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?

A Public Service Message

One of the more enduring "misnomers"(as Coach Johnson would put it) of the Paul Johnson era has been that he possesses some kind of magical ability to judge talent which is fortuitously not owned by any other coach in the major collegiate ranks.

For you see, Paul Johnson knows football. He really knows it. While Superman has X-Ray Vision, and Spiderman his "Spidey Sense," Coach Johnson, with what we can only speculate to be some kind of tingling or burning sensation in his ample busom, can deftly recognize unheralded future All-Americans to whom only FCS and mid-major schools have offered scholarships.

Case in point: 2011 commit Broderick Snoddy, who of course projects to the program's dingy utility closet, the "A-back" position. Amidst what was surely a throwdown on the recruiting trail, Mr. Snoddy chose Georgia Tech over Sun Belt titan Middle Tennessee and FCS schools Delaware, Georgia Southern, and Jacksonville State. It goes without saying then that he must be a late-blooming Diamond in the Rough with super measurables and impressive high school stats whom the elite schools were "just starting" to recruit. I mean, who cares if other FBS schools didn't see fit to offer Broddy Snoddy a scholarship? They aren't coached by The Man With the Magical Blubbery Bust. In CPJ We Trust.