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Here's JOJA's great Lunch Bunch report.
IF it's too long I'm sure our moms will cut it.
Subject: Lunch Bunch Report 8/26/2002 - Chan Gailey
Posted By: JOJATK - Registered User
Posted At: (8/26/02 3:24:59 pm)
Reply
Well hello Tech fans (and anyone else reading this report). If you're from an opposing team then don't expect to get any inside info that will help your team prepare for us, I don't post that type of info . Our guest this week was Coach Chan Gailey, head coach of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Football Team.
Coach Gailey is a very genuine person and that is very evident any time you hear him speak. Instead of talking TO us he opened up the floor for questions immediately and very patiently answered questions for quite some time. Let me also say that I can't recall a Lunch Bunch that was better attended. I couldn't see all the way to the back, but judging by the raffle ticket numbers there were probably over 100 people there, many standing in the back. For those that have been to Frankie's you'll know that that area, while perfect for Lunch Bunch, doesn't have a tremendous amount of seats because it is used for eating so having that many people in such a small area is terrific.
Also, I would like to thank Coach Gailey for being as open as he could, especially knowing that there were folks (me) in the audience who put things out on The Hive. He only once asked for something not to be posted out there and I know I will respect that and I hope others will too. I would also ask that people NOT post things about the injury status that he mentioned, even though he didn't specifically ask to keep it off the record. But that's just my opinion, not something Coach asked me to say.
Here are a couple of links about Coach Gailey from the AJC and other sources:
Gailey has a tough act to follow at Tech
Link to August 22 Coach Gailey Call in show with Wes Durham
Article from RamblinWreck.com on hiring of Chan Gailey
If you follow any of the player links I am providing (which is one of the reasons it takes me so long to get these things out there) you'll notice that I'm posting, at least for most of them, the link to Buzzkill's recruiting database listing rather than our team bio pages. Why? Because I want people to get some perspective on some of these guys and what people were saying about them when they were recruits and what they've accomplished here at Tech.
Anyway, enough with me flapping my lips, or typing so much, on with the report...
1) Our guys are "tired of hitting each other" already and can't wait to get on the field and bang heads with someone in a different uniform than ours
2) Depth on the OL is still a big concern and it will be very important, especially early on, to get some of the backups as much experience on the field as we can afford to do
3) Coach thinks that Lekeldrick Bridges has a chance to be a pretty good player for us right away. Looks like he's going to have a big chance to contribute.
4) Chris Reis, a DB from Roswell High School also has a chance to contribute, mainly on special teams.
5) Another big surprise for the coaches was that Nat Dorsey is at 340 lbs and is STILL able to move as well as he did last year. There's a nice column by Steve Hummer from the AJC that talks about big Nat
6)
7) Leon Robinson anchors the left side of the line with Nat and he is also looking strong and big coming in right around 320lb.
Jimmy Dixon is a big and physical back and he's pencilled in as our starter at Fullback right now. There are some other nice notes about Jimmy in this article by John Hollis of the AJC.
9) Nate Curry, the speedy wideout who has been hampered by knee problems since last year is still out (I think everyone knows this already as public information). It appears that we have a good chance to get him back in the mix for the Clemson game. By the way, the link on Clemson takes you to Army Jacket's Clemson game preview. If you haven't read it I strongly recommend you do. It is the product of tremendous research and is extremely detailed. His hard work really shows in those previews.
10) Lots of people have wondered about the progress of Albert Poree since he's gotten here as a transfer from Notre Dame. The story from last year, as most have already heard, was that he made some plays last year that got him taken out of the mix and he also hurt his hand and was playing in a cast. As a result he lost a tremendous amount of confidence. So what's happening now? Albert is slowly building back his confidence into a guy who can help us (note from author: let's all get behind Albert, he can use our support. If you see him at Yellow Jacket Alley then give him a thumbs up or high five or something to let him know we're with him!!!).
11) One of the guys who has stepped it up and is playing well in practice is Jonathan Cox, a corner from Chicago.
12) OK, this is getting to be a very poorly kept secret regarding the guy who'll be lining up opposite Greg Gathers. Tony Hargrove, who came in here as an "athlete" after playing safety and QB in high school, has beefed up to 260lbs and is still as quick as he was when playing at 235-240 lbs. This bodes not well for opposing teams QBs, eh (oh, that last comment was from me, JOJATK, not Coach Gailey).
13) Another young man who's got to work himself back into playing shape is Reggie Koon at Defensive Tackle. He's just recently come back and has some work to do.
14) Thankfully a guy who has also been a bit of a pleasant surprise has been Alfred Malone who's up to around 285lbs (that's from 255 when he arrived on the Flats).
15) You can also add Travis Parker to the list of pleasant surprises. He's going to help us some in the middle despite being somewhat undersized (sounds a bit like Nate Stimson to me folks ).
16) As many of you out there doubtless read about in the AJC in this article by John Hollis, Greg Gathers suffers from a kidney ailment called Minimal Change Disease. When Coach Gailey first heard about it he was told it was "very serious" and he was immediately nervous and concerned for Greg and his family. As you can see in the article from the AJC it is something that can be controlled by medication and diet so Greg is doing OK.
17) We are getting tremendous response in recruiting from the state of Texas. Despite his obvious connections to the state from his days with the Cowboys coach Gailey said he is still a bit surprised by the positive response. He also said that nationwide we seem to have even a better reputation that we do in state and a lot of that has to do with things like the Thursday night ESPN games we've been on so many times. Kids from all around the country have tuned-in to those games and seen how great the fan response has been and how exciting the football is and how awesome the city looks at night and are really impressed.
1 Ather Brown, LB from Jones County, is another guy who is looking quite good. Ather's biggest problem is some guys who are in front of him like Recardo Wimbush and Keyaron Fox, and aryl Smith. Ather is definitely going to be a guy we count on a lot though this year.
19) How do we stack up, talent wise, against our competition this year? That's really impossible for Coach Gailey to answer mainly because this is his first year back in college ball and it is very hard to evaluate our opponents talent levels based on no first hand game experience. Of course we've got some folks who've coached against our opponents and we have game films and the like so we don't go into the games blind. But a comparison is just too hard to make at this time. However, we do have a good base of talent ourselves and some excellent speed on the team at a lot of positions. We're just not as big as some of our opponents so we'll have to use our speed advantage well.
20) Other than our first two games against Auburn, here and there, the rest of the planned games in that series are in limbo at this time. We'll see what happens in light of Notre Dame coming in and other things we're trying to do in scheduling.
21) Which coaches will be where?
Billy O'Brien, proud new daddy, will be on the field
Patrick Nix will be up in the box and will have someone else up there with him (I missed who this would be, sorry)
Jon Tenuta will be up in the box and will have a defensive graduate assistant helping chart the plays (forgive me but I missed who this would be)
Everyone else will be on the field.
22) Our priorities in recruiting will be offensive line and QB, and you ALWAYS want to recruit DL and cornerbacks. What we're looking for, especially for anyone who watched HS ball, is kids who can REALLY RUN (and this means kids who are visibly WAY faster and in a completely other gear from the rest of the kids on the field in their positions) and kids who can hit, REALLY HARD. Other than OL we can put weight on the kids. OL you kinda have to be big to start with
23) Oh we're also looking to bring in a punter, possibly even through the JUCO route.
24) How did Coach Gailey assemble his staff (meaning where did he know the guys from)
ave Wilson - Coach Gailey coached Dave as a player and coached with him at various places
Tommie Robinson, WR - Coach Gailey coached Tommie at Troy State and Tommie was also an assistant with the Dallas Cowboys
Jon Tenuta, DC - heard about Jon from Dave Braine and talked with him and felt their philosophies were very much in synch
Brick Haley, LB - Coach Gailey knew Brick through some mutual friends and knew that Brick had been interested in returning back to the southeast
Curtis Modkins, DB - Coach Modkins was an intern with the Dallas Cowboys with Coach Gailey
Patrick Nix, RB and Recruiting Coordinator - coach was introduced to Patrick through some mutual friends
Joe D'Alessandris - Coach Gailey coached against Coach D many times and coached together with him in the World League at Birmingham
Tommy Raye, ST and TE - Coach Dye recommended Coach Raye to Chan
25) Our facilities are going to right up there with the elite in the NCAA once the stadium renovation is completed.
26) We definitely need more national TV coverage
27) we need to work on recruiting nationally. Why? Because of a few reasons, but the biggest is that because of our academic restrictions (to me, JOJATK, this very much relates to our dearth of options for majors as much if not more than just the rigors of the academics themselves) we really have to recruit a very targeted list of individuals and to make that list as large as possible we have to go national.
2 We need to be better than our opponents at EVALUATING kids and their projected abilities
29) As a group our seniors have been amazing and helping lead the team through the transition to the new coaching staff. This help has been absolutely invaluable to the whole staff. The seniors have been told that "this is your team" and that what they do now will always be with them. One thing that is common between all championship caliber teams is that they all have veteran leadership.
30) Yellow Jacket Alley is important to the players and to recruiting. It helps get the players motivated and lets them see how much we care about them and since we'll have recruits walking as well sometimes it really will show them how rabid Tech fans really are.
31) BE LOUD - Don't be a spectator, be a participant
Thanks to Coach Gailey for being so gracious and I know we're all looking forward to the start of the season this saturday.
IF it's too long I'm sure our moms will cut it.
Subject: Lunch Bunch Report 8/26/2002 - Chan Gailey
Posted By: JOJATK - Registered User
Posted At: (8/26/02 3:24:59 pm)
Reply
Well hello Tech fans (and anyone else reading this report). If you're from an opposing team then don't expect to get any inside info that will help your team prepare for us, I don't post that type of info . Our guest this week was Coach Chan Gailey, head coach of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Football Team.
Coach Gailey is a very genuine person and that is very evident any time you hear him speak. Instead of talking TO us he opened up the floor for questions immediately and very patiently answered questions for quite some time. Let me also say that I can't recall a Lunch Bunch that was better attended. I couldn't see all the way to the back, but judging by the raffle ticket numbers there were probably over 100 people there, many standing in the back. For those that have been to Frankie's you'll know that that area, while perfect for Lunch Bunch, doesn't have a tremendous amount of seats because it is used for eating so having that many people in such a small area is terrific.
Also, I would like to thank Coach Gailey for being as open as he could, especially knowing that there were folks (me) in the audience who put things out on The Hive. He only once asked for something not to be posted out there and I know I will respect that and I hope others will too. I would also ask that people NOT post things about the injury status that he mentioned, even though he didn't specifically ask to keep it off the record. But that's just my opinion, not something Coach asked me to say.
Here are a couple of links about Coach Gailey from the AJC and other sources:
Gailey has a tough act to follow at Tech
Link to August 22 Coach Gailey Call in show with Wes Durham
Article from RamblinWreck.com on hiring of Chan Gailey
If you follow any of the player links I am providing (which is one of the reasons it takes me so long to get these things out there) you'll notice that I'm posting, at least for most of them, the link to Buzzkill's recruiting database listing rather than our team bio pages. Why? Because I want people to get some perspective on some of these guys and what people were saying about them when they were recruits and what they've accomplished here at Tech.
Anyway, enough with me flapping my lips, or typing so much, on with the report...
1) Our guys are "tired of hitting each other" already and can't wait to get on the field and bang heads with someone in a different uniform than ours
2) Depth on the OL is still a big concern and it will be very important, especially early on, to get some of the backups as much experience on the field as we can afford to do
3) Coach thinks that Lekeldrick Bridges has a chance to be a pretty good player for us right away. Looks like he's going to have a big chance to contribute.
4) Chris Reis, a DB from Roswell High School also has a chance to contribute, mainly on special teams.
5) Another big surprise for the coaches was that Nat Dorsey is at 340 lbs and is STILL able to move as well as he did last year. There's a nice column by Steve Hummer from the AJC that talks about big Nat
6)
7) Leon Robinson anchors the left side of the line with Nat and he is also looking strong and big coming in right around 320lb.
Jimmy Dixon is a big and physical back and he's pencilled in as our starter at Fullback right now. There are some other nice notes about Jimmy in this article by John Hollis of the AJC.
9) Nate Curry, the speedy wideout who has been hampered by knee problems since last year is still out (I think everyone knows this already as public information). It appears that we have a good chance to get him back in the mix for the Clemson game. By the way, the link on Clemson takes you to Army Jacket's Clemson game preview. If you haven't read it I strongly recommend you do. It is the product of tremendous research and is extremely detailed. His hard work really shows in those previews.
10) Lots of people have wondered about the progress of Albert Poree since he's gotten here as a transfer from Notre Dame. The story from last year, as most have already heard, was that he made some plays last year that got him taken out of the mix and he also hurt his hand and was playing in a cast. As a result he lost a tremendous amount of confidence. So what's happening now? Albert is slowly building back his confidence into a guy who can help us (note from author: let's all get behind Albert, he can use our support. If you see him at Yellow Jacket Alley then give him a thumbs up or high five or something to let him know we're with him!!!).
11) One of the guys who has stepped it up and is playing well in practice is Jonathan Cox, a corner from Chicago.
12) OK, this is getting to be a very poorly kept secret regarding the guy who'll be lining up opposite Greg Gathers. Tony Hargrove, who came in here as an "athlete" after playing safety and QB in high school, has beefed up to 260lbs and is still as quick as he was when playing at 235-240 lbs. This bodes not well for opposing teams QBs, eh (oh, that last comment was from me, JOJATK, not Coach Gailey).
13) Another young man who's got to work himself back into playing shape is Reggie Koon at Defensive Tackle. He's just recently come back and has some work to do.
14) Thankfully a guy who has also been a bit of a pleasant surprise has been Alfred Malone who's up to around 285lbs (that's from 255 when he arrived on the Flats).
15) You can also add Travis Parker to the list of pleasant surprises. He's going to help us some in the middle despite being somewhat undersized (sounds a bit like Nate Stimson to me folks ).
16) As many of you out there doubtless read about in the AJC in this article by John Hollis, Greg Gathers suffers from a kidney ailment called Minimal Change Disease. When Coach Gailey first heard about it he was told it was "very serious" and he was immediately nervous and concerned for Greg and his family. As you can see in the article from the AJC it is something that can be controlled by medication and diet so Greg is doing OK.
17) We are getting tremendous response in recruiting from the state of Texas. Despite his obvious connections to the state from his days with the Cowboys coach Gailey said he is still a bit surprised by the positive response. He also said that nationwide we seem to have even a better reputation that we do in state and a lot of that has to do with things like the Thursday night ESPN games we've been on so many times. Kids from all around the country have tuned-in to those games and seen how great the fan response has been and how exciting the football is and how awesome the city looks at night and are really impressed.
1 Ather Brown, LB from Jones County, is another guy who is looking quite good. Ather's biggest problem is some guys who are in front of him like Recardo Wimbush and Keyaron Fox, and aryl Smith. Ather is definitely going to be a guy we count on a lot though this year.
19) How do we stack up, talent wise, against our competition this year? That's really impossible for Coach Gailey to answer mainly because this is his first year back in college ball and it is very hard to evaluate our opponents talent levels based on no first hand game experience. Of course we've got some folks who've coached against our opponents and we have game films and the like so we don't go into the games blind. But a comparison is just too hard to make at this time. However, we do have a good base of talent ourselves and some excellent speed on the team at a lot of positions. We're just not as big as some of our opponents so we'll have to use our speed advantage well.
20) Other than our first two games against Auburn, here and there, the rest of the planned games in that series are in limbo at this time. We'll see what happens in light of Notre Dame coming in and other things we're trying to do in scheduling.
21) Which coaches will be where?
Billy O'Brien, proud new daddy, will be on the field
Patrick Nix will be up in the box and will have someone else up there with him (I missed who this would be, sorry)
Jon Tenuta will be up in the box and will have a defensive graduate assistant helping chart the plays (forgive me but I missed who this would be)
Everyone else will be on the field.
22) Our priorities in recruiting will be offensive line and QB, and you ALWAYS want to recruit DL and cornerbacks. What we're looking for, especially for anyone who watched HS ball, is kids who can REALLY RUN (and this means kids who are visibly WAY faster and in a completely other gear from the rest of the kids on the field in their positions) and kids who can hit, REALLY HARD. Other than OL we can put weight on the kids. OL you kinda have to be big to start with
23) Oh we're also looking to bring in a punter, possibly even through the JUCO route.
24) How did Coach Gailey assemble his staff (meaning where did he know the guys from)
ave Wilson - Coach Gailey coached Dave as a player and coached with him at various places
Tommie Robinson, WR - Coach Gailey coached Tommie at Troy State and Tommie was also an assistant with the Dallas Cowboys
Jon Tenuta, DC - heard about Jon from Dave Braine and talked with him and felt their philosophies were very much in synch
Brick Haley, LB - Coach Gailey knew Brick through some mutual friends and knew that Brick had been interested in returning back to the southeast
Curtis Modkins, DB - Coach Modkins was an intern with the Dallas Cowboys with Coach Gailey
Patrick Nix, RB and Recruiting Coordinator - coach was introduced to Patrick through some mutual friends
Joe D'Alessandris - Coach Gailey coached against Coach D many times and coached together with him in the World League at Birmingham
Tommy Raye, ST and TE - Coach Dye recommended Coach Raye to Chan
25) Our facilities are going to right up there with the elite in the NCAA once the stadium renovation is completed.
26) We definitely need more national TV coverage
27) we need to work on recruiting nationally. Why? Because of a few reasons, but the biggest is that because of our academic restrictions (to me, JOJATK, this very much relates to our dearth of options for majors as much if not more than just the rigors of the academics themselves) we really have to recruit a very targeted list of individuals and to make that list as large as possible we have to go national.
2 We need to be better than our opponents at EVALUATING kids and their projected abilities
29) As a group our seniors have been amazing and helping lead the team through the transition to the new coaching staff. This help has been absolutely invaluable to the whole staff. The seniors have been told that "this is your team" and that what they do now will always be with them. One thing that is common between all championship caliber teams is that they all have veteran leadership.
30) Yellow Jacket Alley is important to the players and to recruiting. It helps get the players motivated and lets them see how much we care about them and since we'll have recruits walking as well sometimes it really will show them how rabid Tech fans really are.
31) BE LOUD - Don't be a spectator, be a participant
Thanks to Coach Gailey for being so gracious and I know we're all looking forward to the start of the season this saturday.
JacketFanPCB
Damn Good Rat
- Joined
- Nov 25, 2001
- Messages
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EXCELLENT, thorough report as usual.
THANKS!!!!!
THANKS!!!!!