what real blue collar leadership is and means!

[jayparr]

Leadership starts with character! Our coaches have that, our team leaders have that AND most of our student athletes have that. That is how we can achieve so much with athletes having lower star ratings. The equation for success is character, athletic ability and hard work. As long as we recruit to that formula we will do well. How do you think UGAG takes the great athletes they recruit and make them into just above average teams. No balanced formula. Its the character thing. Bad apples can not be tolerated in our system because they cannot be overcome by athletic ability.

Our kids work hard, play hard and have fun. I went to almost every game home and away, stayed at the team hotels and could see it. Don't forget though, "Leadership starts at the top!" and spreads through the ranks. Makes me proud to be a Yellow Jacket. We have it..... Enjoy IT !!!!!!!!!!!!!

SkyBuzz

Thanks for the reply. At that time in my life I needed just the kind of leadership that I got from George. It was personal and from someone I truly looked up to! Sometimes those in a higher up position just don't have the time to make someone as myself learn to work this way! Thanks again.

 

[Skeptic]

@jayparr, thanks for posting that. That's a wonderful story.

I find it mildly humorous that decades before we all had to work in TEAMS at work, and have continuous meetings all day every day and were told "There is no I in Team", and the walls were covered with stupid motivational posters, and everyone had to Collaborate and Ideate (and couldn't get a workspace where they could think straight for two consecutive minutes) -- that Mr. Justice knew in his heart how to build a team, and how to lead, and how to get everyone to buy in because he went first. Just goes to show.

I once worked, briefly, for a company whose boss apparently went to a workshop or some such -- where all bad ideas sprout -- and became fixated on teams and team building and teamwork, though it never occurred to him that paying his department heads annual bonuses based solely on how much of their operating budget they turned back June 30 was hardly conducive to his now larger goal. As a result the wonderfully and creatively named Human Resources Dept. scheduled lectures, meetings, workshops, and forced "conversations" having to do with such silly stuff as "active listening" -- one wag said he was active when the boss talked; he was actively trying to go to sleep -- right in the midst of the most demanding part of the day, and in a department that already depended almost solely on communications and teamwork to do its job. Now it must learn how to do what they were already doing. It flopped obviously and already bad morale fell through the floor while the best employees fled through the door. The boss showed his leadership by firing the fellow made responsible for implementing the boss's unimaginable orders. It did not occur to him that he had the greater blame for allowing it.

 

[jayparr]

I once worked, briefly, for a company whose boss apparently went to a workshop or some such -- where all bad ideas sprout -- and became fixated on teams and team building and teamwork, though it never occurred to him that paying his department heads annual bonuses based solely on how much of their operating budget they turned back June 30 was hardly conducive to his now larger goal. As a result the wonderfully and creatively named Human Resources Dept. scheduled lectures, meetings, workshops, and forced "conversations" having to do with such silly stuff as "active listening" -- one wag said he was active when the boss talked; he was actively trying to go to sleep -- right in the midst of the most demanding part of the day, and in a department that already depended almost solely on communications and teamwork to do its job. Now it must learn how to do what they were already doing. It flopped obviously and already bad morale fell through the floor while the best employees fled through the door. The boss showed his leadership by firing the fellow made responsible for implementing the boss's unimaginable orders. It did not occur to him that he had the greater blame for allowing it.

The tops are sometimes so far away they can't lead with a personal touch. And they sometimes can't understand what makes people tick. They just don't have the time. If I were a top; I would find me a George and in a hurry! Thanks for your reply!

 

[jayparr]

I have gotten some really great replies; so if anyone is still interested I have one more thought on the work ethic. That is once a person has been lead by a George and you have bought into his ways of doing. You will always be efficient in practically everything you under take. I have been this way in this job I have; although, I have gotten to the age I am I have slowed only somewhat. One last example: a couple of months ago we had company over for a few snacks. We were talking in the kitchen so I unloaded the dishwasher. The lady friend who is very intelligent was before retirement an often quoted Delta air. spokesperson stated that I did an incredible efficient job of unloading. She had never observed me in that kind of capacity. Justin, keep on keeping on because you never know how much your leadership will effect someone for the rest their life!! Now I will only reply to replies for y'alls sake. Again thanks to all of you for listening for that has been a blessing to me!!

 

[cuttysark]

@jayparr. Thanks for starting such a great thread on how a single individual can have a tremendous impact on another person that translates into real life experiences either immediately or further down the road. Be it in sports; business; or any other situation.

Leadership is setting an example in everything you do no matter what it is, and making the sacrifices necessary for everyone else to succeed. This team showed how they have accepted that role by making a SOPHOMORE QB a Team Captain. What does that say about his Leadership ability!

With Justin Thomas and the returning players on the offensive line, members on this Board could adequately fill in at B-Back; A-Back; and WR and the offense will still produce lots of yards and points following a champion like JT. I'm excited about this season despite all of the naysayers talking about the losses at the skilled positions. This team will once again surprise everyone outside of this Board.

 

[alaguy]

Good story @jayparr . I think "management" coming out and doing other jobs is the key to success in most companies / areas of life. Lead from the front occasionally.

The biggest observable difference in our team last year (other than wins) was how we more more physical and aggressive in the second half than the other teams. That includes the over-hyped SEC teams at the end of the season. The ability to physically impose our will was developed in the off season and not due to trickeration but stamina and strength. Hopefully that is what we are developing now!

You are CORRECT,sir. It was almost spooky how we were the stronger team in almost every game at the end (except unc).That has not always been the case and it is not because of depth because we didn't really have that much except at RBack.

 

[jayparr]

@jayparr. Thanks for starting such a great thread on how a single individual can have a tremendous impact on another person that translates into real life experiences either immediately or further down the road. Be it in sports; business; or any other situation.

Leadership is setting an example in everything you do no matter what it is, and making the sacrifices necessary for everyone else to succeed. This team showed how they have accepted that role by making a SOPHOMORE QB a Team Captain. What does that say about his Leadership ability!

With Justin Thomas and the returning players on the offensive line, members on this Board could adequately fill in at B-Back; A-Back; and WR and the offense will still produce lots of yards and points following a champion like JT. I'm excited about this season despite all of the naysayers talking about the losses at the skilled positions. This team will once again surprise everyone outside of this Board.

Thanks Cuttysark, Mine was real life and it REALLY made a difference. Justin is in a position to be a tremendously positive influence on people on this team.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

@jayparr.
With Justin Thomas and the returning players on the offensive line, members on this Board could adequately fill in at B-Back; A-Back; and WR and the offense will still produce lots of yards and points following a champion like JT.

I know you're being dramatic to make a point, but I still think you are underestimating the need for high quality skill position play. I think we're fine with the running with the ball side, it's just the blocking that has me worried. All it takes is one missed block which can come from being just a hair out of position or just a half second hesitation or indecision. These are the things we take for granted that come from hundreds of reps in practice and games. The guys we're asking to fill in don't have that. Not by a long shot. The guys last year did.

 

[takethepoints]

I read a post once by a guy who worked as a business consultant. He would be hired at high pay to come in and talk to the workers about what they were doing and how they did it. They invariably knew what all the problems were, of course, and usually had decent ideas about how to address them. Then he would write up a report and take it up stairs, all the while wondering why the managers didn't go down and talk to the workers themselves. Finally, he went to one meeting where he was supposed to deliver his report and the management guys (it was just guys) had invited one of the senior workers to the meeting. He was relieved; finally, he could sit there and listen to the one person in the room with experience in the firm's work and agree with him. Perhaps the management would then see the error of their ways.

No. They asked the worker for his opinions (which directly tracked the consultant's recs, btw) and the consultant looked around the table. There were exaggerated expressions of contempt and boredom on the managers's faces; they were obviously put out that they had to listen to someone who did the company's actual work. That wasn't really important management stuff.

It was then that it hit him. His job wasn't to give a fresh outside look at the company; it was to preserve the managers's status as decision-makers and to keep information about what the company wanted to do next from its employees. And that, he suddenly realized, was a major problem at virtually every company he consulted for. The companies that had a solid grasp of what they were doing and involved everybody in real teamwork didn't need him and never hired him.

That is what we had last year: a football team that didn't need consultants. Let's hope we can continue the roll.

 

[cuttysark]

@dressedcheeseside.

There are now players in this program that will step up and perform just as they have been doing under CPJ. Heck, GT even plugged in a baseball player at WR who hadn't played football in about three years and that worked out okay. Everyone was fretting when Roddy Jones graduated leaving a Walk on A-Back, Robbie Godhigh, to step up and he turned out to be better than many of the scholarship A-Backs. The Yellow Jackets did just fine last year after filling his (Godhigh) ample cleats and I see no reason for that not to happen once again.

Blocking is always a critical piece of the equation for any offense without a doubt. However, watching Marcus Allen in the spring game after having about 4 or 5 days playing the B-Back position, it certainly looked like he had been getting reps there for much longer than that short amount of time

Skov and Allen are going to be fine at B-back, and the redshirt frosh along with Willis at A-Back they will all pick up the pace.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

@dressedcheeseside.

There are now players in this program that will step up and perform just as they have been doing under CPJ. Heck, GT even plugged in a baseball player at WR who hadn't played football in about three years and that worked out okay. Everyone was fretting when Roddy Jones graduated leaving a Walk on A-Back, Robbie Godhigh, to step up and he turned out to be better than many of the scholarship A-Backs. The Yellow Jackets did just fine last year after filling his (Godhigh) ample cleats and I see no reason for that not to happen once again.

Blocking is always a critical piece of the equation for any offense without a doubt. However, watching Marcus Allen in the spring game after having about 4 or 5 days playing the B-Back position, it certainly looked like he had been getting reps there for much longer than that short amount of time

Skov and Allen are going to be fine at B-back, and the redshirt frosh along with Willis at A-Back they will all pick up the pace.

I hope you are right. One thing is different now than in Robbie's first year. Our offense is much more complex and it needs to be as defenses have come around to our older, simpler ways. And we're not just replacing an Aback, no, we are replacing all the B's and just about all the A's and wr's, too.

 

[AE 87]

I hope you are right. One thing is different now than in Robbie's first year. Our offense is much more complex and it needs to be as defenses have come around to our older, simpler ways. And we're not just replacing an Aback, no, we are replacing all the B's and just about all the A's and wr's, too.

I don't see our offense as "much more complex" than before. Also, I really thought the days of people saying that Ds had figured out or "come around to" our O were long gone. Your statement strikes me as a fundamental misunderstanding of what we do on O and why it works.

Our offense is not rocket science. The playbook for 90% of what we do is online. Professional college coaches can figure out what we do just by watching tape.

Coach will find the plays that our kids can execute and drill the heck out of them. Will we be as unstoppable as 2014? Probably not, but we should be as good/better than 2011, 12. If our D steps up like we hope, we should be more than fine.

 

[cuttysark]

What our offense now has that is much different than the past is a CGC that are over 300 lbs for those B-Back plays up the middle. Add to that a 239 lbs FB transfer from Stanford and this is going to be fun to watch. CPJ has never had a player as big and strong as Skov in that position. He will really push Marcus Allen and the production should still be 1,500+ yards from that position.

As Vince Lombardi was fond of saying: "Execution is the key to successful football and I'll keep running the same play until they show me they can stop it."

 

[dressedcheeseside]

I don't see our offense as "much more complex" than before. Also, I really thought the days of people saying that Ds had figured out or "come around to" our O were long gone. Your statement strikes me as a fundamental misunderstanding of what we do on O and why it works.

Our offense is not rocket science. The playbook for 90% of what we do is online. Professional college coaches can figure out what we do just by watching tape.

Coach will find the plays that our kids can execute and drill the heck out of them. Will we be as unstoppable as 2014? Probably not, but we should be as good/better than 2011, 12. If our D steps up like we hope, we should be more than fine.

Now I see why so many others find your posts confrontational. It's ok to disagree without being condescending.

 

[AE 87]

Now I see why so many others find your posts confrontational. It's ok to disagree without being condescending.

C'mon man. My post is no more condescending than the one to which I replied.

We have differing opinions, and I responded to your opinion. Don't take it personally.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

C'mon man. My post is no more condescending than the one to which I replied.

We have differing opinions, and I responded to your opinion. Don't take it personally.

You could have left off the part about not having a fundamental understanding of the offense. I think 90% of the posters here have at least that, I and feel I have better than that.

It boggles my mind how so many posters aren't the least bit concerned about losing 75+% of our starting snaps at the skill positions. I'm not saying the sky is falling by any means. I have faith in our coaches. I hope we have some pleasant surprises like a Godhigh or a Smelter or a bunch of guys everybody has written off finally blossoming. I'd rather know what we have and be sure of it.

It also boggles my mind how so many don't see the fine line in execution of our plays between boom and bust. Small things can change a play from being a 40 yd td run or blown up in the backfield.

 

[DrJacket]

Let me pursue a different texture of this whole thing. As I acknowledged earlier, leadership takes many forms. Some of them are quieter, some are louder. Some are less obvious, some of them impossible to miss. Some will lead by example, while by necessity some leadership needs to have words at the right moments.

I want to observe that there is a difference in being an all-star caliber player and being an overt, commanding leader. There have been some gutsy, 100% effort players who weren't always the best leaders. By their example, they obviously did lead in a certain way. But, the vacuum of what they could have said or caused others around them to do went unfilled by them.

Good teams have a variety of players in all the necessary leadership roles. That's what we seemed to have last year. Time will tell if we have that again.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

Let me pursue a different texture of this whole thing. As I acknowledged earlier, leadership takes many forms. Some of them are quieter, some are louder. Some are less obvious, some of them impossible to miss. Some will lead by example, while by necessity some leadership needs to have words at the right moments.

I want to observe that there is a difference in being an all-star caliber player and being an overt, commanding leader. There have been some gutsy, 100% effort players who weren't always the best leaders. By their example, they obviously did lead in a certain way. But, the vacuum of what they could have said or caused others around them to do went unfilled by them.

Good teams have a variety of players in all the necessary leadership roles. That's what we seemed to have last year. Time will tell if we have that again.

I know your thoughts are on team leaders, and I concur, but it got me thinking about coaching leadership, as well. I think part of what makes CPJ such a great coach is his flexibility in how he approaches individual players. Everybody doesn't respond to the same approach, some guys need a verbal kick in the pants, while others would respond negatively to it. Coach seems to understand this and knows how to treat the individual. As a teacher, I learned a long time ago that fair is not synonymous with equal.

 

[jayparr]

I agree with the 2 most recent replies of which I thank you. My thing with this post is that with a great positive leadership by example I believe through Justin we had a great year! After the 2nd or 3rd game he was named 1 0f 3 capts. by his teammates. As just a soph. he was awarded that distinction by the example type. I further believe that other players bought into he and the other Capts 100%. I,m not sure without that stronger leadership the coaches could not have been enough to have that kind of season. It does take great leadership at the top, but also the lower tier.

 

[AE 87]

You could have left off the part about not having a fundamental understanding of the offense. I think 90% of the posters here have at least that, I and feel I have better than that.

It boggles my mind how so many posters aren't the least bit concerned about losing 75+% of our starting snaps at the skill positions. I'm not saying the sky is falling by any means. I have faith in our coaches. I hope we have some pleasant surprises like a Godhigh or a Smelter or a bunch of guys everybody has written off finally blossoming. I'd rather know what we have and be sure of it.

It also boggles my mind how so many don't see the fine line in execution of our plays between boom and bust. Small things can change a play from being a 40 yd td run or blown up in the backfield.

Fwiw, I'm not sure we're that far off in our opinions about next year. It may be a glass half-full (me) or half-empty (you) scenario. However, I suspect that I still fall into the category of posters whom you think "aren't the least bit concerned" with our losses at skill positions. So, let me try and explain where I'm coming from so that it's not so mind-boggling.

After being a bit concerned with the departure of Orwin, and then a little less concerned with the departure of Robbie, I've decided that our coaching staff has earned the trust that they can get the next guys up and ready to go at that position. As I've said before, not only do we have Snoddy back, but we have two scholarship guys in Lynch and Searcy who've got as much time in the position as Allen and Smith had before their break-out years. CPJ has also said he feels good about these guys. Ike has put in even more years training at this position. We also have excellent true freshmen coming in.

As far as B-Back is concerned, Marcus Allen showed a lot of capability during the Spring game, and we have a 5th year running fullback coming in from Stanford. We also have two guys in Marcus Marshall and MLD who seem possibly ready to compete in this position as well. After seeing how Marcus ran the dive, blocked in the passing game, and even caught a screen pass during the Spring game, I think we'll be fine.

As far as WR goes, we have Michael Summers who's played and started games for us over the last two years, and we have two guys who've been in the system for two years already as well as some talented true freshmen. We've had the experience of Stephen Hill and Jeff Greene coming in and being able to contribute as true freshmen.

Also, much of the success of our offense hinges on the OL and the QB which we get back to large measure.

Finally, as @jayparr has pointed out in this thread, a lot of credit for our success goes to our QB's leadership style. The team trusts him and wants to match him in competitiveness and competence. Perhaps the most significant aspect of the QB buying in to what the team is doing is that it enables the team to buy-in to what the QB is doing. I suspect that we also have this kind of leadership from Jamal and DJ on D. We'll probably miss Synjyn's positive and loose attitude some, but I expect someone else will step up.

So, while I admit that I'd be more confident if we had more returning starters and contributors in the skill positions on O, I still don't get why we should be overly concerned.

Also, fwiw, my comment about "fundamental misunderstanding" did not refer to you personally but referred to how your statement struck me, and I explained why. You were certainly free to clarify what you meant.