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?

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."

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

The meaning of commitment

According to preliminary indications from a HIVe insider, Coach Paul Johnson may be backing down from the "Aycock Rule" in the circumstance of 2011 commit Vad Lee. And predictably the same toadies who waxed poetic about Johnson's "principles" and all those high-character kids he was recruiting are now the same ones laying the groundwork of excuses. Among the early candidates:

• The Aycock affair happened later in the process.
  
  
• Aycock was dishonest with the coaches about his visit to Auburn.(though it's been established that he told the coaches about the Auburn visit and was instructed not to go)
  
  
• Johnson and Lee have some kind of special "agreement" that allows him to take visits.(If that's the case, isn't that a little unfair to the rest of the recruits?)
  
  
• Tech stopped recruiting another QB as a result of Aycock's commitment.(that doesn't apply in Lee's case??)
  
  
• Aycock had some kind of "character flaw" that Lee does not have.
  
  
• The AJC writer reporting on Lee's wavering is a UGA grad and is thus stirring things up against GT.
  
  
• There never was a "policy" to begin with. And Oceania has never been at war with Eastasia.
  
  

In case you're new to the situation, here is a refresher on what "commitment" (apparently) means to Coach Paul Johnson:

“We tell kids all the time in our office ‘Look around and make sure this is what you want to do,’” Johnson said. “I am not trying to keep kids from looking around. I think they need to look around. But when you decide and commit, then you’re giving people your word that you’re coming. It’s not a game. It’s not ‘Ok, I’ll take this one unless I can find something better. Or let me lock this down there so I can shop around for some other spots.’ If you’re doing that, you’re not committing.”

“Commitment to me means if they tell me they are coming, then I expect that they are coming. If they tell you you’re coming, then why are they taking more visits?”

“I view anybody that’s still visiting [other] schools as not committed. That’s just me. That’s just the way I do it.”

“... Dontae would tell you that I made him call Lousville and tell them that he wasn’t coming. I told him that’s only fair to Louisville. He went [the following day] and did that. There was a lot more to it. Then he got some bad advice. And maybe not. Maybe he wanted to go to Auburn anyways. That’s what I took it as. If he wanted to visit Auburn, then he wanted to go there.”

More on this situation as it develops.

Don't get on that plane!

On November 29th, 2010, the worlds of cubicle-dwelling middle-aged men throughout the southeast were thrown into a tempest when their creepy voyeurism of a seventeen-year-old kid unearthed the following chestnut on his Twitter account:

"I continue to pray about my early decision although others are starting to make a stronger argument"

That phrase was dispensed by none other than Durham, NC QB and 2011 Georgia Tech commit Vad Lee, a player who some would suggest is the Crown Jewel of what has been an underwhelming class for Coach Paul Johnson. The proceedings quickly invoked memories of Dontae Aycock, another Johnson QB recruit who committed to Tech in 2009 but had his offer revoked after subsequently catching a fateful plane ride to Auburn. The AJC has in fact confirmed that Lee "may" take visits to competing schools.

Top 10 Most Annoying Things About Paul Johnson

2010 edition...

10. "I think recruiting is going well."

9. Running on 1st down.

8. "We work on it every day... you might not know it to see it."

7. Running on 2nd down.

6. Incorrect use of the word "misnomer."

5. Running on 3rd down.

4. "We need to force more punts."

3. That draw-them-offsides-on-4th-down play that never works.

2. Piss-poor special teams.

1. "It is what it is."

---

Honorable mention(maybe next year):

- The Dontae Aycock rule

- Berating players on national TV

- Wes Durham: "Where are the areas where you've seen this team grow a little bit?"
Paul Johnson: "Hmmm... that's a good question... um.... I don't know. "

- Fumble on the pitch

- "I really couldn't tell you why [Jerrard Tarrant is not returning kickoffs]."

- Simplifying the defense

- "Don't talk, show me."