Preseason Accolades

stech81

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Woodstock Georgia
It's easy when you look at this:
Offensive starters returning: 9
Offensive starters lost: 4
Defensive starters returning: 9
Defensive starters lost: 4

Last year we were starting 13 guys on each side of the ball. Obviously a regression is in order when we're down to 11.
I always like the 5-4-4 for a defense to stop someone. It's going to hurt losing those 3 extra players on defense this year.
 

Sideways

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1,589
Not gonna post prior quotes but will address some prior comments.

I'm a huge fan of our O scheme. Yes I think it, and CPJ calling the plays in it, gives us advantages over our opponents and helps our guys on O be successful. When we have really cooked with gas on O however, we have had strong talent and athleticism on that side. Even CPJ and his scheme needs Jimmies and Joes to succeed at a high level.

Do I have the same confidence in Roof and his scheme? No I honestly don't. Do I think he's a subpar D coordinator? No I honestly don't. Do I think talent on that side of the ball has been lacking? Yes I do. And that includes criticizing some players (talent and size / athleticism wise) who I loved watching and are favorites of mine.

Two examples, Pat Gamble and PJ Davis. Both very good players for us. Both with hearts of warriors that gave their all. How can I criticize that? Well I don't, but I do recognize some of their limitations. PJ lacked height and hip turn IMO when comparing him to elite level college ILBs. Pat poured his all into every play, and made a bunch of big plays for us. Pat lacked power, agility, and size to a degree compared to elite DTs and didn't have the athleticism to rush the edge as a DE.

Could another scheme have made these two guys more effective? Was a measure of the success they did have due in part to scheme and play calls? I honestly don't know but can see how arguments in both cases can be made.

But where I have seen multiple difference making athletes having success on O, I have not seen the same on the D side. Either in first stringers or with depth. Maybe that's just my misperception and I invite anyone to site examples to change my perception.

The recruiting successes we have had in the last 3 years lends me to believe the tide has started to turn with regards to improving talent on D. That's all just speculation till proven on the field. I still have front 7 concerns for this year but those concerns are tempered by what I believe to be talent and depth improvements here. My feeling is we are still a year away and 2018 will see a talent level that will be on par with other solid Ds. I hope we get there a year sooner than I think.

Seldom do I see a long post that I agree with in its entirety. We will, have difficulty replacing Pat and PJ. I know there are some that consider Francis a bust but he came on in the latter part of last year and gave us some good plays. I think we will be better on defense this year simply from a depth and experience standpoint. The Austins have been playing for ever ditto Step and several others. On the other hand, some may argue that many, if not most, of our players on defense have reached their ceilings. A friend of mine is adamant about this saying the experience will not matter because a ceiling has been reached for these players and they are as good as they are going to get. I happen to disagree but we will see. There are several posters on here, whose opinion I GREATLY RESPECT, that vehemently argue that scheme and play calling could be improved upon a lot. I do not posses the knowledge to comment on that except I kind of understand the thinking behind our fairly vanilla zone coverage. It would appear that we want to make teams drive the length of the field, limit big plays, and match us drive for drive in such a way as to limit possessions. Given our offense and the lack of talent and depth we have possessed in recent years on defense this makes sense. At least to me, others may differ. Personally, I would rather blitz, blitz, and blitz some more like we did under Tenuta but in this day of shotgun and quick passes it is probably not feasible. Hell, I would go after them anyway and mess up those pretty boy quarterbacks jerseys big plays be damned.
 

Techster

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18,236
Kirby 37 for being the first uga coach in history to lose to GT Vandy and Florida in the same year. Poor guy had to coach so hard with that bare cupboard

Terrible of Mark Richt for leaving Smart a roster loaded with 4 and 5 star recruits. Unlike Chan Gailey who was thoughtful enough to leave CPJ with a handful of 4 star guys and a bunch of 3 and 2 star guys. Chan sure was nice to make sure CPJ had an easy time winning 9 games and going to New Year Eve bowl with that roster his first year! :)
 

FightWinDrink

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2,341
Terrible of Mark Richt for leaving Smart a roster loaded with 4 and 5 star recruits. Unlike Chan Gailey who was thoughtful enough to leave CPJ with a handful of 4 star guys and a bunch of 3 and 2 star guys. Chan sure was nice to make sure CPJ had an easy time winning 9 games and going to New Year Eve bowl with that roster his first year! :)
Congrats on your AJC writer position!
 

AE 87

Helluva Engineer
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13,026
I think Clinton Lynch has a good chance at the all-purpose back slot, dude is a big play machine at AB. He doesn't get the touches to really be in the conversation for All-ACC at RB but if he gets as many TDs as I expect him to this year he can't be ignored.

All purpose yards could be yuge (we're all New Yorkers now).
 

okiemon

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,783
"On Nov. 19, Braun became the first Georgia Tech freshman to be named ACC Offensive Lineman of the Week for his 10 tackle performance against No. 18 Virginia."

Wow. 10 tackles in a game by an offensive lineman. That's an all-time record for either tackles or personal fouls.


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