Chuck Oliver blogger gets it, exposes Johnson Problem to larger audience

Kudos to blogger Chadd Scott on the Chuck Oliver website, who wrote a scathing piece last Thursday on Paul Johnson's recent misadventures in recruiting. Though we don't necessarily agree with his appraisal of the neanderthal-ish goon as a "smart man," that should in no way detract from the substance of his article.

Scott incisively dissects Johnson's "Aycock Rule" using arguments right out of the FPJ handbook, mentioning the antiquated nature of the practice, the extra recruiting impediment placed upon Georgia Tech, and the indecisiveness characteristic of 18 year old kids. He further calls on Johnson to "wake up, grow up and stop being stubborn."

Scott says that if Johnson is confident in his abilities as a recruiter, he should encourage his recruits to take other visits if that is their wish. He adds that Tre Jackson's visits to FSU and Miami did not necessarily mean Tech was out of the picture for his services-- a point which has only been accentuated now that Jackson may no longer be in line for a commitable offer from either school barring an 11th hour reach.

Scott then turns his attention to the poor overall quality of the 2011 class and to the talent drain which we have so feverishly cataloged:

Jackson is exactly the kind of prospect the Jackets need to be signing and aren't. He's a major talent at a huge position of need for a team that is suffering through a major talent drain. (...) it's plain to me that this program is in danger of a major downward spiral - if it hasn't started already. Look at what FSU, Clemson and North Carolina are doing in recruiting. They're getting playmakers sought out [at] all the top programs. Georgia Tech has too many commits from players choosing between it and UAB.

Cue the Slurpers ready to accuse Mr. Scott of being a secret "UGAGer" and of perhaps even moonlighting as the publisher of this very blog.

In all, we must say that Scott's article is an insightful read for any true Tech fan sensibly concerned with the program's welfare. Together with Ingram Smith's sobering assay of Johnson's 2011 class, it indicates Chuck Oliver's website as a welcome haven of objectivity in the often ingratiating world of recruiting news and analysis.

(Credit to WrecksNEffect for the heads up)

Recruit: Johnson and staff not as "welcoming"

Recent Tech decommit Trey Flowers talks about what attracted him to the University of Arkansas:

Another recruit gone, "Contrarian" makes no apologies

Thursday we spoke of Paul Johnson's struggling program as being akin to a soup kitchen for players who have nowhere else to go. Well it looks like another one of those vagabonds has found himself a home.

Georgia Tech astoundingly lost its fourth committed defensive prospect in two weeks Sunday, as Huntsville, AL DE Trey Flowers switched allegiances to the University of Arkansas. Flowers's defection comes a scant four days after he had announced his Tech commitment. As a matter of fact, according to message board chatter, Flowers was on a secret visit to an Arkansas recruiting event no more than TWO days after pledging to Coach Johnson. How's that "no visit" policy working out for you now Coach?

Johnson victims "working to convince" NFL scouts

Former Tech B-back Anthony Allen is discovering the cruel reality of being a "featured" runner in Paul Johnson's service academy offense.

Like Jonathan Dwyer before him, Allen now faces a variety of questions from pro scouts as to whether he can adapt to an NFL style of play. In Johnson's bland, single-formation offense, Allen lines up only three yards behind the QB in an unorthodox three-point stance and receives little experience in pass protecting or catching the football. This altogether makes him an unpolished, "incomplete" back and a risk for teams drafting in the early rounds.

Allen's plight only retraces the pattern of his predecessor Jonathan Dwyer, who was once a premier NFL prospect, but likewise saw his draft stock plummet after two seasons of reprogramming at the hands of Johnson. He was eventually drafted in the sixth round by the Pittsburgh Steelers and saw minimal action in his rookie campaign. Dwyer has since exhibited the public bitterness towards Georgia Tech befitting of a player who had his once-promising career stifled by a gimmick offense he never asked to play in.

Meanwhile, outgoing QB Josh Nesbitt is trying to do some convincing as well, but his task is even more daunting. Once a brilliant passer in high school, Nesbitt saw his quarterbacking skills erode precipitously under Johnson's tutelage. As a result he has been forced to retool himself as a running back amidst fading hopes that he will be welcomed into the professional ranks.

Nesbitt was once considered one of the top dual-threat quarterbacks in the country coming out of high school and started three years under Johnson. His senior season marked career lows in both yards per attempt(6.42) and completion percentage(37.1%), the latter of which was a full 10% behind the lowest-ranked FBS player with enough attempts(14 per team's games played) to be listed in the official NCAA rankings(Vanderbilt's Larry Smith at 47.4%).

The Perfect (fallback) Option

We saw what Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly did when one of his top commits visited Georgia Tech and changed allegiances. With a front-row seat to the carnage, did Paul Johnson take notes on the methodology used by a superior football coach? Did Paul Johnson learn and grow from his latest disastrous failure?

Of course he didn't. That would be most unbecoming of a football "genius."

Q&A: Star rankings vs collegiate success

Time for some viewer mail:

Q: Just wondering if you honestly believe that a high star rating equals out to a succesfull[sic] recruit? If you did any studying at all instead of being just a plain idiot you would realize that players that are 2 or 3 stars typically have more success at the college and NFL level than those "precious" 5 stars that UGAG loads up on every year.

- Anonymous

Yes, Mr. Anonymous. Yes I do believe a high star rating is significant in predicting future success.

Yours is the characteristic song of a Gailey-Johnson slurper in the wild. Though you fail to cite any hard data, I'm aware of the primitive argument you're trying to make, and you do the same thing as the rest: ignore the base number of 4 and 5 star rated players. We've argued against rah-rah jocksniffers like you countless times since before Johnson, and we are frankly tired of doing so, as those of your ilk appear refractory to the accumulation of knowledge. It just so happens however that Popular Yahoo Sports blogger Dr. Saturday is in the midst of a week-long series on this very topic, and he has done all the necessary research for us. It is among the most groundbreaking yet on the subject.

Unfazed, Johnson reloads with top F(C)S talent

Coach Paul Johnson filled two urgent needs Sunday night, securing the commitments of Sean Tobin, one of the nation's finest longsnapping prospects, and "under-the-radar" DE Kyle Travis out of South Forsyth. In fact Travis was so far off the radar that he did not have a page dedicated to him on either Scout or Rivals until shortly after his commitment. How resourceful of Coach Johnson!

Tobin should come right in and assist with longsnapping immediately, much to the relief and cheers of Tech fans across the globe, while Travis will likely redshirt and then fit deftly into the gap created by the heathenous decommits of worthless rabble such as Darrius Caldwell and Stephon Tuitt.

By the way, Travis's "other" scholarship offer per his brand-spanking new Rivals.com page was from none other than Jeff Monken's high-flying Eagles of Georgia Southern! It should be noted that while Johnson is 0 for 28 head-to-head in recruiting versus UGA this season, he has now spirited several promising young men from the clutches of hated Southern, adroitly tightening Tech's stranglehold on the #2 position in-state.

But let's be serious here for a moment: the Tech Rivals site has (hilariously) framed Tobin's commitment as "addressing" the special teams problems! After all, how many big games did we lose this season because of incompetent longsnapping?

Even we didn't think Johnson had become so desperate.

Caldwell jumps ship; Menocal secures life raft

Georgia Tech lost one of its prized commits Sunday, as Mays HS DE Darrius Caldwell switched to Illinois following an official visit this weekend. He was one of the highest rated prospects in Tech's class and is the second touted DE to abandon the Jackets within the last week.

The impetus of Caldwell's sudden visit and subsequent decision is unclear at this point. Many a CPJ henchman has swiftly raised the "possible" issue of grades and test scores in order to absolve Johnson and his staff of all blame. However even if such claims are true, and we are not convinced that they are, is it not Johnson's responsibility to ensure that the recruits he is pursuing are reliably admissible to the Institute? Is there any excuse whatsoever for losing a player to academics this late in the recruiting process?

Caldwell's quick decision sidestepped a head-on collision with Johnson's "Aycock Rule," a confrontation which we had quite been looking forward to. A similar scenario will surely present itself in the future, but for now we must watch and wait.

In other news, Tech snagged Miami(FL, not OH) refugee LB Nick Menocal, temporarily assuaging the sore bottoms of Johnson fanatics with the balm of a prospect who was actually pursued by other BCS schools. And while Menocal does appear to be a decent pickup compared to the offal Tech has recently been accumulating, some slurpers have used this circumstance as a makeshift platform for lauding Johnson's recruiting abilities as if he had just "stolen" one from the mighty Hurricanes. The truth is that Menocal was not valued by their new coaching staff and was being nudged out the door:

"The new coaching staff at Miami wanted to honor my scholarship," said Menocal, "but they told me that they didn't see me playing linebacker in their scheme and they wanted me to play offense which was fine, but I just never felt wanted at the end of the day by them."

I'm not familiar with the defensive scheme Miami's new coach intends to run, but this would not appear to be a good endorsement of your incoming linebacker regardless of scheme. Good thing we have two "genius" coaches like Paul Johnson and Al Groh then to mold him into an All-American!

DE commit looking elsewhere? WWCPJD?

Per Rivals.com, Georgia Tech DE commit Darrius Caldwell is currently on a surprise official visit this weekend to the University of Illinois. This has been reconfirmed by insiders on the Illinois Scout board.

Will the man of "character and commitment" Coach Paul Johnson now IMMEDIATELY pull Caldwell's scholarship as he did with 2009 QB recruit Dontae Aycock? In case you've forgotten, here are a few tidbits regarding what "commitment" supposedly meant to Johnson at the time.

If Tech loses Caldwell, it would be a stunning blow following the drama of Stephon Tuitt earlier this week. Caldwell is rated a 5.7 and ranked the 23rd best DE recruit in the country according to Rivals. He has been committed to Tech since mid-August and could possibly be the second DE prospect to decommit in the last week. His loss would be disastrous to what has already been a thoroughly disappointing class.

With QB commit Vad Lee's intentions of visiting other schools apparently finished, this development may finally provide the insight many Tech fans have been seeking into the truth behind the facade of "high character" and "morality" which has been so finely constructed by Johnson and his boot-licking supporters.

Kelly, ND never gave up in pursuit of Tuitt

If Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly adhered to the same recruiting philosophies as Coach Paul Johnson, he would not today be in possession of one of the nation's elite defensive end prospects. From NBCSports.com:

A day after losing five-star defensive end Stephon Tuitt to home-state Georgia Tech, head coach Brian Kelly, defensive coordinator Bob Diaco, recruiting coordinator Chuck Martin and defensive line coach Mike Elston arrived at the Tuitt household and didn’t leave until Tuitt was back committed to Notre Dame.

A stunning contrast in philosophies to be sure: When Kelly's committed recruit abruptly switched allegiances, he and his braintrust hopped a plane immediately in "dogged pursuit," as the article terms it. Conversely, when Paul Johnson met a similar situation with coveted 2009 QB prospect Dontae Aycock, who visited Auburn after having pledged a silent commitment to Tech, he turned up his nose, as he is generally wont to do, and yanked the young man's scholarship offer without even informing him. The publicity generated by Aycock's situation, along with Johnson's musings on the incident, became a de facto establishment of the infamous recruiting policy subsequently christened by this blog as the "Aycock Rule." This policy would now seem to drop Tech completely from the Tuitt race, despite the young man's moment-by-moment vacillations with still 13 days remaining until signing day.

The NBCSports.com article continues:

...concepts like loyalty and fidelity are obsolete when it comes to a 17-year-old choosing from the nation’s best football schools.

We couldn't agree more, NBCSports.com. Coach Johnson's anachronistic service academy philosophy on recruiting is obsolete and places Georgia Tech at an unnecessary competitive disadvantage. We have covered this before: The practice discourages early commitments, stalls recruiting momentum, and automatically cedes uncertain players to schools which might later enter the picture. These are 17 and 18 year old kids Coach Johnson! Once they get to Georgia Tech, you can teach them to be men. For now, they are mere boys with profound decisions to make, and it is only natural that they might waver on a choice which could well mold the next thirty years of their lives.

From Chip Towers's recruiting blog:

“The recruting process is nervewracking, very nervewracking,” [Tuitt's mother] said after her son switched from Notre Dame to Georgia Tech and back to Notre Dame in a 36-hour period from Tuesday to Wednesday. “They have to remember that these kids are only 17 years old and are very impressionable."

It seems like we have to say it again and again, but this isn't the Naval Academy Coach Johnson! When kids have choices like Notre Dame, Texas, and USC as opposed to Western Kentucky, UT-Chattanooga, and Wofford, they're going to be all the more hotly-pursued and consequently more baffled as to the appropriate course of action. It's time for you to grown into a "man" yourself and become a legitimate BCS-level head coach. Otherwise you can forget about your dreams of Simple Option football being showcased in the National Title game and instead make your plans to be setting new attendance lows in Shreveport year after year for the remainder of your wearisome Tech career.

Johnson whiffs on Tuitt curve, back to triple zero in recruiting

It was reported late Wednesday that 5-Star defensive end Stephon Tuitt has switched his verbal from Georgia Tech back to Notre Dame. This would seem to complete a whirlwind of events which began Tuesday when the prized recruit first spurned the Domers for Tech.

Tuitt was believed by some to be a virtual lock for Georgia Tech early in the recruiting period before his surprise commitment to Notre Dame after a visit in mid-September. Because of Paul Johnson's ridiculous stance on Tech commits who look elsewhere, there now remains absolutely no chance that Georgia Tech will obtain the services of the ultra-talented defender. Or at least you would think so. It would be of no surprise to us if the oily Johnson were to make an "exception" for Tuitt should he decide to flip-flop once again.

Tuitt would have likely been an immediate anchor on a Tech defense woefully depleted of top-shelf talent. He reaffirmed his allegiance to the Irish despite Notre Dame's receipt of commitments over the weekend from two of the top four defensive end prospects in the country as ranked by Scout. Notre Dame now has six committed recruits who played the position in high school.

Further, Tuitt's defection is all the more profound an indictment of Paul Johnson's recruiting "talents" considering the pair reportedly met for "about an hour" as recently as Wednesday afternoon.

But hey, look on the bright side: at least Coach Johnson got Demontevious Smith out of the deal! I wonder why Notre Dame didn't want Tuitt's bestest buddy too? And don't forget Broddy Snoddy was lavished with that coveted third star from Scout.com! But I thought the services only downgraded the star rankings of recruits once they've committed to Tech? Or at least that's what the slurpers would have you believe.

By the way, special congrats are certainly in order once again to recruiting coordinator and defensive line coach Andy McCollum, who was directly responsible for Tuitt's recruitment. Similar to Calvin Johnson before him, Tuitt was a uniquely gifted in-state student-athlete who basically fell into Tech's lap, and one can't help but wonder what might have been had the bumbling Coach Johnson hired a more competent replacement for Giff Smith. The loss of Tuitt now slides Georgia Tech back to 0 for 28 on recruits who have received offers from both Tech and UGA, which makes this as appropriate a time as any for us to update THE BIG BOARD:

A list of committed 2011 prospects holding offers from both Tech and UGA:
Data obtained from rivals.com

NAME	POSITION	STARS	RATING	STATE	COMMITTED TO
Sterling Bailey	DE	4	5.8	GA	Georgia
Devin Bowman	ATH	3	5.7	GA	Georgia
Chris Conley	WR	3	5.7	GA	Georgia
Watts Dantzler	OL	3	5.7	GA	Georgia
Zach DeBell	OL	3	5.7	FL	Georgia
Amarlo Herrera	LB	4	5.8	GA	Georgia
Nick Marshall	ATH	4	5.8	GA	Georgia
Justin Scott-Wesley	WR	4	5.8	GA	Georgia
Quan Bray	ATH	4	5.8	GA	Auburn
Anthony Chickillo	DE	4	5.9	FL	Miami, FL
Xzavier Dickson	DE	4	5.8	GA	Alabama
Doran Grant	DB	4	6.0	OH	Ohio St
Carlos Gray	DT	2	5.4	NC	NC State
Demetrius Hart	RB	5	6.1	FL	Alabama
Jeoffrey Pagan	DE	4	6.0	NC	Clemson
Brian Randolph	DB	3	5.7	GA	Tennessee
Terrance Smith	LB	3	5.7	GA	Florida St
Ja'Juan Story	WR	4	5.8	FL	Florida
Stephon Tuitt	DE	5	6.1	GA	Notre Dame
James Vaughters	LB	4	5.9	GA	Stanford
Jabriel Washington	ATH	3	5.7	TN	Alabama
James Wilder Jr.	ATH	5	6.1	FL	Florida St
Karlos Williams	DB	5	6.1	FL	Florida St

Players with offers from Tech and Georgia who have not yet committed:

NAME	POSITION	STARS	RATING	STATE	FAVORITE(S)
Chevelle Buie	RB	4	5.8	FL	ECU, Marshall
Ray Drew	DE	5	6.1	GA	Aub,Clem,UF,UGA,LSU,TN
Erique Florence	DB	4	5.9	AL	None
Tony Steward	LB	5	6.1	FL	AL,AU,Clem,FSU,UCLA
Xzavier Ward	OT	3	5.7	GA	none

Mr. Tuitt, meet your new defensive coordinator

This is how Coach Groh rolls



(Note: We realize there are no defensive clips shown. We just think this is funny as hell and that Groh is a doofus.)

Tuitt switches amidst dubious circumstances

Coach Johnson scored an enormous get on Tuesday as 5-Star DE Stephon Tuitt out of Monroe switched his verbal commitment from Notre Dame to Georgia Tech. Tuitt is one of the top players at his position nationally and would represent the FIRST player of the recruiting season that Tech has successfully acquired who has also possessed an offer from UGA. It should be added however that UGA, for whatever reason, was eliminated from Tuitt's radar early in his recruitment, and did not finish among his top choices.

We mentioned the possibility of Tuitt's decision on Sunday, when Johnson obtained the commitment of his Monroe High School teammate and reported best friend Demontevious Smith, an "under-the-radar" prospect who held mostly mid-major and FCS offers. Suspiciously enough, Smith did not possess a Georgia Tech offer before last weekend, when both he and Tuitt were scheduled to visit. This brings into question the ethics of Johnson in potentially offering a scrub player who he fully intends to warm the bench simply to obtain the services of a more highly-prized associate. In fact it makes you wonder how long Demontevious will even remain on the Tech roster now that he has outlived his "usefulness."

Furthermore, Tuitt is yet another previously-committed player which Johnson has attempted to steal away, despite his reported disdain for players who shop around after committing to Tech. As we've pointed out again and again, Johnson's "excuse" for this hypocritical behavior is that he turns the other way in such a circumstance and does not bother to inform himself of the player's "arrangement" with the other school, so it's somehow "not his problem." You would think though that if only Coach Johnson would have asked Notre Dame, they would have been more than forthcoming about how unhappy they would have been with his encroaching on their committed recruit.

Of course the party has already begun for Coach Johnson's toadies. While they are the first to bash the "star system" of the recruiting sites when Johnson is mopping up two and three star leftovers, they become positively giddy whenever a rare 4 or 5 star player of note deems it practical to choose Tech. The truth is, these purveyors of The Johnson Problem would have found reasons to feel good about themselves regardless of the player's rating. If he's a 5-star, well, all hail Scout and Rivals! If he's a 2-star, don't listen to Scout or Rivals... look at this tape of him dominating in a high school game! Either way, you end up with the same oblivious euphoria.

Tuitt is certainly reason for celebration for the rational Tech fan-- he would be our first 5-star commit since Calvin Johnson pledged to Chan Gailey in 2004. Though we have misgivings about the way he obtained the commitment, kudos to Coach Johnson for finally securing a prospect fans can get excited about. Now if he could only do it on a more consistent basis, and without all the Sun Belt filler, this program might actually start going places.

Alternate realities

In defense of this season's disaster, some Tech fans have found it necessary to apply dubious tactics in shielding their beloved Coach Johnson from criticism. Among the more ridiculous has been their illustration of the fact that Tech finished with the same 6-7 record as rival UGA, despite not having the same "4 and 5 star" talent. This has also been used somehow as evidence that Tech doesn't "need" that kind of talent to be a great program, despite UGA's 9 wins over Tech in the last 10.

Obviously such claims ignore the reality that UGA plays in arguably the nation's toughest conference, while Tech plays in a second-rate league comprised mostly of "academic" and "basketball" schools. To this effect have I argued that Tech's "average" 6-7 record in the ACC is akin to a 3-9 debacle playing in a "real" conference.

I thought it would be interesting then to examine how Tech may have fared playing UGA's schedule. The following results were ascertained by using the "predictor" rating published by Jeff Sagarin. Let's take a look:

Opponent	Predictor	Margin	Result
Louisiana-Lafayette	50.52	+21.86	W
@South Carolina	83.35	-16.97	L
Arkansas	87.09	-14.71	L
@Mississippi St	83.00	-16.62	L
@Colorado	66.84	-0.46	L
Tennessee	74.31	-1.93	L
Vanderbilt	58.06	+14.32	W
@Kentucky	69.45	-3.07	L
Florida*	82.38	-13	L
Idaho St	40.15	+32.13	W
@Auburn	93.56	-27.18	L
@Georgia	N/A	-8	L
Central Florida*	77.57	-8.19	L

*neutral site game
Georgia Tech's predictor rating = 69.38
3 points added for home field advantage


So 3-10, with wins over La-Lafayette, Vandy, and Idaho State. Sounds about right. By the way, Georgia Southern gained a spot on Tech in the final Sagarin ratings but failed to overtake the Jackets, placing two notches behind at 72nd.

Better luck next year Coach Monken!

Claytor: Johnson's offense anathema to pro prospects

Tech offensive lineman Nick Claytor, who announced Wednesday that he would skip his senior season to declare for the NFL Draft, has explained the rationale for his decision in an article published by the GTAA.

Claytor apparently feels that continuing for another year in Johnson's scheme will not improve upon his NFL draft prospects. This despite being projected by the NFL advisory board as maybe a potential 5th to 7th round selection. In other words, Claytor prefers to risk not being drafted at all rather than playing for Johnson one more season.

An excerpt from the article:

"As a large lineman, you get used to being big, used to dominating with your size," Claytor said. "I cut that part of my skill set out. My skill set was pass blocking and being bigger than people. I had to learn how to run block."

(...)

In the summer of 2008, some nine or 10 months after Johnson was hired, it was almost startling to see Claytor when summer practice began. Had you not anticipated Tech's linemen returning lighter, you might have thought he'd been sick.

"I lost like 45 pounds when that transition happened," said Claytor, whom I seem to recall saying he was down to 278 that summer. "I think it shows what kind of player I am. I was willing to stay, sacrifice, and work harder than I ever worked in my life."

An interesting sacrifice by a player who some Tech fans were quick to throw under the bus as a "troublemaker" the second his draft intentions were made known. We wish good luck to Nick Claytor in the pros. One can only hope that Johnson's offense hasn't irrevocably claimed the NFL dreams of another unwitting victim.

Unranked, unrated new buzzwords as Tech lands trio

For the first time in over three months, Coach Paul Johnson has obtained a commitment from a prospect of any note.

Three-star offensive lineman Errin Joe out of Lakeland, FL pledged for Tech on Sunday, toting behind a respectable list of offers which included Miami(FL) and West Virginia. Tech was reportedly Joe's second choice, but the committable offer from his first pick, FSU, was not forthcoming.

Much like with the Simple Option offense however, there's always a little bit of bad sprinkled in with the good.

Attendance woes

According to statistics released by the NCAA, Georgia Tech in 2010 posted its lowest average per game attendance since stadium capacity was increased to 55,000 prior to the 2003 season. The 2010 figure of 46,449 ranked 50th among 120 FBS teams. Tech was also 58th nationally in percent of capacity, at 84.45%. It is interesting to note that Tech's 2008 and 2010 seasons under Johnson are two of the three lowest in average attendance since the 2003 expansion.

Georgia Tech football attendance figures since 2003:

2003: 52,862
2004: 46,817
2005: 51,607
2006: 50,617
2007: 50,280
2008: 47,489
2009: 51,584
2010: 46,449

Likewise, Independence Bowl attendance and television ratings were down for the 2010 season. While the 2009 edition of the game attracted 49,653 fans, the 2010 version drew only 39,362, a 21% decrease year-on-year. This despite an aggressive campaign by Georgia Tech to push steeply-discounted $14 tickets to the event.

In fact this year's I-Bowl was the lowest-attended since Mississippi State and Texas A&M met in a blizzard in 2000. If you were to discount that total because of inclement weather, you would need go back to the 1994 game between Virginia and TCU to find an emptier Independence Stadium.

The malaise was neither limited to the fans in-person. The 2010 I-Bowl sputtered to a 1.4 rating with 2.234 million viewers on ESPN2, a 30% and 32% decrease respectively from 2009(2.0, 3.276 mil).

JAILBREAK 2011: Tarrant to Draft, Young to transfer?

According to a Thursday press release, Georgia Tech RS-junior safety and punt returner Jerrard Tarrant will skip his senior season and declare for the NFL draft. He was the second Tech player in as many days to make the decision, joining fellow 2007 recruit Nick Claytor who announced on Wednesday. Since neither Claytor nor Tarrant appears to be regarded as a top NFL prospect, the situation has become yet another damning indictment of the control, or lack thereof, that Coach Paul Johnson has over his football program.

Tarrant was one of the few identifiable playmakers that remained on the roster following the defection of the four juniors to the NFL following the 2009 season. He captured the imagination of Tech fans from the beginning of his brief two-year career, as he returned punts for touchdowns in each of his first two games as a Yellow Jacket. Tarrant also had two critical interception returns for touchdowns, one in the 2010 Orange Bowl and another against NC State this past season, which frankly kept Johnson's team from being humiliated in both games. Tarrant's penchant for the big play also led him to force and recover three fumbles after being moved to the safety position in 2010. His absence from the lineup will be particularly worrisome in 2011, as Tech will now be starting new players at all four defensive back positions.

Further, is it not an ominous sign that the substitute at returner for the injured Tarrant in the Weedeater Bowl muffed two punts?

And just as with Claytor, some vindictive Tech fans have immediately seized this opportunity to turn on Tarrant. Talk has already begun of his being another "bad apple" who was poisonous to the program. And as Tarrant was likewise another (playmaking) Gailey recruit, speculation has surfaced that there must have been a division on the team between Gailey and Johnson players(three years in), completely independent from Johnson's control(naturally). According to some allegations, this conflict perhaps even involved one of the team's leaders, "Mr. Heisman" himself, starting quarterback Josh Nesbitt.

But is this the end of the attrition? Rumor has circulated already that the "jailbreak" is far from complete: Defensive back Louis Young, one of Johnson's more heralded recruits in his time at Tech, is apparently considering a transfer, and others are rumored to follow.

At the pace it's going, "Annapolis South" may indeed arrive faster than anyone ever could have imagined.

Claytor breaks from "jail"

According to Georgia Tech's SID, starting RS-junior offensive lineman and Gailey recruit Nick Claytor will declare for this year's NFL Draft. It is unknown at this point what prompted Claytor's decision, whether it be favorable draft prospects, financial reasons, academic troubles, or simply a desire to escape the Single Option before it completely eradicates his pass blocking skills.

Predictably, CPJ Toadies have quickly worked in spinning the news to help exonerate Coach Johnson's lost season, citing this turn of events as evidence that Claytor was a "troublemaker" and "poison" to the team. In their eyes, it's always the fault of the player, and never the fault of the coach.

Claytor was a heavily-recruited prospect and part of Chan Gailey's bountiful 2007 class that included stars such as Josh Nesbitt, Jonathan Dwyer, Morgan Burnett, and Derrick Morgan, the latter three of which all declared for the draft following last season. He joins the pair of Clyde Yandell and Joseph Gilbert, who transferred after Johnson failed to get them admitted to graduate school at Tech, as Gailey offensive linemen which have been lost early in the past two seasons.

Johnson likes to blame Gailey's recruiting for the poor offensive line play on his 2010 team, but he clearly has no one to blame but himself. What other schools have players of significance jumping ship to the FCS for their senior year because their coach can't pull a few strings to get them admitted to graduate school? Now with Claytor gone and paper-thin depth along the offensive line, the excuses will surely be flying faster than ever as we head into the already ill-omened 2011 campaign.

Tech absent from earliest preseason 2011 rankings

It appears that writers around the country are finally starting to catch on to "The Man Who Wins Everywhere He Coaches."

Paul Johnson and Georgia Tech have been shut out in the five earliest preseason rankings released by major outlets for the 2011 season. Tech indeed failed to make an appearance in any of the top 25 listings, and even managed to avoid being named among the top 30 of Sports Illustrated and the top 50 of Nationalchamps.net!

Examining further, the Nationalchamps.net ranking showed Tech behind several traditional powers who are very likely to be overrated, such as Southern Miss, Baylor, and Miami(of Ohio), as well as behind two of its fellow service academies Navy and Air Force. Though Army did not appear in the top 50, it is unclear at this point as to how the site evaluates them in relation to the Yellow Jackets.

Just give Coach Johnson time though! Once he gets his players in, surely he'll bring The Trophy back home to North Avenue!

ESPN.com

SI.com - Not among 30 teams listed

Nationalchamps.net - Not among top 50 teams!

Orlando Sentinel

San Jose Mercury News

A word on Jamal Golden

A commenter brought to our attention the fact that recent Tech commit Jamal Golden, who we had dismissed as an inconsequential 2-star recruit, won the following high school football honors in his senior season:

• Gatorade’s Alabama Football Player of the Year
  
• Old Spice Player of the Year
  
• Alabama Sportswriters 6A Back of the Year
  
• Also remains a candidate for Mr. Football Alabama

Unfortunately for this commenter, his thoughtless regurgitation of meaningless high school accolades only accentuates our point. It's not like Golden is flying under the radar here. You think Alabama, Auburn, and all the other major southeastern schools aren't aware of the Player of the Year in Alabama? His only other BCS conference offer was from powerhouse Illinois!

The funny thing is that self-styled "Tech fans" should be all too familiar with the sometimes dubious nature of post-season high school awards. 2008 recruit Marcus Wright was Texas 5A Offensive Player of the Year, as well as a Parade and Army All-American, yet his destination of choice was Tulsa before Coach Johnson managed to whisk him from under the nose of Conference USA.

Wright has since entirely failed to distinguish himself among a squadron of similar players at the A-back position, accumulating a mere 43 rushing attempts in three seasons. This past year in fact, Wright mysteriously disappeared after the third game, failing to accumulate any stats thereafter. Though some speculate this was because of a "vicious" Moped-related boo-boo incurred before the Virginia game, their excuse fails to account for Wright's failure to grace the stat sheet in any of the three games prior.

As a matter of fact, Wright's most notable moment thus far in his career hasn't even occurred while rushing the football, but while nestled at the bottom of a pileup, where he was the lucky recipient of a Richard Samuel fumble on a kickoff return in the 2008 UGA game. Or was it skill that guided that tumbling ball into his hands? After all, being the Texas Player of the Year and a Parade All-American must count for something on the college field, right Kool-Aid slurpers?

Changes need to be made

Though this blog is titled "Fire Paul Johnson," we realize that, because of the ludicrous and reactionary contract extension afforded Johnson following the 2008 season, he will be given every opportunity to fix the mess he has created. Since we are not averse to pitching in and doing our part, here are some changes which we feel are necessary to make the current regime more palatable until a few more years can be eaten away from the buyout:

Johnson loses one anonymous 2-star, reloads with another

As revealed in Paul Johnson's Friday press conference, the attrition has continued, with 2009 2-star recruit, DB Carl Miles, being "dismissed" from the team for unspecified reasons.

Fortunately Tech should not miss a beat in the realm of 2-star, Sun Belt-caliber nobodies as last week it obtained its 18th commitment of the 2011 recruiting period from Wetumpka, Alabama's Jamal Golden, whose only other "major" scholarship offer, if you want to call it that, was from Oskee-Wow-Wow Illinois. The remainder of his offer list comprised the usual hodgepodge of mid-major also-rans we've come to expect from a "celebrated" Johnson recruit.

Surprise! Johnson still has all the answers

Coach Paul Johnson put a bow-tie on Georgia Tech's most miserable season in 14 years at his annual end-of-season press conference on Friday. As with all of Johnson's reluctant interactions with the unwashed public, smugness, pomposity, and clichés dominated the proceedings. Here are some of the more salient quotations, coupled with our astute expert analysis: