Technical Tidbits 7/18

Book your plane and hotel tickets now, out-of-towners. One of the greatest weekends in Georgia Tech athletics history could be right around the corner. The Tech men’s basketball team’s nonconference schedule got released yesterday afternoon, highlighted by a scheduling bombshell: the Jackets will face georgia in their first game of the season on Friday, November 14^th in Atlanta at McCamish Pavilion. The following day, Clemson will visit Bobby Dodd Stadium for the first time since 2011, when Tech beat the fifth-ranked Tigers 31-17 on Homecoming night. It’s going to be a wild weekend in Atlanta, and you won’t want to miss it.

Now I know a lot of you are concerned about starting the basketball season against georgia, and there is plenty of reason to be – with our patchwork quilt of transfers, freshmen, and few veterans, we are already at a disadvantage as far as team chemistry goes. The first few games of the season are usually rough enough as it is, but having a team full of players who have never played a game together will make it all the more challenging. However, I also see it as a great opportunity – what better way to introduce the new players than by making it four in a row over georgia? The hype surrounding this game - nay, this weekend - is going to be unreal, and a win would go a long way in giving this basketball squad an identity. Do everyone a favor and make plans to be there in white and gold.

Six outstanding athletes were inducted into the Georgia Tech Sports Hall of Fame yesterday. Luke Manget (football), James Butler (football), Alvin Jones (basketball), Michael Johnson (track and field), Lynette Moster (volleyball), and Bryan Prince (baseball) all received the highest honor for their record-setting careers at Tech. Ramblinwreck.com did a great write-up on each of them (which can be found here) that I think many of you older readers will really enjoy. While they all competed before I began seriously watching Tech sports, it’s great to see that they all were very successful after college and turned out being great representatives of Georgia Tech across the country.

On the recruiting side of things, it has been confirmed that Joshua Thomas and Evyn Cooper (both running backs from Buford High School) had their visits yesterday rescheduled due to Coach Ted Roof being out of town. However, the Jackets still played host to WR Donald Stokes from Lafayette, LA. Stokes has flown under the radar as far as recruiting goes but shows in his film that he has the potential to be a great possession receiver. If the short passing game works well this season, he could be a terrific asset to have on board. Stokes knows how to find the cracks in defenses and get open, and has good hands.

What’s a good Technical Tidbits without your daily dosage of uniform rumors? According to sources on campus, the Tech football players have been seen walking around this summer in black dry-fit warm up shirts and gold shorts. I first became suspicious of this potential shift in apparel branding last season, when I noticed some of the football staff wearing black and white Georgia Tech football polo shirts instead of the usual dark blue. Could we be seeing black on the uniforms this fall? Ted Roof, the leader of the Black Watch Defense in the 1980s, has returned to Tech, after all. And after the light-blue/purple sleeves from 2012, anything is possible.

And with that, I’d like to thank everyone for having me for what I hope was a good week of Technical Tidbits! It’s been real. I hope you enjoyed reading these as much as I did writing them.

What do you think about breaking in a new basketball team against georgia? Will we see the return of the Black Watch Defense this fall?