Outside expectations change for Tech

[Eric]

http://espn.go.com/blog/acc/post/_/id/81197/outside-expectations-have-changed-for-georgia-tech-2015

“Before, people were doing their own thing,” Thomas said. “You had a puzzle and the pieces were outside and they weren’t put together. Now, everybody’s bought in. They know what it takes. There are no egos on the team. Nobody is saying I don’t want to do this, especially with this offense, people have to make sacrifices. They might not touch the ball as much but they have to do their blocking job. Even if you were in the huddle last year, when people would get subbed in, they’d say, ‘I’ll take the blocking shot instead of the running shot, so it was just small things like that.’”

“Before I came in, I talked to some older players who were on some of the teams that weren’t really winning, and so I was like, ‘We’re going to do some great things at Georgia Tech,’” defensive end KeShun Freeman said. “One of the guys was like, ‘I don’t know. You have to work hard because you’re at Georgia Tech and we haven’t been doing our best lately.’ I was like, ‘Whatever. I’m coming in with the mentality that we’re going to be winners. We’re not going to settle for anything like that.’

Two great quotes above.

 

[jwsavhGT]

One Team - One Dream!

 

[DC Bee]

Play hard, play to win, always, 15 one game seasons at a time.

 

[thwgjacket]

When CPJ starts chirping like that it means he thinks we're going to be good.

 

[Ash]

I really like the change in attitude that seems to have taken over the team last year. Buying in to the idea that it does not take away anything from an individual effort to win as a team is huge.

 

[JacketFromUGA]

“I don’t know if we’ll get picked first,” Johnson said. “You’ve got Miami and North Carolina with all these five-star guys.”

God I love our coach

 

[redmule]

I expect Johnson reminds his players every day that they aren't good enough to play for UNC, Miami, Clemson, or uga.

He has truly become the TECH coach. How many of us were told we would never graduate from Georgia Tech? It took me a few quarters to get my mind right; to tell my future wife, "It doesn't matter how long it takes or how much it costs, they are going to give me that damn engineering degree." And it took longer and cost more than even I had expected to get it. We've all seen that a team will take on the personality of the coach. Now it seems that the coach has taken on the personality of the Institute. You WILL work your butt off, you WON'T get Dean's List (or All ACC), you WILL do it the way I want it done, there WILL be no partial credit, there is ONLY ONE right answer, you WILL reach your full potential, and when it's all over, you WILL achieve more than you thought you could, and you WILL be glad you did it.

We're gonna beat the hell out of you.

 

[GTech63]

“I don’t know if we’ll get picked first,” Johnson said. “You’ve got Miami and North Carolina with all these five-star guys.”

God I love our coach

also said “We probably won’t get picked to finish fifth in the Coastal.”

 

[GTJoeBrew]

I expect Johnson reminds his players every day that they aren't good enough to play for UNC, Miami, Clemson, or uga.

He has truly become the TECH coach. How many of us were told we would never graduate from Georgia Tech? It took me a few quarters to get my mind right; to tell my future wife, "It doesn't matter how long it takes or how much it costs, they are going to give me that damn engineering degree." And it took longer and cost more than even I had expected to get it. We've all seen that a team will take on the personality of the coach. Now it seems that the coach has taken on the personality of the Institute. You WILL work your butt off, you WON'T get Dean's List (or All ACC), you WILL do it the way I want it done, there WILL be no partial credit, there is ONLY ONE right answer, you WILL reach your full potential, and when it's all over, you WILL achieve more than you thought you could, and you WILL be glad you did it.

We're gonna beat the hell out of you.

Well said.

 

[jwsavhGT]

AJC article from the players' perspective.
http://www.myajc.com/news/sports/co...ajcstubtomyajcpremium#55655947.3649744.735696

“We want to be 15-0,” guard Trey Braun said. “It’s not a work in progress anymore,” Braun said. “We’re all buying in. We’re all bought into the idea that we want to win a national championship. That’s the goal, and that’s what we’re working for.”

“We just want to take this thing to the next level,” safety Jamal Golden said. “When we see our potential, we see what we can do. Why not? Why not us? That’s our goal.” “It’s pretty exciting,” Golden said, “just to think, What if?”

“Like I tell people, if we don’t lose those two games (to Duke and North Carolina), we make the ACC game even bigger than what it was,” quarterback Justin Thomas said. “It was just a play here, play there. But we know where we stand. We proved that we can play with the best.” “You can’t think ahead,” Thomas said. “We play Alcorn State the first game. We’ve got to play them like we’re playing Georgia.”

“I think we have a lot of guys coming back from last season, a very confident group, a lot of key players,” cornerback D.J. White said. “We beat a lot of really good teams last year, so I think that confidence kind of gave us the incentive like, ‘hey, let’s take it to the next level. Let’s go all the way.’” “You’ve got to shoot high to be successful in anything you do,” White said.

 

[buzzinanut69]

Have to admit it's getting really hard to set realistic expectations for next season as a fan.

 

[Ibeeballin]

I'm more interested who were the older guys Keshun talked to

 

[JacketFromUGA]

I'm more interested who were the older guys Keshun talked to

Here I was thinking it was you

 

[deeeznutz]

I'm more interested who were the older guys Keshun talked to

Me too...that kind of stood out to me when I read this.

 

[Skeptic]

Me too...that kind of stood out to me when I read this.

Me too. Because while it was no secret there was some internal problems with the team in a couple of those years, nobody really put names to it. But they mostly would have been Johnson's recruits, so it makes you wonder.

 

[Ibeeballin]

Which is weird because, even though that player impact/ contribution may have been small, a few of those older guys were part of an ACCCG/Orange bowl.

This give credence to the CPJ statement of "some guys just being happy to be on scholarship"

 

[Bruce Wayne]

“Before I came in, I talked to some older players who were on some of the teams that weren’t really winning, and so I was like, ‘We’re going to do some great things at Georgia Tech,’” defensive endKeShun Freeman said. “One of the guys was like, ‘I don’t know. You have to work hard because you’re at Georgia Tech and we haven’t been doing our best lately.’ I was like, ‘Whatever. I’m coming in with the mentality that we’re going to be winners. We’re not going to settle for anything like that.’

“After we started winning, that guy came back to me and said, ‘I know what you’re saying now you guys are rocking, keep fighting.’ The whole mentality at Georgia Tech changed.”

Because of the tenses in the bolded parts I am reading this as while Keshun was still a recruit even if committed to sign with GT that some guy on the team actually did some accidental negative recruiting by being pessimistic about the program. So this speaks really well to Keshun and makes him an instant favorite. I mean look at his offer sheet: Arkansas; Clemson; Miami; UNC; Stanford; all the "smart" schools, etc. He committed and wanted to do great things at Tech even after getting to hear a Tech player downplay expectations. Then he comes in and becomes a Freshman All-American. Now that older and former Tech player comes around and Keshun says his entire mindset about the program changed seeing what everyone did last year.

The psychology of the individuals in a team sport is such a big factor in team success. "Mind rite" is a necessity. Keshun is a winner.

 

[Techster]

I started a thread about this towards the end of 2014... https://gtswarm.com/threads/a-golden-era-of-gt-football.5188/ ...I really believe GT is in a position to have a special run. Barring a massive string of injuries, and another rash of guys getting booted from the team...we're probably set up as well as we've ever been in terms of all the key positions (QB, both sides of the trenches, skill players). Would not be shocked one bit to see us represent the Coastal the next 2-3 years and winning the ACC 1-2 of those times.

As far as playoffs, so many behind the scenes things and have to happen that it's really hard to say (See TCU 2014).

 

[GTNavyNuke]

Have to admit it's getting really hard to set realistic expectations for next season as a fan.

Take a deep breath and look at this. Every team wants to win - a lot. And every team is working to get better in the off season. It has been very hard for us to stay at a high level for the last 70 years.........

 

[4shotB]

How many of us were told we would never graduate from Georgia Tech? It took me a few quarters to get my mind right; to tell my future wife, "It doesn't matter how long it takes or how much it costs, they are going to give me that damn engineering degree." And it took longer and cost more than even I had expected to get it. We've all seen that a team will take on the personality of the coach. Now it seems that the coach has taken on the personality of the Institute. You WILL work your butt off, you WON'T get Dean's List (or All ACC), you WILL do it the way I want it done, there WILL be no partial credit, there is ONLY ONE right answer, you WILL reach your full potential, and when it's all over, you WILL achieve more than you thought you could, and you WILL be glad you did it.

We're gonna beat the hell out of you.

with your permission, I may go get this post tattooed on my back.