Jerry the Jacket
Jolly Good Fellow
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2002
- Messages
- 1,641
Well I have had a couple of days to vent my feelings. That along with the many well thought out and caring responses of many of my fellow Tech faithful have been very theraputic over that time.
Now it's time to figure out how can we make chicken salad out of chicken stuff. Anybody worth their salt knows when you get knocked on your arse you have to get back up and battle on or the buzzards will pick you clean.
So I thought we should take a look at reality. Number 1, more than likely Coach Gailey is not going to be fired, so we need to support him to the extent your soul will allow. A couple of strong recommendations to Chan:
1) Get out of the bunker. Get a PR person and learn how to interact with the media and the fanbase. You are not going to succeed otherwise.
2) Talk about how you plan to address these losses of personnel. Articulate a definitive plan. Heck I will even help you here.
3) Play every freshman capable of making any possible contribution. As the season wears on, we will need bodies, get them as much experience as possible as the season goes along.
Let's take a look at our losses:
1) Tony Hollings - he may or may not have come back at full strength. Odds are he would not have. The extra year of strength and conditioning could be a benefit. If we can encourage him to get back in school, this may turn out to be a good thing for him and Tech.
2) Michael Sampson - looked like he was progressing in spring but as a point of fact we do not know how good a player he could have been. He was at least another body. With losses here we need to look at other personnel to shift to running back ala Hollings last year. Dwan Landry a former running QB and Rueben Houston a former star RB at Stars Mill should be evaluated during the offseason. There may be others.
3) Tony Hargrove - the biggest loss in my opinion. Tony was a mean SOB that played tough. You don't replace his attitude. However, if Gathers comes back anywhere near his old self, it will to some degree offset the loss of TH. Eric Henderson and Gathers could make a great set of DE's.
4) Kingi McNair - got some praise in Spring. I went to the spring game and to be honest he really did not stand out to me. I think he had some talent but we really don't know if he could have been a player or not. Hopefully he can get back in and prove something down the road. The good news here is we have a lot of quality LB's on the roster.
5) Anthony Lawston - a perennial back up, AL never really stepped up to match his billing. He was a career backup at a position we have some depth at so his loss is not as critical as some others.
6) Zeb McHarque - never played a down. Quitting this early tells you a lot here. Probably did not have the grit to play at this level. While I wish him well and wish he could have been successful, practically speaking this just opens up another slot for an OL. Maybe the transfer from Morris Brown will pick up the slack.
7), 8) 9) and 10) We do not know the names but we have some rumors and I will make some assumptions here not to attempt to discredit or hurt these individuals but merely to continue my what if scenario.
Sterling Greene - has played all of one or two games. Apparently has some talent but how can you miss what you never had. Again added depth at an already deep LB position.
LaKeldrick Bridges - lots of speed but suspect hands. Who knows how good he could have been this year. A speed merchant, we lose an option to go long. We need to look at Davis and IP Harris with their speed to see if they could bring that element to this position.
Reggie Koon - a big guy, perennially out of shape, limited contributor. Even if he is not one of the 10, he needs to get in shape if he wants to play D1 football.
Alfred Malone - another potential key loss. While not a superstar, Malone had a lot of experience and played decent. We will miss him if indeed he is one of the 10. We have some beef coming in Newberry and Wrotto plus it's time for some of our career back ups to step up. DL was a weak point last year and many years prior. Hopefully the coaching staff views development here as a key point of emphasis and the guys work their tails off this summer.
So in summary, I think we can weather this blow. We need to get healthy and stay healthy and somebody better be on top of our summer strength and conditioning program big time.
We will need to develop an attitude like the Third Infantry Division rolling into downtown Baghdad. Take no prisoners. And Chan needs to take his cue from Colonel David Perkins, commander of the tank division that took that first ride into downtown Baghdad. Show some balls and some leadership!
To Hell with Georgia!
Go Jackets!
Now it's time to figure out how can we make chicken salad out of chicken stuff. Anybody worth their salt knows when you get knocked on your arse you have to get back up and battle on or the buzzards will pick you clean.
So I thought we should take a look at reality. Number 1, more than likely Coach Gailey is not going to be fired, so we need to support him to the extent your soul will allow. A couple of strong recommendations to Chan:
1) Get out of the bunker. Get a PR person and learn how to interact with the media and the fanbase. You are not going to succeed otherwise.
2) Talk about how you plan to address these losses of personnel. Articulate a definitive plan. Heck I will even help you here.
3) Play every freshman capable of making any possible contribution. As the season wears on, we will need bodies, get them as much experience as possible as the season goes along.
Let's take a look at our losses:
1) Tony Hollings - he may or may not have come back at full strength. Odds are he would not have. The extra year of strength and conditioning could be a benefit. If we can encourage him to get back in school, this may turn out to be a good thing for him and Tech.
2) Michael Sampson - looked like he was progressing in spring but as a point of fact we do not know how good a player he could have been. He was at least another body. With losses here we need to look at other personnel to shift to running back ala Hollings last year. Dwan Landry a former running QB and Rueben Houston a former star RB at Stars Mill should be evaluated during the offseason. There may be others.
3) Tony Hargrove - the biggest loss in my opinion. Tony was a mean SOB that played tough. You don't replace his attitude. However, if Gathers comes back anywhere near his old self, it will to some degree offset the loss of TH. Eric Henderson and Gathers could make a great set of DE's.
4) Kingi McNair - got some praise in Spring. I went to the spring game and to be honest he really did not stand out to me. I think he had some talent but we really don't know if he could have been a player or not. Hopefully he can get back in and prove something down the road. The good news here is we have a lot of quality LB's on the roster.
5) Anthony Lawston - a perennial back up, AL never really stepped up to match his billing. He was a career backup at a position we have some depth at so his loss is not as critical as some others.
6) Zeb McHarque - never played a down. Quitting this early tells you a lot here. Probably did not have the grit to play at this level. While I wish him well and wish he could have been successful, practically speaking this just opens up another slot for an OL. Maybe the transfer from Morris Brown will pick up the slack.
7), 8) 9) and 10) We do not know the names but we have some rumors and I will make some assumptions here not to attempt to discredit or hurt these individuals but merely to continue my what if scenario.
Sterling Greene - has played all of one or two games. Apparently has some talent but how can you miss what you never had. Again added depth at an already deep LB position.
LaKeldrick Bridges - lots of speed but suspect hands. Who knows how good he could have been this year. A speed merchant, we lose an option to go long. We need to look at Davis and IP Harris with their speed to see if they could bring that element to this position.
Reggie Koon - a big guy, perennially out of shape, limited contributor. Even if he is not one of the 10, he needs to get in shape if he wants to play D1 football.
Alfred Malone - another potential key loss. While not a superstar, Malone had a lot of experience and played decent. We will miss him if indeed he is one of the 10. We have some beef coming in Newberry and Wrotto plus it's time for some of our career back ups to step up. DL was a weak point last year and many years prior. Hopefully the coaching staff views development here as a key point of emphasis and the guys work their tails off this summer.
So in summary, I think we can weather this blow. We need to get healthy and stay healthy and somebody better be on top of our summer strength and conditioning program big time.
We will need to develop an attitude like the Third Infantry Division rolling into downtown Baghdad. Take no prisoners. And Chan needs to take his cue from Colonel David Perkins, commander of the tank division that took that first ride into downtown Baghdad. Show some balls and some leadership!
To Hell with Georgia!
Go Jackets!
