Transfer Impact 2021

[GaTech4ever]

McGowan has probably been our best WR since Ricky Jeune. Cimaglia has easily been our best kicker since Wesley Wells. Cochran has been our best LT in years. That’s making an impact on a program as a grad transfer, regardless of team record. Granted, the bar is low at these positions at GT in recent memory.

Transfers won’t always hit, and definitely seems they’ve hit more on offense than defense. But we’d be in much worse shape without these three guys.

 

[Tundeballer]

When it comes to transfers, I think the preference is to get a guy who is older, has played and started elsewhere. With Cimaglia, Cochran, Eley, McGowan, Ryan Johnson, even Clayton we had a really good idea what we were getting. When you get young transfers who haven’t played, you don’t really know what they are. Are they talented players buried behind good starters or are they just not good hence why they aren’t getting the playing time at previous stops?

 

[4shotB]

. Are they talented players buried behind good starters or are they just not good hence why they aren’t getting the playing time at previous stops?

I think a coach could evaluate that fairly easily. Take Jamious Griffin for instance. I think he has only a few touches this year. I think there is enough film on him AND the guys who are in front of him to figure out what the situation is. He could be getting a lot of touches elsewhere but he has 3 guys in front of him who are good to great college running backs. (Not saying he is a portal candidate. I hope he stays as I think he will be good when its his turn here.)

 

[FlatsLander]

Depends on your definition of swung and missed. Clayton and White have been injured. We certainly missed on the contribution front as a result.

I mean that time, resources, and scholarship spots were used for Clayton and White, and we have gained little, if not nothing, from them being here. That's not to say they shouldn't be here, but they were brought here to contribute and it hasn't worked out. I believe both are out of eligibility after this year too.

 

[omnipotech]

My perspective is the theme is the same. All depends on what one is expecting.

Clayton - injured; would not call someone a bust due to injury
Sims/Allen - not sure yet/unclear, I agree with meh so far.
Southers/Davis - performed according to expectations, imo. That is, they were better than what we had but far from gamebreakers before and after transfer. We basically just needed bodies on OL and TE.

I don't mean he's a bust in that he sucks at football or anything, I'm looking at it from the perspective of what have they contributed on the field vs their replacements. Clayton's injuries have largely kept him off the field, so for the hype he came in with and what we have gotten out of it, he's a bust. Same kinda thing with Davis, we didn't hardly utilize him throwing passes, and we still don't utilize our TEs much, so how much did he really contribute that the next man up couldn't have? I don't think he was drafted based on anything he did here.

 

[omnipotech]

Tyler Davis was drafted and GT’s first NFL draft pick in three years at the time. That’s pretty impactful (recruiting) despite the lack of production during the season.

I'm judging them based on their on-field contributions for Tech vs their replacements, not on actual talent or external achievements. I'm glad he got drafted, but I don't think anything he did here was the reason why.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

I think we should sign 25 every year and unless a transfer can start and be an all ACC caliber player, just say no. Have we ever finished a season, not counting walk ons, where we used all of our scholarships?

While I am not quite sure I'd go that far, my own belief is that you will see GT become less of a player in the transfer portal within a couple of seasons. CGC is (wisely) using it copiously right now to maintain class separation as he rebuilds the roster. As the roster starts to get "old" you will see less need for large transfer quantities each year and rather we will target system fits for those last open slots.

 

[g0lftime]

I mean that time, resources, and scholarship spots were used for Clayton and White, and we have gained little, if not nothing, from them being here. That's not to say they shouldn't be here, but they were brought here to contribute and it hasn't worked out. I believe both are out of eligibility after this year too.

They were worth a chance at the time. Sure looked good on paper.

 

[augustabuzz]

I think a coach could evaluate that fairly easily. Take Jamious Griffin for instance. I think he has only a few touches this year. I think there is enough film on him AND the guys who are in front of him to figure out what the situation is. He could be getting a lot of touches elsewhere but he has 3 guys in front of him who are good to great college running backs. (Not saying he is a portal candidate. I hope he stays as I think he will be good when its his turn here.)

I think he is being redshirted.

 

[augustabuzz]

I mean that time, resources, and scholarship spots were used for Clayton and White, and we have gained little, if not nothing, from them being here. That's not to say they shouldn't be here, but they were brought here to contribute and it hasn't worked out. I believe both are out of eligibility after this year too.

I think White is back next year.

 

[Bonaire41]

I think a coach could evaluate that fairly easily. Take Jamious Griffin for instance. I think he has only a few touches this year. I think there is enough film on him AND the guys who are in front of him to figure out what the situation is. He could be getting a lot of touches elsewhere but he has 3 guys in front of him who are good to great college running backs. (Not saying he is a portal candidate. I hope he stays as I think he will be good when its his turn here.)

They are red shirting him this year. He’s only played 1 game this year and Collins said today they you should see him the rest of the season to get his 4 games maxed out. I like the idea Bc jp mason probably not going to return for his 6th year.

 

[forensicbuzz]

What's going to be interesting is what we're going to do with a freshman class of about 50 players. That's over half the roster.

Right now, we're at:

53 freshmen
18 sophomores
12 juniors
11 seniors

Some of these numbers are already in the portal or have transferred, but it's still heavily skewed towards youth.

 

[jojatk]

Exactly... Sometimes there are very explainable reasons (grad school + better opportunity or personal reasons like CTC) but it's risky to overstate the potential impact - and we did...

The players still can’t outplay the coaching. On defense, at the moment, I’m more apt to blame the coaching and injuries since the entire defense, especially the secondary, is playing poorly. And I do believe we have enough talent to not be historically bad.

 

[takethepoints]

I've said a couple of times here that expecting players who couldn't get on the field at factories to immediately and dramatically contribute at Tech was unrealistic. Interestingly, our most effective transfer (imho, McGowan) came in from Northwestern of all places.

We need to recruit ourselves to effectiveness and quit expecting transfers to pull our chestnuts out of the fire. So far, our recruits are doing better then the transfers, again imho.

 

[omnipotech]

What's going to be interesting is what we're going to do with a freshman class of about 50 players. That's over half the roster.

Right now, we're at:

53 freshmen
18 sophomores
12 juniors
11 seniors

Some of these numbers are already in the portal or have transferred, but it's still heavily skewed towards youth.

Not including transfers, which would naturally skew older, or walkons, we currently have

16 first year
20 2nd year
14 3rd year
13 4th year
6 5th year

players that are eligible to play next year. Current transfers would all be 3rd+ year next year, so over 50 players in their 3rd year or later of college football next season. Not as young as you try to make them sound.

 

[Oldgoldandwhite]

Seems like we’ve always been young. Football, Basketball, Baseball, And tiddly winks.

 

[gtie73]

Seems like we’ve always been young. Football, Basketball, Baseball, And tiddly winks.

My middle son shared with me years ago he was tired of hearing we are”young” .

 

[jojatk]

I've said a couple of times here that expecting players who couldn't get on the field at factories to immediately and dramatically contribute at Tech was unrealistic. Interestingly, our most effective transfer (imho, McGowan) came in from Northwestern of all places.

We need to recruit ourselves to effectiveness and quit expecting transfers to pull our chestnuts out of the fire. So far, our recruits are doing better then the transfers, again imho.

I don't think many of our transfers fit the "couldn't get on the field at factories" moniker and the guy that, I think, had the highest expectations this year, Keion White, broke his leg before leaving ODU and is just now getting healthy enough to see playing time.

- Makius Scott: only spent 1 year at South Carolina so I'm not sure we know he "couldn't get on the field."
- Kevin Harris: didn't really fit the mold of the rush end at Alabama but I'll grant he did seem to be struggling there even though he wasn't there very long before transferring
- Kenyatta Watson: injured at Texas and the coaches there were so good that they no longer coach there and they played a bunch of guys in their secondary who weren't getting the job done which perplexed their fans and, I guess, their athletic department who fired them
- Nick Pendley: played in two games as a true frosh, redshirted his second year but played in 4 games, I think he didn't like playing in Leach's offense (he wasn't recruited by Leach but by the previous staff)
- Ace Eley: former honorable mention all-Big10 LB. Not really sure what happened there except that the coaches recruited a couple of hotshot kids and apparently wanted to get them on the field. He wasn't recruited by the current staff. What I read pointed to the coaches feeling like he was very good but they wanted to go with guys they felt had more upside. I could be completely wrong about that but from the outside, and from reading what little I could find, that's what it looked like. For us I think Ace is an upgrade and I still believe our bigger problem on defense is coaching and not talent. We should be at least a not-so-great defense but we're a terrible defense.
- Derrik Allen: redshirted his first year at ND, played in 9 games on special teams and as a reserve as a R-Fr so he was starting to see the field. He's a local kid so perhaps he just wanted to come back to Atlanta. Doesn't look like he fit the "couldn't get on the field" thing but I don't know more than what I've read.
- Myles Sims: redshirted his first year and then transferred to GT. I did read some comments about the coaches at Michigan not being happy with something but that DC was fired after the 2020 season so maybe he isn't the best source for whether a kid can play or not. His new team, Arizona, has 1 win this year.
- Marquez Ezzard: don't know what happened here but I don't think his leaving Miami when he did was because he "couldn't get on the field." My recollection is he left after his true frosh year and when that happens I feel like mostly it's not "couldn't" get on the field but "didn't" get on the field as early as he wanted. But Ezzard didn't succeed here so he might fit that moniker in the end.
- Clayton: he may be the one that fits the description the best of all of the guys we've brought in via transfer.

Don't get me wrong. We have brought in transfers that haven't worked out and some of the ones above probably won't (or already didn't). But I think most of them were and are pretty reasonable gambles rather than throwaways from other schools. Just keep in mind that I believe much of our struggles on defense this year are coaching and not as much talent related so that could definitely be coloring my analysis above and I'm totally open to that possibility.

 

[Pointer]

Not including transfers, which would naturally skew older, or walkons, we currently have

16 first year
20 2nd year
14 3rd year
13 4th year
6 5th year

players that are eligible to play next year. Current transfers would all be 3rd+ year next year, so over 50 players in their 3rd year or later of college football next season. Not as young as you try to make them sound.

Wish we could sticky this post.

 

[takethepoints]

I don't think many of our transfers fit the "couldn't get on the field at factories" moniker and the guy that, I think, had the highest expectations this year, Keion White, broke his leg before leaving ODU and is just now getting healthy enough to see playing time.

- Makius Scott: only spent 1 year at South Carolina so I'm not sure we know he "couldn't get on the field."
- Kevin Harris: didn't really fit the mold of the rush end at Alabama but I'll grant he did seem to be struggling there even though he wasn't there very long before transferring
- Kenyatta Watson: injured at Texas and the coaches there were so good that they no longer coach there and they played a bunch of guys in their secondary who weren't getting the job done which perplexed their fans and, I guess, their athletic department who fired them
- Nick Pendley: played in two games as a true frosh, redshirted his second year but played in 4 games, I think he didn't like playing in Leach's offense (he wasn't recruited by Leach but by the previous staff)
- Ace Eley: former honorable mention all-Big10 LB. Not really sure what happened there except that the coaches recruited a couple of hotshot kids and apparently wanted to get them on the field. He wasn't recruited by the current staff. What I read pointed to the coaches feeling like he was very good but they wanted to go with guys they felt had more upside. I could be completely wrong about that but from the outside, and from reading what little I could find, that's what it looked like. For us I think Ace is an upgrade and I still believe our bigger problem on defense is coaching and not talent. We should be at least a not-so-great defense but we're a terrible defense.
- Derrik Allen: redshirted his first year at ND, played in 9 games on special teams and as a reserve as a R-Fr so he was starting to see the field. He's a local kid so perhaps he just wanted to come back to Atlanta. Doesn't look like he fit the "couldn't get on the field" thing but I don't know more than what I've read.
- Myles Sims: redshirted his first year and then transferred to GT. I did read some comments about the coaches at Michigan not being happy with something but that DC was fired after the 2020 season so maybe he isn't the best source for whether a kid can play or not. His new team, Arizona, has 1 win this year.
- Marquez Ezzard: don't know what happened here but I don't think his leaving Miami when he did was because he "couldn't get on the field." My recollection is he left after his true frosh year and when that happens I feel like mostly it's not "couldn't" get on the field but "didn't" get on the field as early as he wanted. But Ezzard didn't succeed here so he might fit that moniker in the end.
- Clayton: he may be the one that fits the description the best of all of the guys we've brought in via transfer.

Don't get me wrong. We have brought in transfers that haven't worked out and some of the ones above probably won't (or already didn't). But I think most of them were and are pretty reasonable gambles rather than throwaways from other schools. Just keep in mind that I believe much of our struggles on defense this year are coaching and not as much talent related so that could definitely be coloring my analysis above and I'm totally open to that possibility.

You're right. What I should have said is that our transfers didn't fulfill expectations at the schools they originally chose. It's not that they all failed; more that they didn't meet what their original coaches (and they themselves) thought they could do. So they came to Tech.

I sadi in another thread that this isn't necessarily bad. Many of them came from places where the competition was pretty stiff. But expecting Tech to get a lot better quickly because of transfers strikes me as unrealistic. So far their contribution has not been, imho, as consistent as from players we originally recruited (or, in some cases, - Brooks, Lay - walked on). But, admittedly I was too strong in my original post. It's early days for some of these young men and we'll just have to see.