Recruiting 2021... Georgia Tech and the ACC

Techbert

Techbert

Dodd-Like
Joined
Aug 13, 2002
Messages
24,662
Here's how I see the ACC recruiting this year.

There is a clear Top 3 in Clem, Mia, and UNC. Throw a hat over them. There is a huge middle that stretches from 4 to 11. Throw a hat over them. There are three academic schools playing in the kiddie pool.

The good news is we are not in the kiddie pool. We are in the middle, before considering transfers.

However, when you include our transfers, with good future eligibility, I think we are a clear #4 in the conference.

I believe the Coastal play will finish GT, Mia, and UNC in some order from 2022 onward, until Mack retires for real, with Virginia, Pitt, and maybe VPI also dangerous. Very tough and balanced. Yes, I believe VPI will fix their issues, but when? Duke will be looking to steal single wins a year in conference.

And I believe we will have some real knock-down-drag-out games with Pitt..

I think it will be a lot of fun.

(Fixed for brain fart.)
 
Last edited:
Techbert said:
Here's how I see the ACC recruiting this year.

There is a clear Top 3 in Clem, Mia, and UNC. Throw a hat over them. There is a huge middle that stretches from 4 to 11. Throw a hat over them. There are three academic schools playing in the kiddie pool.

The good news is we are not in the kiddie pool. We are in the middle, before considering transfers.

However, when you include our transfers, with good future eligibility, I think we are a clear #4 in the conference.

I believe the Coastal play will finish GT, Mia, and UNC in some order from 2022 onward, until Mack retires for real, with Virginia, NCSU, and maybe VPI also dangerous. Very tough and balanced. Yes, I believe VPI will fix their issues, but when? Duke will be looking to steal single wins a year in conference.

And I believe we will have some real knock-down-drag-out games with Pitt out of conference when they rotate in.

I think it will be a lot of fun.
Click to expand...
Wait.... NCSU in the coastal, Pitt rotating. I am confusion.
 
This is just ESD. We had a good transfer class yes, but we are certainly not a clear #4. Transfers probably get us in the discussion for 4-7 right now. NC State and FSU likely still finish above us by NSD. State has put together a nice class and FSU still has a small class right now.

State is not in the Coastal.

Agree Miami, UNC, and Tech will be the top 3 recruiters in the near future in the Coastal. Very likely in that order. Probably a gap between those two and us. Then another gap to the rest.

VPI is not dangerous until they fire Fuente. And then won’t be dangerous on the field for another 2 years minimum after that with their way he’s destroyed their recruiting.

Pitt/UVA understand building teams from the trenches. Their classes will be lower than ours but they will play tough on game days b/c their LOS will be strong.

Duke is back to being a non-factor moving forward. They peaked their head above water with the rest of the division in transition, but they can’t compete with a revitalized top 3. No coaching switch they could realistically make can change that.
 
Ehh... I'm still not sold on UNC staying up there. They've had good back to back classes and that's because Mack's first year he pulled a bunch of guys, they somehow got a 2021 5-star to re-classify and enroll early as a 2020 kid and ended up with 26 guys (not sure how that is allowed), and this cycle the state of NC was un-characteristically loaded and they were able to keep a bunch of local kids. Typically UNC's recruiting classes have stayed around the 25-30 range. We'll wee if next year they start to return more to the norm.
 
GoGATech said:
Ehh... I'm still not sold on UNC staying up there. They've had good back to back classes and that's because Mack's first year he pulled a bunch of guys, and this cycle the state of NC was un-characteristically loaded and they were able to keep a bunch of local kids. Typically UNC's recruiting classes have stayed around the 25-30 range. We'll wee if next year they start to return more to the norm.
Click to expand...

Theyve also jacked VPIs 757 pipeline with Bly on staff. 5* DB Grimes (reclassified to ‘20 or their ‘21 class would be even better) not even looking at VPI would have been practically unthinkable even just 2 years ago. Crazy how quickly they’ve fallen.

If Bly got poached I could see them slipping. He’s the reason they stole Downs from us last cycle too. Doubt he leaves as an alum tho. He’s their Choice/Key.
 
Mack has always pulled sick recruiting classes.

Techbert,
not afraid to face him on the field, though
 
I feel like transfer are hard to measure because every team gets them for positions of need. It requires a lot of player level analysis I don’t have the skills for.

I see it like this: if you want to go .500 with Clemson then you need to be on relatively equal footing. Are we there yet? No. But moving from classes that are 60-80 to classes that are 25-35 is a huge first step. Until we are consistently in that 10-15 range I am not expecting it. More wins will get us there.

I don’t think it is fair to compare to UNC where Mack walked into a team that has historically outperformed in recruiting vs results. Same with Dabo and Clemson.

The foundation for identifying and picking up talent is in place now. I love the results. Pretty sure CGC is now involved in 3 of our top 5 classes if you count his last stint here. The biggest way to improve recruiting now is to start winning more games.
 
Vpi is headed for some dark days. They'll probably fire Fuentes this year but I'm not sure how attractive that job is anymore.
 
Measuring transfers is tricky, but I don't think you can throw it out.

Once upon a time, transfers usually meant JUCO, and I can only think of 1 or 2 that worked out, here at GT. The fact that B*L* had like three one year was a red flag. JUCO transfers often need a year to acclimate.

We also had some good transfers from ND and similar places. Never enough to affect our strategy or outlook, but some good ones.

Currently, transfers are either grad transfers, which (typically) only mortar over a loose brick, or minds changed after an initial season. Minds changed after an initial season, whether coaching change or a quarterback losing out to a higher rated quarterback, does not require a big change in evaluation by fans from their initial rating.

Having a small school kid who was rated low transfer in here, like Keion White, is really exciting. I have to contain it, because I have not seen him, but that is a good formula to have.

All in all you have to trust your coaches. You do not want to bring in a walking headache, and the coaches are the only ones that can evaluate that.
 
Just like with on the field results next year in December we will know what we have. I understand we filled some gaps with transfers but one composite four star and 45th in the nation isn't cutting it. Take away the transfers and the class looks Johnson-esque.
 
knoxjacket said:
Just like with on the field results next year in December we will know what we have. I understand we filled some gaps with transfers but one composite four star and 45th in the nation isn't cutting it. Take away the transfers and the class looks Johnson-esque.
Click to expand...
This is such an oddball year. Granted I haven't been into recruiting as long as many others but this is one year where the variance between the two services was accentuated. And I don't mean disagreement on whether someone is the 18th rated OG or the 8th. I mean some guys being off by considerable amounts.

For instance, Rivals rates us #32 with 3 4 starts. Between the 2 sites, we're either 11th in the ACC or 7th. That's crazy.
 
knoxjacket said:
Just like with on the field results next year in December we will know what we have. I understand we filled some gaps with transfers but one composite four star and 45th in the nation isn't cutting it. Take away the transfers and the class looks Johnson-esque.
Click to expand...

No... no, it doesn't.

Not all 3 stars are the same, by a long shot.
 
Techbert said:
PS Laughing at the idea you will all know what we have with this year's freshmen by December.
Click to expand...

we will know whether or not Collins can recruit the way he needs to by the end of 2021. If we don’t have a top 30 class next year based on star average it’s not going to work out.

Since we are going the Jimmies and joes route we better get the Jimmies and Joes
 
knoxjacket said:
Just like with on the field results next year in December we will know what we have. I understand we filled some gaps with transfers but one composite four star and 45th in the nation isn't cutting it. Take away the transfers and the class looks Johnson-esque.
Click to expand...
Rivals has us at 32 without all the stud transfers. Get that "one of Johnson's class" baloney out of here dude. Seriously you sound real dumb.
 
How many spots do we have left, who are we going after for February signing
 
I mean, why would anyone give much credence to star rankings and composite numbers for this particular recruiting class? Isn't the whole system kind of borked this year cause most of the camps were canceled and the recruiting prognosticators prolly haven't been able to see as many of these recruits as they usually would?
 
Old-Fashioned UGA Hater said:
Rivals has us at 32 without all the stud transfers. Get that "one of Johnson's class" baloney out of here dude. Seriously you sound real dumb.
Click to expand...

To be fair this is ESD and we’re pretty much full. We’re gonna get passed on Rivals by several teams by NSD. We’re likely finishing in the 40s on both sites.

That being said our transfer class might end up being one of the better ones in the country. Might have a starting LT, starting DE, and 4 other 2-deep contributors.
 
gtrower said:
To be fair this is ESD and we’re pretty much full. We’re gonna get passed on Rivals by several teams by NSD. We’re likely finishing in the 40s on both sites.

That being said our transfer class might end up being one of the better ones in the country. Might have a starting LT, starting DE, and 4 other 2-deep contributors.
Click to expand...

If we can attract someone good, we will make room. But yes only a few expected signees to go so our average rating will not change much and other teams might.

Techbert,
thinks you should evaluate this class based on what it fills and not what a computer semi-arbitrarily assigns as a value.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top