FOOTBALL RECRUITING Georgia Tech set to host loaded group of visitors for COFH
- The Buzz - Members Only
- 231 Replies
Georgia Tech set to host loaded group of visitors for COFH
The biggest group of the season in terms of priority targets will be in attendance on Saturday night as GT hosts UGA und
Former Furman LS Julian Ashby, a Parkview alum, will also be in attendance.
Ashby's accolades-
2023 Preseason All-Southern Conference (1st Team)
2023 Southern Conference Academic Honor Roll
2022 Southern Conference All-Academic Team
2022 Southern Conference Student-Athlete of the Week (Nov. 23)
2022 College Sports Communicators Academic All-District
2022 Southern Conference Academic Honor Roll
2021 Southern Conference All-Academic Team
2021 Southern Conference Academic Honor Roll
Player page: https://furmanpaladins.com/sports/football/roster/julian-ashby/5327
FOOTBALL By the Numbers: GT vs UGA
- The Buzz - Members Only
- 35 Replies
JacketsOnline - By the Numbers: GT PFF Gradebook and snap counts from the near upset of UGA
Georgia Tech football played the two-time defending champions Georgia to the wire scoring the most points on the Dawgs.
georgiatech.rivals.com
FOOTBALL Q's Take Sponsored by Inteleca: Key sets the new standard for the program
- The Buzz - Members Only
- 103 Replies
Thanks to our new sponsor Inteleca for helping bring back Q's Take my weekly look at things around GT and college sports from my vantage.
Brent Key made one thing very clear from the jump when he was named head coach at Georgia Tech in his introductory press conference, beating the team to the east was the top priority. Key made no bones about it leading up to the UGA game talking about the Jackets haven't held up their end of the rivalry for many years now going back to the win in Athens seven years ago in Kirby Smart's first year there.
The Jackets have been up and down all year but they beat Syracuse to get bowl-eligible and then they proceeded to score the most points on UGA all season while running the ball well and pushing around a team that manhandled Tech for many years up front.
It was a good sign for renewing the competitiveness of the rivalry and it was the first close game in Bobby Dodd Stadium since 2015 when the Jackets lost 13-7.
Key wasn't giving out moral victory awards (as he would say, **** moral victories), or even remotely satisfied with the performance against the #1 team in the country that had won 28 straight games going into last night, he was pissed off. His voice was completely shot from coaching hard the whole game and he wanted to win that game more than almost anything.
Having that drive is what you need at Georgia Tech. Paul Johnson had it early on and that edge made his teams have a shot every time they took the field throughout most of his tenure. Key wasn't aiming to keep the game close, he coached to win the game with a few gambling moves and some very specific strategies like taking points early and going for it on fourth downs on certain parts of the field. It was refreshing to see after watching the previous crew seem to be intentionally playing things safe and trying to avoid blowouts which ultimately backfired horribly.
Key has put together a strong staff and he will have a tough decision on what to do on the defensive side of the ball with a resume of Kevin Sherrer running things and some personnel deficiencies that both Sherrer and Andrew Thacker were aiming to overcome through the scheme. I have no idea what Key will do, but he interviewed a lot of DC candidates a year ago per my sources and I expect him to conduct and open search and Sherrer to be in the mix to both DC and/or return on the staff.
I'm sure there will be some changes on that side of the ball.
Offensively Buster Faulkner did a helluva job so much so that there are entire threads on our sister UGA site dedicated to how he outcoached the Dawgs. UGA faithful are hoping that Faulkner leaves for SEC pastures namely Arkansas but Faulkner turned down multiple jobs and then lobbied for the GT job so he could be close to home and watch his son play football and be with his family. If he can keep growing the offense here he will have an opportunity at a top-tier OC job or even a head coaching job in a year or two and he knows that. Arkansas is a dead-end job and their AD is doing everything he can to quell the masses who want Sam Pittman fired.
I believe Brent Key is going to be successful here. I've thought that from pretty early on when I saw how the team performed with him as the interim coach. Key is a solutions guy, he is a problem solver, he is a Tech man. That is what the Institute creates and he will do everything he can to win and win big. He wants GT to win national championships. Whether that ever happens is not important right now, what is important is Key can get Tech back into the ACC hunt, back in the ACCCG soon than later, and continue making COFH a must-watch game instead of a 24.5 point line and a cakewalk for the team to the east.
Tech fans need to help now and buy-in with the program, support NIL, support JOL who covers the program, and be good fans and show up next year and for the bowl game if they can. That is how you all can help Key and the players.
Brent Key made one thing very clear from the jump when he was named head coach at Georgia Tech in his introductory press conference, beating the team to the east was the top priority. Key made no bones about it leading up to the UGA game talking about the Jackets haven't held up their end of the rivalry for many years now going back to the win in Athens seven years ago in Kirby Smart's first year there.
The Jackets have been up and down all year but they beat Syracuse to get bowl-eligible and then they proceeded to score the most points on UGA all season while running the ball well and pushing around a team that manhandled Tech for many years up front.
It was a good sign for renewing the competitiveness of the rivalry and it was the first close game in Bobby Dodd Stadium since 2015 when the Jackets lost 13-7.
Key wasn't giving out moral victory awards (as he would say, **** moral victories), or even remotely satisfied with the performance against the #1 team in the country that had won 28 straight games going into last night, he was pissed off. His voice was completely shot from coaching hard the whole game and he wanted to win that game more than almost anything.
Having that drive is what you need at Georgia Tech. Paul Johnson had it early on and that edge made his teams have a shot every time they took the field throughout most of his tenure. Key wasn't aiming to keep the game close, he coached to win the game with a few gambling moves and some very specific strategies like taking points early and going for it on fourth downs on certain parts of the field. It was refreshing to see after watching the previous crew seem to be intentionally playing things safe and trying to avoid blowouts which ultimately backfired horribly.
Key has put together a strong staff and he will have a tough decision on what to do on the defensive side of the ball with a resume of Kevin Sherrer running things and some personnel deficiencies that both Sherrer and Andrew Thacker were aiming to overcome through the scheme. I have no idea what Key will do, but he interviewed a lot of DC candidates a year ago per my sources and I expect him to conduct and open search and Sherrer to be in the mix to both DC and/or return on the staff.
I'm sure there will be some changes on that side of the ball.
Offensively Buster Faulkner did a helluva job so much so that there are entire threads on our sister UGA site dedicated to how he outcoached the Dawgs. UGA faithful are hoping that Faulkner leaves for SEC pastures namely Arkansas but Faulkner turned down multiple jobs and then lobbied for the GT job so he could be close to home and watch his son play football and be with his family. If he can keep growing the offense here he will have an opportunity at a top-tier OC job or even a head coaching job in a year or two and he knows that. Arkansas is a dead-end job and their AD is doing everything he can to quell the masses who want Sam Pittman fired.
I believe Brent Key is going to be successful here. I've thought that from pretty early on when I saw how the team performed with him as the interim coach. Key is a solutions guy, he is a problem solver, he is a Tech man. That is what the Institute creates and he will do everything he can to win and win big. He wants GT to win national championships. Whether that ever happens is not important right now, what is important is Key can get Tech back into the ACC hunt, back in the ACCCG soon than later, and continue making COFH a must-watch game instead of a 24.5 point line and a cakewalk for the team to the east.
Tech fans need to help now and buy-in with the program, support NIL, support JOL who covers the program, and be good fans and show up next year and for the bowl game if they can. That is how you all can help Key and the players.
FOOTBALL By the Numbers: PFF, snap counts and thoughts on the GT's performance against Cuse
- The Buzz - Members Only
- 2 Replies
JacketsOnline - By the Numbers: GT PFF Gradebook and snap counts from the win over Cuse
Georgia Tech returned to the win column with a solid 31-22 win over Syracuse last Saturday night in Bobby Dodd Stadium.
georgiatech.rivals.com
Grading Key - Year 1
- By sriram12078
- The Buzz - Members Only
- 143 Replies
You know what? If we beat UGA, it's an "A". But setting that aside, I think there is enough data to give the Key administration a fair grade for the season.
1. Professionalism - From the second he took over for Scooter, it was clear that the grownups were in charge. Not all of it was perfect - I am not claiming THAT - but from how he deals with fans and the press, inferring what KQ said about practices, it looked like I was following a legit outfit. Grade: A
2. Offensive Coaching - No real complaints. I wish the team were better down to down, but I think some talent issues on the OL made that difficult. The team was consistently dangerous offensively, and there was nothing about any Scooter team where you thought lightning could strike. In the passing game, the area between the hashes seemed like a no-fly zone - and I think some money is left on the table there. But again, how much of that is a "can't" vs "won't" I don't know. I wish the offense were a little more QB friendly - where King had more easy answers and outlets in the passing game ... ultimately QB play is what will allow a school like Tech to punch upwards. Grade: B+
3. Defensive Coaching - Key stayed with Thacker after last year, and that was a mistake. Now, I got sucked into the thinking too - but I'm just a rando commenter (granted, one who was on Jeopardy once) - not an FBS head coach. Key overrated the dead cat bounce that comes with a midseason firing as well as how much of the defensive turnaround required turnover luck. The defense decided to focus on taking away big plays - fine as far as it goes - but it also meant being gashed over and over again. Bend but don't break is a sound overarching philosophy, but you need more durable ways to get off the field. There should be big changes - but I kinda think there will be. Grade: D
4. Special Teams - I won't dwell too much on this, but the kicking and return games were fine, after some early season placekicking hiccups. At least they can block a punt reliably. It did not take much to upgrade this unit from the actively harmful one Scooter hath wrought. Grade: B
5. Game Management -Didn't love it. Key could get sucked into surrender punting, and clearly some of the timeout usage was up and down. But it is also new for him so I'm not going to worry too much about this for year 1. Grade: B-
6. Vibes - You know what? We are at the final game of the season - and it took this long for me to get to a game where I don't think we can win. So that's 11 games where I thought this team had some plausible pathway to a victory. Now some of those paths were narrow - you know, where you might give us a 15% chance of winning - but those are better odds than lottery tickets. I'll also add that - for the most part - the team was fun to watch with some fun players. And there will always be the Miami miracle. Perhaps my glasses are too rosy juxtaposing this with Scooter, but whatever. Grade: B
Overall, Key gets a solid B for this year. Let's hope for some bigger leaps going forward, but step 1 was ascending to consistent competence, and Key has more than held his bargain there.
Obviously this is the only correct POV - but if you HAVE to opine
P), what do y'all think?
1. Professionalism - From the second he took over for Scooter, it was clear that the grownups were in charge. Not all of it was perfect - I am not claiming THAT - but from how he deals with fans and the press, inferring what KQ said about practices, it looked like I was following a legit outfit. Grade: A
2. Offensive Coaching - No real complaints. I wish the team were better down to down, but I think some talent issues on the OL made that difficult. The team was consistently dangerous offensively, and there was nothing about any Scooter team where you thought lightning could strike. In the passing game, the area between the hashes seemed like a no-fly zone - and I think some money is left on the table there. But again, how much of that is a "can't" vs "won't" I don't know. I wish the offense were a little more QB friendly - where King had more easy answers and outlets in the passing game ... ultimately QB play is what will allow a school like Tech to punch upwards. Grade: B+
3. Defensive Coaching - Key stayed with Thacker after last year, and that was a mistake. Now, I got sucked into the thinking too - but I'm just a rando commenter (granted, one who was on Jeopardy once) - not an FBS head coach. Key overrated the dead cat bounce that comes with a midseason firing as well as how much of the defensive turnaround required turnover luck. The defense decided to focus on taking away big plays - fine as far as it goes - but it also meant being gashed over and over again. Bend but don't break is a sound overarching philosophy, but you need more durable ways to get off the field. There should be big changes - but I kinda think there will be. Grade: D
4. Special Teams - I won't dwell too much on this, but the kicking and return games were fine, after some early season placekicking hiccups. At least they can block a punt reliably. It did not take much to upgrade this unit from the actively harmful one Scooter hath wrought. Grade: B
5. Game Management -Didn't love it. Key could get sucked into surrender punting, and clearly some of the timeout usage was up and down. But it is also new for him so I'm not going to worry too much about this for year 1. Grade: B-
6. Vibes - You know what? We are at the final game of the season - and it took this long for me to get to a game where I don't think we can win. So that's 11 games where I thought this team had some plausible pathway to a victory. Now some of those paths were narrow - you know, where you might give us a 15% chance of winning - but those are better odds than lottery tickets. I'll also add that - for the most part - the team was fun to watch with some fun players. And there will always be the Miami miracle. Perhaps my glasses are too rosy juxtaposing this with Scooter, but whatever. Grade: B
Overall, Key gets a solid B for this year. Let's hope for some bigger leaps going forward, but step 1 was ascending to consistent competence, and Key has more than held his bargain there.
Obviously this is the only correct POV - but if you HAVE to opine
P), what do y'all think?
