This board held a near consensus ...

[THWUGA]

... when CPJ retired that there was likely not one player on our team who would start on a top-25 football program.

I can say that objectively, while still being a big fan of CPJ, and appreciative of the fun years we had while he was our coach. I don’t have any grudge about that, and even loved his swagger personality despite some frustrating years.

But the facts are that we were no longer able to attract P5 let alone championship level talent because of the system. And the talent grew to the point that as genius as the system is/was, it couldn’t bridge the gap.

So we ripped the bandaid off and hired a recruiting specialist to turn the roster around. We are 2 classes into it. Our QB and RB are basically high schoolers. Our future is completely well-regraded freshmen and redshirt freshmen. Sure we have a couple of transfers mixed in, and a couple of seniors who have worked hard (and totally bought in to a new regime) to develop into leaders for this team, whom we all appreciate.

As CPJ says, it’s never as good or as bad as it seems. FSU the former, the last two games the latter.

We look like a really talented, really raw/green team. That’s exactly what we are. Sure it’s frustrating, and sure we should play better. I think I’ve seen tons is ways we look way better, and plenty where we look disorganized and undisciplined. I guess I just thought we all had lower expectations than a ton of wins in year 2 with the roster overhaul we have in front of us yet.

 

[Tampa Jacket]

Agree. But the longer we look like a dumpster fire the harder it will be to recruit.

 

[JoeCakeEater]

Nice level-headed post. I agree with all of it...except I’d argue we only have 1 recruiting class under the new coach. The first one was essentially locked in under CPJ. Collins flipped a few key players at the end, but could only do so much.

 

[OptionJacket]

Totally agree. And really, Collins didn’t have much input into the class we signed a month after his hire so he’s had one full class. We are talented and will put up an explosion type game on offense soon when the turnovers go our way. But, we will also lose many games due to the glaring holes we have. But, I like our fight. We were down 17 yesterday and didn’t stop. We kept coming. This year is a building block for future wins.

 

[RussianOffense]

Your first sentence is hyperbole.

Some of these 2018 guys, if not all, would be top 25 starters:

KirVonte Benson
Parker Braun
Jalen Camp
Pressley Harvin
Anree Saint-Amour
Juanyeh Thomas

Parker Braun started at Texas in 2019 after he transferred.

I think our talent level was subpar in 2018, but it wasn't as bad as some of y'all make it out to be.

 

[JoeCakeEater]

Agree. But the longer we look like a dumpster fire the harder it will be to recruit.

I think the kids we’re recruiting understand what’s happening and want to be part of the good teams on the other side. However, the messaging gets tougher if we lose games we should be winning at this point of the rebuild... arguably yesterday was one of those games.

 

[DinnerJacket]

... when CPJ retired that there was likely not one player on our team who would start on a top-25 football program.

I can say that objectively, while still being a big fan of CPJ, and appreciative of the fun years we had while he was our coach. I don’t have any grudge about that, and even loved his swagger personality despite some frustrating years.

But the facts are that we were no longer able to attract P5 let alone championship level talent because of the system. And the talent grew to the point that as genius as the system is/was, it couldn’t bridge the gap.

So we ripped the bandaid off and hired a recruiting specialist to turn the roster around. We are 2 classes into it. Our QB and RB are basically high schoolers. Our future is completely well-regraded freshmen and redshirt freshmen. Sure we have a couple of transfers mixed in, and a couple of seniors who have worked hard (and totally bought in to a new regime) to develop into leaders for this team, whom we all appreciate.

As CPJ says, it’s never as good or as bad as it seems. FSU the former, the last two games the latter.

We look like a really talented, really raw/green team. That’s exactly what we are. Sure it’s frustrating, and sure we should play better. I think I’ve seen tons is ways we look way better, and plenty where we look disorganized and undisciplined. I guess I just thought we all had lower expectations than a ton of wins in year 2 with the roster overhaul we have in front of us yet.

Totally agree. And as I said in another post, I remember how long it took Bobby Ross to get to winning here - BOBBY FREAKING ROSS!. There were fans that wanted him gone, if you can believe that. But when we started winning, boy was the transformation fast!

 

[BuzzFeitenSystem]

Tech fans are never as angry or happy as they seem

 

[CiraldoForever]

Totally agree. And as I said in another post, I remember how long it took Bobby Ross to get to winning here - BOBBY FREAKING ROSS!. There were fans that wanted him gone, if you can believe that. But when we started winning, boy was the transformation fast!

It did take Ross two and a half years to win a conference game, but his teams looked well coached from the beginning. I'm not upset because we're losing, but I'm very upset that we look completely un-coached.

 

[JoeCakeEater]

The largest effort based developmental global pandemic culture transformation in the history of college football will take some time.

 

[Tshirt Man]

I don't think any of us expected a top 10 team in Collins second year. Some of us did expect us to look more organized than a middle school team.

 

[ClubSeats]

Your first sentence is hyperbole.

Some of these 2018 guys, if not all, would be top 25 starters:

KirVonte Benson
Parker Braun
Jalen Camp
Pressley Harvin
Anree Saint-Amour
Juanyeh Thomas

Parker Braun started at Texas in 2019 after he transferred.

I think our talent level was subpar in 2018, but it wasn't as bad as some of y'all make it out to be.

Kirvonte hasn’t played a game since PJ retired

 

[knoxjacket]

Your first sentence is hyperbole.

Some of these 2018 guys, if not all, would be top 25 starters:

KirVonte Benson
Parker Braun
Jalen Camp
Pressley Harvin
Anree Saint-Amour
Juanyeh Thomas

Parker Braun started at Texas in 2019 after he transferred.

I think our talent level was subpar in 2018, but it wasn't as bad as some of y'all make it out to be.

Benson? No one even took him out of the transfer portal. Wtf are you talking about.
Braun. Yes.
Camp. No.
Harvin. Yes
Saint-Amour. Maybe.
Thomas. No.

 

[RussianOffense]

Benson? No one even took him out of the transfer portal. Wtf are you talking about.
Braun. Yes.
Camp. No.
Harvin. Yes
Saint-Amour. Maybe.
Thomas. No.

So you agree with my point, that "none of our guys would be top 25 starters" was hyperbole.

I should've mentioned Tariq Carpenter too.

 

[knoxjacket]

I expected to be garbage for 2-3 years. Johnson left a horrible roster. He retired because he saw losing seasons on the wall.

They being said you don’t have to be talented to line up correctly. You don’t have to be talented to not false start. You don’t have to be talented to not have a delay of game out of a timeout. You don’t have to be talented to have 11 guys on the field.

Being bad is fine (and expected) but being stupid as hell not not.

 

[knoxjacket]

So you agree with my point, that "none of our guys would be top 25 starters" was hyperbole.

I should've mentioned Tariq Carpenter too.

he would also be a no. If your point was 3 out of 90 guys on our roster would start for a top 25 team than I agree. 3 guys on Coastal Carolina would probably start for top 25 teams too.

 

[Walton]

Most of the mistakes yesterday were made by true freshmen or equivalent.

That is what happens when you play guys not only without game experience but also not full spring and summer camps.

The Defense needed all hands on deck on the DL; needed a lot of luck but all the luck has been bad.

I would still rather play/build for next year versus play safe and keep games close.

 

[ScionOfSouthland]

Sims and Gibbs have both won ACC rookie of the week. Says a lot.

That said, if we don’t start getting some results and don’t stop with unforced issues it is going to be a problem getting where this coaching staff says they are taking us.

Edit: it’s time to knock off DJ Jazzy Geoff and start getting back to disciplined football.

 

[THWUGA]

Being bad is fine (and expected) but being stupid as hell not not.

This is the part that I don’t get.

Even the very best true freshman make stupid plays all the time. That’s the mark if true freshmen. So I’m sorry, I do not agree that this is all about the coaching. I think it’s part of them drinking thru the proverbial firehose of info.

Applies to all underclassmen, CGC or CPJ recruits.

And btw I’d argue a number of our upperclassmen have improved physically, a TON, under the new regime. And I think that’s good news for players coming in with much more raw talent/potential

 

[GTLiebs]

Most of the mistakes yesterday were made by true freshmen or equivalent.

That is what happens when you play guys not only without game experience but also not full spring and summer camps.

The Defense needed all hands on deck on the DL; needed a lot of luck but all the luck has been bad.

I would still rather play/build for next year versus play safe and keep games close.

Looking at the other games as well, seems all defenses have suffered with the lack of practice and prep caused by covid. Probably why our defense has been bad against hurry up, we probably didn't spend what time we had preparing for it.