Is Tyler Simmons being recruited as a DB or RB? (Thought we were done at Bback.) UGA now making him a priority as a DB recruit. And they want Buchanen too. Is a UGA-GT shootout shaping up for these two? What is your take?
Simmons isn't a B-back, not sure how you got that idea. He is an A-back and could maybe play CB. Buchanan and Simmons are both GT/UGA battles but the wild card with Simmons are schools like Baylor and Oregon where he fits better offensively.
What is your best guess on "toughest games to win" this year, most to least? My uneducated guess:
1- @ Clemson. Worlds of talent; away game; exam week. Ugh!
2- UGA. Like our chances. But 56 four/five star recruits the past four years vs our 4 is hard to ignore.
3- FSU. 62 four/five star kids last four years. Jimbo relieved Jamais is gone. DC Kelly a great guy but their fans think their D is underperforming.
4- @ND. Catching them early. They won't know much about us from our first two games.
5- UNC. Still remembering how Williams gave us fits and that they return 10 starters on O.
6- @Miami. Lots of talent. Likely aiming for us after last year. Might should rank this game higher up the ladder.
7- VT. Foster always gives us a hard day. Hoping they are still clueless on O. Their recruiting classes suggest plenty of talent.
8- @ Duke. Cutcliffe will aim for this one. Played in front of 25,000 fans. Trap game.
9- @ UVA. Still not convinced The Curse is broken, but they seem to be a program in turmoil.
10- Pitt. Their hoss is still there but they'll miss their QB.
11- Tulane
12- Alcorn State.
Meh, I don't like getting into this stuff because so much can happen between now and the start of the season. I have no idea what FSU will look like, they lost a LOT of talent. UNC will be a very hard game as will Clemson and Notre Dame.
You've said that it's a down year for OL in GA, yet we need 5 in this class. If there aren't solid prospects to offer, much less sign, in the next camp, what will the coaches have to do to get the guys they need without "reaches & projects"? We'll never see it in public, but at what point do you think the coaches will be truly concerned over the situation?
I think they will take a look at guys like Luke Elder who were on the board, there are guys out there, the staff just has to get off their a$$
and find them.
Can we landthe California qb? He reminds me of Taysom Hill at BYU.
GT has a shot, it will be quite a fight to get Victor Viramontes.
I think we are pretty solid at theLB position, but do you see any of the incoming freshmen making it into the two deep?
I think Brant Mitchell plays and I think Victor Alexander has a shot. Tyler Cooksey could end up with his hand in the dirt IMO.
We often hear years like 2014 pay bigger dividends down the road (vs the recruiting class the immediately following Feb). The camps felt like a big letdown in terms of commitments (none) and attendees, especially in the wake of last year's success. Is there something we need to modify/improve going forward to generate more excitement, attract more talent and improve our yield?
They need to have CAMPS, plural, one weekend of camps is ridiculously lame/lazy and it is one of the few things I think CPJ has really dropped the ball on. He used to have around 10 camps a year when he started at GT and they have been really bad about that since. It is a builder of the program and something I'd like to ask him about on the record on why he stopped having the camps because they had a positive impact on the recruiting efforts long term. By the way I wasn't expecting any commits from the camps, they have 14 ships basically, they can't take a bunch of borderline guys right now!
Another question: why did CPJ go away from the assigned roommates that seemed to work so effectively in his early (maybe first) years? Do we at least do some "forced cross-pollination" during summer camp? In reading the articles about incoming freshmen (which I appreciate), I could almost guess who is rooming with who.
CPJ still assigns the roommates, they are based on personalities and such. They have always been done this way. B.J. Bostic and his buddies all roomed together when they got to GT for example. CAMP is when they make random people live together like having Shamire Devine in a room with Harrison Butker or whatever
Hey Kelly, picked up Athlon's this week and it alluded to CPJ being unhappy a year or two ago and rumors of contemplating retirement at that time. I seem to recall small, past rumblings about this. If you know, how bad was it back then for him and how strongly did he consider retiring or stepping away from GT?
He was very unhappy with the transition from D-Rad (who was his close friend) to MBob and the school president wasn't exactly a good friend either at the time. Since CPJ has figured out how to get along with MBob and he actually has a pretty decent relationship with President Bud now. Also the fanbase crapping on him and his offense and the local media were not helping.
The camps appeared to be a bust - perhaps even worse when you factor in the Rigby drama. Do we have a hope of a commitment as a result of the camps? Do we have a hope of any near-term commitments? Are we solidly leading for anyone that we really want?
I don't think they were a bust, I think the only area I expected any action at was OL and they may have Chandler Reeves committed by Tuesday or Wednesday IMO. There isn't a lot of interior line talent in Georgia or surrounding states right now to draw. Christian Booker wouldn't run so they didn't give him a "real" offer. WR and OL were the only spots GT was targeting at camp and they have some plan B options at both now from the camp. I think everyone isn't realizing how tight the scholarship numbers are for 2016 including planned attrition.
Another thing Athlon's does is the "Top 40" recruits from five years ago. By my count, I was surprised to calculate 22 of them went undrafted - more than half did not have their names called on draft night. The reasons were various, but many of them just did not pan out. I haven't really paid attention in past years, but does this seem like an anomaly to you or is it really hit or miss with a lot of these guys in your experiences covering recruiting?
I think just like busts in the NFL draft for example, you can't factor in injuries, academic struggles or coaching changes/style changes and all of those things can derail a career just like picking the wrong school can. For example, RB James Wilder Jr. was a 5-star top 11 player in 2011 coming out of high school. He picked the absolute worst spot for a RB, FSU and then got into trouble and went undrafted coming out as a JR. If Wilder Jr. had picked GT or even a place like South Carolina or Tennessee he probably would have been a top 3 round pick as a junior out of college IMO...
Simmons isn't a B-back, not sure how you got that idea. He is an A-back and could maybe play CB. Buchanan and Simmons are both GT/UGA battles but the wild card with Simmons are schools like Baylor and Oregon where he fits better offensively.
What is your best guess on "toughest games to win" this year, most to least? My uneducated guess:
1- @ Clemson. Worlds of talent; away game; exam week. Ugh!
2- UGA. Like our chances. But 56 four/five star recruits the past four years vs our 4 is hard to ignore.
3- FSU. 62 four/five star kids last four years. Jimbo relieved Jamais is gone. DC Kelly a great guy but their fans think their D is underperforming.
4- @ND. Catching them early. They won't know much about us from our first two games.
5- UNC. Still remembering how Williams gave us fits and that they return 10 starters on O.
6- @Miami. Lots of talent. Likely aiming for us after last year. Might should rank this game higher up the ladder.
7- VT. Foster always gives us a hard day. Hoping they are still clueless on O. Their recruiting classes suggest plenty of talent.
8- @ Duke. Cutcliffe will aim for this one. Played in front of 25,000 fans. Trap game.
9- @ UVA. Still not convinced The Curse is broken, but they seem to be a program in turmoil.
10- Pitt. Their hoss is still there but they'll miss their QB.
11- Tulane
12- Alcorn State.
Meh, I don't like getting into this stuff because so much can happen between now and the start of the season. I have no idea what FSU will look like, they lost a LOT of talent. UNC will be a very hard game as will Clemson and Notre Dame.
You've said that it's a down year for OL in GA, yet we need 5 in this class. If there aren't solid prospects to offer, much less sign, in the next camp, what will the coaches have to do to get the guys they need without "reaches & projects"? We'll never see it in public, but at what point do you think the coaches will be truly concerned over the situation?
I think they will take a look at guys like Luke Elder who were on the board, there are guys out there, the staff just has to get off their a$$
and find them.Can we landthe California qb? He reminds me of Taysom Hill at BYU.
GT has a shot, it will be quite a fight to get Victor Viramontes.
I think we are pretty solid at theLB position, but do you see any of the incoming freshmen making it into the two deep?
I think Brant Mitchell plays and I think Victor Alexander has a shot. Tyler Cooksey could end up with his hand in the dirt IMO.
We often hear years like 2014 pay bigger dividends down the road (vs the recruiting class the immediately following Feb). The camps felt like a big letdown in terms of commitments (none) and attendees, especially in the wake of last year's success. Is there something we need to modify/improve going forward to generate more excitement, attract more talent and improve our yield?
They need to have CAMPS, plural, one weekend of camps is ridiculously lame/lazy and it is one of the few things I think CPJ has really dropped the ball on. He used to have around 10 camps a year when he started at GT and they have been really bad about that since. It is a builder of the program and something I'd like to ask him about on the record on why he stopped having the camps because they had a positive impact on the recruiting efforts long term. By the way I wasn't expecting any commits from the camps, they have 14 ships basically, they can't take a bunch of borderline guys right now!
Another question: why did CPJ go away from the assigned roommates that seemed to work so effectively in his early (maybe first) years? Do we at least do some "forced cross-pollination" during summer camp? In reading the articles about incoming freshmen (which I appreciate), I could almost guess who is rooming with who.
CPJ still assigns the roommates, they are based on personalities and such. They have always been done this way. B.J. Bostic and his buddies all roomed together when they got to GT for example. CAMP is when they make random people live together like having Shamire Devine in a room with Harrison Butker or whatever
Hey Kelly, picked up Athlon's this week and it alluded to CPJ being unhappy a year or two ago and rumors of contemplating retirement at that time. I seem to recall small, past rumblings about this. If you know, how bad was it back then for him and how strongly did he consider retiring or stepping away from GT?
He was very unhappy with the transition from D-Rad (who was his close friend) to MBob and the school president wasn't exactly a good friend either at the time. Since CPJ has figured out how to get along with MBob and he actually has a pretty decent relationship with President Bud now. Also the fanbase crapping on him and his offense and the local media were not helping.
The camps appeared to be a bust - perhaps even worse when you factor in the Rigby drama. Do we have a hope of a commitment as a result of the camps? Do we have a hope of any near-term commitments? Are we solidly leading for anyone that we really want?
I don't think they were a bust, I think the only area I expected any action at was OL and they may have Chandler Reeves committed by Tuesday or Wednesday IMO. There isn't a lot of interior line talent in Georgia or surrounding states right now to draw. Christian Booker wouldn't run so they didn't give him a "real" offer. WR and OL were the only spots GT was targeting at camp and they have some plan B options at both now from the camp. I think everyone isn't realizing how tight the scholarship numbers are for 2016 including planned attrition.
Another thing Athlon's does is the "Top 40" recruits from five years ago. By my count, I was surprised to calculate 22 of them went undrafted - more than half did not have their names called on draft night. The reasons were various, but many of them just did not pan out. I haven't really paid attention in past years, but does this seem like an anomaly to you or is it really hit or miss with a lot of these guys in your experiences covering recruiting?
I think just like busts in the NFL draft for example, you can't factor in injuries, academic struggles or coaching changes/style changes and all of those things can derail a career just like picking the wrong school can. For example, RB James Wilder Jr. was a 5-star top 11 player in 2011 coming out of high school. He picked the absolute worst spot for a RB, FSU and then got into trouble and went undrafted coming out as a JR. If Wilder Jr. had picked GT or even a place like South Carolina or Tennessee he probably would have been a top 3 round pick as a junior out of college IMO...
