Decided to stroll down memory lane...

There are a few things of note from these videos of the CPJ era:
1. Overall team talent declined over time. Sure we had some great players late (looking at JT specifically), but overall it was worse.

2. Look how full the stands are in the earlier videos. May not have been sellouts, but those stands were packed with Tech fans and not this 70/30 or 60/40 mix that we have seen the last few years. Right or wrong, people were losing interest.

3. Holy hell Bebe was a big receiver. On that fake fg he held the defender off for 10 yards.
 
savbandjacket said:
There are a few things of note from these videos of the CPJ era:
1. Overall team talent declined over time. Sure we had some great players late (looking at JT specifically), but overall it was worse.

2. Look how full the stands are in the earlier videos. May not have been sellouts, but those stands were packed with Tech fans and not this 70/30 or 60/40 mix that we have seen the last few years. Right or wrong, people were losing interest.

3. Holy hell Bebe was a big receiver. On that fake fg he held the defender off for 10 yards.
Click to expand...

you look at the recruiting rankings and I wouldn't say it got worse. We had one REALLY bad year - and that's the year we got Gotsis but only had a 14-15 member class. That may be the one where a lot of those kids were on the D line and didn't stick around (Commissiong, Akins, etc).
What hurt is we couldnt take advantage of Miami going in circles and the rest of the league, particularly Duke, has gotten better. Plus, it hasn't helped we get Clemson every year and they're on a run to top Danny Ford's roll through the early 80s and late 80s. Clemson is the one team in the Coastal we've struggled with - but the last four years, everybody, including Alabama, has struggled with them.
the 2014 team was very, very talented, besides JT. Smelter, Waller, Days, Laskey, Perkins, Deon Hill, Dennis Andrews, and a defense of DJ White, Golden, Milton, Nealy. The 16 team wasn't bad either - Lynch, Searcy on the edge, Mills and Marshall, and AJ Gray and the overlooked Pat Gamble on D (dude was a beast in the Georgia game and in the Taxslayer Bowl). Plus, Parker Braun might be the best linemen we've had in the PJ era. I don't know if he projects to have the NFL career of Shaq, but Braun is a damn bad ass.
what would the last year or two been like with Mills or Marshall at B back? and I like what Benson, Howard and Mason have brought.
and this most recent recruiting class looks like it may be very, very productive - Juanyeh Thomas (he may not be for all four years - he has the potential to go early to the NFL), Charlie, James Graham, Justice Dingle, Jordan Domineck, plus we have 4 star Gentry Bonds and Avery Showell still waiting to get on the field.
We had good crowds early in 15, IIRC, coming off the Orange Bowl, but we were so riddled with injuries we couldn't keep that good start going.
I wonder how much last year and this year would have been better had we beaten Tennessee. Our two best home wins this year were against teams that don't travel particularly well (Da U and the Fighting Zimas), and the 1-3 start did not help. But the next seven games were pretty damn good.

I was pretty excited, even after the debacle against Georgia, about 19 under CPJ - Graham, Lucas or TO at QB, Benson, Howard, Mason and Christian Malloy, an OL of Braun, Cooper and Conner Hansen in the G-C-G box, a second year of Woody's defense, though we would be losing our best D linemen.
 
BuzzLaw said:
Great post of so many amazing games, and you don’t even include all of them. Virginia in the rain comes to mind. But my exact thoughts on FSU 2009: that game took years off my life.

The only part I disagree with is your comment as if that’s some part of the past. I disagree. Maybe PJ was tired or mad or whatever. Maybe it actually is the negative recruiting caught up with us. Either way, his offense would be just as amazing and even more so if we were doing it with 4 and 5 stars
Click to expand...

we recruited some of those guys - specifically Gurley and Bryce Love come to mind - but I still think not getting more exceptions academically hamstrings us getting those "elite of the elite." Maybe Bud promised CGC more allowances in that regard (and PJ's work in building the APR is the tree that has born that fruit, if that is the case).
Of course, Bud is also damn lucky to still have a f---in' job.
People wonder "why hasnt PJ gone after these 4 and 5 stars"? But we have. There are some we haven't gone after - we take one look at their academic track record and have to pass.
The academics - and getting them in, making sure they can not only get in but STAY in - is a real thing.
 
BuckNasty said:
He was appreciated when he was at Tech. I remember some people talking about how he sort of let himself go around draft time or something.

It happens sometimes. My sister used to be a thin lacrosse player in college but after she got married I think the microbrews got their revenge.
Click to expand...

There was also that play in the Orange Bowl where he tried to reverse field and ended up losing about 10 yards or so. I don't remember the exact score and time when that happened, but I remember feeling at the time like it was pretty much the death knell for us that game.

That said, it was a game where we were struggling to generate offense against a nasty defense and he was trying to make something out of nothing.
 
swampsting said:
you look at the recruiting rankings and I wouldn't say it got worse
Click to expand...

Something got worse in regards to our talent level. Whether it was an issue of recruiting or player development, we had less talented players on the field.

The 2006 team had Choice, Mansfield Wrotto, Andrew Gardner, Calvin, Darryl Richard, Michael Johnson, Vance Walker, Gary Gutyon, Kamichael Hall, Adamm Oliver, Joe Anoai, Jamal Lewis. And this was BEFORE the vaunted 2007 class.

10 guys on that team either made 1st/2nd team All-ACC or were honorable mention that year. I think this may have been the most of any team in the conference. We've had 9 total the last three years, and four of those are Braun and Harvin (twice each).
 
gtfan088 said:
Something got worse in regards to our talent level. Whether it was an issue of recruiting or player development, we had less talented players on the field.

The 2006 team had Choice, Mansfield Wrotto, Andrew Gardner, Calvin, Darryl Richard, Michael Johnson, Vance Walker, Gary Gutyon, Kamichael Hall, Adamm Oliver, Joe Anoai, Jamal Lewis. And this was BEFORE the vaunted 2007 class.

10 guys on that team either made 1st/2nd team All-ACC or were honorable mention that year. I think this may have been the most of any team in the conference. We've had 9 total the last three years, and four of those are Braun and Harvin (twice each).
Click to expand...
I remember a site (the old Scout?) that re-ranked classes to see how the senior class would be ranked looking back with hindsight. We were much higher re-ranked.
 
gtfan088 said:
Something got worse in regards to our talent level. Whether it was an issue of recruiting or player development, we had less talented players on the field.

The 2006 team had Choice, Mansfield Wrotto, Andrew Gardner, Calvin, Darryl Richard, Michael Johnson, Vance Walker, Gary Gutyon, Kamichael Hall, Adamm Oliver, Joe Anoai, Jamal Lewis. And this was BEFORE the vaunted 2007 class.

10 guys on that team either made 1st/2nd team All-ACC or were honorable mention that year. I think this may have been the most of any team in the conference. We've had 9 total the last three years, and four of those are Braun and Harvin (twice each).
Click to expand...
Guyton was a 2 star recruit. Vance Walker too was, IIRC.
Choice and Calvin were huge prospects, but Michael Johnson may have been a 2 or a low 3. Originally a TE at 6-7, 235, I think.
Jamal Lewis and Darryl Richard were both rated as 2 stars.
It was tough under PJ's offense to get a back or receiver on the all ACC team because of how the carries or receptions, such as they were, were spread around and we didn't have a clear cut No 1 B back to get the 240 carries a year, like Dwyer. Benson might have been that guy if he had stayed healthy.
Defensively, I thought ASA should have been all ACC this year. Last year, yeah, we didn't have anybody worthy of it.
 
swampsting said:
Guyton was a 2 star recruit. Vance Walker too was, IIRC.
Choice and Calvin were huge prospects, but Michael Johnson may have been a 2 or a low 3. Originally a TE at 6-7, 235, I think.
Jamal Lewis and Darryl Richard were both rated as 2 stars.
It was tough under PJ's offense to get a back or receiver on the all ACC team because of how the carries or receptions, such as they were, were spread around and we didn't have a clear cut No 1 B back to get the 240 carries a year, like Dwyer. Benson might have been that guy if he had stayed healthy.
Defensively, I thought ASA should have been all ACC this year. Last year, yeah, we didn't have anybody worthy of it.
Click to expand...

Benson did make it last year. He was one of six players we've had make 1st, 2nd, or 3rd team, or get Honorable Mention over the last three years. Like I said, whether you want to chalk it up to recruiting or development, the talent on the field isn't the same.
 
The CPJ fist pump in the rain in Athens 2008 is the defining image of his GT career. Funny that at the time we were saying the same thing we're saying right now - "a breath of fresh air"
 
Our recruiting has been better imo, but Gailey had two things to his advantage over johnson:
1) Eric ciano, S&C coach. Currently with the bills I think.
2) coaches on defense who can actually coach up players

A lot of those guys on the 2006 squad were not highly regarded as recruits. Go look at Andrew Gardners profile. He was like 240. That's the strength coach.

We lost a lot of coaching talent after Johnsons first orange bowl, and he was never able to replace those guys. Think about it like this, the only coach on our staff weve been worried about losing for the last 5 years was McCollum.
 
Vance Walker's recruiting heated up late. He didn't play for a high profile HS team. VT swooped in late to try to steal him. Regardless of what Scout ranked him, VT likely felt he was more than a two star and worthy of sending several on their staff to SC to try to flip him, and that meant something back then.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top