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I am just going to say up front, that I am sure I will fail to do some of the players justice in this thread. So, if you have anything to add about certain players, please do! We just have so many kids in the pipeline right now, I am really not familiar with some of them.
Obviously the level of play with the OL was a raised a good bit in 2014. While I don't feel we took huge strides in size or physicality (although there was some of that), we certainly did with the consistency and quality of execution. We got lower in short yardage situations it seemed and did a better job at getting the "must have" yards. We had fewer penalties at critical junctures and fewer whiffs in space. The best part of 2014 IMHO is that we did this, for the most part, with players who will still have eligibility next season and even beyond in some cases.
The big exception to this is Shaq Mason. He will be gone after the New Year. I could go on and on about Shaq and what he has meant to this program, but I don't have enough time or space to do him justice. Suffice it to say that he seemed to be created by the Almighty himself with the specific intent to excel in this offense. He had all the attributes of the perfect OG in CPJ's notion of a run based scheme. He fired into people with quickness and force, having exceptional pad level all the time. He could pull and pass protect quite well when he needed to. It will be interesting to see him progress in the NFL. The good news is he is the only guy I am aware of who will not be back.
As far as I can tell, we will be returning 18 players with a realistic chance to contribute. EIGHTEEN! I am too lazy to check the history, but I am fairly certain that is a high water mark for GT under this regime.
Returning with significant experience:
Bryan Chamberlain R-SR, 6-4, 295. Bryan could very easily win the most improved award in 2014. He held down the starting LT spot all season and acquitted himself very well. Just not being noticed was a major step forward for him. He very quietly got the job done this year and will project to be a starter coming out of spring camp.
Trey Braun R-SR, 6-5, 294. To Trey's credit, he faced a huge challenge from Shamire Devine to take over his starting LG position but he never relinquished it. That speaks volumes about this kid because we all know what kind of player Shamire is destined to become. In the end, Trey was the more versatile of the two, whether pulling or getting to the second level. He simply covered more ground, even if he gave up a little size and physicality at the point of attack. Trey played a lot of snaps this season and he projects to remain the starter coming out of spring camp.
Fred Burden R-JR, 6-3, 302. GT nation collectively had a chance to exhale a sigh of relief after seeing Freddie play a couple games at center. He had the huge shoes of Jay Finch to fill, which is no small task. Freddie changed the position for us some this season. He was by far the fastest player we have put out there snapping balls yet. He shot to the second level very quickly and did a good job of walling off pursuit on the interior and staying low. There were virtually no problems with the exchange, as he and JT seemed to be completely in synch. Freddie projects to remain the starter heading out of spring.
Shamire Devine R-SO, 6-7, 365. No that is not a misprint. He is that big. The kid obviously had a legendary billing to live up to in his first season of eligibility. The biggest question to this point has always been his stamina and physical conditioning. While still a work in progress, Shamire has shown flashes of what we have all hoped for. The amount of movement he gets from DLs lined up across from him and the ease with which he stymies pass rushers is really impressive. Getting out in space and making all of the blocks required of him in this offense remains the biggest question mark. Personally, I think Shamire has seen the light in terms of nutrition and hard work. If he makes a big a jump in this area over the coming off season as he did last year, we may have a special player. He will get a challenge from some other promising players in the pipeline, but I have him with the inside track to replace Shaq on the right side of center.
Errin Joe R-SR, 6-3, 313. The RT position was a battle for most of the season, but IMHO Errin came out on top in the end. He was more dependable most of the time and really played well in some late season contests, particularly the UGA game. I am not quite sure what took Errin so long to get into this position, but I am certainly glad he has made it. When he plays with a little fire, he can light some people up. Errin shared snaps most of the year with:
Chris Griffin R-SO, 6-6, 284. Chris has an ideal frame for the tackle position. His considerable arm length and frame immediately helped TECH improve its pass protection the moment he stepped on the field. Chris moves well for a big guy too and can cover a lot of space, which is good for this offense. He did struggle with assignments at times, often missing key blocks that ended up with blown up plays. This got him sent to the bench in favor of Errin Joe on several occasions. Despite having lost the position battle to Joe at the end of the year (just my opinion), I have him as the favorite to win the job coming out of spring. Most of his problems were experience related and will probably dissipate with more practice time. His physical gifts are better than Joe's and when the light comes on, he will likely pass him.
Andrew Marshall SO, 6-4, 270. Andrew got quite a few snaps at center this season, filling in for Burden when he got dinged up. What really struck me about Marshall, the true frosh, was the composure and aggressiveness with which he played. There was no deer in the headlights with this kid. He should be a really good player going forward.
Returning with some experience
Nick Brigham (OG)R-JR, 6-3, 294, Eason Fromayan (OT), R-SO, 6-4, 290, and Tom O'Reilly (C, OG) 6-3, 300 have all played enough to know that they will be competitive forces in each of the position battles this spring. Fromayan has potential but spent much of his time learning this season. With Brigham in the game we saw little drop off, if any. O'Reilly remains a mystery to me. He appeared to be on the verge of displacing Burden as starting C in the off season (by many reports), only to find himself rarely getting into game action during the season. I have no idea what is going on with him.
Returning with little or no experience
Jake Whitley R-FR 6-4, 288, Trey Klock R-FR, 6-4, 273, Jake Stickler R-FR, 6-5, 261, Michael Preddy R-FR, 6-3, 274, Gary Brown R-FR, 6-3, 288, Michael Muns R-JR, 6-4, 271, and Tim Seagar R-SR 6-2, 293. I really don't know much about these guys beyond hearing that Brown was tearing up people on the scout team. The coaching staff sounds high on pretty much all of the young guys, so the future looks quite bright. It is a pleasure to know that we can bring them each along on a pace that makes sense for them individually. We have some depth finally and we can take advantage of it. Niko Anderson, Kyle Stallard and Trey Smith are all on the roster but I haven't heard of them before.
I have heard multiple football gurus speak of the importance of OL experience when forecasting future results or rankings of college football teams. If this is indeed true, then GT seems poised to have some special years to come. Gone are the days when we had to piece-meal OLs together from retreads at other positions, just to field a team. We have things the way you hope to have them, established starters with experience and talented kids learning behind them with plenty of numbers.
Obviously the level of play with the OL was a raised a good bit in 2014. While I don't feel we took huge strides in size or physicality (although there was some of that), we certainly did with the consistency and quality of execution. We got lower in short yardage situations it seemed and did a better job at getting the "must have" yards. We had fewer penalties at critical junctures and fewer whiffs in space. The best part of 2014 IMHO is that we did this, for the most part, with players who will still have eligibility next season and even beyond in some cases.
The big exception to this is Shaq Mason. He will be gone after the New Year. I could go on and on about Shaq and what he has meant to this program, but I don't have enough time or space to do him justice. Suffice it to say that he seemed to be created by the Almighty himself with the specific intent to excel in this offense. He had all the attributes of the perfect OG in CPJ's notion of a run based scheme. He fired into people with quickness and force, having exceptional pad level all the time. He could pull and pass protect quite well when he needed to. It will be interesting to see him progress in the NFL. The good news is he is the only guy I am aware of who will not be back.
As far as I can tell, we will be returning 18 players with a realistic chance to contribute. EIGHTEEN! I am too lazy to check the history, but I am fairly certain that is a high water mark for GT under this regime.
Returning with significant experience:
Bryan Chamberlain R-SR, 6-4, 295. Bryan could very easily win the most improved award in 2014. He held down the starting LT spot all season and acquitted himself very well. Just not being noticed was a major step forward for him. He very quietly got the job done this year and will project to be a starter coming out of spring camp.
Trey Braun R-SR, 6-5, 294. To Trey's credit, he faced a huge challenge from Shamire Devine to take over his starting LG position but he never relinquished it. That speaks volumes about this kid because we all know what kind of player Shamire is destined to become. In the end, Trey was the more versatile of the two, whether pulling or getting to the second level. He simply covered more ground, even if he gave up a little size and physicality at the point of attack. Trey played a lot of snaps this season and he projects to remain the starter coming out of spring camp.
Fred Burden R-JR, 6-3, 302. GT nation collectively had a chance to exhale a sigh of relief after seeing Freddie play a couple games at center. He had the huge shoes of Jay Finch to fill, which is no small task. Freddie changed the position for us some this season. He was by far the fastest player we have put out there snapping balls yet. He shot to the second level very quickly and did a good job of walling off pursuit on the interior and staying low. There were virtually no problems with the exchange, as he and JT seemed to be completely in synch. Freddie projects to remain the starter heading out of spring.
Shamire Devine R-SO, 6-7, 365. No that is not a misprint. He is that big. The kid obviously had a legendary billing to live up to in his first season of eligibility. The biggest question to this point has always been his stamina and physical conditioning. While still a work in progress, Shamire has shown flashes of what we have all hoped for. The amount of movement he gets from DLs lined up across from him and the ease with which he stymies pass rushers is really impressive. Getting out in space and making all of the blocks required of him in this offense remains the biggest question mark. Personally, I think Shamire has seen the light in terms of nutrition and hard work. If he makes a big a jump in this area over the coming off season as he did last year, we may have a special player. He will get a challenge from some other promising players in the pipeline, but I have him with the inside track to replace Shaq on the right side of center.
Errin Joe R-SR, 6-3, 313. The RT position was a battle for most of the season, but IMHO Errin came out on top in the end. He was more dependable most of the time and really played well in some late season contests, particularly the UGA game. I am not quite sure what took Errin so long to get into this position, but I am certainly glad he has made it. When he plays with a little fire, he can light some people up. Errin shared snaps most of the year with:
Chris Griffin R-SO, 6-6, 284. Chris has an ideal frame for the tackle position. His considerable arm length and frame immediately helped TECH improve its pass protection the moment he stepped on the field. Chris moves well for a big guy too and can cover a lot of space, which is good for this offense. He did struggle with assignments at times, often missing key blocks that ended up with blown up plays. This got him sent to the bench in favor of Errin Joe on several occasions. Despite having lost the position battle to Joe at the end of the year (just my opinion), I have him as the favorite to win the job coming out of spring. Most of his problems were experience related and will probably dissipate with more practice time. His physical gifts are better than Joe's and when the light comes on, he will likely pass him.
Andrew Marshall SO, 6-4, 270. Andrew got quite a few snaps at center this season, filling in for Burden when he got dinged up. What really struck me about Marshall, the true frosh, was the composure and aggressiveness with which he played. There was no deer in the headlights with this kid. He should be a really good player going forward.
Returning with some experience
Nick Brigham (OG)R-JR, 6-3, 294, Eason Fromayan (OT), R-SO, 6-4, 290, and Tom O'Reilly (C, OG) 6-3, 300 have all played enough to know that they will be competitive forces in each of the position battles this spring. Fromayan has potential but spent much of his time learning this season. With Brigham in the game we saw little drop off, if any. O'Reilly remains a mystery to me. He appeared to be on the verge of displacing Burden as starting C in the off season (by many reports), only to find himself rarely getting into game action during the season. I have no idea what is going on with him.
Returning with little or no experience
Jake Whitley R-FR 6-4, 288, Trey Klock R-FR, 6-4, 273, Jake Stickler R-FR, 6-5, 261, Michael Preddy R-FR, 6-3, 274, Gary Brown R-FR, 6-3, 288, Michael Muns R-JR, 6-4, 271, and Tim Seagar R-SR 6-2, 293. I really don't know much about these guys beyond hearing that Brown was tearing up people on the scout team. The coaching staff sounds high on pretty much all of the young guys, so the future looks quite bright. It is a pleasure to know that we can bring them each along on a pace that makes sense for them individually. We have some depth finally and we can take advantage of it. Niko Anderson, Kyle Stallard and Trey Smith are all on the roster but I haven't heard of them before.
I have heard multiple football gurus speak of the importance of OL experience when forecasting future results or rankings of college football teams. If this is indeed true, then GT seems poised to have some special years to come. Gone are the days when we had to piece-meal OLs together from retreads at other positions, just to field a team. We have things the way you hope to have them, established starters with experience and talented kids learning behind them with plenty of numbers.
