Technical Tidbits 7/15

The Georgia Tech recruiting staff got off to a quick start following the conclusion of the NCAA dead period by securing a strong verbal commitment from Carrollton High School Class of 2015 CB Dante Wigley. Wigley, who is unranked by 247Sports and Rivals, was one of Tech’s top remaining targets and is an excellent pick up. He’s got great size and should fit in well with Ted Roof’s 4-2-5 defensive alignment.

The Georgia Tech men’s basketball team has officially released their roster and player numbers for the 2014-2015 season. With a whole slew of new faces entering the program, it’s time to start memorizing each player’s name and number so you don’t get lost during the first few games of the season in mid-November like I always do. You’ll also notice two players from last season have changed numbers: Chris Bolden has switched from 11 to 2 and Corey Heyward has switched from 30 to 5 (which happen to be Solomon Poole’s and Daniel Miller’s former numbers, respectively). Follow this link to the full roster.

StadiumJourney, a website dedicated to stadiums for practically every sport, has recently released their NCAA Baseball Experience Rankings for 2014. I think you’ll all be pleasantly surprised to find that, out of the 200+ stadiums the writers for the website visited, Russ Chandler Stadium ranks third overall on the list. And that’s just based on the stadium’s exterior look and gameday experience. Once the current multi-million dollar renovations to the locker room and player facilities are completed, the old Rusty C will be truly one of the nation’s premiere collegiate baseball stadiums.

The College Football Playoff trophy was unveiled today, and it appears that many fans are not at all impressed by it. I personally don’t think it’s half bad – I’ve always been a fan of simple, clean design, and the trophy looks great to me. I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing it on campus, would you? Check it out here and let us know what you think in the comments.

The AJC published an article yesterday about the betting odds on which team(s) will win the ACC this year. I don’t think I need to tell you that it appears as though Tech has been shafted, because you probably had already expected it – that’s usually the way these things tend to go, isn’t it? Anyway, the source is the Bovada Online Sportsbook, and it picks Florida State and Miami as the most likely teams to play in the ACC Championship. Now I’m no sports betting wizard, but I think most people would pick Georgia Tech as a more likely team to win the coastal than Duke and UNC this year. Sure Duke’s got an easy schedule, and sure UNC has "great athletes and great potential for a breakout season" like they do virtually every year, but I tend to believe that we have a good shot at beating both of those teams again this year. But I guess winning the head to head is a different story than winning the division.

Speaking of Duke, the Blue Devils unveiled some slick new uniforms yesterday to commemorate the 25^th anniversary of their ACC Championship in 1989. While I’m not a fan of the black helmets or pants, the retro look with the white tops and pants looks sharp. Duke is a program that seems to be gaining some momentum in these past few seasons, and having a largely-hyped Nike release video to go along with a new look on the football field was a smart move by their athletic association’s marketing department. Duke might not be the gimme win they’ve been for the past decade or so for much longer.