Let's smack that Pack!

In case you haven't seen, we've already run stories on ATH (QB) Dennis Andrews, ATH (QB) Justin Thomas, WR Michael Summers, and ATH (RB) Marcus Allen.

via vmedia.rivals.com

The next recruit we're going to profile has somewhat of a unique background in how he came to play football for Georgia Tech. Most guys on local football teams grew up somewhere south of the Mason-Dixon line, playing football from 6 years old, with parents who were just as amazed at teams' enormous stadiums and lucrative endorsements as they are with the teams' middle-of-the-road turf management programs. But I digress. No, our next recruit grew up overseas, and has a set of parents who really know what's in their son's best interest when looking to set himself up for success later on in life. Oh, and I'm currently talking of the one who played high school football locally, not the one who played "gridiron" in the southern hemisphere (more on him later). That's right, I'm talking about the 4-star DE Francis Kallon (pronounced "Kay-lon", I've learned). He stands at 6'5" and weighs in at 260lb. Kallon hails from London, England (by Lawrenceville, GA), and never played a down of football in his life until Central Gwinnett High School's spring practice last year.

(more after the jump....)

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via l.yimg.com

For those of you who are just tuning in, we've already written articles detailing 3 of Georgia Tech's signees for this class: ATH (QB) Dennis Andrews, ATH (QB) Justin Thomas, and WR Michael Summers.

The next recruit I want to detail is a kid who was highly touted in high school. He's listed as an athlete who plays linebacker and running back out of Hilliard, FL (he's projected to play B-Back for us) -- the 3-star, 6'2", 210lb Marcus Allen.

Marcus Allen is regarded as one of our better pickups in this recruiting class. Allen reportedly had offers from 4 SEC schools, 3 ACC schools, and 3 B1G schools, among a number of other programs. He has outstanding acceleration and ballcarrier vision. He also has a good top end speed and seems rather difficult to bring down. A tough kid with a lot of talent it seems, I feel that he may have one flaw as a B-Back: his height of 6'2", if legitimate, is awfully high for a kid looking to get his pads as low as they should be to play that position (for reference, Dwyer is listed at 5'11", while Anthony Allen is 6'1"). My other concern is with his running style, which is a bit more towards juking than trucking. I feel like Allen could really pan out as the second coming of Orwin Smith if put at A-Back though, between the speed and size combination (also saw him throw a devastating block in his Rivals highlight video). Regardless though, he looks to have a bright future on the Flats, and we have a lot of reason to be very excited to welcome Marcus Allen to the Georgia Tech family!

Here are his junior highlights -- the running back stuff starts around 1:24.

Marcus Allen C/O 2012 LB Hilliard HS (FL) (via TheHilliardFlashes)

Akula Wolf formerly of Section Six presently of Backing the Pack joined us for this week's Q/A session. Check out his responses to our questions after the jump:

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Akula Wolf formerly of Section Six presently of Backing the Pack joined us for this week's Q/A session. Check out his responses to our questions after the jump:

Continue reading this post »

I am calling out all discussion on Georgia Tech football uniforms. We are going to finally settle on what uniform Georgia Tech should wear when a-holes like Wake Forest, NC State, and Auburn aren't in town. This is the uniform which statistically pulls victory from the jaws of defeat more times than not. We aren't discussing any crazy stuff like black or pearl or pink cancer awareness-type scenarios. We are talking about gold hats. We are talking white versus navy versus gold jerseys. We are talking white versus gold pants. We are talking black versus white shoes.

The first issue to settle is shoes. Black shoes win. Period. Ever since Georgia Tech switched from the all white shoes to all black or half and half, Tech has won 62% of its games. All white shoes only won 57% of their games from August 2002-October 2006. The switch occurred against UVA in 2006 on Throwback Thursday and it was the one of the few decisive victories we've seen against the Wahoos in 10 years. Black shoes or at least 50% black from now on. It is settled.

The second issue is debated on occasion but I'm settling it now. Georgia Tech wears gold helmets. Throwback Thursday was badass but we're not Oregon or Boise State or whoever. Georgia Tech is known for old gold helmets with a white "GT". If you want to wear a white helmet, buy one on eBay and wear it to the game. Our team has gold hats like Notre Dame, Florida State, Navy, and UCLA. It ain't broke so don't try to fix it.

The final two articles of clothing are the real meat of this argument. Shoes and hats are peripherals. Everyone really cares about the jerseys and in turn the pants. The first issue is overall winning percentage. If you were to rank the articles in terms of winning percentage from 2002-2011, it would go like this: #5 Navy Jerseys (0.00%), #4 White Pants (58.3%), #3 White Jerseys (60.4%), #2 Gold Pants (61.4%), and #1 Gold Jerseys (64.5%). Gold on gold, which has not been worn since probably ever reigns supreme. These numbers are deceptive. If you break down the pants and jerseys worn by home and road venue since 2002, you get the following chart: A white jersey and white pants combo wins the homefield award while the Chan Gailey home uniform of gold tops with white pants wins the road award (despite very few events involving gold tops in bowl games or on the road). What say you? Do we try some mix and match with our tops and pants in 2012 to mix up the mojo?

Poll

What uniform should become the standard GT uniform?

• White jersey, alternate pants based on game location.
• Alternate gold/white jerseys and pants based on game location.
• Navy jersey at home white jersey on road, white pants.
• I WANT THROWBACK THURSDAY WHITE HELMETS.
• I want white shoes back.
• Mix black jerseys in to the rotation...
• Other

  157 votes | Results