Random Thoughts & Monday Musings...

It's Monday, a holiday, & frankly there's not a lot going on out there. I've been working on the comprehensive "Al Groh 3-4 Defense Opus" which should come out this week. The soundtrack includes both Lil' Wayne & Ride of the Valkyries so we've got that going for us. Coaches are on the road for in home visits this week as recruiting really heats up before signing day on February 3rd. Some news/thoughts:

• Rising senior defensive back DeRon Jasper will be graduating this spring & forego his senior season of eligibility, giving us 1 scholarships for this year. Congratulations & best of luck.
• Senior defensive back Corey Earls will spend spring practice at his original position of wide receiver.
• We have our first & hopefully only academic casualty of the year as redshirt freshman safety Brandon Leslie has remained at home in California & not enrolled this semester. That puts our scholarship availibility at 19.
• Subtract one scholarship as we understand sophomore B-back Preston Lyons, who transferred from Colgate to Tech & attended school on a Hope scholarship this season, has been placed on scholarship. Congratulations & well earned, sir....
• We have offered Atlanta Westlake CB Darius Robinson a scholarship. A Clemson commit, Robinson grew up a Tech fan. He'll take an official visit next weekend & hopefully we can flip him.....
• South Carolina LB Justin Parker is still our number one target & he'll get an in-home visit from CPJ, Coach Groh, & Brian Jean-Mary tomorrow. Parker has narrowed his choices to three schools; LSU, Clemson, & Tech. He'll be here next weekend to take an official. At 6'3" & 230, Parker is a perfect fit in our new 3-4 defense at inside linebacker & might have a chance to play as a true freshman.

Why be a Roughrider when you can be a Jacket...?

• Word on the street is that Springville, Alabama offensive lineman Chase Hughes did not enroll early at Ole Miss in hopes of receiving an offer from Tech. A lifelong Jackets fan, Hughes projects at center or guard on the collegiate level. We expect an offer soon.
• CPJ will head to Albany on Wednesday & visit A-back prospect Tony Zenon. We have heard the staff wants to trend toward bigger A-backs (Orwin Smith vs. Marcus Wright, for example) so it will be interesting to see if Zenon picks up an offer.
• A good article on Al Groh's decision to come to Tech & the criteria he used to make that decision.
• We are all in favor of adding the verb "kiffined" into the lexicon of every day life. An example: you're at the bar & have bought a hottie 2 drinks. You leave for the bathroom & by the time you get back she's hanging off some other guy. You just got kiffined. This video should help.

Poor Tiger. To be compared to Kiffin is pretty low....

Enjoy the holiday & as we said earlier, lots of interesting stuuf on deck including SEC scholarships/running off players, the Groh 3-4 opus, & a look back at the recruiting class of 2005. Word.......

Commitment #14.....

Marist kicker Justin Moore just committed to the Jackets for the class of 2010. Moore is known for his powerful leg & should be able to compete for kickoff duty right away. For those of you who screamed all year for a kicker with a booming leg, Moore is your guy. We've now filled 14 out of 17 officially available slots (we expect the total number of available scholarships to be 19 when all is said & done). The staff is on the road for the last in-home visits before national signing day on Wednesday, February 3. Welcome to the Flats, Justin.....

Groh-ing on me......

A few reasons we're happy with the arrival of Al Groh on the Flats:

• the endless wordplay available to us with a coach named Johnson & another named Groh. A sweet return to adolescence, that combination....
• Press conferences with CPJ & Groh might look something like this next season. The joy....
• When things are tough the man reaches for poetry as an answer. That should go over well....
• This strange thing called defense. We know we'll see more of it in 2010....
• The University of Virginia, clueless ass-hats that they are, will be paying Groh $4.33 million over the next two years (the remainder of his contract). So our Wahoo friends will be paying old Al to beat their own asses when we play them this year. LMFAO!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!......

Hey UVA, this is what Al has to say.....

• Street cred. Bling. Phat ropes & diamond rings....

The man got chedda' & diamonds on his hand.....best take notice, bitches....

• He's a Lady Gaga fan. Who knew?
• And finally:

The 65 year old man leaping chest bump. Awkward comes to mind.....

Please share your thoughts on our new defensive coordinator......

Not to be overlooked...

Former Navy QB Lamar Owens takes over for Jeff Monken coaching the A-backs....

with Groh-mentum reaching a fever pitch on the Flats yesterday was the hiring of graduate assistant Lamar Owens to coach the A-backs. The former Navy quarterback (2003-2005) & Savannah native was instrumental in Josh Nesbitt's development this year, essentially serving as his personal coach. We suspect coach Owens will prove a fine recruiter in addition to coaching the slotbacks.

So the staff looks like this:

Offense:

• Head Coach/Offensive Coordinator/Grand Poobah of the Option/ Chief Inquisitor of Shitty ACC Defenses/ Generalissimo/ this list could go on for days - Paul Johnson
• Co-Offensive Line: Mike Sewak
• Co-Offensive Line: Todd Spencer
• Quarterbacks & B-Backs: Brian Bohannon
• A-Backs: Lamar Owens
• Wide Receivers: Buzz Preston

Defense:

• Defensive Coordinator: Al Groh
• Defensive Line/Recruiting Coordinator: Giff Smith
• Linebackers: Brian Jean-Mary
• Secondary/Special Teams Coordinator: Charles Kelly

As best we can tell Chris Hampton will return as a graduate assistant coach & we need to hire 2 more graduate assistants. We'll see how things shake out in the next couple of weeks.....

We humbly submit.....

for your approval our suggestion for this year's Tech football theme:

Georgia Tech Football 2010

Watch our Johnson Groh

We need to have T-shirts made.....

-Hash

Groh-mentum on the Flats....

That scowl should look perfect next to CPJ on the Tech sidelines....

Rival's Kelly Quinlan was the first to report this morning & ESPN & the AJC have followed that former Virginia head coach Al Groh has indeed accepted the defensive coordinator position. Now 65, the Bill Parcell's protege brings a wealth of experience to the Flats along with a Super Bowl ring (1990 Giants). A quick look at what this means for us:

• Groh is well respected as a defensive mind with close ties to Parcells & Belichek. He's a 3-4 guy & I expect we will switch to a 3-4 next season. We plan to post an updated defensive depth chart reflecting this change later today.
• This will help recruiting. Groh's NFL experience will help draw interested recruits into the program. I expect to see a couple commitments on the defensive side before signing day.
• Our guess is Groh mentors Giff Smith who takes over when Groh retires. Good plan.

This is a very good hire for our program. We get a well respected defensive coach who will shore up many of our deficiencies in a hurry. Groh will also help with recruiting in the Northeast. More to come as things unfold......

Ummm, damn, ummmm.....

The Barrel: "Baby, it's not usually like this..."

Our Date: (turns head, rolls eyes) "Oh, I'm sure"

The Barrel: "We're a stallion in the sack. A Cassanova. I don't know what happened....?"

Date: (thought bubble) "here goes Quick Draw with the excuses....."

The Barrel: "I mean, usually I can last an hour or two......"

Date: (thinking again to herself) "sure, maybe when you're playing tiddlywinks"

The Barrel: "I know we were early. Just a little quick. Over excitement, baby, you lookin' so fine & all....."

Date: rolls over, yawns in disinterest....

The Barrel: "I mean, it just went off. You know, like the loaded weapon it is. Damn baby, it won't ever happen again"

Date: "you're right about that"

The Barrel: "Baby, I'm sorry, we'll make it up to you....."

Seems like we were, shall we say, a bit premature in announcing we'd have a defensive coordinator today. We don't have shit. We jumped the shark. Call it a case of premature defensive coordinator-jaculation. Call it whatever you want. But it will evidently be a couple days until we have a an announcement on our new DC. Until then, you may now enjoy your case of "defensive coordinator announcement blue balls". Sincerely,

-Hash