Rational Off-season Discussion Thread

[bke1984]

PHIII is not best punter we've had IMO, I think Durant Brooks was better. Before my time, but Rodney Williams was great, too.

Agree both were great. Right now no. But he could be. I honestly don’t remember Brooks as a frosh and I was too young to remember much of Williams, though I remember he could kick it a long damn way. Time will tell.

 

[Treb1982]

I have been critical of Marshall this year at times... But now that the season is over I think he did fairly well in his first year...

I think if he works the the abacks and WRs in the offseason they could develop some chemistry.

I think we need to cut him some slack. O-line under performed this year (some due to injury), aback blocking was poor, and best rb on the team was kicked off one week prior to starting the season.

It's been funky season if someone was to tell us at beginning of the year both bback and qb would have over 1000 yards and our qb would be top 5 in rushing TDS that we would have won more games than we lost... Just for whatever reason didn't work out that way.

 

[bke1984]

I have been critical of Marshall this year at times... But now that the season is over I think he did fairly well in his first year...

I think if he works the the abacks and WRs in the offseason they could develop some chemistry.

I think we need to cut him some slack. O-line under performed this year (some due to injury), aback blocking was poor, and best rb on the team was kicked off one week prior to starting the season.

It's been funky season if someone was to tell us at beginning of the year both bback and qb would have over 1000 yards and our qb would be top 5 in rushing TDS that we would have won more games than we lost... Just for whatever reason didn't work out that way.

Yeah, I struggle with saying we should try someone else because he was a definite warrior this year. If he beats out everyone then we may be fine. I imagine CPJ is going to challenge him to improve his passing during the offseason. The reads probably get better with game experience...honestly they looked better Saturday at first glance, but I will never rewatch to see for sure.

 

[awbuzz]

The issues with AB production were due to:

1) poor edge blocking
2) pitch relationship issues with TM
3) lack of TM having the savvy when running the option to use his eyes and hips to "sell" the keep before pitching. TW was a master of this.

Damn good summation.

 

[Jacketman1]

Agree both were great. Right now no. But he could be. I honestly don’t remember Brooks as a frosh and I was too young to remember much of Williams, though I remember he could kick it a long damn way. Time will tell.

Very true. Just to add on to Brooks, he came to Tech as a junior. Frosh and sophomore years were at Georgia Military College.

 

[gtwcf]

1) I'm guessing TM figures it out. Of our starting QBs under CPJ, only JT seemed confident on the pitch after his first year starting (I'm including Nesbitt, Washigton, Lee, and Thomas and Marshall in this discussion. You can throw Jordan in there too). TM seems like a more dynamic runner from the QB position than I remember at A-back. I think knowing your the man through summer may help too. And I'm not sure which side of the QB/A-back combo was ruining pitch relation, but that's something else to work on this off-season. I think it may be TM since he seems to like to stretch things wide, but its a team game.

2. CL seemed to finally get his feet back under him the last few games. I honestly was wondering why he was playing earlier in the year, looked like he could've re-aggravated his injury. I'll be interested to see if Mason slides out to A. I also get the feeling Dontae Smith may work into playing time, but may need a year to get the blocking down.

3. We'll miss Juene's blocking, but I'm hoping Camp can pick up the slack. I think he's got a lot of tools that I hope translate into production. I'll be interested to see what Carter can do when he comes in during the fall.

 

[COJacket]

Great first round of questions (hope there is a next round); great responses, not emotional bs but good logic, good observations; looking forward to more of this on the board.

 

[heyhellowhatsup]

My sources are telling me that the Swilling brothers are not tied to the hip with Roof like some want to believe.

In fact, there has been some tension between the elders.

KQ corroborated this yesterday on twitter.

 

[Lavoisier]

I think we need to look for a transfer or JuCo guy to shore up our OLine this off-season. We really are hurting for depth.

 

[BuzzStone]

What are the options for special teams?

We were consistent on very few things this year, but special teams was one of them. I knew we would take a step back after Butker left for the NFL but we are terrible in every aspect of ST.

I don't have the answer but would like something to look forward to next year.

 

[BCJacket]

3) "Demanding better" is not a SMART goal for improving our football program.

Perhaps the most important point made on this board in the last two days. The one thing that I know needs to happen is T-Stan, as CPJs boss, needs to hold him accountable. T-Stan needs to demand concrete, actionable, initiatives. CPJs usual excuses and platitudes cannot suffice; "we were close in game X", the fickle psychology of 18 year olds, GT and VT win the Coastal, look at Tech historically...

What changes to staff are going to be made? What realistic resources can T-Stan and the GTAA provide to help the team? How is CPJ going to change his approach to: recruiting, teaching/coaching, game planning, playcalling, etc.

Losing records and missing a bowl 2/3 years is below the minimum standard for Tech. If CPJ is not willing to make significant changes, he should resign.

 

[BCJacket]

1) QB should be an open competition again this offseason. TQM should get the first reps with the 1s, he's earned that. But the results do not warrant giving him the job for next year unconditionally.

2) AB, I think we may miss JJ Green here. IMHO he's our blocker at the position and the most powerful runner. He plays bigger than his size. I'd look for a power-type AB to be the 4th guy... maybe Jordan Ponchez-Mason?

3) WR we really need someone to emerge. I like BS, he's reliable, he plays hard. But he doesn't have the ceiling to be a game breaker. Camp looks like he has the tools to be the next great one.

4) PHIII is a beast. King needs to step up and earn his scholly. CPJ needs to come up with a real plan to improve special teams.

5) IMHO getting rid of Roof won't help anything. His defenses haven't been any worse than any of CPJs other coordinators. IMHO, CPJ needs to step up and finally act like a head coach, not a glorified OC who likes not having a boss. He needs to spend close to 50% of his time with the D. Maybe we need to promote someone to be the OC M-F, even if CPJ still calls most of the plays on game day. (Bring back Bryan Cook? GaSo 2017 results not withstanding.)

 

[SidewalkJacket]

Perhaps the most important point made on this board in the last two days. The one thing that I know needs to happen is T-Stan, as CPJs boss, needs to hold him accountable. T-Stan needs to demand concrete, actionable, initiatives. CPJs usual excuses and platitudes cannot suffice; "we were close in game X", the fickle psychology of 18 year olds, GT and VT win the Coastal, look at Tech historically...

What changes to staff are going to be made? What realistic resources can T-Stan and the GTAA provide to help the team? How is CPJ going to change his approach to: recruiting, teaching/coaching, game planning, playcalling, etc.

Losing records and missing a bowl 2/3 years is below the minimum standard for Tech. If CPJ is not willing to make significant changes, he should resign.

Well, sort of. What I meant by that was that fans "demanding better" means nothing. After every loss this season I have seen that statement made. And every time I read it, I get one step closer to abandoning message boards.

Are there things our football program can do to improve? Sure. Will Georgia Tech as a university change to accommodate better football? Not likely. Should Paul Johnson change his approach to coaching football? Absolutely not. If you want to demand better, write a fat check designated for coaching salaries and facilities.

I'm not "satisfied with mediocrity." I'm a realist. There are unchangable factors that affect the W/L record of GT football. I simply choose to discuss the factors that can be controlled. So I'll call for better coaching in certain aspects when it appears necessary, and I'll hope for more 4* recruits, but mostly I'll be thankful I root for a football program that does things the right way and boxes WAY above our weight class.

 

[BCJacket]

Well, sort of. What I meant by that was that fans "demanding better" means nothing.

Oh yeah, I wasn't trying to put words in your mouth. I just agree that "demanding better" is worthless. We all have different ideas of what can and should be done.

 

[tmhunter52]

1) At QB, I would like to see LJ, JJ or TO take over if TQM can't improve his passing. If he does improve then I think that he will and should stay at QB.
2) At AB, I think that either Jarret or Gantt will be the 4th AB, but only if TQM stays at QB during the off-season.
3) At WR, I think that we are set here. Stewart is an outstanding blocker and I believe that he will improve next year. I am really excited to see what Camp can do as a starter. I think that Dolphus will see the field a lot too especially in the red zone. Anderson and Sanders are both speed threats so I imagine that one will move to AB and the other will be the 4th receiver.
4) PHIII has been fantastic and I fully expect him to win at least one Ray Guy award before he is gone.
5) I am not sure what will happen here as I think that TD knows the opportunity that he has at Tech and his father knows it too. I am not concerned one bit about the Swillings leaving. BJS will get a lot of playing time next year and will probably be a starter by the end of the year and Tre will have a chance to win a job in the secondary during the spring. To utilize the talent more, I would like to see us have some specialized packages for certain players or substitute more during the game.

I might be the only one, but I think that this could be a 10 win team next year if the passing game developers more and if we hire a ST coach to improve the coverage units. We also need to make a change at DC and become more aggressive. My top 5 choices here would be McColloum, Kelly, Grinch (WSU), Gibson (WVU), or Sawvel (WF).

We have a winner for the Most Optimustic trophy! Only a couple of days removed from an embarrassing butt-kicking in every phase by the dawgs and two weeks removed from a similar embarrassment at Duke and without any changes in personnel, scheme, coaching, resources or demonstrable improvement, we have our first speculation at a 10-win season in 2018! Break open the champagne!

 

[THWG]

We have a winner for the Most Optimustic trophy! Only a couple of days removed from an embarrassing butt-kicking in every phase by the dawgs and two weeks removed from a similar embarrassment at Duke and without any changes in personnel, scheme, coaching, resources or demonstrable improvement, we have our first speculation at a 10-win season in 2018! Break open the champagne!

I've been optimistic about the 2018 season before this season ever started. Just look at what we have coming back on both sides of the ball. It is eerily similar to what 2014 looked like. Now we just need Lucas Johnson or Jay Jones to win the QB job to have a RS Sophomore as a 1st year starter like JeT was.

 

[sidewalkGTfan]

We have a winner for the Most Optimustic trophy! Only a couple of days removed from an embarrassing butt-kicking in every phase by the dawgs and two weeks removed from a similar embarrassment at Duke and without any changes in personnel, scheme, coaching, resources or demonstrable improvement, we have our first speculation at a 10-win season in 2018! Break open the champagne!

Well lets see in 2015 we went 3-9 and then a year later we went 9-4, so a 10 win season next year doesn't seem all that crazy.

 

[wvGT11]

All I want to know is if CPJ can field a top25 to top 10 year again and hopefully consistently given the full needed resources he has been asking for from the school. I still feel like we can have seasons like 2014 consistently with CPJ if he can still get us there. What has irked me about this year is that there seems to be a disconnect from practice to field and some of that falls on the players and some of the coaches. CPJ has said numerous times this year that practice is going well, or they have focused on certain things (2 min defense) but yet the product on the field flops.
This offense is great to watch when we are consitantly a threat, however, this year left little to be desired and was just unwatchable at times.
To me this is a rational discussion that needs to be discussed with CPJ.

 

[SidewalkJacket]

All I want to know is if CPJ can field a top25 to top 10 year again and hopefully consistently given the full needed resources he has been asking for from the school. I still feel like we can have seasons like 2014 consistently with CPJ if he can still get us there. What has irked me about this year is that there seems to be a disconnect from practice to field and some of that falls on the players and some of the coaches. CPJ has said numerous times this year that practice is going well, or they have focused on certain things (2 min defense) but yet the product on the field flops.
This offense is great to watch when we are consitantly a threat, however, this year left little to be desired and was just unwatchable at times.
To me this is a rational discussion that needs to be discussed with CPJ.

Agreed

 

[a5ehren]

PHIII is not best punter we've had IMO, I think Durant Brooks was better. Before my time, but Rodney Williams was great, too.
At A-Back, Omahri Jarrett and Xavier Gantt will be getting carries.

He's not the best yet but he very well could be by the time he leaves.