Transfer Portal: Who's Coming and Going (2022 Roster)

[Techster]

I will say that having spent a couple of years at an Ivy school that the poster is correct that they take tremendous pride in their athletic programs and when they succeed against their peers. I've been to watching parties here in Atlanta to see Ivy teams take on each other.

Alot of this comes down to what does the new college football structure look like. There is the potential that thinking in terms of conferences is old-fashioned and not what the new model will look like.
There will almost certainly be a new structure within the NCAA with a top group that runs itself and then probably a middle tier and a lower tier. If that happens I think GT ends up in the middle tier.
It could also go the way that ND AD Swarbrick has been saying since about 2016, that there will be a group of schools that basically abandon any pretense of their college football programs actually being college football programs, that they will just be semi-pro teams and then you will have another group that believes the academic part of college athletics is important so they will have their own system with their own rules. He has made it clear that ND would be in that latter group and I would expect GT to be in that group as well.

My own belief is that whatever new structure evolves out of college football that GT is unlikely to be in whatever the 'top' tier is, and frankly I am ok with that.

My own belief is that the SEC is basically going to become a minor league with pay for play, and that may be through NIL or some other form. SEC will try to gobble up the best "names" in college sports (Clemson, FSU, Oregon, etc) and make it an attractive national league for ESPN and different media partners. More than likely, they will let go of any academic pretenses...some of the SEC schools right now basically have.

B1G is going to keep some pretense of making college sports about academics, but they will want to play high level college sports (see: Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Mich State). I think they will also try to gobble up national names for an attractive league, but it will be schools with an academic focus (see: UNC, Duke, USCw, UVA, UCLA, Stanford, possibly GT). This will be in concert with Fox.

It could soon be two mega leagues financially supported by the two biggest media companies (ABC/ESPN, Fox), with other revenue streams with tiered packages (with Apple and Amazon, TBS, CBS, etc.). Just look at the NFL model of how they are breaking up the schedule for different media partners.

One thing is certain, the landscape will be totally different in the coming decade. The tectonic shift is already happening. The question for us is where GT ultimately lands. In one of the two mega conferences (I think the SEC will not be an option for GT for political reasons that have kept us out since we left), or does the ACC turn into a FCS type conference and we stay in the ACC to play outside of the mega conferences like a UCF/Elon/GA State/etc.

 

[SWATlien]

The ONLY situation that I see for transfers to here is by guys that are (1) a 4/5th yr player that wants a Tech degree and/or (2) are from Atl area and want to come back and maybe (3) may be losing p/t to some young hotshots. . We really have little to sell right now. Its SAD.

That’s a lot. That’s why kids are transferring in the first place mainly. Blue chip guys may want $$$ but that will be rare.

 

[orientalnc]

My own belief is that whatever new structure evolves out of college football that GT is unlikely to be in whatever the 'top' tier is, and frankly I am ok with that.

This is a statement many GT fans need to think about. GT will never have the fanbase of uga or Bama. The mission of GT is simply out of line with that of large public multidisciplinary universities. The days of us playing football toe to toe with the SEC schools around us are long gone. Like @RamblinRed, I am OK with us making football alliances that are in line with reasonable expectations. Those who say, "We'll never get another national championship if we step down a level" are not facing reality. We are already at that point.

 

[cthenrys]

This is a statement many GT fans need to think about. GT will never have the fanbase of uga or Bama. The mission of GT is simply out of line with that of large public multidisciplinary universities. The days of us playing football toe to toe with the SEC schools around us are long gone. Like @RamblinRed, I am OK with us making football alliances that are in line with reasonable expectations. Those who say, "We'll never get another national championship if we step down a level" are not facing reality. We are already at that point.

This has been the case for my entire period of GT fandom. I do remember some on this board (and others) shouting down those with this opinion / outlook for “settling” and not having aggressive enough targets for what GT football could be. Some of that was perhaps nurtured by CGC’s optimistic outlook for how we would compete for and recruit talent.

IIWII.

 

[JacketFan137]

The ONLY situation that I see for transfers to here is by guys that are (1) a 4/5th yr player that wants a Tech degree and/or (2) are from Atl area and want to come back and maybe (3) may be losing p/t to some young hotshots. . We really have little to sell right now. Its SAD.

have we ever had much to sell though? we’re actually recruiting ok relative to the last like 2 decades of tech football

 

[cthenrys]

have we ever had much to sell though? we’re actually recruiting ok relative to the last like 2 decades of tech football

“OK” being the operative word here

 

[JacketFan137]

“OK” being the operative word here

yeah to be honest were recruiting better

 

[4shotB]

This has been the case for my entire period of GT fandom. I do remember some on this board (and others) shouting down those with this opinion / outlook for “settling” and not having aggressive enough targets for what GT football could be. Some of that was perhaps nurtured by CGC’s optimistic outlook for how we would compete for and recruit talent.

IIWII.

In retrospect, I always thought we (school, not the fans) settled for less than our best in athletics. I would have liked to have seen more of an aggressive attitude from both the school leadership and the GTAA. However, that was before the recent changes (NIL, portal, etc.) The quantum shifts has made me okay with getting off the current merry go round. I am okay with taking an Ivy league approach and scaling down with other like minded colleges and universities.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Just as an FYI
Here is a list of the players lost and players gained through the portal so far this offseason.

QB - out - 2 (Yates, Peery), in - 2 (Gibson, Phommachanh)
RB - out - 3 (Gibbs, Griffin, Amerson), in - 2 (McDuffie, Hall)
WR/TE - out - 3 (Sanders, Deveney, Ezzard), in - 2 (Benson, Jenkins)
OL - out - 1 (Camp), in - 4 (Quick, Tchio, Adams, Robinson)
DL - out - 4 (Ivey, Domineck, Lockhart, Griffin), in - 0
LB - out - 1 (Wright), in - 0
DB - out - 2 (Walker, Huff), in - 5 (Bennett, Reed, Wallace, Gee, Harvey)

Having more going out than going in at a position does not mean that we lost more than we gained, nor is the opposite necessarily true either.
If I was going to rank how GT has done on a net basis with the portal I would say the following
QB - slight net +
RB - slight net -
WR/TE - slight net +
OL - moderate net +
DL - large net -
LB - N/A
CB - slight net + (probably more long term than short term)

At a program level we have 16 out so far and 15 in so far and overall I would say its pretty close to a wash. Some areas are stronger, some are weaker.
I don't think all the action in the portal has made the program significantly stronger, nor significantly weaker. Pretty much kept it close to where it was at the end of last season.
There has been alot of action, but not much moving the needle.

Seems about right. We are just treading water in terms of skill sets and hoping we get better player development.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

I will say that having spent a couple of years at an Ivy school that the poster is correct that they take tremendous pride in their athletic programs and when they succeed against their peers. I've been to watching parties here in Atlanta to see Ivy teams take on each other.

Alot of this comes down to what does the new college football structure look like. There is the potential that thinking in terms of conferences is old-fashioned and not what the new model will look like.
There will almost certainly be a new structure within the NCAA with a top group that runs itself and then probably a middle tier and a lower tier. If that happens I think GT ends up in the middle tier.
It could also go the way that ND AD Swarbrick has been saying since about 2016, that there will be a group of schools that basically abandon any pretense of their college football programs actually being college football programs, that they will just be semi-pro teams and then you will have another group that believes the academic part of college athletics is important so they will have their own system with their own rules. He has made it clear that ND would be in that latter group and I would expect GT to be in that group as well.

My own belief is that whatever new structure evolves out of college football that GT is unlikely to be in whatever the 'top' tier is, and frankly I am ok with that.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the two most exciting football games for sheer atmosphere I ever saw were Army/Navy and Yale at Harvard.

Not arguing for or against going that route, just saying.

 

[orientalnc]

So, where are we now in D1 football?

We won a share of the NC in 1990. Since then we won ten or more games 3 times (in 32 years). Including those three, we won nine or more seven times. We had ten losing seasons. We fired two coaches during those years and are threatening a third right now.

We have lost to uga the past four years while scoring a total of 35 points. That total would not have won any of the four games.

We are already a notch below the SEC and B1G. And, most of the ACC if we're honest with ourselves.

 

[cthenrys]

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the two most exciting football games for sheer atmosphere I ever saw were Army/Navy and Yale at Harvard.

Not arguing for or against going that route, just saying.

Army Navy is my favorite non GT game every year. Always has been

 

[JacketFan137]

So, where are we now in D1 football?

We won a share of the NC in 1990. Since then we won ten or more games 3 times (in 32 years). Including those three, we won nine or more seven times. We had ten losing seasons. We fired two coaches during those years and are threatening a third right now.

We have lost to uga the past four years while scoring a total of 35 points. That total would not have won any of the four games.

We are already a notch below the SEC and B1G. And, most of the ACC if we're honest with ourselves.

ideally we should be competitive in the division. miami and unc are the only schools committed to spending money and they have a pretty poor track record with that anyway. the rest of the division is kinda in a similar spot to us in that they seem to cap at 6-8 wins and have bad seasons mixed in. maybe a team captures lightning in a bottle for a season but i don’t think any teams have consistently won 9 or more games in consecutive years

as far as uga, clemson, bama, etc the dreams of competitive games are pretty much dead to me and have been for a while. after kirby’s first year that game has basically just been a humiliation yearly and none of the games have been competitive. clemson pretty much the same thing barring last year. that being said they are doing the same to all the teams not in that tier so it’s really not a great measuring stick for us.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

Those who say, "We'll never get another national championship if we step down a level" are not facing reality. We are already at PAST that point.

FIFY

 

[orientalnc]

ideally we should be competitive in the division. miami and unc are the only schools committed to spending money and they have a pretty poor track record with that anyway. the rest of the division is kinda in a similar spot to us in that they seem to cap at 6-8 wins and have bad seasons mixed in. maybe a team captures lightning in a bottle for a season but i don’t think any teams have consistently won 9 or more games in consecutive years

as far as uga, clemson, bama, etc the dreams of competitive games are pretty much dead to me and have been for a while. after kirby’s first year that game has basically just been a humiliation yearly and none of the games have been competitive. clemson pretty much the same thing barring last year. that being said they are doing the same to all the teams not in that tier so it’s really not a great measuring stick for us.

The divisions are about to be history. UNC, Miami, Clemson, FSU, and perhaps, Va Tech are all willing and very able to spend lots of money. And they have huge fanbases that care about winning. Add to that schools like Syracuse and Pitt who have had success in the past that allows their fans to wish for the same things our fans wish for. I have always wondered why UVA wasn't more successful, but they still rank Thomas Jefferson as a recent alum, so maybe they don't care as much.

If the P5 conferences decide to secede from the NCAA for football, I wonder if every school will stay in those seceding conferences. Especially if it puts a lot more emphasis on the professional aspects of the sport. I also wonder if the NCAA adopts a financing model where those seceding schools cannot commingle funs from not-NCAA football with NCAA non-revenue sports. At some point in time the governing body (whichever it is) has to make an attempt at competitive balance.

 

[GoldZ]

In retrospect, I always thought we (school, not the fans) settled for less than our best in athletics. I would have liked to have seen more of an aggressive attitude from both the school leadership and the GTAA. However, that was before the recent changes (NIL, portal, etc.) The quantum shifts has made me okay with getting off the current merry go round. I am okay with taking an Ivy league approach and scaling down with other like minded colleges and universities.

Understand what you and Red are saying, but imo most over 40 are gonna lose complete interest in that scenario. After they die off it may catch on. Plus, remember how our Prez said wtte when we withdrew from the sec: Nobody is doing what Georgia Tech is attempting to do in major college football. Well, that would still be true with "academically" based schools, just to a lesser degree, based on our narrow focus and lack of support from the top. We would have to play in a mini-league of RICE, Army, Navy, and AirForce with hopes of eventually including Furman, Kennesaw St., GaSt., and Purdue, as well as scheduling either Uga, Auburn, or Clem, once every 3 years (for their homecoming game of course).
I'd rather combine with GaSt. than go mini-league/small ball, assuming we could skirt the Board of Regents somehow.

 

[RamblinRed]

Understand what you and Red are saying, but imo most over 40 are gonna lose complete interest in that scenario. After they die off it may catch on. Plus, remember how our Prez said wtte when we withdrew from the sec: Nobody is doing what Georgia Tech is attempting to do in major college football. Well, that would still be true with "academically" based schools, just to a lesser degree, based on our narrow focus and lack of support from the top. We would have to play in a mini-league of RICE, Army, Navy, and AirForce with hopes of eventually including Furman, Kennesaw St., GaSt., and Purdue, as well as scheduling either Uga, Auburn, or Clem, once every 3 years (for their homecoming game of course).
I'd rather combine with GaSt. than go mini-league/small ball, assuming we could skirt the Board of Regents somehow.

FWIW, i'm not advocating moving 'down', i'm just saying if the prognosticators are correct that college football is headed for a huge restructuring I don't believe GT will be at the top of that restructuring because GT doesn't really bring anything to the table to be in that top tier and really hasn't for a long time.

FWIW, i'm in that over 40 group - hell i'm in the over 50 group. I never missed a football or basketball game in my 5 years as a student. I love GT sports. I definitely don't live and die by them anymore. If it comes to pass that GT ends up in a 'lower' classification there will be a part of me that will be disappointed, but there will also be a part of me that will almost be relieved if we are playing a game with other schools that are somewhat more similar in how they want college athletics to operate.

Frankly, I don't think the fanbase is there to maintain it long term. GT is a very different institution than it was when I was there: in terms of quality of the students, in terms of where they come from, in terms of their demographics (ethnicity, gender, etc.). I think there are still alot of students interested in the athletic side of the college experience, but on a percentage basis I feel like it is a smaller percent of the student population now than it was when I was in school 30 yrs ago.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

Frankly, I don't think the fanbase is there to maintain it long term. GT is a very different institution than it was when I was there: in terms of quality of the students, in terms of where they come from, in terms of their demographics (ethnicity, gender, etc.). I think there are still alot of students interested in the athletic side of the college experience, but on a percentage basis I feel like it is a smaller percent of the student population now than it was when I was in school 30 yrs ago.

A lot of our fans probably know this, but don't really want to admit it. College athletics has changed dramatically, especially in the "money" sports, and large blocks of rabid fans drive the winning programs. We aren't even the most popular school or biggest fan base in our own TV market.

 

[orientalnc]

A lot of our fans probably know this, but don't really want to admit it. College athletics has changed dramatically, especially in the "money" sports, and large blocks of rabid fans drive the winning programs. We aren't even the most popular school or biggest fan base in our own TV market.

I wonder if we're even #2.

 

[orientalnc]

We complain about our failures, but in some ways we are actually over performing.