ESPN: Tech is the second-worst at keeping in-state talent

It’s an uphill climb for Tech.

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Agree that it’s not good, but anyone who blames this on CPJ is fooling themselves. Gailey had one decent top-heavy recruiting class. Take that class away and all of CPJ’s classes have been better than Gailey’s.

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Is this really journalism? you paste a link to another writer to blast Johnson. wow, if I delivered crap like you do in my job, I wouldn’t have a job. ridiculous.

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Just look at the fact that 74 of the top 150 are from Georgia. The other 76 come from the other 49 states.

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Disregard that last post, but I would like the stats by states as to how many from each state over the past 5 years.

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Ouch, reality really hurts when read in print. We all know the myriad reasons that Tech doesn’t get top talent.

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Don’t blame Ga. Tech, it’s the fault of the ACC. They are not a powerful football league. Players want to play for the schools that play the top level football that UGA, Bama, and others play.

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@Remarkable…

Since when does UGA play “top level football”?

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So if Miss only had 2 in the top 150 over 5 years and both left to other states for college, what does that say? Or if they kept 1 in state that gives them a 50% average.

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Tech recruits actually have to be able to read and write. Makes a big difference.

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That’s dumb

I don’t think coach Johnson recruits players based on ESPN rankings.
What if Tech brings in a real good player from Georgia that ESPN does not have in their top 150, say Omoregie Uzzi from Chamblee, GA, who turned out to be an All-American as a JR.

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Don’t blame Ga. Tech, it’s the fault of the ACC.

There are 3 ACC teams in the top 10 in this years class. There is a lot more holding GT back in recruiting then being in the ACC.

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@Anon1 the post said a 5year period. that would 750 not 150

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GTBob, again, please learn to use the word “than”. It really makes my head explode.

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Julian Burnett was one of the best players in the state, yet ESPN did not have him in their top 150. He signed with Tech.

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The best players from GA want to play on Sundays.

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Most of those recruits couldn’t stay in school at Tech…..no point signing someone who will be gone before they can be developed.

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Mark Bradley: Are there any other examples? One or two still don’t make up for all the ones they have missed out on. Every team signs an ATHLETE or two.

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Rob, belittling UGA’s level of success and competition does NOT help Tech. Isn’t it better to admit that they are pretty darn good most years, since they beat us most years? When they win, and we say they suck, then we are saying we suck more.

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Mark, what would you do to improve recruiting at GT just curiously? It’s pretty easy to just tell a team they need to recruit better, the hard part would be to actually come up with a way to do it.

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As Mark Twain once wrote, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.”

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@CT_Jacket
You missed a pretty easy (in state) example

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Mark -

Sure those guys play on Sundays, but for someone like Dwyer, playing for CPJ hurt his draft status. If he had put up the same numbers at UGA that he did at Tech, he’d have gone first or second round.

If I were a big-time WR or RB with NFL dreams, it wouldn’t make sense to go to Tech.

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@George Stein

Agree 100%, see my comment on J Thomas above

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[...] Per ESPN through AJC's Mark Bradley. ESPN link is for subscribers so I won't link to that. ESPN says Tech is the second-worst at keeping in-state talent | Mark Bradley I actually agree with the gist of it…GT needs to do a better job of signing more [...]

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@Rob, didn’t want to go there.

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Bryan –
Have you not heard of Demaryius Thomas? Or soon-to-be Stephen Hill? Guess you missed this year’s NFL playoffs. Too bad, you missed out on some good football.

Playing in the triple option as a WR does not hurt draft status whatsoever.

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ESPN is least accurate recruiting service. they really don’t know what they’re doing.

http://thomasgoldkamp.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&catid=4:sports&id=17:the-recruiting-project

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Now you’ve done it Bradley. You’re deeper on Johnson’s poo list than Shultz even is, and as we all know Shultzie has a pro-UGA agenda.

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It truly is amazing that Tech does as well as it does. Real Tech folks do not make excuses. We know what the reasons are and it is not coaching and recruiting. To be honest, Tech coaching over the years has been tremendous. The legendary Bobby Dodd, Bud Carson, Pepper Rodgers, Bill Curry, Bobby Ross, George O’Leary, Chan Gailey, and Paul Johnson all have provided great moments for Tech. All of these coaches recruited players that fit their systems and generally, except maybe in Dodd’s case, they were never able to recruit in volume the top players in the state. I believe I remember the first time the AJC did its annual top 11 players in the state of Georgia and over the years I suspect Tech has averaged getting 1.0? of those players annually. Remarkable isn’t it to still be relevant, still go to annual bowl games for more than a decade, still win an occasional conference championship, still win a national championship sooner than your in-state rival, still be on the World Leader on Thursday nights, and still be able to offer as our dear friends like to say, “four dogs, and four cokes” along with the best view of a football stadium and city skyline in America. Go Jackets!

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What has uga done over the past 5 years with all this state talent mark?

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Thanks for your contribution, Admiral Obvious. Just about everything you said could be said about UGA, too.

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Mark, can we get this guy a prize?

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On the plus side, probably more UGA grads voted for Obama than Tech grads (well, the American ones anyway), and look where THAT got us

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I don’t think Paul Johnson cares a hoot what any “journalist” or recruiting “guru” thinks about his recruiting classes. He looks for players who will qualify for enrollment at GA Tech, which everyone knows is one of the toughest “Universities” in the Country to get into, and with the educational “issues” everyone knows abound in the State of Georgia, there are fewer and fewer qualified student athletes who can even do so.

Now looking at the specific offenses and defenses that the Jackets run, this also will limit the number of players who will be interested in playing in the “systems”.

Finally, there are some players who have a desire for a particular major that GA Tech may not even offer, and therefore, will eliminate the Jackets for that reason alone.

Therefore, if Paul Johnson wants to find players who will meet his “needs,” he has to go out of State to do so often-times. Does he have to explain himself or apologize? Of course not.

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GTBob, win. All they have to do is win titles or at least play for them consistently and finish in the top 15 or 20. They need to go to better bowl games, and they need to win them. They have to win a BCS bowl, and most importantly, they must beat UGA more often. At least play .500 against Georgia. Opening up the curriculum at bit wouldn’t hurt either. I’m very proud of the bowl streak, but it is loaded with lower tier bowls that garner very little attention nationally. I thought the showing against LSU and Iowa hurt CPJ badly because it was an opportunity to show how effective the offense is, but ended up validating the belief that it is obsolete when given time to prepare. It’s tough, but winning cures all ills.

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To this day I would not trade Roddy Jones for Caleb King, Washan Ealy. I would take S Days of Z Metlingburg, I really like the players Coach Johnson brings in

Look at this year’s class, all outstanding football players, I don’t one kid in this year’s class that I don’t think can be a pretty good player.

Place Tech misses is not really the top 150, it’s that top 10 type player that is a freak type player, Clowney, Grayson Kid, Herschel, Marcus Dupree but the last time Tech got a player like that was Calvin Johnson and he was not even rated like one.

I’m ok with Joey Hamilton, Eddie Lee Ivory’s, Calvin Johnson, Roddy Jones, J Dwyer, Gary Guyton, Phillip Wheeler, Darryl Richard

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Thank goodness no GT supporter has pulled the “academics” excuse, yet. We all recognize that won’t fly. It is rather strange that Vanderbilt can come into the state and recruit better than GT. Vanderbilt’s academics are premier. Recruiting is about hard work, relationships, selling a vision, confidence, staff members, facilities, campus environment, results. It is clear GT is struggling in many, failing in most of those areas. Nightly, daily, reports of muggings and rapes of students doens’t give confidence to parents that sending their child downtown is safe.

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I think there is a definite link between the Tech’s being able to recruit and the state of education in Georgia. Georgia ranks near the bottom nationally in education and yet Tech is in the top 5 engineering schools in the state. As a result, Tech cannot even begin to offer a scholarship to an athlete with a 900 SAT score and borderline HS grades.

My own daughter is an example. She had an 1100 SAT score, was STAR student and 3rd in her class and could not get into Tech. However, UGA took her on early admission. That’s not a knock on UGA, it’s just the fact that Tech has to have a different type of student or they are no longer a top 5 engineering school.

Tech just has to recruit a different kind of athlete.

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Gtkenz, I agree that winning consistently would create the best recruiting boost but GT is never going to win consistently because of recruiting. It’s basically a chicken and egg scenario.

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Jacket1985 finally talked about the big elephant in the room. High school education in the state of Georgia is a joke, especially among the pool of top football players.

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Paul Johnson has 36 wins at Tech in last 4 seasons.

Mark Richt has 34 wins at UGA in last 4 seasons.

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Thank goodness no GT supporter has pulled the “academics” excuse, yet. We all recognize that won’t fly.

UNC was able to accept a recruit that we had to turn away for academic reasons. You really think that doesn’t hurt us?

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Rob, I’m dancing in your dome!

Be happy, because it’s OK to be one of the better teams in a mediocre conference. Hey Urban Meyer plays the same basic offense and if he isn’t having a breakdown he’s a heck of a coach. Great players WANT to play for him. However PJ is NO UM!

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Tech has 8 out of 15 recruits form Georgia. That’s over 50% of recruits within 200 miles. Beyond that, there’s no correlation between having more than 50%, and winning mroe games.

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Paul Johnson has won 2 more games than Mark Richt in last 4 years, so whatever he’s doing, is working.

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Things to keep in Mine

GT has high academic admission standards then all the schools they are competing against in recruiting these player. At same time state of Georgia is in the bottom of HS education performance

GT has a really small amount of degree offered compared to the schools they are competing against.

GT has smaller student body, when mean less alumni, less fan base to influence these kids.

GT Classes are hard, kids are told that up front by Tech and other coaches. They will be told that Tech accepts higher scoring kids yet those kid still struggle more than students at other schools

Not dogging Tech but these facts may hurt them in cases, I still say the benefits of Tech outnumber these but they are cases that other schools don’t have to deal with.

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Recruiting is the most overrated aspect of CFB when it comes to the coach. The school’s recruit themselves. Lots of examples here:

http://coachesbythenumbers.com/analysis/

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Another poster made an excellent point about the state of education in Georgia. Just talking about the state of Georgia…after Paul Johnson finds the players in state that he likes for his system, he then has to make sure they can pass the curriculum at Tech. After all, the whole point is to get an education, not just play football on Saturdays (hence the name STUDENT athlete). All of the children on here obsessed with recruiting seem to forget that…that tells you all you need to know about the general state of affairs in America as a whole.

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Johnson is a poor recruiter, poor at supervising a defensive coordinator, poor at game plan (unless he is vs. a weak opponent). He never has a backup plan in case his high school offense is not working. All in all, I give him a D+. Oh, of course he gets an
A+ in arrogance.

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chris Peterson beat Georgia this year with much less talent.

colorado beat georgia 2 seaosn ago with considerably less talent.

Coach Johnson always plays Richt real close, with a lot less talent.

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Way to censor people, Bradley. You are a stupid d.ouch.e

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Tech highest rated recruit picked Tech because of the offense Coach Johnson runs. You win some and lose some, all schools gain/lose bacause of their system

True but Tech loses a lot more because of their system than they gain.

Its a net loss for them. Not a 50 50 thing like you suggest.

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I wish that all of the in state talent stayed in state. I wish that the kids who want to be engineers would go to Tech. The kids who don’t, I wish they would come to UGA or Southern, and I wish that the kids who can’t get into Tech or UGA would play at Southern. Can you imagine if Tech and UGA filled their teams with the top talent in the state? “You might say I’m a dreamer but I’m not the only one.”

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The basic facts remain; Tech has lost to UGA last 3 years and lost all bowls since CPJ arrival. Last two years, average seasons with average to weak schedules. Hard not to make the correlation with poor recruiting. Just cannot understand how Miami, with all it’s NCAA issues and crappy facilities/school can out recruit great school like GT in great city like Atlanta. When CPJ was hired, everyone was expecting an upgrade in recruiting based on his Ga Southern days & contacts, but havent seen it.
Stanford hasnt been slowed by academics. If it is beyond coach, then AD needs to sell the admin on necessary changes to compete. Most alumni would support additional majors.

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bratworse – Did you watch the Tech – Georgia game?

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Does this mean Arizona has tougher academic standards than GT?

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How did Robby Ross and O’leary recruit?

They are both successful coaches to me.

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Good points, Mark. When Tech hired Johnson, I told everyone two things:

1) He has a chance to win early with Gailey’s recruits, and the fact that the ACC and UGA will not have seen the option much.

2) After Gailey’s players leave, he will not be able to recruit nearly the same level of talent and will not have the same success as schools will adjust to playing his offense every year.

Everyone wants to talk about “maximizing minimal talent”. It works fine in the Mountain West, WAC, CUSA, or independants like Navy. It’s a myth when trying to win a BCS conference or beat a rival like UGA. The option isnt a mystery to these teams anymore, which means Johnson has to line up with talent at least nearly as good as what is on the other side of the ball. Unfortunately, his offense is not attractive to those kinds of recruits.

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Both of those are facts but no Tech fan who is deep in denial over the whole CPJ era would admit to it.

Can you give a good explanation for why GT recruited so poorly before CPJ got here?

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he will not be able to recruit nearly the same level of talent

Statistically he has recruited better talent then Chan did.

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Here is a stat for you.

CPJ record against the three real teams he has to play every year ( Not ACC weaklings )

Va Tech, UGA, and Bowl Game

2-10

1 3 point fluke win over Georgia and 1 win over Va Tech.

Thats it. Not a very impressive record.

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3 out of last 4 seasons, Tech-UGA game was decided by 8 points (1 td), or less.

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We`s gets thems alls. Yeas Sewer Dawgoes/ Riffs. Riggs/ Riffs

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Mark Richt’s record against teams in final AP Poll is 0-9 in last 9.

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Here’s a stat for you, what’s Richt’s record against Florida?

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Here’s a stat for you, what’s Richt’s record against Florida?

Ahh. The old hide behind another team trick.

LOL. That one is right out of the Tech fan playbook.

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CPJ

2-10 vs real competition.

But hey !!! Some of those losses were real close !!!!

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O’Leary could bring in big time players, PJ needs to change to a passing offense and attract some players. At least George beat GA 3 straight and they had to fire their coach. PJ beat them the first 2 years and with some better play calling should have beat them the next 2 years. Had a better team and Ga had their worst teams in 20 years and still beat us ….

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headley, that was extremely hypocritical, because you “hide behind” Tech constantly

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Nobis, headley posts under MANY names, but I don’t think WnE is one of them. I may be wrong, but the styles seem to be too different.

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It took Gailey a few years, but his last class was rated as high if not higher than UGA’s.

Yes, it was his only class ranked higher then 49th. One year he recruited 20 two star players. He was an awful recruiter. Even by GT standards.

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@bratworse – Here’s a stat for you, 3 of Gailey’s last 4 games against UGA were decided by 7 pts or less. Those UGA teams were legit SEC title/BCS good teams too, not the 6-8 win no defense variety Johnson has played. This years UGA team is the first one Johnson has played that even resembles the teams Gailey played against.

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O’Leary could bring in big time players

Name all the big time players he brought in.

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@ Mike, sorry, but UGA’s 2008 team was pre-season number 1. That team was better than any UGA team Gailey faced.

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wes – I had a girl friend who was a grad student in neurology at NYU. She applied for Emory’s doctorates program but deep down she had expressed concerns that she might not grow professionally because southerners are “kinda slow and laid back.” She was denied by Emory and shortly after that we split up. I guess that we southerners were too dim to recognize the supreme northern being that we let slip through our fingers.

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UGA fans should be worried about Alabama stealing GA’s best talent. I can understand why they don’t go to Tech, but there is no excuse for Nkemdiche and Reuban Foster to go to Bama and leave Georgia which looks like is going to happen for next season. They are the top two players in the country, not just the state.

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@GTBob – Finish the quote. His 2008 class was projected top 20. He had broken through in recruiting and was winning recruiting battles vs Clemson, UGA, FSU, etc. Kids saw what Johnson and Choice were able to do at Tech, he ran a pro-style offense, and Tenuta ran an attacking defense that kids love on that side of the ball.

Yeah it took him a few years, thanks in no small part to the mess he inherited from O’Leary, but he did turn the recruiting around.

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GT Bob, Keith Brooking, Joe Hamilton, Charley Rogers, Felipe Claybrooks, Kelly Campbell, Dez White—anymore you need to know of and these guys beat Ga 3 straight

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“mess he inherited from O’Leary” ??????

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in 2002, Chan had great talent that he had inherited from O’Leary, and he gets totally blown out by the dwags. I would say it’s more likely that he MADE A MESS out of what he inherited from O’Leary

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Gorilla, Dwyer was recruited as freshman out of HS; he didn’t transfer in from anywhere. I’m pretty sure that is correct.

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Mark, did anybody consider that this might have something to do with how dumb the state of Georgia is?

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Gorilla, I think Choice transferred from Oklahoma, Dwyer was Parade All-American out of Kell High in Marietta

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Dwyer was a HUGE recruiter for TECH. He helped get that team to come together. Dwyer was TECH from day one. UGa didn’t offer early and TECH did. Dwyer helped by talking to other recruits at the camps and calling them. Roddy and Dwyer were together and neither were transfers.

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As a Tech grad, I don’t understand how other Tech folks don’t see this as a problem?? What kind of ‘our conference hurts us’, or ‘we don’t need three + star recruits’ for our offense crap are we spewing? I think the point is – CPJ is not a particularly gifted recruiter and that HURTS our ability to compete for championships on a REGULAR basis.

Good coaching can make up for some gap in talent. Good talent can somewhat cover up bad coaching. Is there a reason we need to settle for one or the other? Last time we won the ACC was better talent from Gailey (Demaryius Thomas, Jonathan Dwyer, Morgan Burnett, Derrick Morgan et al) and the better coaching of Johnson.

And how does the excuse about the type of offense account for an inability to recruit good defensive players???

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What gets me about the article is this: You constantly here the “media”, ie, Lou Holtz, etc. talk about Notre Dame having to go the extra mile in recruiting because they only take high quality “student athletes” and they are at a disadvantge…..

Look, I went to UGA and I know Tech cannot and does not offer certain in state talent becaue they simply cannot qaulify academically. Throw in a more narrow offering than Notre Dame (or Va “TECH”) and it makes it even harder. Where is that mentioned? Or, is that saved only for the Irish.

Some, quote on quote, Dawg fans love to run their mouths about all the in state recruits UGA loses every year to Bama, Auburn, LSU or SC. Living in Athens, I know for a fact we simply cannot and do not offer the some of the same kids other schools do as much as some of our “fans” would like to think. Yet headlines of in state Top 150 kids going elsewhere don’t often have a byline indicating if either Tech or UGA offered – and if not , there was a reason. At UGA, Jan Kemp changed everything.

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Smyrna, change your name to Red andBlack…

8.5 wins per year versus 7 fromthe last guy? I don’t care where he finds his players, and I don’t care how bad recruiting analysts say our athletes are. The guy can coach.

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Mike….NIX wasn’t the OC calling plays all the years he was at TECH. Gailey was calling the games for the first 3 years.

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That is not surprising, given the quality of education in Georgia.

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@Supersize – you said the UGA 2008 team was better than any UGA team Gailey faced. The 2008 team couldnt play defense if they wanted to. They were preseason #1 because of how good the 2007 was that finished #2 in the nation. Dont even get me comparing it to the Greene and Sockley SEC champion teams either.

As for Oleary, Gailey inherited sanctions thanks to O’Leary playing ineligible players. They were still on probation under Johnson which is why the NCAA yanked the 2009 ACC Championship from them.

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@ Mike, the 2002 team was still good enough not to get blown away the way they did by the dwags. No Johnson team has even come close to that humiliation.

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GTBob – ‘What were you expecting? 10 win seasons every year?’

No – 9-win seasons every year; and regularly threatening to win the ACC. Keep in mind – O’Leary win totals:

Year 1 – 6 (year after the Bill Lewis classic 1-10)
Year 2 – 10
Year 3 – 10 (Friedgen leaves)
Year 4 – 9
Year 5 – 8

So – I think it’s reasonable to suggest that a Tech coach can be held to a standard of wining at least 9 games/year, especially considering everyone plays 12-14 with bowl games and conference championships. O’Leary teams played 12 games – including their bowl game.

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A Bama fan on the other blog is making light of the Krystal affair after the NC game. I think that tells us all we need to know about Bama fans

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loose ??? How do you “loose” anything?

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John D, you may want to recheck those O’Leary win totals because they aren’t accurate at all.

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Truth Hurts…

You’re looking for the Maryland blog I think…

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“This years UGA team is the first one Johnson has played that even resembles the teams Gailey played against.”

Johnson’s very first game against UGA was against the pre-season #1 team in America that had the top QB (1st overall draft pick) and RB out of that year’s NFL draft.

Regarding the article, while it’s fair to say GT needs to recruit more high-end talent in general, the problem is that it seems it ignore a few points-

1) Tech runs a unique offense that requires players with unique skill sets. If the top OL out of the state are all mammoth pass blocking types, would it really do anybody any good for those guys to come to Tech?

2) While the academics card can be overblown a bit, it nevertheless is an issue. How many top players out of Georgia can (and most importantly want to) put up with Tech’s curriculum?

3) Schools typically don’t just go out and sign the top 25 players they can get, they have positions to fill and sometimes, a school’s needs might not align neatly with ESPN’s handy little list of the top players (and as pointed out above, Tech’s unique needs might not align neatly with ESPN’s appraisal of the talent pool)

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Regarding the basketball players and academics, Cremins for the most part (with a couple of NOTABLE exceptions) recruited, played, and GRADUATED (even if they came back later) players who made it in school. Hewitt could have cared less about academics, and the players he recruited proved that.

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I’m staying away from academics as any kind of excuse. To me, it’s all about branding. Tell me how you’re gonna tell a kid he can get his swag on better by playing at GT than he can by playing at the following schools: UGA, Auburn, Bama, Clemson, Florida, Tennessee. What do those schools have in common? Those are Tech’s CLOSEST AQ neighbors. Tech only even plays two of them regularly. So to me, this is a consequence of living in SEC country and not being part of the SEC. Even as an independent when we still played those teams about ever year (plus Notre Dame and other independents) we still kept a 60k stadium full, because people saw us as still somewhat like the SEC teams. Joining the ACC saved our football program from extinction, but it was tantamount to selling our soul to the brand-image devil. The only way to get back to that level is to beat Georgia annually for a decade while also winning the ACC just so people can stop rating us second class in our own state. Will it happen? I don’t know…CAN it even happen? Certainly doesn’t look all that great for us if the goal is “be able to play and recruit like top SEC teams.” I think it’s an unrealistic goal.

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Folks, quit blaming the Johnson “system”. If you have been following football at Georgia Tech since the change that took place during the mid-1960’s you know what the cause is. There have been at least seven “systems” or coaches during that period and some of the coaches actually utilized different systems during their tenure. Paul Johnson is the most successful football coach at Georgia Tech since Bobby Dodd. Enough said about the “system.” If Tech can build a defense (which has cost them most of their losses during Johnson’s time at Tech so far) then the offensive “system” stands ready to bring as much of a championship as Georgia, Alabama or any other school could ever dream of. The problem is getting enough DEFENSIVE players. Wake up people! The “high school offense” works, just drop in a few more passes. IT’S ALL ABOUT DEFENSE!

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“Ever notice how GT fans never once use the whole “academic”myth as an excuse with their basketball and baseball teams? Interesting, isnt it?”

Basketball teams only have 12 or so players and baseball have only around 30 while a football team can (and should) have up to 85 players. It doesn’t take a Tech grad or a math whiz (I’m neither) to figure out the disparity in those numbers and why the academics card might be a bigger issue in the sport where you have to deal with more players.

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@Tech fan – I would agree to a point. Tech’s offense was largely ineffective against UGA, Va Tech, Virginia, Miami, and Maryland this year. Those arent the type of teams you need to beat to win championships. UGA was likely the 5th best in the SEC. They only won the East because South Carolina played Arkansas, UGA didnt. LSU wiped them out. Boise St. nearly did the same.

None of the Bowl teams Johnson has been losing to are championship caliber, and he has had offensive struggles against every one except Utah.

The defense needs to be better for sure, but the offense must improve as well in order to be championship level.

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Rob, we pay topflight football every November at the joke by coke for starters. what a moron.

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Yea Georgia Tech is ranked second worst, but they also ranked Stanford as third worst.
And Stanford hasn’t been too bad the last couple of years…
http://espn.go.com/blog/ncfnation/post/_/id/58795/rankings-arent-the-end-all-be-all

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Anon1:

Just look at the fact that 74 of the top 150 are from Georgia. The other 76 come from the other 49 states.

YOU MIGHT WANT TO CHECK YOUR NUMBERS… Its over the past five years, Einstein.

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I’m still waiting…

You always like to point out we’re 2-10 against “real teams” (whatever that means). When CPJ is also 4-0 against MS State and Vandy, 2-0 against FSU, 3-1 against UNC (division rival), 4-1 against Clemson.

I guess those teams don’t count? Somehow they are not “real” teams?

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Stadium rankings? That is all you took from that? You are living in completr and utter denial if you do not see the writing on the wall. Tech football is dead. Its not because of academics, its not even because of your current horrible coach. The ACC is a joke and there is zero fan support for the team. And not to forget the campus is a danger and a huge eyesore. All incoming freshmen at Tech should be required to watch “Boyz In The Hood” to get a better grasp of the campus enviorment.

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@GT Man – Kansas and MTSU are sorry teams. Johnson would throw a screen pass and Hill, or whoever, would make one move and watch the defense fall over itself LOL. UNC was leaving receivers wide open. Hill dropped a sure TD or that game isnt as close as it looked.

UGA’s defense is a whole different animal. You can’t run the same plays and have the same success. You have to do something different which is where the option has issues. There isn’t a whole lot you can go to. You cant just bust out a pro style set cause none of the guys know how to run it.

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Mike…

Three turnovers in our own end had something to do with the 2011 COFH game…not any style of offense.

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@FL Jacket – Whats your point? The running game wasnt working, Washington tried to throw and UGA’s defense ate up the passing game. UGA’s defense was flying all over the field. They caused the turnovers.

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@GTBob – Please then instruct me on why Tech has gotten shut down against Miami the last few years, LSU in the bowl game, Iowa in the bowl game, UGA last year, and every other good, athletic defense Johnson has faced.

I dont care if they gained a couple of hundred yards or so on the ground. It didnt translate to points. It hasnt been. People blaming a personal foul penalty for losing the Va Tech game LOL How about Va Tech’s defense causing problems for the option all game long.

Stop looking at the rushing stats and start looking at the scoreboard.

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@Fl Jacket – he was under pressure and was throwing the ball because the running game got stuffed. I realize its blasphemy to give UGA any credit, but at some point, you have to realize their defense was likely the best Tech faced all year.

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Stop looking at the rushing stats and start looking at the scoreboard.

Is our team not allowed to have sub-par games every once in a while? Why didn’t UGA abandon the pro style offense after they played Central Florida? Our team has done very well against some of the best defenses in the country.

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The article written by the AJC itself where I (admittedly) exaggerated the ~80% number from 73.5%

http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/printedition/2008/12/28/acadmain.html?cxntlid=inform_artr

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How about Va Tech’s defense causing problems for the option all game long.

Also, of the 14 games VT played, GT scored the third most points against them and didn’t really have any trouble moving the ball.

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George,

The real reason Johnson’s classes don’t rank highly, BTTF, is that his system is based on getting players that have high availability. For example, the offensive linemen he requires aren’t 6′7, 330 lbs, but those are the highly rated guys. Further, the a-backs he recruits are also highly available, which means they are less likely to stand out.

DO you REALLY believe that? It’s beyond me how someone can just disregard the facts. These facts are what I have been saying since CPJ was hired. We are trending down, and recruiting is the major reason. It will take YEARS to dig us out of this mess….

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Hey DDPO, I posted right after that to disregard the previous post. READ next time. It still comes out to 10% of all athletes.

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Mark, what do you think Tech’s chances are of changing this situation with the current coaching staff?

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@ The Truth, once again the REAL TRUTH totally escapes you. The Tech campus an “eyesore”??? You obviously haven’t even stepped foot on the Tech campus since perhaps the 50s. Tech is no UNC or Auburn or anything like that. But to call it an “eyesore” is just pure unadulterated BIAS and BS. Hell, compared to UNC and Auburn, the UGA campus is every bit as much an eyesore. There is nothing eye-appealing in Athens other than the stadium and the women.

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GTBob

If I recall correctly, Tech lost 4 of the last 6 last year and 5 of the last 7 this year. To me that is a total collapse when the tough part of the schedule comes up. Let’s face it, Tech did not have a quality win in 2011 unless you count Clemson and as it turned out Clemson was not very good either.

Believe me, I’m as big a Tech fan as you but the reality is the Tech football program is not very good and will continue to not be very good as long as CPJ cannot recruit competitively with the competition, continues with a deplorabe defense and special teams. This CPJ experiment IS NOT working.

I firmly believe with the salary that is being currently paid to this coaching staff can bring in a coach that can be competitive in the ACC and even win against the likes of Utah, Air Force, UVA et al.

When the number of games won by CPJ is cited you must remember the level of competition being played.

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Most of the OL recruits at Tech are never listed in the top 150 because they are not the size deemed “top” by espn. They are suited for CPJ’s offense. You won’t see a QB in his system ranked highly for similar reasons. Don’t care what espn or rivals ranks his recruits as long as they want to play at Tech and play hard.

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Waiting on your response Headley – Not to say that you are cherry picking, but you are cherry picking. You say that Vandy and Miss St were quality wins for Tech, but when the Dawgs played those teams they are just one of the many cupcake teams we beat.

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Yeah, Stephon Marbury, Kenny Anderson, Reggie Ball, Javaris Crittenton and even Quincy Carter were all admitted into GT. So what?? Is that the only card you people can play???

As someone wisely noted earlier, you people never use the academic copout excuse for basketball or baseball. So try again.

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To say that CPJ has won two more games in the 4 year period than CMR is another example of how misleading statistics can be. That is like comparing an SEC schedule to ACC and saying the ACC is harder than the SEC or even on equal footing. That just doesn’t float and the point is not about that anyway. The point is whether, given the high academic standards, combined with an offense few college teams use, will bring in recruits to Techs. Football Program?
It is just like saying Tech. has 24 pro players and claiming they have all turned pro. while Johnson was the coach or the recruiter. You can manipulate statistics almost anyway you want to prove or disprove your point.

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George Stein, Favors was actually an honor student in high school. Crittenton, well before he became a super thug had a 3.5 GPA and was a member of the Future Business Leaders of America. Thaddeus Young had a 4.3 GPA and was a member of the National Honors Society. Mfon Udofia graduated in the top 10% of his class. The myth that GT only recruits dumb basketball players is a false one.

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LOL George, I will have a moment of silence for you and your followers…. Super comes to mind…

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@ GT is a 4th rate high school team

January 31st, 2012
10:40 am

Most GA high school athletes do not like to go to college to play like high school kids again. They like to move on to better things.

You are absolutely correct. The Yellow Jackets will continue to be below average as long as Paul Johnson is there and running the very predictable triple option offense.

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Oh, and I am on this planet, George. The same planet that say GT beat NOBODY of substance last year….

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Only 25% of the top 50 recruits in Georgia are qualified to enroll at GT. If you get 3 of those you did well.

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I can’t help but feel sorry for the people who think Tech is in a ghetto. The racial undertones are striking and the narrow mindedness can’t be ignored, either.

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Dawlasville –

Do us all a favor. The years Tek beat Vandy and Miss. St., please look up for how each of them finished and what bowls they played in. Thanks in advanced.

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Johnson wins more games than Richt since he started. In 4 season, Johnson has won more games. That’s end of story.

Either Richt’s a bad coach, or Johnson’s great.

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How many “Blue Chips” were on the 1990 team?

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Actually GTBob, yes, GT should shutdown their embarrassing football program. Donate all your equipment and high school stadium to Ga. State so Atlanta can finally have a college football team they can support and be proud of for a change.

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REdandBlack,

UGA BEAT nobody last year… The real teams they played beat them. Your DEFENSE sucked. Stats mean nothing unless you prove it by beating good teams.

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Paul Johnson is a better coach than Mark Richt.

Here’s why.

Both are equal in wins in last 4 seasons.

Paul Johnson has done this without highly ranked recruting classes.

So, since Pasul Johynson has won as many games as Richt over 4 years, with less tsalented players, Paul Johnson is a much better coach than Mark Richt.

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Mark, another of your typical hatchet jobs on Tech. Seriously, you write this trash (or steal it from another writer) just before signing? Come on, how biased can you be. Tech football may have its faults, but having lived through the early 1980’s, this has been a great run for the past 17 years. Consistently entering the top 25, having 14 straight winning seasons, winning an ACC championship (under review) and playing in 15 consectutive bowl games is a success for any program. All you dog fans who consistently make ugly comments about Tech, are jealous of a school that you or your kids likely cannot attend. For must of us die hard jacket fans, alumni or just friends of the institute, we are proud of our school. Worry about your own damned program, which does not compete for the top of the SEC. We are perfectly happy with our world class institute and students!

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Mark Richt is supposed to be a passing guru.

CPJ pass offense has a high passer rating than Mark Richt’s in 2011.

CPJ is a better coach.

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Excuse me? End of story? No way.

1) Richt has much more highly ranked recruiting classes than Johnson
2) Johnson has more wins than Richt over last 4 years
3) Johnson is a greater coach than Richt

Either

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George Stein, I think that might be because of cultural differences. In urban areas high schoolers are pushed toward basketball and in rural areas high schoolers are pushed more toward playing football. A good urban athlete could be more likely to dream of the NBA (since that’s almost exclusively an urban league) while a rural athlete might dream of playing at a certain college or the NFL (since in rural areas that is what people seem to care more about.)

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DrDread, way to many holes in your logic.

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Relativity? No. Head to head, the margin of victory has historically been close between Johnson & Richt.

How could games be close in 2008, 2009, and 2010, if Richt has much more highly ranked recruiting classes than Johnson?

Either Johnson’s a great coach?

Or Richt’s a bad coach?

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It doesn’t have to be so black and white, Warehouse.

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Where is UGA ranked?..lol. The longer Chizik and Saban stay in the state of Alabama and CMR continues at UGA, then I’m sure UGA will be near the bottom in about 5 years…lol. Anyway, back to the Techies. This is not about stars. ESPN’s director of recruiting said as much yesterday when discussing the disparity between ESPN’s recruiting rankings as opposed to Rivals or Scout. It’s about filling needs and the overall quality of each class. With that said, I bet this stat is a big part of their findings:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Friday-night-stars-California-and-Texas-produce?urn=nfl-272416

To me, if guys don’t want to go to UGA, Tech offers a clear alternative. Stop whining about fairness. Stop proclaiming how much money y’all make when you first get out of school. It’s about money. Simple as that. GA Tech, as an institution (not placing blame on any one group), simply is not committing the money to have a national-level football program. If so, then CPJ wouldn’t be flipping recruits from Tulane, SMU, or gulp, Memphis. Yea, UGA did it too. So what does that mean? UGA needs to spend more money in recruiting and their football program too.

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talent goes to Richt against Johnson, not even close.

Yet, wins are even over last 4 season, and head to head, margin of victory has been close.

So, it has to be either Johnson’s a great coach, or Richt’s a bad coach.

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Same old thing with you Bradley. It seems as though you go out of your way to find something about TECH that is NOT good and write a damn article about it every week. Get a life you Georgia homer.

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Not trying is only salt in the self-hating wound that we call Coach Paul Johnson. He….is….a….joke. Unless you can at least play in top 150 recruiting…you have no shot…NONE…..of ever competing at the championship level. What’s sad is that The GT leadership knows this…..the AD and Prez have effectivley surrendered by keeping this joke of a coach in place.

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Perpetual compainer… lol… I guess my expectations are a bit higher. The only alternative is to hire until you find the right coach…. Forget all these handicaps, such as academics that are excuses. We recruit the same players everybody else recruits… At least we used to…… This coach doesn’t have a clue when it comes to recruiting, and the facts are only proving that coach is in way over his head.

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Lol!!! You go on living in LaLa Land warehouse. Lol! You are hilarious!

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It all changed for Tech when college football became the minor league for the NFL. We are not a football factory like the majority of FBS schools. It takes a special kid to want to come to our school and unfortunately it is difficult to get 85 of those type kids.

The haters that blame CPJ or his offense are kidding themselves. This is a 50 year old problem. CPJ has had more success than anyone since Dodd and his offense helps our situation.

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New Jack – I knew the ball park answer. Miss St. and Vandy weren’t good teams. 08-09 Miss St was 4-8 and 5-7. In O9 Vandy was 2-10. I’m not sure if that makes or breaks your point.

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The genius of Paul Johnson is, like Bobby Knight, he has created an offensive system, that doesn’t require superior talent.

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warehouse I’m confused? Are games won by actually winning or does the “winner” have to win by 20 in order for it to REALLY count???

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Mark,

While Coach Johnson’s philosophy of cutting declared recruits who visit other schools has been critisized, I think it means he gets a more committed team overall.

Thoughts?

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I further believe Johnson’s philosophy of cutting guys who visit other schools, has led to his recruits getting less “stars”. Stars come form how many schools offer you often, and if you’re not visiting or talking with other schools, you arn’t going to be popular with recruiting services because there’s no news.

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donkey dooh

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Everyone knows the ACC is better than the SEC. From top to bottom the ACC is stronger than the SEC, aka ESPN’s cashcow.

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Good grief George,

Are you really female pretending to be male….. Who said fire the coach every two years, who said he had to win every game…. I’m OK with being competitive…. Just beat somebody that is good… Good Grief man/women get a grip…

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If we’re being honest, RedandBlackDAWG, we have no idea how Tech would have done against y’all’s schedule.

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When your coach is well known and reported accurately as a recruiting bully and hypocrite you are never going to win over top talent. Threatening kids into an a early nonbinding verbal commitment is straight up thuggery.

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I don’t think CPJ even tries to get the 4 & 5 star recruits which btw is stupid.

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We are competitive, gt4ever! Who do you think Tech should hire? It should be a simple question for someone of your advanced football intellect.

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SBinF —

Ever since Morris Brown and Clark Atlanta lost their accreditation and GT could no longer have their players taking classes there as a transient student their recruiting talent has drastically decreased. That was a major selling point to their potential recruits worried about the course load at Tech.

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I won`t loose any sleep over what ESPN writers think about GT instate recruiting. We will line up 11 players on offfense and defense on every down regardless of who they are or how many “stars” the expert assigns to them.
If we win or lose the game the sun will come up in the east the next day. Football is a game that is to be enjoyed if you like it not a way of life.

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As usual, Georgie cannot dispute the facts and is reduced to playing blog spelling cop yet again like an angry 10 year old I see. What a sad, sad existence a shut-in must led. I pity Georgie

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For example, treat?

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The recruiting problem is worse under Johnson because his offense is no ticket to the NFL and big time players know this.

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The ONLY position at TECH that doesn’t get the look in the NFL could be the QB, but Tech hasn’t had a good passing QB yet.

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Pretty sure Gailey put more players in the league than Johnson. And no, you cannot count Gailey’s recruits for Johnson.

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As far as MR & PJ go, It’s a wash folks.

MR = better talent/depth, in better conf = 34 Ws in last 4 seasons (10, 8, 6, 10) played in 1 conf CG
PJ = lesser talent/depth, in lesser conf = 34 Ws in last 4 seasons (9, 11, 6, played in 1 conf CG

That kinda defines a “wash”

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dawg70, that is possibly the dumbest thing I’ve read today. So just playing for a certain offense will get you to the NFL? Here I was thinking TALENT gets you to the NFL

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Techie fans are ate up with the DA mentality and you can see it when you read thier comments. we know they never walk thru a door at techie. As they are ate up with the DA’s

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Well, here we are reading and responding to a controversial topic written to attract “hits”, mine included, but I will only make this one, to attract more advertising dollars. My 2nd point. Part of the reason for supposedly poor in state recruiting, in my IMNTBHO, is the philosophy expressed by the previous HC & AD that GT would never again be a double digit per year win team in football and the fans and alumni should get over that expectation and except that fact as reality. Their reasoning was based on high academic requirements and the average HS player could not meet those requirements. You can trust that opposing recruiters are still using that statement against GT without telling the kids when or who made those statements. When we win consistently enough to overcome that perceived attitude, recruiting will improve. Success breeds success! My 3rd point is CPJ can recruit the better players. I recall reading an article about Johnathan Dwyer where he said he liked CPJ and he would have accepted his offer from the Naval Academy except for having to roll out of bed every morning for PT at 0500 hrs. So he accepted his 2nd choice of GT from CCG. My 4th point. A great number of you, including me for reading all this nonsense, need to get a more fulfilling life. Selah.

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GT fan (or whatever handle you are now using) Richt owns Johnson and you are under selling the might of the SEC and over selling the suckfest that is the ACC. If GT played division 5-A high school football here in Georgia they would be lucky to win 10 games a year.

Im sure you will repeat your same lie under a new name any minute now. Good luck.

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wow. Pansy….what an intellectual and insightful post…to quote George, Troll On….

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Oh boo hoo hoo…Pansy has resorted to personal attacks….I may cry now

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Hey friendless old Tech trolls. Why dont you go outside of your mom’s house for a minute and get some fresh air. We all know you havent left her house in weeks.

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Wow, Brookhaven…I didn’t realize that kids only go to school to get swag from Nike and UA

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It is about academics and the “quantity” of majors. Tech has Engineering (many sub majors there) and Business Administration (sub majors there) , some other Technology majors etc, maybe 25 to 30 total. At all the other “major” schools in the south, you can get an education degree to be a teacher, you can get a general studies degree to do whatever, etc. We do not have the breadth of majors that many of the top kids want to study. Look at their profiles, what are they interested in? Under some of these kids as freshman their major is “Undecided”, which means they are taking the core classes and have no clue what they want to do. Tech SA’s go into the engineering or managment programs taking classes toward that degree from the get go. I can remember watching schools like Nebraska on TV years ago, and the Juniors on the team would have majors as undecided, give me a break. Rather than assume a kid is going to play on Sunday’s let’s ask them what happens if they blow out their knee, what will they do then? I am no fan of the Dawgs, but that Trinton Sturdivanyt guy had 3 or 4 knee surgeries and could have played on Sundays, but it didn’t work out, now he has a degree in finance from UGa and probably a job. For as many 5 star kids who make it on Sunday, there’s probably the same just getting by who did not make it and our working for 10/hr. These young people need to use this scholarship for life.

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Everybody told Tech fans that this would happen with CPJ. He is fine coach but a poor recruiter. Of course his 1950’s offense is to blame for why they cannot recruit any position on offense well other then RB.
TECH OL never get enough practice and / or game tape of them pass blocking which is bad for their NFL prospects. Their WRs and TEs run block 90 % of the time. Their QBs are closer to RBs the QBs.

Then there is the academic delima. I wonder how many top 150 recruits even quailfy for acceptance into Tech ? I bet its 25 or less of the top 150 recruits have the grades to be a Yellow Jacket.

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Good points Tech86……………this coming from a Dawg.

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Everybody told Tech fans that this would happen with CPJ. He is fine coach but a poor recruiter.

And we said, great, we can’t recruit anyways so we will take a great coach.

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No wonder the trade school kids are always hanging out on Georgia blogs. It’s the only way they get to discuss any in state kids with talent or any in state kids or any talent at all for that matter. I wonder if cpj still gets to keep his genius title the bug boys love to toss around after he was outsmarted by that high school kid last weekend?

The kid went to another school for a visit, got cpj to admit tech didn’t withdraw his scholarship despite his repeated boasts that he would do so and then the kid commits elsewhere anyway. LOL That was very well played.

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@@Tech86………you still don’t get it and you are too stupid to ever get it. There are reason GT has a low graduation rate. Please read and educate yourself.

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gtbob

You answered my question. Y’all are still under the delusion cpj is a great coach.

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Wow, I hope that picture of CPJ calling timeout (on the header rotation on the main sports page link to this article) is not the one from just before the missed UGA field goal! That kicker had the yips so bad that he needed two tries to make every kick, and we gave it to him!

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What a lousy article. We don’t even know tech’s final recruiting class and this appears. Why the AJC enjoys bashing the local colleges is beyond me.

Here’s my take on things.

1. Public education in Georgia ranks near the bottom of the country.
2. Tech football players have higher SATs than many colleges which could affect the decision of some home grown players.
3. Tech has a more limited base of majors to offer which, again, can slightly limit the recruiting pool a little bit.
4. Tech’s offensive scheme seems to hamper the ability to land many of the best offensive recruits.

Just my 2-cents worth.

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But who knew Pj would be below average coach and not be able to recruit?Before saying Chan couldn’t recruit and Pj has the same ranking or better, take a look at the talent Gailey recruited and developed, much better than what PJ has done.The talent level is down.#57 and if Tomlinson doesn’t sign falling.PJs inexperience coaching at the BCS level shows the man is in over his head.

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This is news? What a joke. YOu know how many 5 star recruits Tech has gotten ever? 0. And still we compete pretty well for the most part. Ga has won more than I like but this was the first year it really wasn’t a game since the thrashing of Gailey at UGA that year.

And that’s with what 2-4 5 stars EVERY year vs none ever!

ESPN hates my school except for Thursday night games. Even in movies we are the bad guy (see Rudy and The Program)

We’ll see if we get a 5 star tomorrow I think. It sure would be nice to be part of the club. then people could stop talking smack that Johnson can’t recruit.

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biggdWagk…….a typical Tech student graduates in a little over 5 years. TECH is a difficult school for smart kids that don’t play sports. tech doesn’t have a bunch of Dumbed Down Degrees for athletes. A TECH diploma is respected because people know how much hard work goes into getting one. TECH actually graduates athletes close to the rates regular students. TECHs GOAL is to not let unprepared people walk away with a GIT Diploma even if they can Hit, Carry, or Dunk a ball. The problem is the rest of the Institutions of Higher Learning have Dumbed Down for the God of football money.

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GT Bob, Wow really????Really? Really? Please remind CPJ if he is so much better than Richt , he should atleast start beating him atleast a few times a decade.

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@the Grinch, you are not really at a big disadvantage from an admission standpoint. I have seen you get in kids with a 2.5 and 800 SAT. You do have a point with the majors issue. As a technical school, you are not going to have the liberal arts, home ec stuff to choose from that even better schools such as Stanford and Duke do. Continuing with your list:

5. Only about 30% girls and 25% of them didn’t grow up with the Roman alphabet.
6. You are a clear second fiddle in your local market. That’s not a shot, but Georgia football gets a LOT more media attention.

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ugakev, if CPJ and Richt swapped positions next year then who would win the UGA/GT game? UGA would win by a least three touchdowns.

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Which students got in with a 2.5 and an 800 SAT?

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Goldenrod,

I WISH we knew the answer as to why GT cannot win a bowl game. I had the same discussion with a few season ticket holders, and most feel the reason being that once teams are given ample time to shut down the perfect option, they do so.

The gimmicky offense has shown it does not work against the elite teams in NCAAF.

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Wow … the truth hurts. Another sad statistic for GT. I wonder: Will it ever change? Not with the current leadership.

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nobis

That is great but you might be surprised to learn this a SPORTS blog. Most of us are here to talk about SPORTS. I know very few trade school fans actually went to the trade school much less graduated but surely you can comprehend why your “logic” is faulty here.

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Names?

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31-17, 9 out of 10…DAWGS STILL RUN THIS STATE That is all you need to know my friend.

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Mark B. What state are you from? Why did that state allow its top sports columnist to leave?

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GTBob and George,

You guys are funny! George I wouldn’t put names on here… You don’t have to believe me. I really don’t give a damn…

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You’re not interested in facts, gt4ever.

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tired of this.

Anti tech bias?!!! Are you serious? If there was a negative story to run about Georgia the AJC would have it as the lead for a week. I wouldn’t be happy but their job is to sell papers and generate hits on blogs so I would understand.

cpj and the trade school is a stumbling bumbleing rambleing wreck right now and a heck of a pitiful joke. Do you think the AJC should ignore the fact teenagers are outsmarting coach fish fry and the moron can’t make a statement without lieing and proving what a hypocrite he is?

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The AJC is pretty negative overall but can you really blame them? None of the teams in Georgia in any sport are any good.

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As Trace Adkins sang-

Lord have mercy, how’s she even get them britches on
That honky tonk badonkadonk!!!

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Bama Tea….No ACC team would have a redneck like you as a fan. See some colleges actually EDUCATE students instead of trying to be the minor league for the NFL.

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Why is there no mention in this article that the study only included teams from 18 states, and if a school in one of those states signed nobody they just omitted them? The headline is HORRIBLY misleading. Plus, we won’t know which of Paul Johnson’s recruits will end up playing in the pros since this is basically the first year any of them were draft eligible. Stephen Hill is going to be drafted this year, and guys like Omoregie Uzzi, Rod Sweeting, and Orwin Smith should make it next year as seniors. Then you have some underclassmen like Lou Young and Jeremiah Attaochu who have a pretty good shot as well. BS article by a BS journalist

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You stupid Bammer, all you Updykes are all alike, ready to teabag some unsuspected fan or poison a tree/vegetation.

Hate you & your stupid Rammer Jammer bullcrap – meanwhile I say, War Damn Eagle!

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You guys are a bunch of pillow biting wet blankets. Know what the difference between a pig and the GT Homecoming Queen is?………pigs don’t have acne

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Hey GTBob,,,you are a wet noodle. Just because you guys suck and that trend is getting worse don’t lump everyone else in the state in your misery

What teams in the state can Georgia really get excited about? The Falcons are about the closest thing and they keep fizzling in the playoffs. UGA and Tech are never going to compete for anything substantial in football and basketball is dreadful for both right now. The Hawks are ok but no one really expects much from them come playoff time either. The Braves have been a disappointment. Please tell me which team in 2012 is destined for great things.

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Bama Tea…What sounds like Somali pirates?

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Tbagger you are a fool! Much like all of Georgia’s schools (Emory included…for people who can’t get into Harvard) are a disaster. Georgia Southern is a redneck 13th grade for farmers kids; probably the only way these guys can keep their kids from intermarrying

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Amen HC…glad I don’t live there. NYC or die!

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Its the head coaches job to recruit and attract players to their program. Richt will never have a Mid 40’s recruiting class because he knows how to recruit and attract players that want to play for him.Then has the ability to develop them. Pj doesn’t do either.

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Dawglasville…try the FACTS when CPJ & Richt were at similar schools. the FACTS of the last 4 years are basically the same 34-19. Richt’s First 4 years are a long time ago. Like the last UGa MNC was a long time ago.

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Nothing shocking here. Paul Johnson sux!

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Richt will never have a Mid 40’s recruiting class because he knows how to recruit and attract players that want to play for him.

If Richt went to Honduras for a year, UGA’s recruiting wouldn’t change much. The school recruits itself. Richt has little to do with it.

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Bradley – What a scumbucket! The day before National Sighning Day – really? Couldn’t get up this morning and write something postive? Time to think about an career, little Markie. You are done here. Roll up your “Occupy Atlanta Sports Scene” bedroll and move to the beach to watch sunsets.

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The Richt Era,
most wins–
1-lsu–115
2-uga–106
3-florida 105
4-auburn–101
5-arkansas–86
5t-tennessee–86
7-south carolina–80
8-alabama–77 note they have won 98 but had to vacate 21 for ncaa rules
violations.
9-ole miss–62
10-kentucky–59
11-mii st–50
12-vanderbilt—39
against tech 10-1
vandy 10-1
kentucky 9-2
auburn 7-4
south carolina 7-4
tennessee 7-4
ole miss 5-0
arkansas 5-1
bama 3-1
miss st 3-1
lsu 3-4
florida 3-8
how many times has each team finished ranked??
uga 9
lsu 9
florida 7
bama 6
auburn 6
tennessee 5
south carolina 3
ole miss 3
arkansas 2
miss st 1
kentucky 0
vandy 0
only 2 “bad” seasons in 11.

who has the most sec titles–
lsu 4
uga 2
florida 2
auburn 2
bama 1

who has the most division titles?
east-
uga 4
florida 3
tenn 3
sc 1
west-
lsu 5
bama 2
auburn 2
arkansas 2

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GTBob – OK. Now we are on the same page. I agree with you about Hewitt and Richt. I’ve made that analogy for years. I’ve also said be careful with CPJ when it comes to giving him a big fat contract. You don’t know what the next 6 years holds. He may or may not prove to be a better coach than Richt or Hewitt. He gives Tech fans hope which is more than they had before he came.

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Paul Johnson cannot recruit and GT needs Liberal Arts, Rec, PE majors. Tech needs to get into the 21st Century immediately!!!!

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The Richt Era

Having 5 star recruits handed to you on a consistent basis will get you a lot of wins. Unfortunately though it wont win you anything meaningful. At some point you have to coach and that is where Richt falls apart. If you have a team with Stafford, Moreno, and AJ Green and you can’t even make the SEC championship then no one really cares how many wins you have.

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To the extent that it’s true, SiddyBoy, it reflects poorly on the players. I suppose they’re only kids, but hopefully a parent will help them, because they likely will never earn a dime playing football.

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“Come on, dog. It’s a game. Georgia’s Georgia. They’re a good team, but they’re no speed bump.”

What down is it anyway?

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Academic entrance standards are no different than UGA, so stop with that line of crap. Bottom line is the school is located in the getto and most kids are not looking for that type of college experience. Plus its hard for a kid from a big time high school to get fired up to play in front of 32000! Just sayin

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Y’all quit worrying about Georgie! We SPANKED that Clemson arse, 31-17 and no one, not even Dabo can deny that!

We Run This Conference!

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@headley lamar

Its amazing he hasn’t been fired. Especially with getting Tech put back on probation. Again.
———————————————————————————————————————————–
Are you reading these comments? He hasnt been fired because Tech fans think he walks on water.

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I am a UGA, SEC fan. I don’t hate Tech and wish Tech well except when they play UGA, or ever have a chance to be National Champions.
The truth here is that Tech is the college in Georgia for a great education, while UGA is just an average school that can accept more players with lesser academic scores. I don’t see how Tech can field a winning team with the school’s emphasis on academics. Paul Johnson has a heck of an academic restriction when it comes to recruiting players that most other schools in the state, and southeast, do not have. Just stating the truth.

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He beats up on the sisters of the blind every year in the first 6 games and gets the techies excited which doesn’t take much.

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Are you reading these comments? He hasnt been fired because Tech fans think he walks on water.

I don’t think he walks on water, but it is absurd to say he is doing a poor job when you look at the history of Tech football. This is not a very easy place to recruit or coach.

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Richt is a fine Christian man and I would prefer him as our head coach ANY DAY of the week over Coach Fish Fry. It’s obvious ole Turkey Neck is the most arrogant coach in college football today.

DawgsRunThisState31-17

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He’s doing a better job of evaluating and finding hidden talent but then other big schools come calling at the last minute. Not much CPJ can do after they verbally commit then flip at the last minute. CPJ needs to relax his scholarship policy a bit. Yanking after a kid decides to visit another school is just old school for kids these days. Especially with so many schools yanking on their sleeves. I disagree with his policy.

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GTBob – Well, lets play the troll game Bob. Tech gets all of these 5 star students from all over the world. Funny, I don’t think that you can find any publication that will say Tech is the best engineering school in the nation. You won’t find anyone (exept for a Tech Kool Aid drinker) that says Tech is anywhere near being the very best school in the nation. A lot would argue that Emory is the best school in the state of Georgia. So I guess, using your blog logic, that Bud “The Dud” Peterson is a joke of a president and that Tech is totally insignificant. Now, we both know that you don’t feel that way Bob so why don’t we finally mature past the blog game.

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Not winning anything meaningful, coming from a Tech fan that would consider a season meaningful if the only game they won was vs UGA..

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Nothing is going to change until the offense scheme changes. That’s not going to happen as long as Johnson is the coach.
Tech is one the top engineering schools in the country. Just imagine they were still using slide rules to teach, how many top engineering students would attend??

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@GTBob

I don’t think he walks on water, but it is absurd to say he is doing a poor job when you look at the history of Tech football. This is not a very easy place to recruit or coach.
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I’ve never said he was doing a poor job but to keep thinking that he is doing a good job because he has the highest winning percentage since Bobby Dodd is somewhat of a stretch and a cop out.

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The local talent of any consequence prefers Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Florida, and Florida State over Tech and UGA. Cannot blame them. They want to go to schools that have actually played in BCS championship games, not just talked about it during the off season.

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Tech should do a better job recruiting these kids and just the same kids should have more pride in thier home state to want to play for one of the state schools.

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That was insightful, Tossed Salad.

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Pensacola dawg..I guess that is WHY UGa has 73% Special Admits on the football team.

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I don’t think that you can find any publication that will say Tech is the best engineering school in the nation.

You might. We are the 4th best engineering school in the country according to rankings. Someone might have put us at #1 at some point. Probably not though. Kinda hard to compete with MIT.

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Mark, did you read the ESPN the Magazine article entitled “Five-Star Fiction” by Peter Keating where he states that the rating systems have close to zero correlation with how a team does. This article seems to show that fans and the media put too much hype on recruiting and not enough on coaching. Mark Richt and Paul Hewitt, by that measure, way underperformed and it appears that Paul Johnson may way outperform in the coaching category.

Not that I am making excuses, I am proud of the academic requirements of the GT players and how they do (which is much better than the GT general population).

It will be interesting to see how the SEC powerhouses do when the academic standards for the entire NCAA go up in a couple of years.

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Georgia Tech truly is nothing more than the little brothers in the state!

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Depends on what you want to do, Great academics. As for the conference strength thing, it’s tired, but I’d say it’s also deeper than one game.

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Stay classy UGag fans! Yeah, you’ve beat us 9 out of 10 years under Saint Richt – there, I admitted it!

Hope you’re happy now! We are geared up for academics, not athletics, them’s the berries!

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Rubbing Salve, you are using the same old tired Tech come back. You wanna talk football or academics???

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There is no questioning how bad the ACC is in football. Look at the football powers that FSU and Miami were BEFORE they joined the ACC. Now, they are just 2 average at best football programs

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didn’t have a SINGLE quality win.

I guess that makes it official that Auburn is not a quality win. So who was UGA’s next best win? Can’t claim GT they are an ACC team. I guess that leaves Vandy?

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I guess I require more than looking at Miami and FSU. I’d want to know who the ACC was playing before making too many judgments.

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Great article Mark Bradley! Don’t let these blogger-types on here drag you down! You do a might fine job with your coverage of UGA and GT athletics, as well as the Hawks.

Keep up the great work, we love you & we need you!

THWG!

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Mark Bradley, you are no Furman Bisher or Jesse Outlar. They were at least fair to all schools in the state. Looks like you are trying to trash our school, and our coach and players. Maybe you should write an article that is your own work to begin with, and secondly, it would discuss how the number 4 engineering school in the country, top ten in the world also competes successfully in football, basketball, golf, baseball and track. Guess that would be too obvious to you. This is why I quit taking the AJC after 30 plus years and use it free on line. Hell, your job and industry is going the way of the buggy whip. But you will do well as a blogger, as that is all you are anyway.

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Trying to compare Tech and Georgia is like comparing apples and oranges. Two different schools, goals, and conferences.

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I am a UGA fan and I will admit that Coach Johnson and his staff are better offensively than UGA. With the poor coaches that UGA employs on that side of the ball, most colleges are better in offensive schemes.

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Another Georgia homer talks about GT. Instead of understanding the situation, he simply repeats some base line numbers from another individual who knows nothing about Tech and probably has not been on campus and or spoken with Coach Johnson. As we all know you can make anything out of numbers, it just depends on what your trying to accomplish. Bradley needs to focus on the problems at Georgia with their player getting in trouble and worry about that. Tech will be fine and complete the process the way it should be completed. I doubt PJ could care less what someone from ESPN or Mark Bradley has to say.

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Dawglasville

January 31st, 2012
11:46 am

I wish that all of the in state talent stayed in state. I wish that the kids who want to be engineers would go to Tech. The kids who don’t, I wish they would come to UGA or Southern, and I wish that the kids who can’t get into Tech or UGA would play at Southern. Can you imagine if Tech and UGA filled their teams with the top talent in the state? “You might say I’m a dreamer but I’m not the only one.”

If they could pull off that then it would be a VERY important game on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. There is a massive amount of talent playing GHSA football. If the borders were cut off from the rest of College Football we would have some very good teams to make the rivalry even better.

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SimpleDawg has it right. You have to SMART to go to GA Tech. That is why SEC grads call GA Tech grads “BOSS”

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If you took all the largest schools from each state and then looked at there in state recruits then took the 2nd largest football school in each state I think you would find a similiar result. This article is as biased as it gets very poor job of journalism in my mind.

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Hell, look at the GT coach. It’s a wonder they get anybody. Telling recruits if they visit another school to get lost, isn’t great salesmanship.

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Funny you say that, Ohiobuzzard. Also on the list are Stanford, Cal, Oklahoma State, Auburn, NC State, and Texas A&M. Meanwhile, UCLA has signed 12 of California’s 73 ESPNU 150 players and that has gotten them….

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Well there is one thing tek is good at and that is cheating,lieing,and chop blocking.

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Hey 909 or .909— GT can win all the debating team championships and College Bowls– you just can’t win football games– and this is a damn football blog.

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And one more thing– Georgia has had more Rhodes Scholars than– let’s see….. Georgia Tech. I don’t hat eGT, but their jealousy is starting to wear thin.

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Sorry tech fans, but as all engineers know, the numbers do tell a story. Maybe not the whole story, but we must accept that CPJ can not recruit. He is just not capable of closing the deal with top talent. He does not think he needs top talent because he is so smart he can beat your 5 star and 4 star athletes with his genius and 3 star athletes. I have to admit, I was drinking the Kool Aid after we beat UGA (with one of their best teams ever and in Athens) and then we won the ACCCG.

CPJ needs to find someone that can recruit the state of Georgia and he needs to get someone to teach him how to sell to recruits (yes, you can teach an old dog new tricks if he wants to learn).

And while you are at it CPJ – go out and find a QB that can actually run the option and pass the #$@! football and get some D-lineman that can eat up blocks and stop the run.

Still hopeful, but running out of patience with this regime.

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It it’s been proven, Greg, then you show me the evidence. I’ll be waiting patiently.

Show me one place where I’ve said a bad word about UGA.

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Ok point taken we don’t get as many top recruits as Ga, Fla, Al, Fl St or AU.

So do we get more students than any of them either ? If we do then we have a story. If we are a smaller school then ESPN is reporting a statistical truism.

The abnormality would be if we were had a larger enrollment of students overall and still had less 4 and 5 star players.

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The wishbone isn’t a big seller for today’s kids and that is Ga Tech’s big problem. The Admin at Tech will have to live with the current performance or hire another HC. GT needed Mike Leach but needed someone in the admin that was bold to take the bull by the horns. I have no clue about Paul’s contract but those folks behind he scenes need a shortlist and again they need a hotshot to get things moving and then recruiting will get better in a hurry. I salute Paul for the number of wins at Ga Tech but he is running up hill trying to get today’s youth to come run the Bone. These kids want to be on seen on Sportscenter each Saturday and many value this more than winning or teamwork.

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I think that S. Carolina has more commits from the state of Georgia than UGA. Now, not only do we make Auburn and Alabama great, we are also the main supplier of talent to S. Carolina !!!!!!

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