NEW DC SEARCH: GT hires Blake Gideon

stech81

stech81

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MWBATL said:
Good move, or not? Thoughts? (My only thought is I am surprised Key moved so swiftly given how slow and methodical he was with other hires…)
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Looks good young but the problem I see is who would coach the LB’s ? Are we still one coach short if we hire him as DC? Or do we have someone on the staff to coach the LB’s ?
 
apatriot1776

apatriot1776

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Very shocked we're not going with somebody with DC experience. Gideon has been in the safeties/AHC role at Texas for three years now though. It was time for him to move up.

Texas variously plays a 4-2-5 and 2-4-5 defense. Both in practice ended up pretty similar - rarely do they drop the two EDGE guys into coverage - but generally they have a pair of bigger DTs and spread their EDGE guys out more. None of our DTs are as big as Texas' (who come in around 330 lbs - Biggers would've thrived here) so I would expect us to continue with our 4-2-5. Otherwise personnel is pretty similar. Texas' Jack = DE, Buck = EDGE, Mike = MAC, Will = MONEY. I think Efford may move to Will and Lightsey to Mike since Texas generally asks the Will to be more a run support guy and Mike to be more a coverage guy. Texas likes the 5th DB to be more a CB type than a safety type so that's a match for our personnel (Shelley/Gibbs)

As far as scheme... I'll be honest, my football IQ isn't high enough to know what base scheme GT ran last year. From what I'm reading Texas runs a match quarters defense (basically man at CB, the safeties/NB read the play and match the slot receiver/run support/drop into deep coverage) with a lot of overload blitzes (quarters on one side, blitz on the other). Elko and from my vibes Santucci runs more of a single-high look (Cover 1 or Robber, with CBs playing off man). So I'll be interested to see how CPL and especially Tae Harris function if we transition to more quarters.
 
bearla96

bearla96

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This is an incredible hire. Listen to any of the Texas football podcasts talk about him, people are distraught to see him leave. He could've left last year to be the DC at Mississippi State and chose to stay at Texas and now he's becoming our DC. Im pumped.

People at Texas have him pegged to be great P4 head coach in the very near future.
 
Kennethshannon20

Kennethshannon20

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the real question is will there be turnover , and if so how much now with him coming in. A lot of coordinators want to bring in their own support staff. Could be interesting to see. Also, who transfers where now?
 
GTHomer

GTHomer

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MonroeJacket said:
It seems as though the general consensus is that Texas fans love him and they hate to see him leave. Top notch recruiter and coach.

I trust Brent Key. The question now is…is he gonna safeties and Cory Peoples just corners? Who’s gonna coach the LBs? Do we hire another LB coach?
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Hopefully he has inroads to high schools in Texas and Louisiana. Would be good to get more lineman from those states.
 
Techster

Techster

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bearla96 said:
This is an incredible hire. Listen to any of the Texas football podcasts talk about him, people are distraught to see him leave. He could've left last year to be the DC at Mississippi State and chose to stay at Texas and now he's becoming our DC. Im pumped.

People at Texas have him pegged to be great P4 head coach in the very near future.
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High risk, high reward type hire. We would love to have a seasoned guy, but at this point of the college coaches hiring cycle, that would be tough. One of the hiring imbalances between college and the NFL when the NFL pulls from the college ranks.

Gideon may not have called the defense, but if you're coaching for Texas and Sarkisian, you can coach and you can recruit. Sarkisian doesn't suffer fools, and he only hires coaches that are top tier recruiters. Gideon is considered an "elite" recruiter per several sites. Will there be a bit of an adjustment for Gideon? Most likely, but you have to like how his group performed and is one of the best in the country for that defensive unit.

www.si.com

Texas Longhorns Lose Top Defensive Assistant to Georgia Tech

The Texas Longhorns have one of the most talented coaching staffs in all of college football in terms of both coaching ability and recruiting. As of Thursday m
www.si.com www.si.com

Under Gideon, the Longhorns had one of the nation's top pass defenses this past season, giving up just 173 yards per game through the air leading the country in interceptions, and passing touchdowns against. They were also second in the country in opposing QB rating and first in passing yards allowed per attempt.

Alongside thorpe winner Jahdae Barron, that defense was led primarily by the Gideon's stellar safety duo of Andrew Mukuba and Michael Taaffe, the latter of whom was named a first team All-American.

Over the last four seasons with Texas, Gideon has also been an elite recruiter, securing names like Zelus Hicks, Jonah WIlliams, Jordon Johnson-Rubell, Chris Stewart, Derek Williams, Xavier Filsaime, Kade Phillips and many others.

According to the 247Sports coach rating database, Gideon ranks No. 6 in the country for national recruiter of the year and No. 3 in the SEC.

GT is not at the point that we will pull a top DC from a factory school, but we can "money ball" it by pulling and up and comer from a top staff. This is what we're doing with the Gideon hire. It's what we did Santucci and Faulkner. It's what we did with AD Batt.

Because of his recruiting prowess, this is a VERY high upside hire...plus, access to Texas recruiting. Bonus: he coached at GA State, so there's familiarity with Georgia.
 
GTrob21

GTrob21

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The more I look at this guy, the more I like this guy. I think he will be a great recruiter, he seems to have great confidence and a really good resume.
 
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