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Looks like Louisville will be their #1 pick - link here.
Tuesday, August 24, 2004
Recruiting - Hoops
Brief mention on Austin Jackson, a two-sport star who has GT in his final 3 schools. He is a top 50 player in hoops and also likely to be a 1st-3rd round pick in next year's baseball draft. So personally, I'm not getting my hopes too high. He wants to play both sports in school, but if he is drafted high, will life in the minor leagues take him away? Good chance. Link here.
Denton (Texas) Ryan guard Austin Jackson will make an official visit to Illinois on the weekend of Sept. 10-12. Jackson, who could go in the top three rounds in the major league baseball amateur draft, is also considering Georgia Tech and Oklahoma in basketball. Rivals ranked the 6-1, 170-pounder at No. 49 nationally.
Another brief mention here:
Denton (Texas) Ryan High School guard Austin Jackson will make an official visit to Illinois on the weekend of Sept. 10-12. Jackson, who could go in the top three rounds in the Major League Baseball amateur draft, is also considering Georgia Tech and Oklahoma in basketball.
Rivals.com ranked the 6-1, 170-pounder at No. 49 nationally. The Illini have two open scholarships and likely will award one apiece to a guard and a forward-center. Illinois already has commitments from Peoria Richwoods guard Jamar Smith and forward David Palmer, a Tennessee native who is enrolled this year at Oak Hill Academy in Virginia.
Recruiting - Hoops
Brief mention on Austin Jackson, a two-sport star who has GT in his final 3 schools. He is a top 50 player in hoops and also likely to be a 1st-3rd round pick in next year's baseball draft. So personally, I'm not getting my hopes too high. He wants to play both sports in school, but if he is drafted high, will life in the minor leagues take him away? Good chance. Link here.
Denton (Texas) Ryan guard Austin Jackson will make an official visit to Illinois on the weekend of Sept. 10-12. Jackson, who could go in the top three rounds in the major league baseball amateur draft, is also considering Georgia Tech and Oklahoma in basketball. Rivals ranked the 6-1, 170-pounder at No. 49 nationally.
Another brief mention here:
Denton (Texas) Ryan High School guard Austin Jackson will make an official visit to Illinois on the weekend of Sept. 10-12. Jackson, who could go in the top three rounds in the Major League Baseball amateur draft, is also considering Georgia Tech and Oklahoma in basketball.
Rivals.com ranked the 6-1, 170-pounder at No. 49 nationally. The Illini have two open scholarships and likely will award one apiece to a guard and a forward-center. Illinois already has commitments from Peoria Richwoods guard Jamar Smith and forward David Palmer, a Tennessee native who is enrolled this year at Oak Hill Academy in Virginia.
Scoring in the Red-Zone
Hey, hey, we're talking football here - easy now. This article talks about Charlie Whitehurst and his improving ability to score inside the 20 yard line. This mentions GT:
Clemson got inside the red zone 47 times last year, and only scored 26 touchdowns, for a percentage of 55.3. Only three teams in the ACC, Florida State (53.8), Duke (48.8) and Georgia Tech (39.4), had a lower success rate of scoring touchdowns when inside the 20.
Ok, there are two reasons we should be improved in this area, and both are over 6'3" tall - Calvin Johnson and D-Bilbo. Now I know you cannot throw every ball up for grabs. But when one guy is 6'4" and has a 43" vertical, you can throw it up more often than not.
Bottom line is that to be successful this season we have to score more points.
Recruiting - Hoops
Mention of dual-sport star Austin Jackson, who has GT in his final 3. Link here.
Denton (Texas) Ryan guard Austin Jackson will make an official visit to Illinois on the weekend of Sept. 10-12. Jackson, who could go in the top three rounds in the major league baseball amateur draft, is also considering Georgia Tech and Oklahoma in basketball. Rivals ranked the 6-1, 170-pounder at No. 49 nationally.
I'm trying not to get too excited about this kid. He wants to play both sports in college, but if he is a 1-3 round pick, will he head to the minors? My guess is probably, but what do I know?
Here's another mention from an Illinois site - link here.
Denton (Texas) Ryan High School guard Austin Jackson will make an official visit to Illinois on the weekend of Sept. 10-12. Jackson, who could go in the top three rounds in the Major League Baseball amateur draft, is also considering Georgia Tech and Oklahoma in basketball.
Rivals.com ranked the 6-1, 170-pounder at No. 49 nationally. The Illini have two open scholarships and likely will award one apiece to a guard and a forward-center. Illinois already has commitments from Peoria Richwoods guard Jamar Smith and forward David Palmer, a Tennessee native who is enrolled this year at Oak Hill Academy in Virginia.
Princeton Review looks at study habits
Story from a UGA site about Princeton Reviews list of study habits. This on GT:
"The average GPA here is fairly high," said Kyle Sewell, a sophomore from Lawrenceville. "At Georgia Tech, (students) spend more time studying, but the GPA is lower."
Hoops Fix
Duke recruiting notes here.......Now, you know your program is on top of the world when you can attract all the top recruits and your head coach is talking about who he is going to redshirt and saying things like this:
“I don’t know who it will be, “ Self said, “but we have about eight perimeter players and we’ll probably only play five or six.”
Welcome to Kansas recruits!!!...... Here's more on recruiting, inlcuding blurbs on Kovotney Barber, who has an offer from GT (from the 2005 class). This one could come down to another battle with UK.
Kansas makes the news in suspensions also. First Jeff Hawkins is suspended indefinitely for unnamed issues. Story here. Also Keith Langford was publicly reprimanded for his comments about the refs after fouling out of the GT game in the tourney last season:
The NCAA gave Keith Langford a public reprimand Monday for making inappropriate comments about the officiating in Kansas' overtime loss to Georgia Tech in the Elite Eight last spring.
Here's more on that story.
Langford was upset when referee Jim Burr called him for his fifth foul with 3 minutes, 44 seconds remaining in overtime.
“I think it was a horrible call,” Langford said. “It's very unfortunate that the referee 80 feet from the play called the foul rather than the ref that was right there on top of things. Big games down the stretch … I always thought you let the players decide. If that referee is reffing one of our games again next year … I'll be sure to let him know how I feel.”
Langford has sent Burr a letter of apology.
On the recruiting front, notice that Kevin Rogers is no longer going to visit Kansas this weekend with CJ Miles. He will reschedule.
Beesball Fix
Ok, hard to "get a fix" when most of the stories are about one of your top guys leaving.
TECH LOSES OWINGS
Brian Murphy - Macon Telegraph
Owings has visited Texas, Tulane and Arizona State the last 3 days. He will not have to sit out a year.
GT BASEBALL STAR TO TRANSFER
Adam Van Brimmer - Savannah Morning News
OWINGS OPTS OUT OF JACKETS PROGRAM
Amber Roessner - Gainesville Times
From his hometown paper. A lot more information in this article, worth the read.
MICAH OWINGS TO TRANSFER FROM GT
Associated Press
Short and to the point. Nothing new in this one.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW - JASON PERRY
Doug Gorman - News Daily
Now for some good news. Perry continues his offensive on-slaught. Through last week he had 20 HRs, 70 RBIs and a .338 average.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW - MATT MURTON
Doug Gorman - Henry Herald
Murton hits his first HR since joining Cubs minor league system in the Nomar trade.
Football Fix
WILKINSON LEARNING THE ROPES
Mike Knobler - AJC
This certainly gives you some measure of confidence at the MLB spot. I am feeling ok about Reis as well. Funny, two major question marks were LB and WR. Seems that both are in decent shape. Not a lot of experience, but good talent there. So still at the #1 position of concern is the O-Line in my book.
INJURIES CONTINUE TO PLAGUE O-LINE
Adam Van Brimmer - Savannah Morning News
An imperfect way to lead into this story.
NEAR CAPACITY FOR PRACTICE
Mike Knobler - AJC
Every starter except Brad Honeycutt practiced Monday. What a change. Chris Woods sustained a shoulder injury - let's hope that is minor. Evidently he was injured when tackled by freshman Daryl Richard. Probably will only miss a few days.
LANDRY RETURNS AFTER 2-WEEK LAYOFF
Macon Telegraph
Well, if read this, there were about 3 guys who missed practice, not one like the AJC reported..... On another note, it gets my football juices flowing when I hear things like "unveiling a new scheme".... cool.
GAILEY COMMENTS ON RECRUITING CHANGESMichael Mueller
I think these quotes are old, but I'll put them here anyway.
Some coaches, however, such as Georgia Tech’s Chan Gailey, saw the reasoning behind a transportation restriction.
“If [a prospect] flies in on a private plane it’s going to be a lot different than if he makes that trip for four years back and forth,” Gailey said. “There’s some validity to the rule; it’s not like it’s totally asinine.”
Yet Gailey also suggested that there are better solutions to the recruiting problem than the new regulations.
“The NCAA wants you to be responsible for the kid 24/7, but they won’t let you be around him. They legislate how much time you can spend with a kid during the spring and the summer, and how much structure you can have,” Gailey said. “Let us have the time with them. Let us spend time with them in structure, in football, in what they like, so that we have a little bit of a holdover. But that won’t ever hold water. They’d never do that.”
WISCONSIN PREPARES FOR UCF
Wisc State Journal
Why is this story here. Well, Wisconsin is preparing for their match-up with UCF by watching old game film of Georgia Tech.
A bigger problem this time is that O'Leary's offenses tend to have a lot of different looks, which can be tough to prepare for, even with recent game tapes.
"The things they did at Georgia Tech, when George was there, present a lot of problems," Alvarez said. "They're multiple on offense, so there are a lot of adjustments that your defense has to make. We're probably going to have to squeeze things down.
"We'll review and prepare for so many things, the simpler the better. The important thing for me is we get our guys lined up and they understand responsibilities and they can play fast."
WHERE ARE THEY NOW - JEFF FORD
Story about Satellite High and the former athletes who graced their halls, incluing this on Jeff Ford:
3. Jeff Ford: The 12th-round draft choice of the New York Jets in 1972 was an All-American defensive back at Georgia Tech after a solid prep career, capped by the Scorpions' first district football title. In the NFL, he was not only a hard-hitting defensive back, but also a speedy punt returner.
Monday, August 23, 2004
How excited do we get??
Ok, it seems solid now that Todd Walker is 100% committed to the Jackets as a QB. See the post below for details, but here is a kid that would probably be considered the fastest guy on the GT team (or pretty darn close). He has been timed in the 4.3 range in the 40 at 3 different camps, so he has speed. His video clips show that he uses his speed well, he is elusive and hard to tackle. His passing seems good, but honestly I have no feel at all for his talent level throwing the ball. One of the reasons he chose GT is that we are recruiting him as only a QB and don't want to switch him to another position. That's where he wants to develop.
Now here is the reality. Look at our QB situation in the next few years:
RB=Reggie Ball
PC=Patrick Carter
TB=Taylor Bennett
KM=Kyle Manley
TW=Todd Walker
BB=Robby Brown
2004 - RB(so)/PC(rs-fr)/TB(fr)/KM(fr)/BB(rs-sr)
2005 - RB(jr)/PC(rs-so)/TB(rs-fr)/KM(rs-fr)/TW(fr)
2006 - RB(sr)/PC(rs-jr)/TB(rs-so)/KM(rs-so)/TW(rs-fr)
2007 - PC(rs-sr)/TB(rs-jr)/KM(rs-jr)/TW(rs-so)
2008 - TB(rs-sr)/KM(rs-sr)/TW(rs-jr)
2009 - TW(rs-sr)
Now, that's just looking year by year as they progress towards graduation. It's also assuming that Taylor Bennett, Kyle Manley and Todd Walker all red-shirt for one year. If the NCAA rules to allow a 5th year of eligibility the result will be the same in the analysis.
So here's the question. How excited can you get about a guy who might not see the field for years? Well, no doubt the answer is VERY EXCITED. Why?
1. PJ Daniels proved that a 7th string player can become the go-to guy. A critical injury and the picture changes dramatically.
2. Reggie Ball has not been given the keys to the car for the next 3 years. He has to earn it. If he plays this season the same as last season, I'm not sure how solid he will be heading into his junior season. He needs to show progress. Coach Gailey has proven that no job is 100% secure - you have to perform.
3. Reggie Ball is the only guy who has ever taken a snap at the collegiate level. All the back-ups are 100% inexperienced in game situations. So that means that Walker has every shot to outplay them for the the #2 spot or even higher depending on Reggie.
4. Attracting a top-flight guy like Walker can also lead to other recruits taking a 2nd look at GT. He comes from the Texas, arguably the most prolific high school talent pool in the nation. Our recruiting base in Texas is strengthening.
Here's the frustrating thing for me. Walker has the physical tools to play a lot of spots on the field. He could be really good early, particularly in other spots. But he wants to play QB. We have to respect that because he probably would not have come here if he was going to play another spot. That's the selfish side of me coming out though. You look at that speed and you say wow.
Having said that, I wonder if this opens up the possibility of Pat Carter playing another position. I know Coach Gailey has said he is also the type player that just benefits the team when you can get him on the field. He has been nagged by injuries at the worst time. Heck, if it weren't for a knee injurty, there's a remote possibility he could be our starting QB right now. Reggie stepped up in the situation as a frosh, but you never know.
So would Gailey move Carter? Right now, we NEED Carter at QB. He's been through the system for two pre-seasons now and went through a full season as a back-up, learning the system. Outside of Ball, he's clearly got the most experience.
Believe me, I don't know anything here - just pure speculation. Probably not a good idea, but I'll do it anyhow. It begs one more question - how many QB's do you want to have in the system? Well, conventional wisdom is that you can never have too many. Kids who play QB in high school have certain qualities that can be translated to the college level in many other positions. They tend to be leaders, they tend to be athletes, they tend to understand intricacies of systems. The problem is that you will never satisfy all those guys. Only 1 guy can be the #1 QB.
Anyway you look at it, one thing is clear. Coach Gailey has stepped up his recruiting. Each year has clearly been stronger than the previous and 2005 appears to have gotten off to the best start of all.
For a full list of commits, click here...... Also, here is what many of the "gurus" think of the most talented skill position players this recruiting season - link here. Notice there is an archive of previous questions for the same panel.
US News / World Reports College Rankings
Link here for the list. Here is how the ACC stacked up:
ACC Academic Rankings:
#5 Duke
#22 UVa
#27 Wake
#29 UNC
#37 BC
#41 GT
#56 MD
#58 MIAMI
#74 Clemson
#74 VT
#86 NCSt
#111 FSU
In case you are keeping score at home, here is how the brain trust at the SEC fared:
SEC Academic Rankings:
#18 Vandy
#50 UF
#58 UGA
#86 Bama
#90 Aub
#90 Tenn
#117 USC-east
#120 Ark
#120 KY
NR Miss
NR MSU
NR LSU
You know, for all our fussing and sniping over UGA academics, they are actually ruining the curve for most of the rest of the SEC. How about that.
Sarunas Jasikevicius - you pronounce it
Interesting story on this former Maryland hoops player, including this GT reference:
In `98 he averaged 12.8 points, hit three free throws with a second left to win at Georgia Tech and helped the Terps made the Final 16 of the NCAA tournament. They lost to Arizona, in Anaheim.
Athlon Hoops 2004/05 Issue out soon
In should be on newsstands September 1. Here is a picture of the GT cover - link here.
Recruiting - Hoops 2007
No, I'm not kidding. 2007. Insiders has a ranking of the top 15 in that class. Interestingly the #1 guy, OJ Mayo, has GT on his list.
In more recent recruiting news, Brandon Costner has narrowed his final list down to 4, and GT is not on it. His finalists are NCST, Seton Hall, Kansas (yes them again) and UCLA. It also seems (from RamblinRed and the recruiting sites) that Cyrus McGowan is down to Miss.St and GT..... and he had like 9 relatives go to Miss.St. That one should be interesting.
Now for something you DON'T want to hear. Evidently our top player on the board, Lewis Clinch, now has another team involved - Duke. Just what we need. And of course, we all know the Dukies don't "recruit", they "chose". We'll have to stay tuned to see how this impacts his recruiting, but anytime Duke decides to get involved - like it or not - they are a factor. Stay tuned.
Around the ACC, UNC received a commit from Tyler Hansbrough, who is considered by some to be the #1 player in the 2005 class. He's not one of the those super-athletic freaks, just a very hard worker who has a lot of all-around skills. Here's a nice story on him just prior to his announcement today for UNC - link here. No doubt Roy Williams is stepping up recruiting for UNC. But again, here's the rub. If the kid is assured to be a lottery pick in the 2005, be assured he is gone. He has said so. It will be interesting to watch. But the ACC snags another top recruit.
Where are they now - Kelly Campbell
Looks like Campbell has become quite the jokester on the Vikings. We heard a couple of weeks ago about his hazing of rookies. Now more of the same - link here. In case you're wondering, Brock Lesner is a former WWE wrestler turned rookie football player.
Even if he doesn't make the 53-man roster, pro wrestler-turned-defensive lineman Brock Lesnar has earned the respect of his Minnesota teammates. As part of rookie hazing to mark the end of training camp, Lesnar was piled on by six teammates, followed by 170-pound wide receiver Kelly Campbell scoring a mock pin on the former WWE and NCAA heavyweight champion. "I think they wanted to make sure Brock felt like one of the boys before we left here," Vikings coach Mike Tice said.
Here's more details on the incident - link here.
Pro wrestler Brock Lesnar, trying out for the Vikings, almost escaped traditional rookie hazing. He didn't get his hair shaved, but when veterans started gathering the day camp broke, Lesnar said, "I kind of caught onto it."
Lesnar took off running, displaying his unusual 4.7 speed for someone 6 feet 3 inches, 290 pounds, but was caught by running back Larry Ned. Of course, Ned needed help bringing him down.
"My argument," Ned said, "is by the time I get to him, what am I going to do with him?"
Half a dozen players converged on Lesnar and taped his ankles together. Moss dumped a cooler-sized container of water on his head. Then 170-pound receiver Kelly Campbell jumped on the pile and pretended to pin Lesnar. Campbell slammed the ground three times with his palm.
"I knew it was coming one of these days," Lesnar said.
Andy Katz talks hoops
A Q&A session, with this about the ACC:
Is there any conference stronger than the SEC this year? Besides Kentucky, who is loaded, Mississippi State, Alabama and LSU also have talent. I would like to see Oklahoma State try to handle Chuck Hayes or Lawrence Roberts.
Davis
Champaign, Ill.
Davis,
I have to differ. The ACC is the top conference in 2004-05. The league could put eight teams in the tournament and as many as three Final Four teams. Wake, UNC, Georgia Tech and Maryland are all legit Final Four contenders. Don't count out Duke making noise, either. N.C. State will be a factor in the race and Florida State and Virginia have the talent to make the NCAAs. At the very minimum, I'm looking at seven teams in the tournament.
Lunch Bunch Report - Wes Durham
Nice re-cap of a Wes Durham lunch bunch in ATL today - link here. Most interesting comment to me was this that Wes heard from Chan Gailey:
10) Chan Gailey "It is not my job to sacrifice the integrity of the institute for the betterment of the football team." Qoute Wes said has stuck with him.
Those who want a top 10 power year-in year-out for GT will not like that, but I do.
Also mentioned that with Wes's new job with the Falcons, he will not miss any football games, and as it stands only one hoops game - Gonzaga in Vegas. His order of priority is GT Football, Falcons football, GT Hoops.
Around the ACC
A look at FSU and other ACC teams. This on GT:
Georgia Tech - Want another chip in your argument that ACC football has improved dramatically? The last time Georgia Tech did not go to a bowl game was 1996.
Also interesting about ESPN and their show "The Season":
ESPN The Season To Follow the ACC This Year
ESPN has tailored its show The Season a number of different ways in the past. They've gone week to week with the Dallas Cowboys and Texas A&M football. They've done a post-season show after being with us for all of the 2001 season. For this year, ESPN will follow the entire Atlantic Coast Conference picking one home team each week to follow the whole week culminating in the game. ESPN's will follow Florida State as we prepare for Clemson. The FSU program will get even more exposure, however, as ESPN will follow the Hurricanes through their entire week of preparation for our game as well as NC State. Air dates and times have not been announced.
Interview with Stewart Cink
Nice interview. Here's what he had to say about GT:
Q. Talk about your time at Georgia Tech, and also I want to ask you, how were you able to handle being in college and having played golf and being a husband and father? That's got to be difficult.
Not exactly a ringing endorsement, but honest no doubt.
STEWART CINK: Well, I love being the husband and father. I hope I never have to go back to college (laughter). I don't want to do that again because that was difficult, and financially, I don't know how we made ends meet. In fact, I didn't. When I turned pro, we had negative $5. That's not a very good net worth. It was really tough, balancing the schedule, and my wife had to take a job. Georgia Tech really didn't help us out much, either. They never really gave her in state tuition. We lived in Georgia but she was from Alabama like I was, so we had to continue paying out of state for her, and it was a lot of difficulties. Overall when I look back on those days, it's what has gotten me to the point where I'm at now where I'm able to persevere through a lot of things.
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