They Come & They Go.....

Will Tom Brady run the option this year?

Rumor has it that Patriot's head coach & CPJ buddy Bill Belichek watched practice yesterday before the Patriots-Falcons game at the Dome last night. Last time we had a "special visitor" to practice he ended up our new defensive coordinator. Something tells me Belichek was just here see a couple old friends in Johnson & Groh.

The good news yesterday is we received a pair of commitments in Durham N.C. Hillside QB Vad Lee & OLB Darrius Caldwell of Mays High here in Atlanta. Lee was the number one QB on the staff's board and we have been pursuing him hard since early last Spring. Lee is an elusive runner with a solid arm who projected as a WR in most conventional offenses. Quicker than fast, Vad has good size at 6'2" & 185 pounds and should be a great fit in our offense. Don't expect too much to soon as I expect it will take Lee a redshirt year before he really begins to compete for playing time. Lee chose the Flats over NC State, UNC, USCe, & Maryland to name a few.

Caldwell is a late bloomer with great potential. At almost 6'6" & 215 pounds, he has the frame to add plenty of weight & the wingspan to be a tremendous pass rusher. As far as his build, think former Tech standout Michael Johnson coming out of high school. A defensive end at Mays, he'll obviously need time to bulk up but Caldwell has great potential as an OLB in Al Groh's system. He chose Tech over Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Central Florida, & West "By Gawd" Virginia to name a few. Congratulations & welcome to the Flats, gentlemen.

On the down side, we lost a player yesterday as redshirt sophomore QB Jordan Luallen announced he is leaving Tech to pursue football elsewhere. The most likely destination at this time appears to be Cincinnati. The details from Doug Roberson at the AJC . A couple things on Luallen:

1. He's a great kid & a credit to any program. He has always handled himself with class & it was no different yesterday as he said of his transfer: “I’ve got nothing but love and respect for Georgia Tech and my teammates. I hope they achieve all the goals they want to. I just think that this was best for both of us."
2. A highly sought after dual threat QB out of high school in Indiana, Luallen was a bit miscast in the spread option offense as a passer who could scramble as opposed to a runner who could pass. He always ran far too upright & had a tendency to fumble the ball because of this. CPJ wished Luallen well & thinks playing time was the major factor in his decision: “I wish Jordan well,” Johnson said. “It wasn’t working out for him. I think he was disgruntled with where he was on the depth chart. I know he wants to play. I wish him nothing but the best. He’s a good kid.”
3. The real story here isn't Luallen's lack of progress but the solid play of true freshman Synjyn Days in this year's camp. From all reports & my observation at last week's scrimmage, Days appears to be entrenched as our #3 QB behind Nesbitt & Tevin Washington, leaping over both Luallen & David Sims in just over two weeks of Fall camp. From what I'm hearing, Days has exhibited a good knowledge of the offense & a stronger arm than expected during practices. He certainly looked the part in last Saturday's scrimmage but will need to improve his footwork, a weakness in his game. It appears Days is the biggest early surprise of last year's recruiting class. I expect a strong effort from Days to grab Joshua Nesbitt's job next spring. From my perspective, he's the early front runner....

With all this in mind, I'm trying to squeeze in a QB breakdown this week.