Transfer Portal: Who do we need to target this offseason?

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stinger 1957

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GaTech4ever said:
Collins was the lowest graded DE on the team this season according to PFF. I’m not sure this was his decision.

I’m honestly confused why we’re so concerned about the DEs who’ve transferred out. The only DEs who played in 2023 and transferred out are Collins (lowest graded DE), Reuben (38 snaps all season), and Kennard (is he really the single source of the concern?). Kennard was a grad transfer so we don’t even know the full story there. Kevin Harris, Eddie Kelly, Josh Robinson, Sylvain, the freshmen and new transfers are probably not a far drop off (if at all) from who played this season + Kennard and a lowly-graded Collins.
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Would not surprise me to see more move on by end of spring semester. Also need to see if Sylvain plays again.
 
kg01

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My sentiment remains unchanged. Wake my a** up when the dust clears and I know who to root for ...

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GaTech4ever

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apatriot1776 said:
None of the players leaving are back-breakers. The issue is more what depth is remaining over the course of a season - recall 2015 when we were on our 6th and 7th string A-backs by the end of the year. The bottom line being you need to have enough warm bodies on the sideline. I have full confidence we’ll figure that out through the portal, though.
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I agree with your premise. But because the depth that’s leaving are also the lowest graded players on the defense, I’m not sure it’s a major loss. We know they’re going to be replaced. It’s not like we’re going to enter the 2024 season with not enough DEs. And even if the outgoing DEs are replaced by slightly below average transfers/freshmen DEs, it’s still probably an upgrade. I hate phrasing it like that but IIWII.
 
apatriot1776

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GaTech4ever said:
I

I agree with your premise. But because the depth that’s leaving are also the lowest graded players on the defense, I’m not sure it’s a major loss. We know they’re going to be replaced. It’s not like we’re going to enter the 2024 season with not enough DEs. And even if the outgoing DEs are replaced by slightly below average transfers/freshmen DEs, it’s still probably an upgrade. I hate phrasing it like that but IIWII.
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We just don’t have enough DEs now. It’s only a cause for concern if we can’t find below average transfer DEs by September - which is unlikely but possible given teams like Colorado and Purdue are in similar spots.
 
Techwood Relict

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apatriot1776 said:
We just don’t have enough DEs now. It’s only a cause for concern if we can’t find below average transfer DEs by September - which is unlikely but possible given teams like Colorado and Purdue are in similar spots.
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I'm not worried about recruiting against Purdue, our beaches are better.
 
dressedcheeseside

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GaTech4ever said:
Kenyatta Watson was the lowest graded player on the defense, according to PFF.

Noah Collins was the lowest graded DE, according to PFF.

Etinosa Reuben played 97 snaps in his GT career and had one tackle.

Kenan Johnson, Kyle Kennard, and Jason Moore graduated from GT after staying in the program for 4+ years.

I don’t even know the freshmen’s names who are transferring out because they weren’t stud recruits and never played at GT, no offense to them.

Why are we worried again?
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It’s not so much, the subtraction, but the lack of addition. That plus the fact that we were absolutely dreadful last year.
 
jojatk

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dressedcheeseside said:
It’s not so much, the subtraction, but the lack of addition. That plus the fact that we were absolutely dreadful last year.
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I understand the concern. But here’s a few thoughts in my head that keep my level of concern pretty low:
  • As you said, the DL wasn’t our strong suit. Defense in general was poor overall so losing guys from that unit doesn’t seem like something to be concerned about but expected. As you also said, that subtraction is not the issue. I just wanted to put it out there as it’s one of those factors keeping my concern level low.
  • I think we are entering a period of time where we will see quite a few players entering the portal who wanted to play in their bowl games and also, potentially, see who else was going to determine if some of their desired landing places might have good openings. So I think there will be some good options who are either just now entering or are really starting to evaluate where they want to go which should help us.
  • Signing day was happening during our final bowl prep. Our coaches were also having to do bowl prep as the last week of recruiting wrapped up and we also had to “bench” two guys who were out recruiting for us. Given those circumstances I think our coaches got a lot done which gives me some comfort that now that things have calmed down from the bowl that they will be able to focus even more attention on what we need in order to fill out our roster. And by “what we need“ I mean specifically what players are entering the portal that they may want to go after.
So put all of those together and I think we shall see some additions over the next couple of weeks especially as the first day of school is Jan 8 and I think the last day to enroll is Jan 12.
 

Root4GT

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jojatk said:
I understand the concern. But here’s a few thoughts in my head that keep my level of concern pretty low:
  • As you said, the DL wasn’t our strong suit. Defense in general was poor overall so losing guys from that unit doesn’t seem like something to be concerned about but expected. As you also said, that subtraction is not the issue. I just wanted to put it out there as it’s one of those factors keeping my concern level low.
  • I think we are entering a period of time where we will see quite a few players entering the portal who wanted to play in their bowl games and also, potentially, see who else was going to determine if some of their desired landing places might have good openings. So I think there will be some good options who are either just now entering or are really starting to evaluate where they want to go which should help us.
  • Signing day was happening during our final bowl prep. Our coaches were also having to do bowl prep as the last week of recruiting wrapped up and we also had to “bench” two guys who were out recruiting for us. Given those circumstances I think our coaches got a lot done which gives me some comfort that now that things have calmed down from the bowl that they will be able to focus even more attention on what we need in order to fill out our roster. And by “what we need“ I mean specifically what players are entering the portal that they may want to go after.
So put all of those together and I think we shall see some additions over the next couple of weeks especially as the first day of school is Jan 8 and I think the last day to enroll is Jan 12.
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Fairly similar circumstances for a lot of P5 and G5 teams this year. Likely will be the norm for 40-50% of FBS teams going forward.
 
iceeater1969

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I hope we are going away from the constant subbing of DE and DT to match some perfect defensive player alignment for down and distance. Its been depressing to watch the guys run on off , get set to stop the play and then see other team get the furst down. Then here come some new guys for the new situation. Post game, even though we were terrible, Thacker would have report that guys were in the right number of plays and all everyone got minutes.

Against UCF we got way better as we left the players on the field. At end Lockett and Efford figured out game speed and made hits at point of attack. Kelly looks good as well.

D will be Ok if get some more portal guys that have 2 years eligibilty and aren't injured. Get a Name brand DC with name brand DE and we are good.
 
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