Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Recruiting: Meet Myles Autry

Myles Autry joined his brother Anthony and became Georgia Tech's twenty-first and final commitment on February 5th, 2013, on National Signing Day on ESPNU. He stands at a very compact 5'10", 175lbs, and hails from Norcross High School in Norcross, GA. Like his high school teammate Clinton Lynch, he comes from a school with a proud, extensive football history -- there were two four-star players and a handful of FBS signees on their 6A State Championship team. Autry primarily played Wide Receiver in high school, but he is likely to play A-Back at Georgia Tech and can also return kicks and punts. Autry signed with Georgia Tech over around 30 BCS-level offers spanning all 5 major conferences, though Florida State, Ohio State, and Oregon were thought to be the other major suitors.

Autry's film shows why he's thought to be an extremely dangerous A-Back. Probably his greatest asset is his agility. Autry might be the best player Georgia Tech has recruited in years in terms of agility. His cutback abilities are almost unfair. He's extremely elusive, and able to use that agility and change-of-direction ability to extend plays far beyond where they should end up. Part of the reason for that is that he's got great top-end speed to pair with that agility, and that includes his acceleration from a dead stop to that top speed. (Hint: that acceleration is pretty silly itself.) He shows some really nice vision too when navigating traffic, occasionally on offense but mainly in the return game. He trusts his speed and cutting abilities, and knows how to leverage them to get the most yardage out of any play. Autry will never truck anyone, but that's not really his role anyways. If there's room for improvement, it's going to be the same as all of the other A-Backs -- blocking. Autry will need to commit to blocking and develop his skills there if he's to be anything more than a role-player on offense.

The depth chart at A-Back this year doesn't really lend towards true freshmen playing, but I'm not sure that will apply to Autry for two reasons. First, his dynamic playmaking ability, particularly on special teams, is something I wouldn't want sitting on my bench (especially with my job on the line). Autry has a gamebreaking ability that could really come in handy in second- and third-and-long situations, and could result in special team points at some point (or points) in the season. The other reason is my conspiracy theory that he was promised playing time as a true freshman. What do I have to make me think that? Absolutely nothing. But somehow this overall case (highly-recruited, highly-talented player) just gives me the "CPJ makes unusual promises" vibes, and my guess is that was involved...but I've been wrong once or twice before. In the long run, if Autry can get his blocking together, he'll be a starting A-Back that makes a name for himself around the ACC at the very least, and probably shows a lot of NFL potential. If not, he still makes a name for himself, but more in the way that Ace Sanders did at South Carolina. Sanders was a wide receiver and now plays for the Jaguars, but while at USCe was the #3 receiver and making a name for himself as a ridiculous punt returner. Similarly, without blocking skills, Autry will end up playing A-Back, but not as the go-to guy, and will make a big name for himself as a playmaker on special teams.

Autry is rated as a 3-star prospect by Rivals (5.6) and the 247Sports Composite (.8865).

I hope you're as excited as I am for Myles Autry, and for this class as a whole. I really like a lot of the guys we brought in, and I think that this class is underrated. Almost certainly Paul Johnson's greatest recruiting effort so far in his time at Georgia Tech. Any thoughts on Autry, or this class as a whole? Do you agree with the assessment of Autry's path forward?