National Signing Day Coverage

[LongforDodd]

A little AP article I found on our newest P signee from a larger article about the rise in European football players.

Irish punter moving from dairy farm to Georgia Tech

Townsfolk weren't the only ones curious about what David Shanahan was up to with the funny-looking brown ball.

apnews.com

 

[LargeFO]

Yeah, that is a lazy article thrown together for clicks. Our staff actually did a *really* good job of holding the commits we really wanted. The only one that hurt was Helms

I guess I'm a little confused on Helms going to Western Kentucky with that long offer list. Something just seems strange there overall.

 

[smokey_wasp]

I guess I'm a little confused on Helms going to Western Kentucky with that long offer list. Something just seems strange there overall.

That is the one head scratcher for me. Folks keep hinting it had to do with not being comfortable with the big city. You never can tell. It could be a lot of schools filled up by the time he had his change of heart.

 

[Jerry the Jacket]

At the end of the day, I think we most likely concluded we did not need another tight end unless it was someone equivalent to Rob Gronkowski. The guys we have on the roster now are developing nicely and Blackburn can be a tight end as well so, unless Helms is all world, he most likely would have just been another member of the juice crew on the sideline. I think the same is more or less true about the linebacker Sager. Some good potential but not a standout compared to what we already have in the fold plus I think maybe we have our eye on one or two other LB's that are still out there or thinking about transferring, or at least I hope so.

Go Jackets!

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Right now this is where coach collins and crew shine, our recruiting , marketing and social media presence is light years better than just 3 years ago. We don't have a football program yet that just sells itself like the power houses.
Now we just need to translate this effort into wins!

I think you are right. I am a CPJ fan but he erroneously believed that enough young people would want to come to Tech because of a few winning seasons whereas CGC realizes you can market effectively to get kids to come to Tech when you’ve had zero winning seasons.

 

[alagold]

At the end of the day, I think we most likely concluded we did not need another tight end unless it was someone equivalent to Rob Gronkowski. The guys we have on the roster now are developing nicely and Blackburn can be a tight end as well so, unless Helms is all world, he most likely would have just been another member of the juice crew on the sideline. I think the same is more or less true about the linebacker Sager. Some good potential but not a standout compared to what we already have in the fold plus I think maybe we have our eye on one or two other LB's that are still out there or thinking about transferring, or at least I hope so.

Go Jackets!

Jerry,
He is not all-world but Helms is a really good athlete (Def, ints,tackles --with his normal receptions.) from what I hear from the folks around here in N. Ala.I'm pretty sure he would have been an upgrade on speed and receiving to who we have now and likely much better than this guy from Tx that we have almost no info on.
Anyway we need to be better at TE.

 

[Jacketman99]

Jerry,
He is not all-world but Helms is a really good athlete (Def, ints,tackles --with his normal receptions.) from what I hear from the folks around here in N. Ala.I'm pretty sure he would have been an upgrade on speed and receiving to who we have now and likely much better than this guy from Tx that we have almost no info on.
Anyway we need to be better at TE.

Could just be a numbers thing. Blackburn is also projected as a TE. It is interesting that Helms would go with Western Kentucky if he had these other power 5 offers.

 

[augustabuzz]

Could just be a numbers thing. Blackburn is also projected as a TE. It is interesting that Helms would go with Western Kentucky if he had these other power 5 offers.

Blackburn is not projected at TE by Tech.

 

[okiemon]

Heard some interesting comments on ACC Network radio today by our own Roddy Jones. He said that, while coaches do indeed “coach up” and develop lower-rated players, star ratings are important. The schools that compete consistently for national championships and conference championships are also consistently the ones who are top-ranked in recruiting. At the end of the day, he said, “dudes make plays”.

He went on to say that if you want to be able to compete for championships, you must be “in the neighborhood“ of the top 25 in recruiting, or at least moving there by getting ranked higher each year. He said you DON’T want to be in the neighborhood of non-P5 schools in the recruiting rankings.

He did say that the transfer portal is changing things, as those players don’t typically impact recruiting rankings. I guess that is Tech’s best chance this year to offset our ranking.

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

Heard some interesting comments on ACC Network radio today by our own Roddy Jones. He said that, while coaches do indeed “coach up” and develop lower-rated players, star ratings are important. The schools that compete consistently for national championships and conference championships are also consistently the ones who are top-ranked in recruiting. At the end of the day, he said, “dudes make plays”.

He went on to say that if you want to be able to compete for championships, you must be “in the neighborhood“ of the top 25 in recruiting, or at least moving there by getting ranked higher each year. He said you DON’T want to be in the neighborhood of non-P5 schools in the recruiting rankings.

He did say that the transfer portal is changing things, as those players don’t typically impact recruiting rankings. I guess that is Tech’s best chance this year to offset our ranking.

He did not say...but he could have that being ranked 11th in the conference is not where you need to be either.

 

[JacketRacket]

Heard some interesting comments on ACC Network radio today by our own Roddy Jones. He said that, while coaches do indeed “coach up” and develop lower-rated players, star ratings are important. The schools that compete consistently for national championships and conference championships are also consistently the ones who are top-ranked in recruiting. At the end of the day, he said, “dudes make plays”.

He went on to say that if you want to be able to compete for championships, you must be “in the neighborhood“ of the top 25 in recruiting, or at least moving there by getting ranked higher each year. He said you DON’T want to be in the neighborhood of non-P5 schools in the recruiting rankings.

He did say that the transfer portal is changing things, as those players don’t typically impact recruiting rankings. I guess that is Tech’s best chance this year to offset our ranking.

It's called the blue chip ratio ( https://www.bannersociety.com/pages/blue-chip-ratio-2019 ) and while it's not a guarantee, it has a pretty proven track record

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

Heard some interesting comments on ACC Network radio today by our own Roddy Jones. He said that, while coaches do indeed “coach up” and develop lower-rated players, star ratings are important. The schools that compete consistently for national championships and conference championships are also consistently the ones who are top-ranked in recruiting. At the end of the day, he said, “dudes make plays”.

He went on to say that if you want to be able to compete for championships, you must be “in the neighborhood“ of the top 25 in recruiting, or at least moving there by getting ranked higher each year. He said you DON’T want to be in the neighborhood of non-P5 schools in the recruiting rankings.

He did say that the transfer portal is changing things, as those players don’t typically impact recruiting rankings. I guess that is Tech’s best chance this year to offset our ranking.

He did not say but he could have, that finishing 11th is not moving the needle in the ACC. Both Clemson and Miami got 2 5 stars and UNC got 1. But what really separated the top 3 of Clemson, Miami, and UNC was that they had 14, 11, and 11 four stars while we got 1. The difference between the top 3 and number 4 Pitt was striking. Pitt got 3 4 stars. The rich in recruiting are just getting richer in the ACC and the rest of us are just barely competitive if that. FSU got 5 4 stars but was ranked behind number 4 Pitt for some reason.

 

[forensicbuzz]

He did not say...but he could have that being ranked 11th in the conference is not where you need to be either.

He could have also said that if you don't have a class of at least 20 recruits, the rankings aren't comparing apples to apples, so an intelligent person wouldn't make stupid insinuations.

 

[GT_EE78]

It's called the blue chip ratio ( https://www.bannersociety.com/pages/blue-chip-ratio-2019 ) and while it's not a guarantee, it has a pretty proven track record

best way to look at recruiting.simple and easy to understand with good track record.Clemson seems to do more with less. no surprise.
this list is where we wanna be

 

[GTFLETCH]

2021 Georgia Tech Class Rankings as of 17 Dec 2020 : ESPN: 42d * Rivals: 43d * 247: 46th
Despite looking more liek a Coach Johnson era recruiting class, the % transfers and teh annoucement that OL D. Cochran will play next year really spice things up! Go Jackets!!

 

[seanfloyd18]

After reading a lot of threads and seeing a good amount of people seemingly upset by the fact that we only have one four star / we’re 11th in the ACC, I want to put this out there for those of you who aren’t paying super close attention to recruiting:

Let’s look at one of my personal favorite commits in this class, Leo Blackburn.

Leo is ranked 3-stars (.8776) by 247, and listed as the #24 TE and #39 player in GA. He has a teammate at Westlake HS who is a 4-star (.9101) by 247, Jaquez Smith. He’s supposedly the #40 WR and the #22 player in Georgia. Many of us following recruiting were hoping to potentially get Jaquez too - I mean, if he’s better than the recruit we got, why not try to get both?

Now let’s look at their senior seasons.
Leo has 64 catches, 1059 yards, 10 TDs (12 games). Monster season, super excited to get him on the Flats. Jacquez Smith: 24 catches, 298 yards, 1 TD (9 games, idk what his situation is specifically, but bottom line, we definitely got the better guy).

Rivals recently bumped Leo to a 5.7, increasing him to the #18 TE, #33 player in state. Rivals only recently dropped Jaquez, who is now also a 5.7, and he’s fallen to #76 WR and #37 player in state.

This leads to two points:
1) THIS SEASON, ratings don’t ******* matter outside of the top few teams. Stop complaining about being the 11th ranked class in the ACC. The people doing the rankings at the moment have zero knowledge on our recruits in comparison to our coaches recruiting them. They’re reacting to what they see in a crazy year, not accurately predicting success. I’d be willing to bet that there are more 3-stars in the NFL than 5-stars; there has to be. I’m content getting “lowly” 3-stars like Leo, Kaleb Edwards, and every other 3-star in this class. These guys are talented as hell and can get us to the level where the blue chips see us as a destination, and most of these guys would get an immediate 4th star if they committed to a Bama or Ohio State. Seriously, watch Kaleb Edward’s film and tell me that that’s not the kind of recruit we need to be successful. Rankings matter for championships, yes, but building to get there, scouting, and picking the best potential 3-stars is literally the best we can do. If the rating sites get their **** together, I’d expect at least 3 of our guys to get decent bumps. I’m not stressed with “5.2” Zeek Biggers ‘weighing down’ our class. We’re getting the recruits we need, in 2022, hopefully those 4 star dominoes start falling and we consistently break into the top 5 in the ACC.

2) Trust the process, Go Jackets!

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

2021 Georgia Tech Class Rankings as of 17 Dec 2020 : ESPN: 42d * Rivals: 43d * 247: 46th
Despite looking more liek a Coach Johnson era recruiting class, the % transfers and teh annoucement that OL D. Cochran will play next year really spice things up! Go Jackets!!

After reading a lot of threads and seeing a good amount of people seemingly upset by the fact that we only have one four star / we’re 11th in the ACC, I want to put this out there for those of you who aren’t paying super close attention to recruiting:

Let’s look at one of my personal favorite commits in this class, Leo Blackburn.

Leo is ranked 3-stars (.8776) by 247, and listed as the #24 TE and #39 player in GA. He has a teammate at Westlake HS who is a 4-star (.9101) by 247, Jaquez Smith. He’s supposedly the #40 WR and the #22 player in Georgia. Many of us following recruiting were hoping to potentially get Jaquez too - I mean, if he’s better than the recruit we got, why not try to get both?

Now let’s look at their senior seasons.
Leo has 64 catches, 1059 yards, 10 TDs (12 games). Monster season, super excited to get him on the Flats. Jacquez Smith: 24 catches, 298 yards, 1 TD (9 games, idk what his situation is specifically, but bottom line, we definitely got the better guy).

Rivals recently bumped Leo to a 5.7, increasing him to the #18 TE, #33 player in state. Rivals only recently dropped Jaquez, who is now also a 5.7, and he’s fallen to #76 WR and #37 player in state.

This leads to two points:
1) THIS SEASON, ratings don’t ******* matter outside of the top few teams. Stop complaining about being the 11th ranked class in the ACC. The people doing the rankings at the moment have zero knowledge on our recruits in comparison to our coaches recruiting them. They’re reacting to what they see in a crazy year, not accurately predicting success. I’d be willing to bet that there are more 3-stars in the NFL than 5-stars; there has to be. I’m content getting “lowly” 3-stars like Leo, Kaleb Edwards, and every other 3-star in this class. These guys are talented as hell and can get us to the level where the blue chips see us as a destination, and most of these guys would get an immediate 4th star if they committed to a Bama or Ohio State. Seriously, watch Kaleb Edward’s film and tell me that that’s not the kind of recruit we need to be successful. Rankings matter for championships, yes, but building to get there, scouting, and picking the best potential 3-stars is literally the best we can do. If the rating sites get their **** together, I’d expect at least 3 of our guys to get decent bumps. I’m not stressed with “5.2” Zeek Biggers ‘weighing down’ our class. We’re getting the recruits we need, in 2022, hopefully those 4 star dominoes start falling and we consistently break into the top 5 in the ACC.

2) Trust the process, Go Jackets!

Clemson, Miami, and UNC are leaving us in the dust along with everyone else. We can quibble over the ACC rankings, outside of the top 3 they don't mean much but this kind of performance will continue if we do not turn it around next year and win some games. Another 3 or 4 win season would be a pretty hard sell to recruits. The talent infusion from the portal is most welcome and they look good on paper but proof is in the pudding.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Feeling a little deja vu on this thread. Seems ages ago that some on here were critical of CPJ’s recruiting rankings. Then followed the retorts....most CPJ classes were small, because he did not over recruit, so his classes were penalized in the ratings...then discussions of coaches knowing more than recruiting services that make money by pandering to larger fan bases....then coaching up....then “look closely and you will see diamonds in the rough”....then transfers will help....etc.

This is not a pro or anti comment on any coach, just an observation that after academic progress rules impacted Tech we seem to be forever rolling the boulder up the hill. I haven’t given up on the idea we might one day get it to the top of the hill and have it stick but meanwhile our conversations travel well worn circular paths.

 

[WreckinGT]

Heard some interesting comments on ACC Network radio today by our own Roddy Jones. He said that, while coaches do indeed “coach up” and develop lower-rated players, star ratings are important. The schools that compete consistently for national championships and conference championships are also consistently the ones who are top-ranked in recruiting. At the end of the day, he said, “dudes make plays”.

He went on to say that if you want to be able to compete for championships, you must be “in the neighborhood“ of the top 25 in recruiting, or at least moving there by getting ranked higher each year. He said you DON’T want to be in the neighborhood of non-P5 schools in the recruiting rankings.

He did say that the transfer portal is changing things, as those players don’t typically impact recruiting rankings. I guess that is Tech’s best chance this year to offset our ranking.

If you are recruiting in the neighborhood of 25th in the country then you aren't really competing for conference championships without significant luck and you aren't even in the stratosphere of a national championship.

 

[AlabamaBuzz]

It is and will always be a significant challenge recruiting to GT, a STEM school with limited majors. But, as many of you have pointed out, due to the success of obtaining some significant talent through the transfers, I believe CGC "saved" this year in a meaningful way. Honestly, if he can only recruit in the 30's or 40's, he and the other coaches will have to do miracles in "coaching them up". The recruiting rankings today are much more accurate than they were years ago - not as many "missed" that can stay under the radar, so development and game day coaching will be more important today than ever before. Will CGC and his staff be able to step up in the next year or so and prove they can significantly outcoach most of the other teams' coaches? That will be interesting to see. I can't see it right now, but I hope I am blind to it.