Recruiting Class of 2014

[TechCubed]

QB attrition may be the only one you can say hurts. The rest is more normal attrition.

It's all coulda, woulda, shoulda but the combo of Marcus Marshall, Dedrick Mills, KirVonte Benson, Jerry Howard and Jordan Mason in the backfield would be a substantial upgrade to where we are at this moment (also allows Mason and/or Benson to move to AB). Having third, fourth and fifth year guys taking the majority of snaps is how teams like GT can be successful (CJP: Get old, stay old). First, second and third year guys are redshirting, developing and/or contributing on special teams. Younger guys are playing because of their talent rather than out of necessity.

The rate of attrition (which is about normal) combined with just some horrific injury luck puts a school like GT in a bad place.

 

[iceeater1969]

The killers is our smart players get great tutoring help too.

If a smart player starts w redshirt , had some AP classes, and takes summer classes, they have a degree in less than 3 years.

Did jr Mathew jordan have a redshirt year of eligibility left when he attributed?? Yes !! I think that would be an ouch. I know when he left we had 3 other qb ( tqm, lj, jj) plus 1 on the way. - 5 seemed like a log jam.
But now w 8 games left all we have are tqm, a rshirt freshman, and new h s freshman.

Add a dash of player feels assistant has other plans and the good $$$ job is very tempting.

1. do we need to spend way more $$$ and coaches time to get more r sr??
Or
2. we just accept this attrution and keep recruiting at same pace
Or
3. we just accept this attrition and up recruiting. With money from 1.


I know that Andy and wife are very active w his recruits and coached players. they do stuff to make them feel welcome and so they dont have bad influences sneak in.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

QB attrition may be the only one you can say hurts. The rest is more normal attrition.

I'd argue BB as well in our O.

 

[Jacket in Dairyland]

I'd argue BB as well in our O.

Some might call me obsessed with our O line depth, and they may be right. However , in my mind , we can almost NEVER have too many OLs.
Reasons are many, but it seems to be , in this offense, under these coaches , that we have almost NEVER had enough QUALITY depth. Oh , we can stick a body in a position if needed and they may play okay . But the defense figures out they may be the weak link, and at a critical time they get tested , and many times are not up to they task. Bringing in too many players that are " projects ", seems to be what we have had to do, because more "NFL" skilled OLs go elsewhere. And it particularly shows up in pass blocking.

 

[alagold]

I did this same analysis 3 months ago on my own.We are losing avg of 35% 12-'15.Have to wait for full time to judge '16 but are on track.
Just picked '12 and looked at dook to compare..They losr 20% ,not 35%
It makes a difference .A BIG difference in some cases overall.Another hidden weakness in the "program".

 

[gtg970g]

Some might call me obsessed with our O line depth, and they may be right. However , in my mind , we can almost NEVER have too many OLs.
Reasons are many, but it seems to be , in this offense, under these coaches , that we have almost NEVER had enough QUALITY depth. Oh , we can stick a body in a position if needed and they may play okay . But the defense figures out they may be the weak link, and at a critical time they get tested , and many times are not up to they task. Bringing in too many players that are " projects ", seems to be what we have had to do, because more "NFL" skilled OLs go elsewhere. And it particularly shows up in pass blocking.

O line depth is why I was optimistic going into this season. We had 8 players returning with extensive experience plus a transfer DeFoor and rs-fr Quinney breaking into the 2 deep. All for naught.

 

[Lavoisier]

I said it in another thread, but Tech isn't a super fun place to be if you aren't starting and you aren't 100% invested in getting a top degree. I've always thought being a backup at a place like Ole Miss or Auburn or whatever other school would be the best gig in the world. You don't take the hits, you party all day, and everyone treats you like a hero.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Unless you're in the locker room, you're speculating on team chemistry or lack thereof.

Hmm....maybe I mean something different by team chemistry.

Let me put it this way. There are some teams, in every sport, where the sum is greater than the parts. You can't put your finger on what it is or why these guys seem to perform better than their individual press clippings but it is evident on the field. Does this year's team simply lack talent? Perhaps so. But there is some intangible something that is missing so that even the talent that they have seems to under perform.

But to your point, maybe that would be evident in the locker room as well as on the field.

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

QB attrition may be the only one you can say hurts. The rest is more normal attrition.

I’d say QB, BB, and OL attrition has been higher for us than the majority of schools. I’ll also admit that’s based off a guess rather than facts.

And I still contend this may be our best OL too to bottom since CPJ got here. The pass pro isn’t nearly good enough regardless. I actually think TM has tried a lot harder to stay in the pocket on pass plays. He doesn’t consistently get the time he needs however.

I will also admit another gut feeling. More than any other year I feel like we are getting less out of our available talent than we should.

I’m not as positive as most of y’all for why that is. Not being successful passing is the biggest factor imo but once again, I’m not as positive as most of y’all that an easy or obvious fix exists.

I suspect we’d have actually seen a good bit of LJ if he hadn’t gotten hurt. But there is no way for anyone to really know if that is true or not.

We gotta do better in all phases than we have thus far. By a bunch.

 

[forensicbuzz]

Here's the problem to me. Everyone has attrition. The factories have attrition. We have attrition. The G-5 teams have attrition. The FCS teams have attrition. For us, the kids we get are mostly not ready to play as true freshmen. Yes, we play true freshmen, but truth be told, I think the coaches would much rather not have to play many of the true freshmen that they do. Our kids start to come into their own around their R-So/T-Jr years. That's the time it took for our 3* players to develop into 4* players. Unfortunately, when we lose these 3* players before they evolve into 4* players, or they get hurt, or whatever, we don't have a 4* true freshman to come in and replace them. In addition, the high 3* and 4* players don't want to come and suffer through Tech's curricula to sit on the bench. If they don't see a way to the field quickly, they bolt. It's not worth the academic effort to many of these kids for a seat on the bench. So, we'll never develop depth because we'll never have kids willing to wait their turn unless they're not ready to play when they first come in. It's just the way it is as I see it.

 

[Coloradojacket]

Here's the problem to me. Everyone has attrition. The factories have attrition. We have attrition. The G-5 teams have attrition. The FCS teams have attrition. For us, the kids we get are mostly not ready to play as true freshmen. Yes, we play true freshmen, but truth be told, I think the coaches would much rather not have to play many of the true freshmen that they do. Our kids start to come into their own around their R-So/T-Jr years. That's the time it took for our 3* players to develop into 4* players. Unfortunately, when we lose these 3* players before they evolve into 4* players, or they get hurt, or whatever, we don't have a 4* true freshman to come in and replace them. In addition, the high 3* and 4* players don't want to come and suffer through Tech's curricula to sit on the bench. If they don't see a way to the field quickly, they bolt. It's not worth the academic effort to many of these kids for a seat on the bench. So, we'll never develop depth because we'll never have kids willing to wait their turn unless they're not ready to play when they first come in. It's just the way it is as I see it.

But what is the case, they bolt to some other school, and are never heard from again. Marcus Marshall is the one that gets me. He would be the starter now and last year. Easily a 1000 yard back on TV most weeks. Now he is a second team back at an FCs school. He got some really bad advice.

 

[forensicbuzz]

It's not that these kids go somewhere else and are world-beaters, it's that we lose the 3rd and 4th year ability. They may not be NFL caliber, but they are most likely serviceable back ups. We lose the 2nd or 3rd string back ups, which means a considerable drop off from the first level guys out there.

 

[Jacket in Dairyland]

It's not that these kids go somewhere else and are world-beaters, it's that we lose the 3rd and 4th year ability. They may not be NFL caliber, but they are most likely serviceable back ups. We lose the 2nd or 3rd string back ups, which means a considerable drop off from the first level guys out there.

Agree. And it's been happening for years. And CPJ/Staff don't seem to be capable/willing to fix it. Begs the question - do they even see it as an issue ? All too often , things are brushed off ( way too quickly, IMO) as "it is what it is ". That's where the arrogance come in. Seems to be CPJ's feeling that " I will beat them with my coaching/scheme/genius anyway - I don't need to change ".

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

Agree. And it's been happening for years. And CPJ/Staff don't seem to be capable/willing to fix it. Begs the question - do they even see it as an issue ? All too often , things are brushed off ( way too quickly, IMO) as "it is what it is ". That's where the arrogance come in. Seems to be CPJ's feeling that " I will beat them with my coaching/scheme/genius anyway - I don't need to change ".

This is an issue everywhere, not just GT. We've also benefited from those that transfer in. I am not sure how you keep players FROM transferring, other than to be a total @^&# and unfairly limit the schools they can transfer to, so that you make it overly harsh on them.

Also, this problem is only going to get worse across the NCAA....

https://www.ajc.com/news/new-redshirt-policy-makes-more-tempting-transfer/B9Y9EjbmttjovyYKeKX53O/

 

[Jacket in Dairyland]

This is an issue everywhere, not just GT. We've also benefited from those that transfer in. I am not sure how you keep players FROM transferring, other than to be a total @^&# and unfairly limit the schools they can transfer to, so that you make it overly harsh on them.

Also, this problem is only going to get worse across the NCAA....

https://www.ajc.com/news/new-redshirt-policy-makes-more-tempting-transfer/B9Y9EjbmttjovyYKeKX53O/

Like other trends in college sports. I ( an old timer ) don't like them and I wish things would go back to what I remembered. But we either get up to speed with the reality , or we will continue to get further and further behind. We can be cutting edge in so many ways at Tech, but for many years we have been treading water in athletics. Hopeful TStan can improve it in 2-3 years.

 

[Vespidae]

Everything was "Champions of Life" at Tennessee. Lost several starters and the team last year unraveled. After Butch left, all the chatter of fights in the locker room, Butch playing favorites, ego ... all came out. The team was totally dysfunctional but they kept a lid on it until they couldn't. Don't know about Tech, but it does seem like we need more mojo.

 

[RamblinWreck92]

I did this same analysis 3 months ago on my own.We are losing avg of 35% 12-'15.Have to wait for full time to judge '16 but are on track.
Just picked '12 and looked at dook to compare..They losr 20% ,not 35%
It makes a difference .A BIG difference in some cases overall.Another hidden weakness in the "program".

Agreed - the belief that "All programs deal with attrition" is true but few lose as many as we do.

 

[Vespidae]

Agreed - the belief that "All programs deal with attrition" is true but few lose as many as we do.

Do we do exit interviews? Maybe a Pareto?

 

[Vespidae]

Here's an interesting look. This is the total number of Five Star recruits over the last five years. Nearly half come from just four states. Ironically, NFL players tend to come from schools in the Northeast.

When Tennessee won the 1998 NC, it's because Fulmer recruited heavily in CA, and not Tennessee. Alabama recruits heavily in Texas now. We're still duking it out in GA. Seems to me when need recruiting offices in at least six states ....

 

[alagold]

Everything was "Champions of Life" at Tennessee. Lost several starters and the team last year unraveled. After Butch left, all the chatter of fights in the locker room, Butch playing favorites, ego ... all came out. The team was totally dysfunctional but they kept a lid on it until they couldn't. Don't know about Tech, but it does seem like we need more mojo.

er, you remember OUR fight in locker room, AND the DEF quit at end last yr, hmmmm