I met a former player (graduated Sprint 2020 or therebouts). He played mostly special teams as I think he had a bad injury a couple of years earlier. Anyway, I forgot his name and didn't recognize it when he introduced himself. This was the evening after a game we lost at home, not sure if it was a blowout or just a bad loss, but the few GT fans around the sports bar were bummed.
He said Coach Collins changed his life (for the better). He also noted that Paul Johnson was never-ending berator and very negative in his motivation. I noted that we would at least win most of the games we should win under Johnson. I also noted that recruiting had improved under Collins, the play on the field is taking a step back.
It's kind of a tweener situation. Collins seems to be recruiting well, very positive, but the end results are worse.
I wasn't stoked on the Collins hire, but I wasn't down either. I didn't like the O-coordinator, but I thought the D-con would have us very aggressive and improving the D greatly. So far, both sides of the ball are subpar. Sims looks awful at QB, but he must practice well to win the job. Not sure whats up, but I guess getting to play against our own subpar D in practice makes him look like an All-American.
I hope this game is a springboard to massive improvement, but the initial hope is fading quickly that this is just another so-so coach that will have one or two bad losses each year and if they make a bowl, will get man-handled by some 7-5 Big 10 or Big East team. Sigh. I shudder to think what UGA will do to us this year. I went to the last CPJ game, when UGA had a REAL coach (finally) with Smart after years of Collins-like Mark Richt underperformance. UGA blew us out, we couldn't get a first down, couldn't stop them. IT was embarassing (surrounded by UGA fans in Stanford Stadium or whatever it is). It was bitterly cold and made only worse by the beat down.