Vad Lee Interview on 790 the Zone

[DSGB]

The bottom line is, and to me this proves it, this offense is very difficult to attract talent to. Vad leaving is a simple example of this now imagine how many it puts off that we have no chance at recruiting.

And fundamentally is a big reason our overall talent on O has erroded.

Agreed. Some are celebrating Vad's departure but not seeing the bigger picture. We have provided another hurdle to recruiting and we don't need help with those. We make it insanely easy to recruit against us.

Vad, used properly, could have been quite the marketing tool. Now we have to hope one of the incumbent QB can sizzle and garner some buzz. It's too the point that I wonder why some offensive players come here with other options. It will be an interesting 12 months.

 

[Animal02]

Agreed. Some are celebrating Vad's departure but not seeing the bigger picture. We have provided another hurdle to recruiting and we don't need help with those. We make it insanely easy to recruit against us.

Vad, used properly, could have been quite the marketing tool. Now we have to hope one of the incumbent QB can sizzle and garner some buzz. It's too the point that I wonder why some offensive players come here with other options. It will be an interesting 12 months.

They come here for the reason the should.....a superior education. Those simply looking for stepping stone to the NFL will never be a good fit at Tech.

 

[Techster]

Agreed. Some are celebrating Vad's departure but not seeing the bigger picture. We have provided another hurdle to recruiting and we don't need help with those. We make it insanely easy to recruit against us.

Vad, used properly, could have been quite the marketing tool. Now we have to hope one of the incumbent QB can sizzle and garner some buzz. It's too the point that I wonder why some offensive players come here with other options. It will be an interesting 12 months.

I agree with this a lot.

When Vad was recruited, there was hope that he would be the one to change the perception of what a QB in this offense could do and in turn open the door for our staff to recruit a higher tier QB. Even the media was hyping Vad as someone who could take CPJ's offense to the next level.

With Vad leaving and vocalizing that CPJ's offense wasn't what he envisioned, specifically throwing the ball more, it's going to make the job of our staff even harder to recruit the better dual threat QBs. I believe that CPJ was straightforward with Vad, and I believe that CPJ was genuine in wanting to throw more and do certain things away from our core offense. And to an extent, CPJ did try to tailor his offense to Vad's talents. We have passed more this season than we have with any other CPJ GT team, and we were running multiple formations that I think were specifically installed for Vad. I just think that Vad wanted a shorter timeline in "opening up the offense" than CPJ was comfortable with this year. CPJ is NOT going to change his core offense, but I think he's more than willing complement it depending on the talent. I think had Vad stayed, and CPJ was able to address our deficiencies on the OL and executing, Vad probably would have been operate an offense similar to what we ran against Duke and UGA with more frequency to complement our core offense. Unfortunately, Vad and GT will never find out.

Ultimately, other coaches recruiting against us as well as high school coaches researching GT will point to Vad as the example that CPJ will run what everyone thinks he will run: the "triple option offense". Whether it's true or not, the perception is now out there.

 

[GTrob21]

They come here for the reason the should.....a superior education. Those simply looking for stepping stone to the NFL will never be a good fit at Tech.

Superior education? Really... we are number 36 in US New college rankings which is very good. You can cry and moan about how biased those rankings are, but we are behind.

1) Stanford
2) Duke
3) Southern Cal
4) Northwestern
5) Vanderbilt
6) Notre Dame
7) UCLA
8) Virginia
9) Wake Forest
10) Michigan
11) North Carolina
12) Boston College.

All of whom play big boy football. We are a niche school that looks for engineering minds, which are extremely hard to come by, and are even further isolated by the perception of the offense we run. Our most visible recruit, just called out our offense saying he felt like he was misled on how the offense would adapt.

He put the nail in the coffin of any hopes that the offense is going to change from what it has been. If you listened to him on 790 Vad made the statement that the coaching staff told him this because they had never had a quarterback that could throw and run..

I wonder what Tevin and Nesbitt think when they heard that.

 

[GTRX7]

How do you know that? I'm seriously curious here. Because this is one of my biggest pet peeves with Monday morning quarterbacks.

Ask any of the football coaches here how many times they expect their QB to NOT throw it to their number 1 option on a pass play if he is open. If any of them say that they do, then that coach is an idiot and won't last very long. Every play has certain reads. If #1 is open, throw it. If not, look to #2. If he's open, throw it. If not, go to #3, etc.

In no play that I've ever seen is there a "first look at all of your receivers and see if there is an uncovered guy...if so throw it to him. If there isn't, then start back at #1 and read your progressions from there".

Come on guys. It's so much easier to see wide open receivers on TV than it is to do it when there are people coming at you with the intention of slamming you into the ground. Let's not make ourselves look silly by saying that he threw to the wrong guy when we don't even know the route that was called.

Is Paul Johnson allowed to be a Monday morning quarterback? Because I am largely basing my statement that Vad often missed reads in the passing game off of statements from him. Two examples I can distinctly remember are (1) CPJ reviewing footage of the FSU ACC championship game and showing Vad miss a wide open receiver for a TD and instead throw to a different guy and (2) CPJs comments this year (multiple times) about Vad failing to check down to the shorter routes like he had been instructed to. I have seen other plays like the one in the ACC championship game where a guy was left uncovered and we missed him (like in the UGA game). Call that unfair if you want, but I do believe great QBs find guys like that when they are left uncovered on broken coverages (something our offense is designed to do).

 

[Boomergump]

We still haven't had a QB who could throw and run. I am talking about consistency and effectiveness here, not just physical abilities. We have JT, TB, and MJ in the system right now. There is plenty of water to go under the bridge before we HAVE to get another QB. If any of those three can pass AND run, it will show itself. Maybe I have my head in the sand, but I am not nearly as worried about recruiting QBs as some. I think kids who are a good fit for the offense will want to come here. Will they have to run first. Heck yes, but so what. A lot of kids would love to tote the rock and distribute the ball like a point guard. Some of them will also be able to pass, at least on the level we need. I think some of us are dreaming about having a different offense and then obsessing about finding a QB with THOSE attributes rather than the ones we need for our offense. We don't need Dan Marino, we need Tracy Ham.

I want to pass better too, but I have no illusions that our guy will need to be able to facilitate the option running attack and be a major threat with his feet.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

We still haven't had a QB who could throw and run. I am talking about consistency and effectiveness here, not just physical abilities. We have JT, TB, and MJ in the system right now. There is plenty of water to go under the bridge before we HAVE to get another QB. If any of those three can pass AND run, it will show itself. Maybe I have my head in the sand, but I am not nearly as worried about recruiting QBs as some. I think kids who are a good fit for the offense will want to come here. Will they have to run first. Heck yes, but so what. A lot of kids would love to tote the rock and distribute the ball like a point guard. Some of them will also be able to pass, at least on the level we need. I think some of us are dreaming about having a different offense and then obsessing about finding a QB with THOSE attributes rather than the ones we need for our offense. We don't need Dan Marino, we need Tracy Ham.

I want to pass better too, but I have no illusions that our guy will need to be able to facilitate the option running attack and be a major threat with his feet.

I'll settle for an Eric Crouch or a Tommy Frazier.

 

[Techster]

We don't need Dan Marino, we need Tracy Ham.

I want to pass better too, but I have no illusions that our guy will need to be able to facilitate the option running attack and be a major threat with his feet.

That's the problem, Boomer. The Tracy Hams of today either go and play in offenses that showcases their overall skills (running + passing) more in offenses like Oregon/Auburn/Baylor/WVU/FSU or they choose to change positions (Nick Marshal and Malcolm Parrish).

GT has a great offense. But against better teams, it's necessary that we have both a rushing and throwing threat. No, we don't need to wing it 30+ times a game, but we do need to have a credible passing game when the time calls for it. The better the QB we can recruit, the better the chances of that happening.

 

[Boomergump]

FWIW, I think Vad would have been a great candidate for QB in our offense, had he been able to run the option. He is not a great passer, but plenty good enough for what we need, had he embraced his role as a runner and facilitator of the base offense. It almost seems like he was a little naive, almost believing that everybody wants to fling the ball, right. GT was just running the ball so much from 2008-2011 because they couldn't pass. When I get there I'll show em how great the pass can be and they will love me. If we could only have plugged TW's outlook into Vad's head. Vad really has no excuses, he was a great athlete, plenty good enough to do what we needed. He just didn't WANT to do it. In retrospect, his time with Whitfield in the summer was a warning sign.

There will be QBs willing to come to play at GT who can throw just as good as Vad, who also love to run. On film, it at least looks like MJ fits that category. I really feel like JT will show that he can indeed throw over time. If you want a position to worry about, make it DT.

 

[PowderSpringsJacket88]

FWIW, I think Vad would have been a great candidate for QB in our offense, had he been able to run the option. He is not a great passer, but plenty good enough for what we need, had he embraced his role as a runner and facilitator of the base offense. It almost seems like he was a little naive, almost believing that everybody wants to fling the ball, right. GT was just running the ball so much from 2008-2011 because they couldn't pass. When I get there I'll show em how great the pass can be and they will love me. If we could only have plugged TW's outlook into Vad's head. Vad really has no excuses, he was a great athlete, plenty good enough to do what we needed. He just didn't WANT to do it. In retrospect, his time with Whitfield in the summer was a warning sign.

There will be QBs willing to come to play at GT who can throw just as good as Vad, who also love to run. On film, it at least looks like MJ fits that category. I really feel like JT will show that he can indeed throw over time. If you want a position to worry about, make it DT.

I agree..I am really worried about the DL more as well. Especially a pass rusher.

If JT does well then any negative recruiting we get from this will be washed away.

 

[Techster]

We've seen enough of this system to know it's not all the QB's fault when talking about not passing better. Nesbitt put up big numbers in high school passing and had a great completion percentage. Same with Tevin. Same with Vad. Now we're moving on to Justin and Jordan. I had great hopes for this offense, but now I'm realizing that maybe the system just doesn't develop a QB's skillset equally. People want to put the onus on Vad being naive and not buying into the system, but the onus is also on a coach that recruits a guy who also vocalized his intentions from the very beginning. Anyone who followed Vad's recruitment and saw how much he wanted to pass the ball shouldn't have had any illusions of fully turning him into a true triple option QB. Could Vad have taken his head out of the clouds? Yup, but at the same time CPJ did verbalize that he would pass more and WANTS to pass more. That much is not debateable. Every QB recruit we've signed has said exactly the same thing.

http://www.ajc.com/weblogs/college-recruiting/2013/jun/29/georgia-tech-lands-qb-future/

“I visited Georgia Tech last month, and I just knew I fit in there,” Jordan told the AJC. “It felt like home to me. They (Georgia Tech) have kind of been wanting to throw a little bit more, so I think I will bring more of a passing attack.”

The only disconnect is what CPJ meant by that and what a QB recruit envisions. That is what ultimately led Vad to JMU.

Maybe JT or Jordan can prove Vad wrong. But until they do, which will be a few years, there will still be a mountain for our staff to climb when it comes to recruiting QBs.

 

[bke1984]

So a couple things:

1. Expanding the offense and changing the offense are two different things. I don't ever recall Johnson saying he was going to change the offense to tailor to Vad. He tried to expand it to use the pistol, but that was only a small add-on package, not a complete revamp...and it didn't exactly work out. It's tough to expand on an offense if you can't execute the base plays well
2. PJ has been very clear that he would like to throw more if we can execute effectively, but I didn't see a QB who could do that this year. He only completed 45.6% of his passes! I don't think you would have seen our offense perform any better if we had thrown the ball more...
3. They kept harping on throwing 4 TD passes against Duke..........seriously, Duke...granted, they won the division, but there was very little defense played by them all year
4. Vad did a very good job of trying to avoid the prodding by the hosts, but it's pretty clear that he was unhappy here and wanted out. I was behind him early the in season, but he just didn't pan out. I wish him the best
5. I'm very excited about the future of GT football. The defense is improving, the offense took a big step back this year under Vad, so I think it can improve. That being said, I hope our fans tailor their expectations for Justin (or whoever gets the nod next year) based on what they saw happen with Vad. People were way to quick to put him in the GT Hall of Fame before he'd ever started a game...let's not make the same mistake again

 

[Animal02]

Superior education? Really... we are number 36 in US New college rankings which is very good. You can cry and moan about how biased those rankings are, but we are behind.

1) Stanford
2) Duke
3) Southern Cal
4) Northwestern
5) Vanderbilt
6) Notre Dame
7) UCLA
8) Virginia
9) Wake Forest
10) Michigan
11) North Carolina
12) Boston College.

All of whom play big boy football. We are a niche school that looks for engineering minds, which are extremely hard to come by, and are even further isolated by the perception of the offense we run. Our most visible recruit, just called out our offense saying he felt like he was misled on how the offense would adapt.

He put the nail in the coffin of any hopes that the offense is going to change from what it has been. If you listened to him on 790 Vad made the statement that the coaching staff told him this because they had never had a quarterback that could throw and run..

I wonder what Tevin and Nesbitt think when they heard that.

I wish I had a nickel for every time someone has brought of rankings such as these. It is not crying and moaning.....it is acknowledging the basis and bias of such rankings. When you factor in such things as #number of Pulitzer prize winners, and rankings from internationals for areas of fine arts, education, etc.. or total alumni giving, etc. etc. Tech will always rank lower.

Your comment "of another nail in the coffin" shows your own bias.

 

[Boomergump]

We've seen enough of this system to know it's not all the QB's fault when talking about not passing better. Nesbitt put up big numbers in high school passing and had a great completion percentage. Same with Tevin. Same with Vad. Now we're moving on to Justin and Jordan. I had great hopes for this offense, but now I'm realizing that maybe the system just doesn't develop a QB's skillset equally. People want to put the onus on Vad being naive and not buying into the system, but the onus is also on a coach that recruits a guy who also vocalized his intentions from the very beginning. Anyone who followed Vad's recruitment and saw how much he wanted to pass the ball shouldn't have had any illusions of fully turning him into a true triple option QB. Could Vad have taken his head out of the clouds? Yup, but at the same time CPJ did verbalize that he would pass more and WANTS to pass more. That much is not debateable. Every QB recruit we've signed has said exactly the same thing.

http://www.ajc.com/weblogs/college-recruiting/2013/jun/29/georgia-tech-lands-qb-future/



The only disconnect is what CPJ meant by that and what a QB recruit envisions. That is what ultimately led Vad to JMU.

Maybe JT or Jordan can prove Vad wrong. But until they do, which will be a few years, there will still be a mountain for our staff to climb when it comes to recruiting QBs.

I am going to have to disagree about Josh and Tevin being good passers in a bad system. Neither one of those guys can pass, for different reasons. TW learned to complete some throws by seeing the field better and pushing intermediate throws out there, but Josh was just in no way shape or form accurate enough to be considered a passer. He had good arm strength but that was it. Half his completions were just heaving the ball up in the air deep and letting BeyBey win it. Vad is the only guy who had the true potential to become a passer.

What I expect from JT is for him to develop about like Tevin but with better tools in the pass game. He can throw it farther, which was TW's biggest weakness. I have no idea about TB.

 

[Techster]

I am going to have to disagree about Josh and Tevin being good passers in a bad system. Neither one of those guys can pass, for different reasons. TW learned to complete some throws by seeing the field better and pushing intermediate throws out there, but Josh was just in no way shape or form accurate enough to be considered a passer. He had good arm strength but that was it. Half his completions were just heaving the ball up in the air deep and letting BeyBey win it. Vad is the only guy who had the true potential to become a passer.

What I expect from JT is for him to develop about like Tevin but with better tools in the pass game. He can throw it farther, which was TW's biggest weakness. I have no idea about TB.

The point I was making with Nesbitt and Tevin (and Vad) is that they displayed the ability to be good passer on the HS level. Was it the QB or the system that created the passer we saw at GT? Looking at CPJ's past QBs, it's hard to argue that the system actually improves a QB on this level.

Vad will be an interesting case. Leaving this system and going into another system. If he lights it on fire at JMU, a really good case can be made it was CPJ's system and not so much Vad.

 

[bke1984]

The point I was making with Nesbitt and Tevin (and Vad) is that they displayed the ability to be good passer on the HS level. Was it the QB or the system that created the passer we saw at GT? Looking at CPJ's past QBs, it's hard to argue that the system actually improves a QB on this level.

Vad will be an interesting case. Leaving this system and going into another system. If he lights it on fire at JMU, a really good case can be made it was CPJ's system and not so much Vad.

Are you serious? So lighting it up against inferior competition would present a case that PJ's system is bad? I can't possibly see how you could argue that point. We consistently play competition that is much tougher than anything he will see at JMU.

If he sat out a year and transferred to another FBS school you might be able to make that argument...

 

[Boomergump]

The point I was making with Nesbitt and Tevin (and Vad) is that they displayed the ability to be good passer on the HS level. Was it the QB or the system that created the passer we saw at GT? Looking at CPJ's past QBs, it's hard to argue that the system actually improves a QB on this level.

Vad will be an interesting case. Leaving this system and going into another system. If he lights it on fire at JMU, a really good case can be made it was CPJ's system and not so much Vad.

I don't know how any system can suddenly take an accurate thrower of the ball (in HS or not) and make you wild. I have no idea what their numbers were in HS but I will take your word for it. I can buy the argument that there aren't as many reps in practice etc, fine. But those are just timing things and fine tuning. Josh, bless his heart cause I love what he did for us, was just plain wild and Tevin had no arm strength. No system in the world is going to change those things.

Expecting 2/3 completions in our system is unrealistic because of the vertical nature of the attack, but, 50% with an average completion yardage in the middle or upper teens is pretty hard to beat from an efficiency standpoint. Our system has been able to do that.

 

[Techster]

Are you serious? So lighting it up against inferior competition would present a case that PJ's system is bad? I can't possibly see how you could argue that point. We consistently play competition that is much tougher than anything he will see at JMU.

If he sat out a year and transferred to another FBS school you might be able to make that argument...

I am absolutely serious. If he lights it on fire, then it shows he had the skillset to play QB at a high level on this level. Just because he failed in this system, maybe because our system just isn't conducive to developing the type of QB Vad wanted to be, doesn't mean he can't be a successful QB in another system no matter what level.

All you have to do is look at Joe Flacco who left Pitt and went to Delaware. It worked out for him, didn't it?

 

[daBuzz]

They come here for the reason the should.....a superior education. Those simply looking for stepping stone to the NFL will never be a good fit at Tech.

Calvin Johnson says hello.

 

[Techster]

I don't know how any system can suddenly take an accurate thrower of the ball (in HS or not) and make you wild. I have no idea what their numbers were in HS but I will take your word for it. I can buy the argument that there aren't as many reps in practice etc, fine. But those are just timing things and fine tuning. Josh, bless his heart cause I love what he did for us, was just plain wild and Tevin had no arm strength. No system in the world is going to change those things.

Expecting 2/3 completions in our system is unrealistic because of the vertical nature of the attack, but, 50% with an average completion yardage in the middle or upper teens is pretty hard to beat from an efficiency standpoint. Our system has been able to do that.

Baylor's offensive system emphasizes the vertical pass. Chad Morris system emphasizes the vertical pass. In fact, Morris just made the quote at the AFCA Coaches Convention that he wants his QBs to take a lot of shots vertically down the field:



Both of their QBs consistently complete close to 2/3rds or their passes or more. And you touch on a reason why. Both our passing and running schemes are practice intensive. We don't spend a lot of time on the passing schemes because CPJ chooses to spend more time on our running schemes. Nothing wrong with the choice, but it's obvious we're giving a little of one phase to get better at another phase. That is the system. That's my point.

Josh and Tevin have not played in other systems (not withstanding Josh's glorified wildcat role under Gailey in 2007) so we'll never know.

Let me also add to the offensive systems I noted above. BOTH of their QBs were among the top passing efficiency leaders in the nation, so it wasn't one of those dink and dunk offenses that puffs up numbers:

http://espn.go.com/college-football/statistics/player/_/stat/passing/sort/collegeQuarterbackRating