Technical Tidbits 7/13

Of Georgia Tech's entire 25-man 2015 recruiting class, perhaps the most sought-after recruit was defensive end Anree Saint-Amour of North Gwinnett High School. Saint-Amour, a three-star defensive end (or four-star, according to ESPN), was weighing offers from a number of other schools, most notably Stanford. The Cardinal seemed for all the world to be the destined landing spot for Saint-Amour until he suddenly snubbed the West Coast for the East Coast, electing to stay in his native Georgia for his collegiate career. He is one of the players that I honestly have no clue about in terms of redshirting versus playing as a true freshman, Saint-Amour does seem like one of the more likely candidates to see some playing time this season given his already developed passrushing skillset. If injury or ineffectiveness strike the defensive line again this season, don't be surprised if Paul Johnson calls on Saint-Amour.

The Georgia Tech basketball team will be heading to the Bahamas for a week-long trip from August 5 to August 11 in order to play a few games against a Bahamanian all-star team and do some community service work on the islands. While the opportunity to play against the Bahamanian team will be fantastic for the Jackets, the opportunity to build up some chemistry and momentum could be even more critical for the team. With a mixed bag of incoming freshmen and transfers along with a few pieces from last season, Tech going to field a team with almost no on-court time together. This totally non-vacation could provide a great opportunity for players to get to know each other in advance of the season. The school's decision to send the team to the Bahamas was met with much chagrin from a group of disgruntled Tech season ticket holders, who had already pooled their money and were prepared to send the Jackets on an extended vacation to Siberia after last season. Or at least that's what I assumed based on the comments from when basketball season came to an end. WHAT DO YOU MEAN BUYING A SEASON TICKET DOESN'T GUARANTEE AN NCAA TOURNAMENT BERTH?

Defending ACC Coach of the Year Paul Johnson has been named to a preseason watch list for the Dodd Trophy, an award given annually to the National Coach of the Year. The award stands in recognition not only of on-field achievements, but also in recognition of academic and community-based achievements by a program as well. Johnson, who previously won the award back in 2004 while coaching at Navy, would be the third Georgia Tech coach to win it, following Bobby Ross (1990) and George O'Leary (2000). He would also be just the second coach to win the award twice (Joe Paterno) and the first to win it at different schools. The Bobby Dodd Trophy was most recently awarded to Alabama's Nick Saban, whose program exhibited both of the aforementioned moral achievements of academic excellence and community service by having just three players arrested in a four day stretch back in late March, a new team record.

If you need a good longform article to occupy your time during these lean days of summer, allow me to direct you to this fantastic piece from SB Nation's Jason Buckland about former South Carolina star Marcus Lattimore and his return back to a normal life following unfortunate career-ending knee injuries. Lattimore retired from the NFL's San Francisco 49ers prior to last season after recovery from his repeated knee injuries failed, thus ending one of the most promising careers in recent history. It is hard to do an article like this justice in one paragraph, but the story of Marcus' resilience and will really is remarkable and worth reading about.

Which freshmen do you think could contribute to the defensive line in 2015? Will they all redshirt or get the opportunity to play?