Madison Grant
Helluva Engineer
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Not necessarily true
CFB players love to play "close to home" for the most part
In every Era where Miami has had great teams they have never had high paid Coaching Staffs, Elite Facilities, nor have they ever been a "big money CFB Program" budget-wise
What they have had is nearby talent, and lots of it
GT is very similar to Miami in all those phases listed above, except GT has only 3 Majors that allows us to throw a "wide net" recruiting wise (BS-Business, BS-LMC, BS-HST)
We don't have to change funding, backing, or spending to elevate GT FB to nipping at the CFP on occasion
We simply have to recruit earlier and better and get a little lucky here and there
For anecdotal purposes-----in this 2019 Recruiting Class there were 39 HS players in GA that were rated 4* & 5* according to 247 composite rankings, CPJ (yeah him) offered 26 of those Recruits to come to GT
If CPJ offered them he obviously thought they could get accepted and graduate from GT
That 26 of 39 represents a .666 ratio, if you extrapolate that to the Top100 recruits in GA that means that 2/3 or 66 out of the Top100 HS FB players in Ga are indeed academic qualifiers for GT
I have always theorized that the academics excuse was way overblown by the CPJ fanboyz, and now CPJ's own offer list supports my theories
If 60 to 70 of the Top100 Recruits in GA are indeed academic qualifiers for GT, then Coach G has a good chance to really elevate this program without any "structural changes" to GT as an Institution, this also proves that CPJ's detractors were correct all along, he really was a terrible Recruiter and didn't get GT's fair share of the elite Recruits from GA HSs that did qualify for GT
My theory is that the "system is hurting our recruiting" people were probably correct all along
I'm excited because Coach G isn't letting any excuse keep from recruiting at the highest level that we can here at GT
I agree with most of this, but I don't think CPJ was a 'poor recruiter' as much as his system limited him, and because of his system he was looking for different recruits. Remember the 4 star OT from Gainesville we had when CPJ was hired. He was perfect for a pass-blocking heavy scheme, but he struggled at the option style of blocking. Considering the arguments made by college and high school coaches to recruits that you'll never get into the NFL because of the totally different techniques and skills the option offense prizes, CPJ recruited over that better and better every year. Actually, Andy McCollum is a HELL of a recruiter, and I'm excited to see what he can do if CGC keeps him on. But our offense kept CPJ from really capitalizing on the onfield success he had by following those years up with top recruiting classes. The year we went 11-3 and won the Orange Bowl, we had one of his better rated classes but didn't sign a single 4 or 5 star difference maker type.
Also, I think we need to seek donors to increase our funding, but I don't think we need the money that Virginia Tech or Louisville throw at it because of our location. Our coach can drive up the street and see a whole bunch of D1 prospects. If you're in Blacksburg, you're going to be putting in some miles in the sky.