Bennett became a stud for UVA, but he has to play for UVA. Everyone else pretty much dropped to a lower level or has seen basically no playing time.

 

[swarmer]

i still need to finish 2nd half film review but all the linebackers need to shed blockers and maintain gap responsibility better. #13 was the worst but none were good. There were way too many gaps left open and appeared to me that LBs were primarily responsible. It was ugly at times.

This was the defensive issue all year.