Football & Recruiting For 2004

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ahsoisee

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I have been looking at the prospects for next year considering the recruiting of players. We should be better in 2004 player wise, except at a few positions.

On defense, we appear to be stronger next year, except at linebacker. We have three verbals already and could move Anoai and Wilkinson back to linebacker if needed. Other than linebacker, we appear to be stronger than this year, especially at the DT position.

On offense, we start out the year with an experienced quarterback which is a huge plus. We should have excellent back-up in Carter if he is as good as advertised. PJ will have another year of experience under his belt, and Rashaun Grant should add speed and versatility in the backfield.

The fullbacks are experienced, so no problem there. We should be stronger and more versatile in the backfield, however, it would be nice to add a great back to the mix.

Personally, I still think Cooper could become one of the best receiving tight ends at Tech. He appears to be very fliud. I expect great things from him next year. Tight end should again be good next year.

We will miss Smith at WR, but we still have Nate Curry. Sometimes others step up to fill a void. It is possible McGuire, Thomas, and Logan are ready to take on that responsibility. Bilbo has just started at the position. He may suddenly catch on next year. We are not in bad shape, but could use a burner if we can recruit one.

The offensive line should again be strong. Even if we lose Dorsey, Kenton Johnson has shown a lot of promise. Reilly will be gone at center, but the back-up is good and adds more heft to the line. We appear to have good reserves on the offensive line for next year.

Overall, the offense should be much better next year with an experienced quarterback, experienced line, halfback, fullback, and most of the receivers returning.

The offense will not have to start from scratch next year learning the plays. We should be able to start the year off with a lot of precision. The offense should be better next year.

Jordan was supposed to be great at placing the kick-offs in the end zone. Surely this next year will see him at the kick-off position. My hunch is Jordan will handle this duty and we will be stronger here. We have recruited a highly rated place kicker, which should make this position secure. We have experienced a lot of problems with the punting. We really need to find a good punter in our recruiting efforts.

Since we had a lot of freshmen on kick-off coverage, we should be better in this area next year. It appears, we will be some better in the special teams area next year.

Our greatest needs in recruiting for next year are linebackers, a punter, one burner at wide receiver, one great running back, and a couple of defensive ends.

Of course we need recruits at most positions for the years after that.

Overall, as a team, we should be stronger next year, but wil be playing some of our key games away from BDS.

THE DEFENSE FOR 2004

DEFENSIVE TACKLE (Should be a strong position for next year)

Mansfield Wrotto 6-4 310 Sophomore
LeShawn Newberry 6-0 310 RS Freshman
Travis Parker 6-5 275 RS Junior
Brad Brezina 6-2 275 RS Sophomore
Omar Billy 6-2 270 RS Junior
Elris Anyaibe 6-2 275 Incoming Freshman

DEFENSIVE END (Strong position for next year)

Eric Henderson 6-3 265 RS Junior
Joe Anoai 6-3 235 Sophomore
Chirod Williams 6-4 235 RS Senior
Adamm Oliver 6-4 250 RS Freshman
Marcus Harris 6-1 265 RS Freshman
Travis Rogers 6-2 230 RS Freshman
Arthur Rozier 6-3 200 RS Freshman
Josh Tittle 6-2 240 RS Freshman
David Brown 6-3 255 Inc. Freshman
A.J. Smith 6-7 225 Inc. Freshman

LINEBACKER (The numbers are fine, but experience is short. Could pull Gerris Wilkinson and Joe Anoai to linbacker)

Gerris Wilkinson 6-3 230 RS Junior
Nick Moore 6-1 225 RS Freshman
Tabugbo Anyansi 6-1 220 Senior
KaMichael Hall 6-1 205 RS Freshman
Phillip Wheeler 6-2 215 RS Freshman
David Sanborn 6-1 205 RS Freshman
Justin Guadagni 6-1 225 Inc. Freshman
Gary Guyton 6-4 215 Inc. Freshman
Travis Chambers 5-11 225 Inc. Freshman

CORNER BACK (Strong position for next year)

Dennis Davis 6-0 185 Senior
Reuben Houston 6-0 195 RS Junior
Kenny Scott 6-1 180 Sophomore
I-Perfection Harris 5-10 175 RS Sophomore
Brian Fleuridor 5-11 180 RS Freshman
Venice Gilliam 5-10 195 Junior
Sam Williams 5-11 170 RS Freshman
Jamal Lewis 6-0 167

FREE SAFETY (Strong position for next year)

James Butler 6-3 210 Senior
Nathan Burton 6-2 200 RS Senior
Avery Robinson 6-2 190 RS Freshman
Eric Williams 6-3 190 Inc. Freshman

STRONG SAFETY (Strong position for next year)

Dawan Landry 6-2 215 RS Junior
Chris Reis 6-0 210 Junior
Joe Gaston 6-0 200 RS Freshman

THE OFFENSE FOR 2004

QUARTERBACK (Strong position for next year)

Reggie Ball 6-0 180 Sophomore
Patrick Carter 6-3 185 RS Freshman
Kyle Manley 6-3 185 Inc. Freshman
Robby Brown 6-1 180 RS Senior
Taylor Bennett 6-3 201 Inc. Freshman

RUNNING BACK (Still not strong, but addition of Grant adds strenth and versatility for next year)

P. J. Daniels 5-10 205 RS Junior
Ajenavi Eziemefe 6-1 225 Junior
Rashaun Grant 5-11 190 RS Freshman
Jesse Hundley 5-9 179 RS Junior
Chris Woods 5-10 190 Junior
Mike Cox 6-2 250 Inc. Freshman
Justin Guadagni 6-1 228 Inc. Freshman

FULLBACK (Strong position for next year)

Jimmy Dixon 6-1 220 RS Senior
Jonathan Jackson 6-2 225 RS Senior
Brian Johnson 6-3 240 RS Junior
Michael Matthews 6-4 260 RS Sophomore
Alex Johnson 5-11 235 RS Freshman
Kyle Pupello 6-1 230 RS Freshman
Jay Reid 6-1 260 RS Junior

TIGHT END (Personal Opinion-I believe Cooper will become best receiving TE in a long time)

George Cooper 6-5 255 RS Sophomore
Michael Matthews 6-4 260 RS Sophomore
Gavin Tarquinio 6-3 250 RS Junior
Darius Williams 6-6 260 RS Senior
Travis Kelly 6-0 264 RS Sophomore

GUARD (Strong position next year)

Leon Robinson 6-4 330 RS Senior
Brad Honeycutt 6-4 305 RS Junior
Salih Besirevic 6-7 290 RS Junior
Matt Rhodes 6-4 275 RS Freshman
Jacob Lonowski 6-5 275 Inc. Freshman

CENTER (Losing best linemen here, but more heft at position next year)

Andy Tidwell-Neal 6-4 310 Senior
Kevin Tuminello 6-4 285 RS Freshman

TACKLE (Even if Dorsey leaves, it will still be a strong position)

Nat Dorsey 6-6 330 Senior
Kenton Johnsom 6-6 305 RS Junior
Kyle Wallace 6-6 290 Senior
Eddy Parker 6-5 280 RS Freshman

WIDE RECEIVER (Will miss Smith, but others could step up their game, McGuire, Thomas, Logan, Bilbo)

Nate Curry 5-10 RS Senior
Xavier McGuire 6-3 205 RS Sophomore
Lavon Thomas 6-0 195 Senior
Mark Logan 5-11 200 RS Senior
Damarius Bilbo 6-3 225 RS Junior
Chris Dunlap 6-0 185 RS Freshman
Karl Graves 5-9 170 RS Sophomore
Eddie Ivery 5-10 165 RS Sophomore
Robbie Rollins 6-2 192 RS Junior
Finesse Usher 5-11 190 RS Freshman
James Johnson 6-0 180 Inc. Freshman

PLACE KICKER (Should be improved with Cismesia)

Travis Bell 6-1 192 RS Freshman
David Jordan 6-4 205 RS Sophomore
Gary Cismesia 5-11 205

SNAPPER (Have had no problems here, appears to be in good hands)

Adam Blizzard 5-11 210 RS Senior
Andrew Economos 6-1 RS Senior
Cory Hixson 6-0 260 RS Freshman
Kyle Rossi 6-1 200 RS Freshman

PUNTER (Has to get stronger just with practice)

Eric Griswold 6-1 195 RS Sophomore
David Smith 6-4 210 RS Senior
Andy Thomson 5-11 RS Senior

Father Time
 
Good post!!! The key for this year in recruiting is OL and DE..With taking a couple of years ideally to develop Olineman (We lose 4 to 5 over the next 2 years) Also DE imho is important because of the loss of Hargrove and Pullen to flunkgate..we need more of the Eric Henderson types..We are still thin there...imho Gary Guyton is being recruited as a future athletic DE at 6-4 220 he will put on WT....Anoai is being put at DT and probably will be adding wt. to be a bigger DT in future years...
 
My largest concern on offense is definitely O-Line. They are still not playing well this year, with exception of against WFU, and we have absolutely no depth. The freshman that were brought in this year are banged up, one not practicing at all as I understand it.

We should be concerned at WR for big play capability past Curry. However, every year some others step up...so I will act on faith for this one.

Still would love to bring in the big breakaway back for next year to be in the backfield with Daniels and Grant (assuming he improves). We are recruiting several of the 6-0, 210, 4.4 type backs...so lets see what happens.

Regarding defense...it will be tough to replace what MAY be the best LB corps that we have ever had...yes...including Brooking/Rogers...just an opinion. Fox and Smith make A LOT of plays...and we will have a learning curve next year at this position...even with talented freshman coming in from the 2003 and 2004 class. We can move some guys over there (Wilkinson, Reis), but that just takes away from other schemes. Tenuta has designed his entire defensive scheme around allowing Fox and Smith to make plays.

However, all things considered...and assuming we stay healthy, we should be slightly better off personnel wise next year than this year.
 
Good post, Ahso.
A real key to bolster 2 of your weaker projected positions would be the return of Micheal Sampson @ RB & Lekeldrick Bridges @ WR. By the grace of God, may we get these 2 back. And if God is feeling real graceful, we may get OLB Kenji McNair back, but it doesn't look as good as the other 2, but 'who knows' about any of the 3.
Anyway, any of these 3 would be a boost because of the experience they already have @ GT.
 
Great post, Ahso - but just to clarify, I believe a lot of those guys you list as RS Freshmen for next year have seen the field and will be true sophomores (Moore, Hall, Wheeler, Fleuridor, Gaston - not positvie about Williams, Oliver, Dunlap).
 
Excellent post Ahso... my thanks to you for taking the time to put this together.. I wish we could "thumbtack" this post..

We need the receiver out of Sandy Creek.. I hope he sees his future at Tech.. I agree, the Guyton kid will probably play at DE .. he sounds like a great catch.. I hope Newberry comes back healthy.. he looked great in camp.. I was amazed at his quickness during camp.. We need linemen.. on both sides.. actually, I hope we can hit most positions this recruiting year.. I cant think of an area that we wont need bodies..
 
We have to replace a great center and that should present a new challenge for Reggie. This is something easy to take for granted, but remember, fumbled snaps always seem to happen at inopportune times.

IF, and this is a big if, Ball and the WR are able to get some serious practice in on their own this summer we will be a very good team.

If they take the summer off and think that we have the luxury of 'developing' the offense like we did this year we will have a disappointing season. They need to have the timing and the routes DOWN like they have ESP.

Other notes...
We cannot afford to have three Ks on scholly IMHO. If Jordan does not get it in gear he will lose his athletic scholly for 2005.

I hope the Fresh OL can see how important they are for the short term future of the program. Plus we should be able to get some solid OL with the early PT available.
 
Nice looking team. Thanks, Ahso.


Tidwell-Neal to Center if Tuminello isn't ready and the hopeful return of Sampson at RB and Bridges at WR will be key points.

Additionally the maturation of some of backup LBs and the matriculation of an impressive depth we are developing at DB will be fun to watch.

This has PROGRESS written all over it!

THWD!!!
 
I have this feeling that if we do not get some EXCEPTIONAL impact freshmen at LB and WR ,we will be struggling to do as well on DEf AND OFF next year even with our returnees.
Smith is THE MAN at receiver,Curry would have to make a huge step-up to replace his threat.The others left have a LOT to prove.Remember this offense is 109th in the country .
On that same note,if Dorsey goes with Reilly,the line might also struggle to be as good-again as the 109th offense.This will negate some of Reggie's improvement.
On DEF, you can't even describe the void of losing 3 SR LBs of that caliber.Especially when we hardly play any backups.btw-I can almost see Landry moving to OLB rather than moving Wilkinson to get Reis or Gaston on the field.
We are lucky that the kicking has not actually cost us a game so you can hope that will be improved.
Overall,it will be interesting though.
 
Now this is just my opinion, but I really don't see Nat Dorsey going pro after this year. He hasn't had that great of a year this year or last year. He had a phenomenal freshman year, but, quite frankly, his footwork has been lax at best and he consistently has speed rushers beating him around the corner because of it. In the NFL, where EVERY Defense End is a speed rusher, he'd be killed if he shows the same techiques.

Because of his size, agility, and potential, he will go high NEXT YEAR if he finishes this year strong. Remember, the pros don't generally like to take OL underclassmen high in the draft. For those guys, you want them to go all 4 years and get some extra size and strength on them before they start the grind of the NFL.

Just my opinion, but I think it's a safe bet that Nat will be back next year...and I'm hoping very hard that he is!
 
If we don't recruit some quality Olineman, we are in deep doo doo after next season assuming Dorsey stays for a 4th year. We have not recruited this positions well over the last 2 years, where we got 3 last year and 1 the year before that who is now gone from the team. We need Lineman Desperately. We have twice as many WR's as we do Tackles. That's NOT GOOD!!!
We could also use some real big DE's that do not need to be force fed to play on the Dline early. We need some Wrottos and Newberrys.
shocked.gif
 
Thanks Ahso. I printed this one out when you originally posted it. I enjoy taking inventory of our assets and projecting future possibilities based on what we have on the shelf. Your analysis is excellent in pinpointing where our recruiting priorities should be. I appreciate your taking the time to share your research.

Go Jackets!
 
You forgot Taylor Bennett at QB. Incoming freshman that is starting the year this spring.
 
Kudos to Ahso:
Exellent post Ahso, thanks for going to the work to put this together. I will copy and paste this to my GT file.
 
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