Technical Tidbits 4/25

Yesterday was a fun day for reading the comments. Everyone had their own view on the lawsuit Clemson is facing and everyone contributed to what was a great debate. Thanks again for the participation and here comes the Friday edition of Technical Tidbits.

Mel Kiper has released his latest mock draft, and it includes Jeremiah Attaochu going to the Arizona Cardinals in the second round of the upcoming draft. The Cardinals, who run a 3-4 defense under defensive coordinator Todd Bowles, are projected to take the former Yellow Jacket with the 52nd overall overall pick, and Attaochu would join former Falcon John Abraham as a linebacker on the Cardinals' roster. This draft assumes that the Falcons pass on Attaochu in the second round, which I'd prefer they didn't do, and while I am not sure what players go before or after Attaochu in the mock draft (because I am not an ESPN Insider. Bleh.) his position as predicted by Kiper is certainly being generous; as the AJC article explains, Attaochu was projected as a 4th round pick at the end of the college season.

I am starting to feel like a broken record. Why? Because Georgia Tech beesball dropped another important game on Wednesday, this one to in-state foe Mercer. The Jackets lost 4-3 in 10 innings two nights ago, and they have now lost four of their last six in a tough stretch that has seen their record drop to 25-17 overall. While any loss is disappointing, Mercer is certainly no pushover and I was surprised to see just how successful their season has been so far; they boast a 32-10 record on the season and improved to 2-0 versus the Jackets on the season (they beat Tech 4-1 back on March 25). The fact that this season can even be considered disappointing on any level shows how much Danny Hall has spoiled us in his time here, but the young Jackets have honestly exceeded expectations after losing so many key contributors from last year.

Speaking of key contributors from last season, Zane Evans, the former catcher/closer/general baseball juggernaut is commanding attention as he continues to work his way through the Kansas City Royals' farm system. Evans is currently batting .386 with a .449 OBP in twelve games with the Wilmington Blue Rocks (another great MiLB nickname). Daniel Palka and Buck Farmer are also having success with their Minor League teams-- Palka is batting .225 with the South Bend Silver Hawks and Farmer is 2-1 with a 1.62 ERA and 24 strikeouts this season with the West Michigan Whitecaps.

The ACC will be well represented at the upcoming NFL draft as five former players were invited to attend the event live. All five are projected to be taken in the first round and three of them have caused some serious issues for the Jackets during their college career. In no particular order the ACC representatives will be FSU's Timmy Jernigan, UVA's Morgan Moses, UNC's Eric Ebron, Clemson's Sammy Watkins (won't miss him), and VT's Kyle Fuller (REALLY won't miss him). The video above also provides some insight from Dabo Swinney on the lawsuit Clemson is facing in case you wanted to hear any more in addition to the 110+ comments from yesterday (which were all great).

In other ACC news, former Boston College TE CJ Parsons was arrested for beating and assaulting a homeless man. I actually added this in after originally setting the post for publication because I thought that you would all like to share my disgust with this type of behavior. I try to be as objective as possible while writing (don't hold yesterday against me) but come on, that is totally disgusting. I'd make an SEC joke here but wow, it's not even worth it. Wow. Just wow.

To round out today's news we will take a look at MTSU transfer and Georgia Tech spring game standout Tim Byerly, who has earned a scholarship to finish his career at Tech. Unfortunately, the original writer of the article may or may not share her initials with high definition or hairy donuts and because I swore I wouldn't link to her content, I will instead send you here to read about it. Loophole! In any case, Tim Byerly should play a much bigger role for the Yellow Jacket offense this season as the probable second-string quarterback and his tough demeanor and good arm should make a big impact this season. Depending on how the season plays out, I could even see him being the Conette to Justin Thomas's Boone if he gets a good number of snaps.

Note: If you still want to learn more about Clemson's lawsuit, look here or on one of the many links here, courtesy of the FFRF.

Daily Debate: Which current Georgia Tech player has the best chance of making it to the NFL or NBA draft in person? (Not to suggest that any of them necessarily will, just examining which one will have the biggest impact before their career at Tech ends.)

Thanks for reading and enjoy your weekend!