The Signing Day Event at Georgia Tech included large posters everywhere that read, "Please no talking. Don't wake the recruits. This is a class full of sleepers."
How did Tech fair on the recruiting trail? Not so hot. Their class was ranked all over the place.
- ESPN says 32 (bee serious)
Rivals.com says 56 (that's the unheard of "page 3")
Scout.com says 56 (page 3 again)
Nathan at GoldenTornado reviewed Tech's class for the GSB Crowd stating:
As for this year's class? Eh, it's up and down - as it seems every Tech class is. If you follow recruiting much, you knew months ago it wasn't going to be highly rated because of probation and few graduating seniors - leading to a very small class. We could have only taken 17 players max, and right now that number looks to be 15 - that gets you killed by Scout.com/Rivals.com and leads to idiocy like the current full on melt down on the AJC.com Tech blog. The key was going to be getting quality players in those limited numbers, and we did "OK" on that number.
I like Demaryius Thomas, Laurence Marius and Osahon Tongo. Jamaal Evans intrigues me, but he's so damn tiny for a running back despite his monster numbers in Texas's top level. I'm not enamored with Byron Ingram (he's got a ways to go), but I'm not sure it matters much since Jonathan Garner is the QB of the future and he's only a R-Fr. next year. Sedric Griffin was a kid who flew totally under the radar until he dominated at the Shrine Bowl, he's got the potential to be a nice sleeper in the Keyaron Fox/Vance Walker mode.
Overall, not as bad a class as the "OH GOD THE SKY IS FALLING WE ARE TURNING INTO VANDY" crowd is making it out to be, but not some sort of mammoth class that makes everyone turn around and pay attention. Actually, maybe that should be Chan's motto for his career, "Nobody paid attention".
For another take, we asked Mike Floyd, long time publisher of a great Bulldog e-newsletter, for his off the cuff thoughts on the Yellow Jacket recruiting class.
"First off, Tech got killed. Absolutely, positively ass-smoked. If the beginning of the end for Chan Gailey had not yet begun, then I've got to think that the countdown to his dismissal starts today. Losing recruits to Cincinnati? Are you kidding me? Hell, I saw where one of their kids was offered by Elon, The Citadel and James Madison, for crying out loud. Furman. Troy. UAB. I mean, is there a kid on that whole list who was seriously offered by a legitimate power program? I really don't think so. A truly pitiful haul."
To that review, I reply with "Ouch." But he isn't kidding. Sedric Griffin's other offers were Coastal Carolina, Furman and South Carolina State. Dominique Reese is about the same.
I reviewed the Yellow Jackets commit list, and I can't help but ask..."Where's the Beef?" Tech signed exactly one offensive or defensive linemen in this class. Ben Anderson is 6'1" 260 lb two star defensive tackle with 5.2 speed. Just as a point of comparison, Chan Gailey can run the 40 in 5.1 and he's pushing 60, 30 lbs lighter and he's missing half his ticker.
Gailey used to refuse to recruit kids slower than him, but that was before probation.
Tech only signed 1 recruit rated in the Top 30 in Georgia by Scout.com, Demaryius Thomas, a 6'4" 215 lb WR. A very solid and likely underrated player. Thus continuing Chan Gailey's proud but confusing tradition of ignoring in state talent in favor of turning over rocks in far away distant lands.
Sleeper of this class might be Robert Hall of Hawkinsville. Hawkinsville produces fast, tough kids who know how to play ball and compete. Plus, Old Man Potter (aka Mansfield Jennings Jr.) runs the county, and he's on the board of regents as a GT alum. So that probably doesn't hurt either. BTW - that's not an accusation of corruption. I've met Mr. Jennings, and he was really kind to me early in my career. But he really is Old Man Potter meets Col. Sanders.
All in all, the class is about like the past several tech classes. A few kids with solid potential like Calvin Johnson or Kenny Scott and tons of sleepers.
pwd
12 comments:
I think Sedric Griffin is going to be better than people who just look at his offer sheet assume - Tech got onto him a bit before the Shrine Bowl, and he just dominated the week he was there. Georgia would kill to have a DL prospect like Vance Walker from last year with your thin depth in that area, and he was another deep under the radar kid who didn't explode until his senior year.
That being said, this is another snooze fest GT class, as has been every other one of Chan's. 7-5 classes for a 7-5 program right now. Add in Chan's comments about "I don't care what the fans think" in the AJC today and it's pitchfork time in the streets of Atlanta.
What I'm worried about is 2-3 years from now when these small classes start catching up to us, could be ugly (especially if there's any early departures, God forbid).
I wish we had another occasion to do a guest-blogging Q&A-type thing like we did during Hate Week, because I'm really curious as to what Gailey's real status is in the wake of the Emerald Bowl shellacking, the departure of his chief cheerleader (Braine), and now the recruiting class and his somewhat, er, casual comments related to it. Does anyone have their finger on the pulse of the university administration w/r/t their attitude toward Gailey? If the new AD, whoever he/she turns out to be, isn't a huge Gailey fan and the Jackets end up with another 6-6/7-5 season in 2006, would that AD then have the green light to drop the axe on Chan?
Doug, I think that's the 50 hojillion dollar question right there. I'll be curious to see how it plays out, because nothing leaves a giant AD sized footprint on a program like hiring a DI football coach.
I think if Tech hires somebody remotely competent and interested in making a mark, Chan has to win 8 regular season games or start prepping his resume. Especially if the offense continues to waste possibly the greatest offensive weapon to ever step foot on campus.
Someone stop me if I'm wrong, but does Tech even have the cash to both fire Gailey and hire a proven coach to take his place? Given the extension he just inked?
Tech has a number of deep pocket alumn they'll lean on if they need to - that's the advantage to churning out top notch engineers. The cash will show up if it's needed (heck, there's probably a couple of people offering it right now to get rid of Chan).
Doug, you should set something up with Dan and I - I'd participate. You know I'm not a "FIRE CHAN RIGHT NOW OMG HE SUCKS!!!!" looney, but he isn't exactly on the top of my love letter list right now either (check my e-mail rant to PWD here after the Emerald Bowl).
What I'm afraid of is the fact that Clough seems intent on turning GT into CalTech or something - I wouldn't be surprised at all to see us hire a Vanderbilt type AD and really let the football program slide into oblivion over a couple year period. There's plenty of talent on the roster to win 8 or 9 games next year, but it's going to start getting thin after that if the school doesn't start supporting the program better.
On the bright side, we'll be a top 10 basketball team next year - Hewitt is recruiting like Urban Meyer.
Nathan, I'm aware that Tech has deep-pocket alum, but somewhat surprised that enough of them a) care about football, and b) want to get rid of Gailey. I would have thought, were that the case, there would have been no extension.
But, I'm not a Tech fan, so if you say so, I'll take your word for it. God knows Auburn has the alum support to fire and re-hire 25 coaches over a ten-year period if they so choose, so I guess anything is possible.
As far as Clough wanting a Vandy-type AD, you;d better hope not, as they are the only D-1 major conference school that I know of that doesn't even have an AD.
Clough is an academic, he's driven the research side of the school through the roof during his tenure. As Tech man, what he's done for the school as a whole has been fantastic.
However, he doesn't seem to care about athletics much at all - and it wouldn't surprise me if his ideal situation would be a school without an athletic department (ala Vandy). Now, that will never happen, but I'm not sure he's the man who's going to fight to make it successful either. I've just never felt he really cared (compared to the academic side, where he has obviously passionate interests).
Also, people who supported (or just didn't have strong feelings about) the extension have changed their tune after the UGa game and the Emerald Bowl. Never seen a coach lose so much support so fast right after signing a long term deal.
That Emerald Bowl debacle isn't something people are going to forget in a hurry, I think Chan burned up a lot of his support that day.
I would definitely be interested in doing some kind of round table again. I need something to get me sparked to start writing more and this just might be it.
My email is on my blog Doug and I'm actually checking it again.
Well my class was ranked #46 and we whooped ya'll three years in a row '98,'99 and '00! I personally held Stroud to 2 Tackles my last year. So you little Prick, these rankings don't matter and you are still a Asshole.
Always good to hear from the special-ed students. Diverse range of opinions and all that.
This is off-topic, but does anyone remember what kind of buzz Mike Bobo and Robert Edwards generated as recruits before they formally signed with Georgia? Were they 4- or 5-star guys a lot of teams were going after, or sleepers who didn't really make a big name for themselves until they started playing?
I'm sorry JacketKey, but I think that your #46 class rating was vacated by the NCAA.
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