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

[Buzzforlife]

 

[305jacket]

On the bright side of this, the new DC will have a blank slate to work with to get "his" guys in to match whatever scheme and personnel he wants to run.
I just worry that the timeframe will limit the amount of P5 level players available to find and recruit. However, there should be plenty of spots open to sell for playing time. Defense will definitely be a work-in-progress. Lets see.

 

[BuzzStone]

Kennard, Douse, Wallace, and at least 7-8 others on the defensive side of the ball moving on. I know we were not great but continuity helps teams that are learning how to win. I am hopeful we see improvement next year.

 

[Buzzforlife]

Nelson Woghiren, GT P-WOn is now committed to Mercer.

 

[GaTech4ever]

Tatum's role diminished after Sherrer took over, so Tatum's decision to move on is not a surprise. I don't think he played at all in the bowl game.

One thing that should be pointed out (and I agree with most of what’s been said) is that Tatum was the best player on GT’s defense in the Syracuse game, both by the eye test and PFF score. That was the second-to-last game of his GT career.

 

[wesgt123]

God dang defensive line getting weaker by the day

 

[danny daniel]

From my perspective Douse leaving is a surprise and a bigger hurt. Wallace walked as a senior so I was not expecting him to return. Tatum, Johnson. and Kennard are also hurts and we need some serious replacements. Hopefully some new blood, leadership, and schemes will more than overcome the losses. Douse, Wallace, Kennard, and Johnson are all grads so not so surprising.

 

[stinger78]

OK, so this is troubling, though not totally unexpected. The grads tend to move on these days. We benefitted from Haynes King's graduation from A&M. It happens. The guys who aren't making the 2-deep tend to move on as well, and I cannot blame them - they want to play. We also have benefitted from adding some of these players. Guys like Blaylock and Seither, Leary, Kelly, White, Harris, etc. It prematurely losing the guys who are contributors that hurts. There are few of our on these lists, but there are some.

 

[MacJacket]

Douse really developed well for us. I hate that he’s moving on but glad he got his degree. Someone is going to get a plug and play DT.

 

[roadkill]

From my perspective Douse leaving is a surprise and a bigger hurt. Wallace walked as a senior so I was not expecting him to return. Tatum, Johnson. and Kennard are also hurts and we need some serious replacements. Hopefully some new blood, leadership, and schemes will more than overcome the losses. Douse, Wallace, Kennard, and Johnson are all grads so not so surprising.

I can't tell from your post if Douse is a surprise to you or not.
He gave us 5 years.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

Well at least we can offer immediate playing time and actually mean it.

I really don’t like this revolving door means of building a team. It kind of runs contrary to the whole brotherhood/family mantra all teams love to spout (GT included). IIWII.

 

[Techwood Relict]

If we are "processing" players through graduation, we are doing just fine. Happy for Mr. Douse.

 

[stinger 1957]

Douse played in the bowl game, I admire that he did when he knew he was going to the portal, many around the country did not. I'm guessing we replace these guys with good players. Seems to me that GT is a really nice setup for defensive players with ability to come in and be a part of a defensive revival that goes with a really good offense. Together they could be a potential championship team, that would be really attractive to me if I were a really good player. The next few weeks are going to be really interesting IMO.

 

[roadkill]

I’m trying to filter out attrition due to graduates. In years past, those would be normal - we would gripe about the occasional starter not getting accepted into GT’s grad school, but that was it. Now with the existence of the portal, it has become higher visibility because “going into the portal” has such a negative connotation. There are a couple of factors that make it appear worse than it really is:

• GT graduates a higher percentage of its players than many schools we compete with. Most graduates are portal candidates, and don’t necessarily leave because they prefer to play somewhere else.
• The extra “Covid Year” of eligibility means more players still have eligibility left when graduating. Douse is an example of this. This issue will work itself out soon.

Edit to add: Obviously our coaches are well aware of who is graduating and has eligibility left. They are also not likely to be surprised when one of these players decides to go into the portal.

 

[Techster]

This one hurts. Douse was solid to good. Especially hurts from a depth perspective.

 

[GaTech4ever]

From my perspective Douse leaving is a surprise and a bigger hurt. Wallace walked as a senior so I was not expecting him to return.

Douse also walked as a senior

 

[tmhunter52]

With the continuing portal exodus, especially on the defense, I hope the 2024 coaching staff institutes a policy of greater player substitutions in future games. Getting more reps for more players can only be beneficial, since it builds needed depth and player satisfaction.

 

[GaTech4ever]

3 of the 5 lowest graded players on defense are now in the portal. Douse was the second-lowest graded DL. I’m not sure if this was Douse’s decision. It’s the grad school thing again plus we may be looking for someone younger with a higher ceiling.

Douse announced a few weeks ago he was coming back. Of the potential factors that changed his decision over the last few weeks, I imagine a better football opportunity appearing out of nowhere as less likely than us encouraging him to look elsewhere and/or him not getting into GT grad school.

 

[GaTech4ever]

Douse played in the bowl game, I admire that he did when he knew he was going to the portal, many around the country did not.

1.) How do you know that Douse knew before his end of season conversations with the coaching staff?

2.) Some players planning to enter the portal, especially those who won’t be coveted, still need the film.

 

[GT_B]

I try not to call out individual players because any player that suits up for the jackets I will support and root for while they are here, but our defense was horrendous at times this year. As we all know we were in the bottom 5 teams in div1 rush D and bottom 3rd in total defense.

In terms of the portal so far, I just don’t feel anyone is a huge loss besides maybe kennard, but even he was very inconsistent in performance and would be non impactful in several games.

Tatum always seemed undersized to me, his actual height/weight on the program might not say it, but he looked like a tweener to me in between a LB/S size. Which I think was some of his trouble filling gaps and getting off of blocks in the box. Tatum would make a play once in a while, but majority of the time he seemed to disappear most of the game.
I wish him well but I don’t think that’s a big loss for us.

Douse seemed more productive to me than his PFF score indicated. He would make plays somewhat regularly or at least hold his gap a lot of the time from the times I would focus on the DL. But he’s graduated and prob didn’t get into grad school (most likely). So good luck to him.

I’m starting to believe we are going to hire a new D coordinator and not just keep sherrer there because it feels to me we aren’t making any more portal moves on D because we might be waiting for the new D Coordinator to do his own evaluation on players coming in and who he wants to focus on. Just a hunch.