Spring Practice

dressedcheeseside

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Is it possible that the nature of our offense is such that, more than most, it is susceptible to a total play collapse set off by a minor mistake somewhere down the chain? I have wondered about that.
Yes, but a lot of it is precontact and not about winning the physical matchup. However, against superior opponents, that precontact execution must be flawless.
 

Jacket in Dairyland

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I’ve been following Tech since the 70s. I’ve never seen us have a string 2 deep along either the Oline or Dline. We have had some fine lines for both which were very successful in different years. But none have had strong 2 deep talent / experience. We just got lucky with strong starters and lack of injuries.
Does it seem possible that we could have 10 guys that are prepared and can hold their own on the OL , when we have something like 23 on the roster ? Or am I missing something ?
 

Jacket in Dairyland

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Just for fun , I went to DOOK football last year for their first game of the season. They showed 2 deep, different players, across both OL and DL. Now , who knows how good those players actually are. But they had very good SIZE across their OL , and listed several redshirt freshmen. NOT saying we should imitate DOOK, though...
The Canes looked the same as Dook. 2 deep with different players across both OL and DL as they started last season....
 
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Jerry the Jacket

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Our problem is we have bodies but some of them just are not players. To me if you have not demonstrated an ability to contribute by your third year you should be cycled out of the program so we can recruit more people who might become players.

Go Jackets!
 

Whiskey_Clear

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Our problem is we have bodies but some of them just are not players. To me if you have not demonstrated an ability to contribute by your third year you should be cycled out of the program so we can recruit more people who might become players.

Go Jackets!

We’d have missed out on some great games by Charles Perkins and many others with that approach. Great approach for bama tho....
 

iceeater1969

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Our problem is we have bodies but some of them just are not players. To me if you have not demonstrated an ability to contribute by your third year you should be cycled out of the program so we can recruit more people who might become players.

Go Jackets!
Seems like we have a number of guys that could give depth as a 5th year senior but move on - thanks for the education , i have good job offer , and MOST football is less fun.
I hope the new defense coordinator can build enthusiasm. I have given up on online being fun. Maybe it will be contagious. Football should be fun
 

Skeptic

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Seems like we have a number of guys that could give depth as a 5th year senior but move on - thanks for the education , i have good job offer , and MOST football is less fun.
I hope the new defense coordinator can build enthusiasm. I have given up on online being fun. Maybe it will be contagious. Football should be fun
I enjoyed football as the hitter. My bad luck was to play a position that was mostly the hittee. I will take a chance and suggest you don't really mean to be critical of a kid who goes to school and plays football four years, but graduates and moves on. Happens to all of us. I forget where the line originated but we are all "told" at some point. Mine was at 22, and these fellow got the same message: good enough to play at GT, no small feat, but that's it. And so they are gone.
 

iceeater1969

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I enjoyed football as the hitter. My bad luck was to play a position that was mostly the hittee. I will take a chance and suggest you don't really mean to be critical of a kid who goes to school and plays football four years, but graduates and moves on. Happens to all of us. I forget where the line originated but we are all "told" at some point. Mine was at 22, and these fellow got the same message: good enough to play at GT, no small feat, but that's it. And so they are gone.
With the academic support the sharp back up guys are leaving way before 5th year.
Catch 22 = can't recruit game ready players so develope them is the plan. Those players on edge leave to get good jobs.
Seems like gtaa should embrace an atl based work / study intern plan that encourages the "project" guys to get good grades, good expeirence, and plenty of time to build up a starters body. Taking 5vyears and getting real work expeirence, good grades at gt, stuck to the football and actually played==the very top level recruit.

This fall I will be watching the gt QW 3 year grad transfer play at pensacola Argos
 

SidewalkJacket

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With the academic support the sharp back up guys are leaving way before 5th year.
Catch 22 = can't recruit game ready players so develope them is the plan. Those players on edge leave to get good jobs.
Seems like gtaa should embrace an atl based work / study intern plan that encourages the "project" guys to get good grades, good expeirence, and plenty of time to build up a starters body. Taking 5vyears and getting real work expeirence, good grades at gt, stuck to the football and actually played==the very top level recruit.

This fall I will be watching the gt QW 3 year grad transfer play at pensacola Argos

Good point. Great to see these guys getting so ahead in their course work, but it would also be nice to have some older guys who don't have NFL aspirations stick around all five years.
 

Techster

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Some have mentioned it, and maybe there's merit to it: GT probably needs to recruit an extra 2-3 OLs on top of what we recruit for every 4 year cycle.

It seems we have an inordinate amount of guys who either leave the program, quit playing football, or are hurt. Maybe it's just we're too insular to GT because we're fans of the program, and it's the same at most schools...but man, it seems like we've been struggling at keeping OL numbers up for a while.
 

Jacket in Dairyland

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Some have mentioned it, and maybe there's merit to it: GT probably needs to recruit an extra 2-3 OLs on top of what we recruit for every 4 year cycle.

It seems we have an inordinate amount of guys who either leave the program, quit playing football, or are hurt. Maybe it's just we're too insular to GT because we're fans of the program, and it's the same at most schools...but man, it seems like we've been struggling at keeping OL numbers up for a while.
+++++ the point I was trying to make earlier in this thread.
 

Jacket in Dairyland

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Our problem is we have bodies but some of them just are not players. To me if you have not demonstrated an ability to contribute by your third year you should be cycled out of the program so we can recruit more people who might become players.

Go Jackets!
Recruiting too many "ifs"........If he can add some strength and size, if he can learn to keep his pads down , if he can learn the playbook , if he improves his drive blocking, if he can improve his pass blocking .........you get the point. Then I look at coaching - are they able to teach these young men to be QUALITY contributors. To me it's a combination of both.
I don't believe " recycling " is the right way, that is for the factories. But I would prefer to see us raise the level of our recruiting to reduce " mistakes . And I mean that only in the sense that the SA might not be capable of contributing to the level we require, not to question his desire or effort.
 
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takethepoints

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I've said this before.

We have done a good job recruiting OLs in the last few years. Then, since 2014 …

- We loose Griffin (a potential AACC). Preddy, and Whitley to career ending injury (and we might lose Marshall too, but absit omen).

- We have several OLs quit for career reasons (Fromayen, Brown, and someone else who I can't remember).

- We have a potential AACC OL - Klock - moving on due to the Hill.

That's 7 OLs down in the last 3 seasons due to matters that have a lot to do with bad luck or personal decisions by the athletes. And among those were 5 who were either starters or were expected to start soon. (Losing Brown and Klock really hurt.) You can say that this speaks to the need to recruit more OLs, but that means fewer players at other positions that can be just as important (particularly AB where you need a lot of bodies on the bench).

We need to temper our concerns here, imho. With the new kids coming up and the semi-new kids (The Twins and Marshall) working into form after injury, I think we can easily field a decent 2-deep on OL. People here are getting distracted by Coach, I think; he wants a perfectly blocked play on every down and grouses when he doesn't get it. And less experienced players, like our 2nd unit on OL, are more likely to disgust him. He'll play them when he needs them, however, and I suspect they'll do just fine.
 
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