Georgia Tech's football team will take to the practice field for the first time since spring on Friday night to start fall camp. This is a critical season for head coach Geoff Collins coming off a less than stellar opening three-year run and he will do so with seven new assistant coaches including a new offensive coordinator. For the players, it is a key moment for them as well as they've not seen a winning season on the Flats except for a handful of seniors left from the previous regime.
From talking to everyone over the offseason the players are sick of losing and are working the hardest they've ever worked per multiple sources. The buy-in is high and there is a level of player leadership and accountability there. The two big questions remain though, can this staff harness that talent and turn it into a winning product and how does Collins reinvigorate a fan base that has grown frustrated with the product on the field?
As Collins' predecessor loved to opine it is never as good or bad as it seems. The 2021 team was markedly improved from the first two Collins' led teams even without a healthy Jeff Sims, a revolving door on the offensive line, and a secondary that often played as if they didn't know what the call was or was lost. That team should've gone to a bowl last year with any hint of luck.
The 2022 schedule is a bear. I remember people saying the same thing about the 2021 schedule, but in reality, we won't really know what any of these teams are until midseason and everyone on the schedule except maybe UGA has pretty significant staff or personnel changes in key spots. Clemson is still going to be more talented and likely so will Miami and Ole Miss, but the GT talent level should be better. It just doesn't seem like it was developed or coached up enough in the last few years.
Collins finally has a coaching staff with a P5-level resume, NFL prospects galore taught by many, and a seriousness befitting a major program. The reality was when Collins got the GT job he brought in the wrong people at key spots because some had success with him at Temple where he inherited a program that at that time probably had the second or third most talent overall in that conference 1-85. That was not the case at GT and so you needed more from the player development piece, the scouting piece and most importantly the coaching piece of it.
I think he has the right recipe now and the right staff members, but the question is can they overcome obstacles like a thin OL again that is inexperienced? Can the defense just be in the middle of the country? If they can protect Jeff Sims and keep him healthy and the defense is average they should be a bowl team and that will buy Collins time to figure out how to level up from there. If they start slow because of the insane first five-game run how long is the leash? That is the other X-factor that could really change things as well.
