18in32
Petard Hoister
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- May 23, 2010
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There was a Zoom session this evening with Coach Collins, Coach Choice, Coach Burton, and others discussing what's going on in the program right now. It was sponsored by FCA. The information isn't terribly fresh but I thought I pass it on anyhow...
The coaches are all engaged in heavy amounts of Zooming right now, as you might expect. Coach Burton said he speaks with 8-15 high school coaches a day, plus recruits and his own players. CGC had 4 recruiting Zooms today and had to hop off our Zoom to join Coach Key for another recruiting Zoom. Last week CGC Zoomed with every single player on the team individually for 10-15 minutes apiece. The coaches are staying very busy.
CGC said that they're maintaining the Club 1010 workout groups, so that in addition to daily contact with their position groups, coaches are also in daily contact with the 1010 groups (another 10-20 players per coach). CGC's non-position group is the captains and seniors.
The coaches are not allowed to make workouts mandatory – they aren't allowed to watch workouts, or require players to upload videos, or anything. So instead the coaches are doing the opposite: rather than ask the players for videos, they're sending the players videos of them (the coaches) doing the workouts themselves. Every day the coaches do the workouts the players are supposed to do (perhaps modified somewhat depending on age, physique, etc.) – which inspires the players to do them on their own.
Caralla is sending out these workout routines, and as you might expect from him, they're very well done, interesting and exciting. CGC has heard from lots and lots of HS coaches and athletes that HS coaches around the southeast are just using Caralla's workouts for their own players. An awful lot of HS players are using GT workouts right now.
Because there's no spring ball right now (not just in college but in HS), there's less "football data" on recruits for the coaches to be evaluating. However, CGC and his staff have definitely prioritized recruits of good character, and there's still plenty of background info and other character research you can do on recruits, even when they're not training/playing football.
CGC gave an example of this emphasis on character during the last recruiting cycle. GT hosted a 4-star athlete who, in some ways, would've been a great get for the staff. However, after spending 48 hours with the kid, the staff realized he didn't have great character. In the exit meeting, CGC, Coach Choice and another coach sat the kid and told him, in as kind a way as possible, that GT was not going to make him an offer – and that he might have trouble getting offers elsewhere if he didn't address some issues in his character. CGC didn't say what happened to the kid ultimately, but just raised that as an illustration that character matters more than talent at GT.
CGC remains very optimistic, as we all know he always is, about next season. Because we had such small senior classes, we've got a lot of production coming back on both sides of the ball. The players are gaining experience, and getting better, and will be pushed by the new recruits who are entering. Many of our new recruits are just better physical specimens than the guys from CPJ's regime – he said that the 4 offensive linemen who came to campus in January averaged 6' 5" / 297 lbs. The 2 other OL in the class who haven't come on campus yet are even bigger.
He also thinks the difficulty of losing so much last year isn't going to make these guys worse, but better, players. He gave an example from the Miami game last year. We were driving for the winning score at the end of the game when we fumbled at the Miami 23. Rather than lose heart, the defense took the field – one of the players pointed to the ground, which is CGC's gesture that means "put the ball on the ground," i.e., "let's play ball!" Miami got to 1st and goal – but the defense held and Miami missed their FG. We go to OT and win for our first victory ever in that stadium.
CGC also discussed his interest in developing players, part of his overall desire to put the players' interest first at every turn. Two examples – the Falcons' 3d round draft pick this year was Matt Hennessy, a Temple center. According to Derrick Moore, that draft pick was greatly aided by CGC, who was a big advocate for Hennessy to Blank, Dimitroff and Dan Quinn.
Another example – Cottrell was not really on the NFL's radar last year. But that was a desire he had, and CGC helped him chart a path to make that a possibility. By focusing on special teams, he carved out a niche for himself. By putting on weight, he made it physically feasible. It was really the staff's development (and of course Cottrell's hard work and dedication) that gave this kid a chance at a dream.
Coach Choice also mentioned something funny that happened to him during the lockdown. He's started a miniature war against some squirrels in his attic. He's deployed traps, bought BB guns, you name it. The first skirmish went to the squirrels, when he went into the attic – and stepped through his ceiling!
All three of them also offered some comments on their spiritual lives (Coach Choice fasts until 2 pm on Wednesdays, for example, and is in the Word daily) but I'll omit them from the football forum.
The coaches are all engaged in heavy amounts of Zooming right now, as you might expect. Coach Burton said he speaks with 8-15 high school coaches a day, plus recruits and his own players. CGC had 4 recruiting Zooms today and had to hop off our Zoom to join Coach Key for another recruiting Zoom. Last week CGC Zoomed with every single player on the team individually for 10-15 minutes apiece. The coaches are staying very busy.
CGC said that they're maintaining the Club 1010 workout groups, so that in addition to daily contact with their position groups, coaches are also in daily contact with the 1010 groups (another 10-20 players per coach). CGC's non-position group is the captains and seniors.
The coaches are not allowed to make workouts mandatory – they aren't allowed to watch workouts, or require players to upload videos, or anything. So instead the coaches are doing the opposite: rather than ask the players for videos, they're sending the players videos of them (the coaches) doing the workouts themselves. Every day the coaches do the workouts the players are supposed to do (perhaps modified somewhat depending on age, physique, etc.) – which inspires the players to do them on their own.
Caralla is sending out these workout routines, and as you might expect from him, they're very well done, interesting and exciting. CGC has heard from lots and lots of HS coaches and athletes that HS coaches around the southeast are just using Caralla's workouts for their own players. An awful lot of HS players are using GT workouts right now.
Because there's no spring ball right now (not just in college but in HS), there's less "football data" on recruits for the coaches to be evaluating. However, CGC and his staff have definitely prioritized recruits of good character, and there's still plenty of background info and other character research you can do on recruits, even when they're not training/playing football.
CGC gave an example of this emphasis on character during the last recruiting cycle. GT hosted a 4-star athlete who, in some ways, would've been a great get for the staff. However, after spending 48 hours with the kid, the staff realized he didn't have great character. In the exit meeting, CGC, Coach Choice and another coach sat the kid and told him, in as kind a way as possible, that GT was not going to make him an offer – and that he might have trouble getting offers elsewhere if he didn't address some issues in his character. CGC didn't say what happened to the kid ultimately, but just raised that as an illustration that character matters more than talent at GT.
CGC remains very optimistic, as we all know he always is, about next season. Because we had such small senior classes, we've got a lot of production coming back on both sides of the ball. The players are gaining experience, and getting better, and will be pushed by the new recruits who are entering. Many of our new recruits are just better physical specimens than the guys from CPJ's regime – he said that the 4 offensive linemen who came to campus in January averaged 6' 5" / 297 lbs. The 2 other OL in the class who haven't come on campus yet are even bigger.
He also thinks the difficulty of losing so much last year isn't going to make these guys worse, but better, players. He gave an example from the Miami game last year. We were driving for the winning score at the end of the game when we fumbled at the Miami 23. Rather than lose heart, the defense took the field – one of the players pointed to the ground, which is CGC's gesture that means "put the ball on the ground," i.e., "let's play ball!" Miami got to 1st and goal – but the defense held and Miami missed their FG. We go to OT and win for our first victory ever in that stadium.
CGC also discussed his interest in developing players, part of his overall desire to put the players' interest first at every turn. Two examples – the Falcons' 3d round draft pick this year was Matt Hennessy, a Temple center. According to Derrick Moore, that draft pick was greatly aided by CGC, who was a big advocate for Hennessy to Blank, Dimitroff and Dan Quinn.
Another example – Cottrell was not really on the NFL's radar last year. But that was a desire he had, and CGC helped him chart a path to make that a possibility. By focusing on special teams, he carved out a niche for himself. By putting on weight, he made it physically feasible. It was really the staff's development (and of course Cottrell's hard work and dedication) that gave this kid a chance at a dream.
Coach Choice also mentioned something funny that happened to him during the lockdown. He's started a miniature war against some squirrels in his attic. He's deployed traps, bought BB guns, you name it. The first skirmish went to the squirrels, when he went into the attic – and stepped through his ceiling!
All three of them also offered some comments on their spiritual lives (Coach Choice fasts until 2 pm on Wednesdays, for example, and is in the Word daily) but I'll omit them from the football forum.
