Off Season Priorities

[CuseJacket]

0	Djimon Brooks	DL	6-1	305	RS Senior	Sandersville, Ga.	Washington County
9	Antonneous Clayton	DL	6-3	270	RS Senior	Vienna, Ga.	Florida
31	Kyle Kennard	DL	6-5	235	Freshman	Atlanta, Ga.	Riverwood HS
32	Sylvain Yondjouen	DL	6-4	255	Sophomore	Ruisbroek, Belgium	Don Bosco
35	Jared Ivey	DL	6-6	240	Freshman	Suwanee, Ga.	North Gwinnett HS
42	Jordan Domineck	DL	6-3	247	RS Sophomore	Lakeland, Fla.	George Jenkins
50	Jamal Camp	DL	6-2	305	RS Freshman	Cumming, Ga.	South Forsyth
82	Reece Mullins	DL	6-3	235	RS Freshman	Marietta, Ga.	Auburn
85	Hinson Fowler	DL	6-1	287	RS Sophomore	Augusta, Ga.	Augusta Prep
86	Nathan Bell	DL	6-3	235	Freshman	Moultrie, Ga.	Colquitt County
88	Josh Tukes	DL	6-6	248	RS Junior	Covington, Ga.	Newton
89	Antwan Owens	DL	6-4	275	Senior	Tallahassee, Fla.	Godby
91	Emmanuel Johnson	DL	6-6	265	Freshman	North Charleston, S.C.	Fort Dorchester HS
92	Ja'Quon Griffin	DL	6-0	276	RS Sophomore	Rome, Ga.	Rome
93	T.K. Chimedza	DL	6-3	312	RS Sophomore	Dacula, Ga.	IMG Academy (Fla.)
94	Mike Lockhart	DL	6-4	302	RS Freshman	Birmingham, Ala.	Huffman
96	Albany Casey	DL	6-4	240	Freshman	Bay Minnett, Ala.	Baldwin County
97	Akelo Stone	DL	6-2	292	Freshman	Savannah, Ga.	Jenkins HS
98	Curtis Ryans	DL	6-5	265	RS Sophomore	Kennesaw, Ga.	North Cobb
99	D'Quan Douse	DL	6-2	305	RS Freshman	Savannah, Ga.	Calvary Day School
15	Chico Bennett, Jr.	DE	6-4	250	Sophomore	Ashburn, Va.	Battle Ground Academy (Tenn.)

Coming in so far we have:
South Carolina transfer Makius Scott (DT) 3* 5.6
Zeke Biggers (DT) 2* 5.2

Grey Carroll	DE	Alcoa, TN	6'3"	245		5.6	3/27/20 VERBAL
Joshua Robinson	DE	Douglasville, GA	6'4"	235		5.7	5/6/20 VERBAL
Noah Collins	DE	Loganville, GA	6'4"	218		5.7	5/8/20 VERBAL

We are in the hunt for Cameron Ball 5.6 3* DT, though Scott makes Ball less must-have.

Most notable seniors if they choose to leave would be Brooks, Clayton, & Owens.

Here was the ATL chart for Pittsburgh:
View attachment 9594

Given that Dominek played, 50% of our starting two-deep on DL were freshman (4 true, 1 RS). 60% of the DTs were frosh or rs-fr. Think about that!

Just getting Chimedza, Curtis Ryans, Sylvain, and Clayton back next year alone would be big. Domineck will be better, and Kennard and Ivey looked good for tr-fr. They will be joined by the guys who redshirted, and the transfer/recruits listed above.

Probably won't be world beaters on the DL next year, but injuries and attrition permitting we should have better depth & development.

Said another way, Collins' first full recruiting class will effectively be redshirt freshmen next year (on a normalized basis). One does not rationally expect redshirt freshmen to make an impact on an 85-man college football roster.

But fans are not known to be rational.

Give it some time to marinate. Especially on the OL and DL where it's even harder to be college-ready early (and we have the biggest hill to climb).

As George O'Leary said before the UCF game, our roster has a lot of holes to fill. I think we're doing ok recruiting the lines but patience (and more than 55-ish scholarship players on the field) is required to prove it. Some of first class OL/DL recruits will start poking their heads up meaningfully and start to become difference-makers (or not) next year, but the majority will likely take a couple of years if history has taught us anything..

 

[Oldgoldandwhite]

I have a hunch the NCAA will loosen roster restrictions for a year or two. I would sign 25 and try to get as many DL, LB, K, and OL from the portal as I could get.

 

[jojatk]

I have a hunch the NCAA will loosen roster restrictions for a year or two. I would sign 25 and try to get as many DL, LB, K, and OL from the portal as I could get.

They've loosened them for next year only, at the moment (the implication being that they could potentially loosen them for additional years at a later date but that's just idle speculation on my part, not anything I read). Meaning that anyone for whom this was their last year can be kept on scholarship, if they want to return and the school allows it and can afford the scholarship, and that scholarship will be above and beyond the 85 limit. But they haven't raised the number of "initial counters" beyond 25. I know this has been explained before but I never really got it, for some reason and you sound like you already knew this, but you can only bring in 25 new scholarship players per year. That includes grad transfers, regular transfers, along with the HS seniors.

So next year it sounds like Tariq, Kenny Cooper, and Ryan Johnson have already decided to stay another year and they would be scholarships 86, 87, and 88 and that's allowed but only next year for the moment. If Jack DeFoor and Jamal Camp decide to stay then that would be 89 and 90. Any that decide to stay really don't affect the 2021 incoming class. The 2022 incoming class could affected because everyone who played this year or was on the roster this year could really be the same status next year. So the 2021 class could effectively look like it's the 2021 + the 2020 class from a timing perspective. So that may leave very few spots in upcoming years.

 

[ramblinwreckguru]

They've loosened them for next year only, at the moment (the implication being that they could potentially loosen them for additional years at a later date but that's just idle speculation on my part, not anything I read). Meaning that anyone for whom this was their last year can be kept on scholarship, if they want to return and the school allows it and can afford the scholarship, and that scholarship will be above and beyond the 85 limit. But they haven't raised the number of "initial counters" beyond 25. I know this has been explained before but I never really got it, for some reason and you sound like you already knew this, but you can only bring in 25 new scholarship players per year. That includes grad transfers, regular transfers, along with the HS seniors.

So next year it sounds like Tariq, Kenny Cooper, and Ryan Johnson have already decided to stay another year and they would be scholarships 86, 87, and 88 and that's allowed but only next year for the moment. If Jack DeFoor and Jamal Camp decide to stay then that would be 89 and 90. Any that decide to stay really don't affect the 2021 incoming class. The 2022 incoming class could affected because everyone who played this year or was on the roster this year could really be the same status next year. So the 2021 class could effectively look like it's the 2021 + the 2020 class from a timing perspective. So that may leave very few spots in upcoming years.

Hopefully the NCAA will add max scholarships to 2022 and gradually decrease them back to 85.

For example -

2022 - 95
2023 - 90
2024 - 85

That would make sense to me but probably makes too much sense for the NCAA to mandate.

 

[YJMD]

There's a lot of youth, but with the incoming transfers in particular the DL will have plenty of athletic, big guys. Hopefully there won't be any need for COVID protocols next year, and unless we get double unlucky with injuries we should have simply excessive depth with playing experience. How TK comes back from injury and whether Clayton will stick around are the biggest determiners of next season on DL.

OL on the other hand is a much bigger concern for me. Maybe the young guys will be ready, but an impact grad transfer would be huge.

 

[augustabuzz]

Hopefully the NCAA will add max scholarships to 2022 and gradually decrease them back to 85.

For example -

2022 - 95
2023 - 90
2024 - 85

That would make sense to me but probably makes too much sense for the NCAA to mandate.

My understanding is that the count will be 85+ Seniors until all effected classes have completed eligibility.

 

[bke1984]

Said another way, Collins' first full recruiting class will effectively be redshirt freshmen next year (on a normalized basis). One does not rationally expect redshirt freshmen to make an impact on an 85-man college football roster.

But fans are not known to be rational.

Give it some time to marinate. Especially on the OL and DL where it's even harder to be college-ready early (and we have the biggest hill to climb).

As George O'Leary said before the UCF game, our roster has a lot of holes to fill. I think we're doing ok recruiting the lines but patience (and more than 55-ish scholarship players on the field) is required to prove it. Some of first class OL/DL recruits will start poking their heads up meaningfully and start to become difference-makers (or not) next year, but the majority will likely take a couple of years if history has taught us anything..

But so what’s rational? 5 years? Plenty of coaches show success before then. Tech should be able to get to the 5-6 win mark in year 3...especially in a season with a regular looking schedule. If we are still clocking in at 3 wins it’ll be time to worry.

 

[Techster]

But so what’s rational? 5 years? Plenty of coaches show success before then. Tech should be able to get to the 5-6 win mark in year 3...especially in a season with a regular looking schedule. If we are still clocking in at 3 wins it’ll be time to worry.

Every GT coach since Bobby Ross has either won the ACC championship or played for it by year 5 of their tenure.

Every GT coach since Bobby Ross had a winning record by year 3.

*Except he who shall remain nameless.

 

[Pointer]

But so what’s rational? 5 years? Plenty of coaches show success before then. Tech should be able to get to the 5-6 win mark in year 3...especially in a season with a regular looking schedule. If we are still clocking in at 3 wins it’ll be time to worry.

I think cuse would agree 5-6 wins should be the floor next year. Personally I think we should expect see 7-9 wins by the year after that as well.

 

[Pointer]

Priority
1. Find some depth for both lines.
2. Setup to win more than 3 games.

 

[stinger 1957]

After going through the first two pages of this posting, what it said to me was we need vast improvement in everything except RB and I cannot disagree

 

[WreckinGT]

Every GT coach since Bobby Ross has either won the ACC championship or played for it by year 5 of their tenure.

Every GT coach since Bobby Ross had a winning record by year 3.

*Except he who shall remain nameless.

I'm trying to think of any coach who started with three straight losing seasons and still ended up being successful somewhere. Drawing blanks right now.

 

[deeznats]

I'm trying to think of any coach who started with three straight losing seasons and still ended up being successful somewhere. Drawing blanks right now.

An apt comparison could be Gary Barnett at Northwestern. They were worse than us when he took over but had a similar need to turn the roster over. Frank Beamer had 2 losing seasons, then 2 mediocre seasons, then 2 more losing seasons before being successful.

 

[ramblinwreckguru]

My understanding is that the count will be 85+ Seniors until all effected classes have completed eligibility.

Actually, only 2020-2021 seniors will not count towards the 85 as of right now although all players on a team this year can petition for another year of eligibility.

NCAA allows athletes to keep year of eligibility due to COVID-19

The NCAA's decision not to dock a year of eligibility is good for current college athletes but may be tough for high school seniors trying to get in.

www.google.com

 

[WrongShadeOfGold]

I have a hunch the NCAA will loosen roster restrictions for a year or two. I would sign 25 and try to get as many DL, LB, K, and OL from the portal as I could get.

I'm glad you mentioned kicker and the portal. Why the hell can't we get a baller kicker from an FCS or G5 school to come here? You would think that would be an easy sell, a GT scholarship for a kicker at podunk directional school.

 

[forensicbuzz]

They've loosened them for next year only, at the moment (the implication being that they could potentially loosen them for additional years at a later date but that's just idle speculation on my part, not anything I read). Meaning that anyone for whom this was their last year can be kept on scholarship, if they want to return and the school allows it and can afford the scholarship, and that scholarship will be above and beyond the 85 limit. But they haven't raised the number of "initial counters" beyond 25. I know this has been explained before but I never really got it, for some reason and you sound like you already knew this, but you can only bring in 25 new scholarship players per year. That includes grad transfers, regular transfers, along with the HS seniors.

So next year it sounds like Tariq, Kenny Cooper, and Ryan Johnson have already decided to stay another year and they would be scholarships 86, 87, and 88 and that's allowed but only next year for the moment. If Jack DeFoor and Jamal Camp decide to stay then that would be 89 and 90. Any that decide to stay really don't affect the 2021 incoming class. The 2022 incoming class could affected because everyone who played this year or was on the roster this year could really be the same status next year. So the 2021 class could effectively look like it's the 2021 + the 2020 class from a timing perspective. So that may leave very few spots in upcoming years.

Two things, the juniors this year will be juniors next year, so they'll also have 2 years of eligibility left. The sophomores will sophomores next year, so they'll have 3 years left, the freshmen will be freshmen next year, so they'll have 4 years. The incoming class will also be freshmen, so they'll also have 4 years. With the free year, they're creating a freshman class of potentially 50 players. There will be a potential problem with the Class of '22 if they don't do something about the scholarship limit. They'll either raise it or there will be a ton of processing at all levels.

Second, the 25 limit is only on incoming freshmen. You could add 60 transfers as long as they stay under the 85 limit.

Actually, only 2020-2021 seniors will not count towards the 85 as of right now although all players on a team this year can petition for another year of eligibility.

NCAA allows athletes to keep year of eligibility due to COVID-19

The NCAA's decision not to dock a year of eligibility is good for current college athletes but may be tough for high school seniors trying to get in.

www.google.com

They all get the extra year. Only this year's seniors don't count towards the 85 limit. Going to cause a log-jam in 2 years.

 

[jojatk]

My understanding is that the count will be 85+ Seniors until all effected classes have completed eligibility.

I haven't been able to find anything on the interwebs that supports that, though I hope you are correct. Everything I've seen explicitly says the 85 limit will not be applied to next year and not after that. Can you share where you saw that info? I'm hoping you're right.

 

[BurdellJacket]

Every GT coach since Bobby Ross has either won the ACC championship or played for it by year 5 of their tenure.

Every GT coach since Bobby Ross had a winning record by year 3.

*Except he who shall remain nameless.

Bill L#&*S says "High!"

 

[lv20gt]

I'm trying to think of any coach who started with three straight losing seasons and still ended up being successful somewhere. Drawing blanks right now.

Cutcliffe at Duke.
Bill Snyder started with 3 losing season out of 4 at KSU
Schnellenberger at Lousiville to a certain degree.
Mike Leach at Washington State.
Kirk Ferentz went 1-10, 3-9, 7-5 at Iowa

Bonus - In basketball, Cremins had 3 straight losing seasons in conference, the first two losing over all.

 

[Pointer]

Cutcliffe at Duke.
Bill Snyder started with 3 losing season out of 4 at KSU
Schnellenberger at Lousiville to a certain degree.
Mike Leach at Washington State.
Kirk Ferentz went 1-10, 3-9, 7-5 at Iowa

Bonus - In basketball, Cremins had 3 straight losing seasons in conference, the first two losing over all.

Ehh future would be grim