Salute to the Coaches.

[Scubapro]

Watch out! You're getting very close to the creative opponent reference that got me a post deletion and warning.

I guess I am just living dangerously. . Point taken.

 

[Jacketman99]

Kudos to the coaches. Jeff Sims was not ready in the spring. But he was coached sufficiently and did a hell of a job. Same for the d that was without 3 starters and lost another half way through the game. Yet players were able to make plays when needed. My main concern is special team but I asked you there will be focus on that this week. Collins took full blame for that and promised it will be corrected.

 

[slugboy]

I’ll do grades.
(I’m also watching the Falcons right now and I’m glad I’m grading GT’s coaches and not them. Dan Quinn looks like he won’t make it through the season)

• Lew Caralla, S&C: A. Over the last 5 years, we’ve gotten worn down by the second half and the other team was still going strong. Yesterday was the opposite.
• Chris Weisehan, Tight Ends and Offensive Special Teams: C+. The tight ends showed OK, but the field goal and PAT kicking was awful. I gave him a boost for how he worked with our kicker after the blocked kicks. I’m not sure if he had kickoff returns or Popovich, but that wasn’t great either.
• Jeff Popovich, CBs and Defensive Special Teams: B. We got burned deep and got lucky a few times. Tackling was solid.
• Larry Knight and Marco Coleman, DL: A-. We had a lot of guys out, and played solidly through 4 quarters, and got two strip sacks. The defensive line played well.
• Kerry Dixon, WR coach: A. Our WRs balled out. They’re athletic and talented, but they showed heart and effort and were in the right places.
• Tashard Choice, RBs: A. That position group is loaded with talent, but I’m very happy with how they played. Mentally sharp.
• Nate Burton, Safeties: B+. Riq’s thump tackle was an A++. Tackling was solid. There was some getting burned.
• Andrew Thacker, DC and Linebackers: B. The overall defense played really well and held FSU to 13. The linebackers made some great plays and turnover recoveries, but also missed a lot of plays. On one hand, I’m sure a lot of you wonder how I can just give a B after yesterday’s upset, but I think a well prepared and good line backing corps is a source of havoc, and against a vulnerable FSU offensive line we weren’t getting it. We got some sacks. Our blitzes for the most part didn’t get to the QB in time (though they were great in the 4th quarter).
• Dave Patenaude, OC: B+. I liked most of our play calling, and the QB prep for a freshman QB was impressive. We tend to have gold-colored glasses after a win, but there were a couple of plays that either need drastic reworking or to be pulled from the playbook. The double WR crossing pattern fooled no one. If FSU’s linebacker could catch, a pass went straight to him. The bubble screen where the smallest wide receivers block for the bigger players isn’t fooling any of our competition.
• Brent Key, OL and Assistant HC: A. Offensive line from last year to yesterday was night and day in comparison. It wasn’t perfect, but they had a tall task and played much better than we had any reason to hope for.
• Geoff Collins, HC: A-. I debated B+. You can fairly lay some of the special teams issues at his feet, and he took the blame. But he had his players ready, and they got better as the game went on. There were too many penalties, but that also improved as the game went on. I was happy with his game management and the overall ways his coaches worked with the players.

 

[finalbuzzer]

I would give a shout out to all the coaches and others involved in the recruiting process. In previous years our first team could usually compete well, especially on offense of course. Our D was never in shut down mode. But in the past when we had some adversity like first-rank starters and others missing for whatever reason we could not compensate. The backups were a significant dropoff from the starters.

Yesterday our guys just kept coming regardless of who was out for the game, for a half, or for a series. It was the first time for a long time I could truly say that. One of the reasons we did not tire in the second half (in addition to Mr. Carolla who deserves all the acclaim he will get) is that we had guys coming in who could compete athletically. If this recruiting keeps up as it has been since CGC arrived we have a lot to look forward to. As fans we want the 4- and 5-stars and as we saw with Mr. Sims yesterday and will see with Mr. Gibbs they are invaluable. But the filling of an ATL with real athletes up and down the list will be of prime importance to our future success. The game is so violent and fast now that you will have injuries and you will have guys get tired over 40 minutes. To be able to back those guys up is key.

 

[danny daniel]

It was Brown trying to block the screen for Camp...

This was one of my beefs with Coach P last year. Three times in 2019 we ran that play with AB blocking and he and the play got smashed, in fact AB was temporarily injured twice (and Cottrell and Jarrett, who can block, were on the bench). AB is a great receiver but he is not only small but has yet to master blocking and that play is a waste if you have him in the key role of blocking. I agree that on that play you should use your better personnel such as Camp blocking and EZZ or D Smith or Gibbs or Sanders as the receiver. That is a once or twice play in a game so you should max your personnel for it..

 

[Yaller Jacket]

I like finalbuzzer's point about this year's depth. I can't remember any GT football game where so many people contributed I had never heard of.

 

[GTHomer]

I like finalbuzzer's point about this year's depth. I can't remember any GT football game where so many people contributed I had never heard of.

I believe in the past that a participation report containing a list of players that played in the game was provided. Does anyone know if that exists?

 

[Madison Grant]

Starting with a bunch of injuries, walk-ons, deprogramming option blocking techniques and a 6-2 OT at one point last year, it can't be overemphasized how fast Key has transformed this OL. Can't imagine why more 4-star plus recruits aren't signing up to play under Brent Key.

 

[CuseJacket]

I believe in the past that a participation report containing a list of players that played in the game was provided. Does anyone know if that exists?

Page 7 in the ramblinwreck.com final stats and pasted below

 

[GTHomer]

Page 7 in the ramblinwreck.com final stats and pasted below

View attachment 9008

Thx for providing! This is worth posting after every game.

I see that being ATL does not guarantee playing time but that you are ready to contribute. I was looking for additional OLineman to get some playing time, at least on special teams however did not see their names on the list above. In particular, I'm talking about Clark, Maye and Smith. Hopefully these and some of the other players will earn playing time as the season progresses. I think it will be helpful for building depth both this year and in the future.

 

[wvGT11]

Pretty impressed with the coaching staff in preparing the team. If you listen to Coach collins post game he talked a.lot about how this was much different and how a lot of the practices had to maintain the 6ft rule or had to be done via zoom so players didn't have the full tempo beforehand. He talked also about how part of the change was.not being able to practice reps like normal for kicking due to wanting to be extra cautious .

 

[jojatk]

Thx for providing! This is worth posting after every game.

I see that being ATL does not guarantee playing time but that you are ready to contribute. I was looking for additional OLineman to get some playing time, at least on special teams however did not see their names on the list above. In particular, I'm talking about Clark, Maye and Smith. Hopefully these and some of the other players will earn playing time as the season progresses. I think it will be helpful for building depth both this year and in the future.

From what I gather, OL is one place where we would prefer not to rotate guys in unless someone is injured. But I agree with your point that it would be great to get some of those guys some playing time. Hopefully we'll be up big enough in some games to do that.

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

I don’t understand this thread! After reading some of the comments on the chat room during the game last night, I thought all of our coaches are horrible and have shown no improvement since last year.

I was in the chat room; you were not, and nothing even remotely similar to what you just claimed is true.

 

[Southpawmac]

I was in the chat room; you were not, and nothing even remotely similar to what you just claimed is true.

You must have missed it then. After the first FSU touchdown drive, plenty of people where saying the defense was terrible and saying stuff like “Yeah, CGC is definitely a defensive coach” “Really living up to the minister of mayhem”. Obviously knee jerk reactions, but stuff about the staff was said.

 

[JacketOff]

You must have missed it then. After the first FSU touchdown drive, plenty of people where saying the defense was terrible and saying stuff like “Yeah, CGC is definitely a defensive coach” “Really living up to the minister of mayhem”. Obviously knee jerk reactions, but stuff about the staff was said.

There was also plenty of dogging of the coaches after the 2 INTs and blocked kicks. There were a lot of “same as last year” comments. Others claiming Tech was being “out coached” all the way until we took the lead.

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

You must have missed it then. After the first FSU touchdown drive, plenty of people where saying the defense was terrible and saying stuff like “Yeah, CGC is definitely a defensive coach” “Really living up to the minister of mayhem”. Obviously knee jerk reactions, but stuff about the staff was said.

The implication of @Towaliga's post was that that was prevalent throughout the chat. Fans of any school are going to ask questions when things are going south and generally blame it on the coaches. True fans back off on such accusations when things change (or never say anything negative to begin with). Call it fickle or facing up to the facts. Early in the game, it was only natural that the coaches would be called out (rightly or wrongly), but when things started clicking in the second quarter, those criticisms ended.

 

[SWATlien]

Thx for providing! This is worth posting after every game.

I see that being ATL does not guarantee playing time but that you are ready to contribute. I was looking for additional OLineman to get some playing time, at least on special teams however did not see their names on the list above. In particular, I'm talking about Clark, Maye and Smith. Hopefully these and some of the other players will earn playing time as the season progresses. I think it will be helpful for building depth both this year and in the future.

Typically OLinemen are not substituted/rotated.

 

[LibertyTurns]

You must have missed it then. After the first FSU touchdown drive, plenty of people where saying the defense was terrible and saying stuff like “Yeah, CGC is definitely a defensive coach” “Really living up to the minister of mayhem”. Obviously knee jerk reactions, but stuff about the staff was said.

I wasn’t following chat as closely as normal for an away game because I had frinds over but I do recall people wanting to pull Sims for example. I remarked he was doing well & why would you do that. It was all about the INTs but if you looked past that what you saw was a disciplined offense running a scheme they were comfortable with. It was frustrating how long it took us to score, but the fundamentals were there. You saw a green Freshman QB performing way above average for his experience level & on the road. It was crazy people were comparing it to last year when you had to question whether or not our offensive coaches in particular were up to the task damn near every series of every game.

 

[85Escape]

Chat frustrations are what they are, and you can't really hold people to what is said in the moment with a whiskey or three in them Most of what I remember is everyone saying "Wow! Sims feels different.'

 

[ncjacket79]

This was one of my beefs with Coach P last year. Three times in 2019 we ran that play with AB blocking and he and the play got smashed, in fact AB was temporarily injured twice (and Cottrell and Jarrett, who can block, were on the bench). AB is a great receiver but he is not only small but has yet to master blocking and that play is a waste if you have him in the key role of blocking. I agree that on that play you should use your better personnel such as Camp blocking and EZZ or D Smith or Gibbs or Sanders as the receiver. That is a once or twice play in a game so you should max your personnel for it..

I think it’s hilarious that you guys are obsessing over one damn play like this. AB is a football player and he needs to make the block when called on to do it.