Technical Tidbits 8/3

As fruitful as the 2014 season ending up being for Justin Thomas and the rest of the Georgia Tech team, Thomas feels that the best course of action is for everyone to put it all behind them in advance of the 2015 season, now just a month away. Thomas, one of the most outspoken albeit quiet leaders of the team, wants everyone to make the 2015 edition of the Jackets their own, stating that the team still needs to "make their own identity" on the heels of one of the best seasons in recent memory. This is the latest in line of interesting comments coming from both Thomas and Paul Johnson which seem to be aimed at maintaining Tech's underdog status, which I'd say is certainly for the better. Both the coach and signal caller have made it very clear that nothing will be handed to them this season and that they don't expect it to be any other way.

The program got perhaps its best news of the entire offseason over the weekend when it was announced that senior defensive tackle Jabari Hunt-Days, who sat out the entire 2014 season after being declared academically ineligible, had regained his eligibility and will be good to go for 2015. There had been plenty of positive indications from inside the program regarding Hunt-Days' academic standings, but nothing was made official until Saturday when Paul Johnson made the announcement and settled the dust once and for all. Hunt-Days will join fellow senior Adam Gotsis and sophomore KeShun Freeman on what should be one of the most imposing defensive lines in the conference, if not the nation.

Shamire Devine, the skyscraper-turn-offensive lineman who should see plenty of playing time during the 2015 season, is reportedly nearing his weight goal for the upcoming season, according to Paul Johnson. Devine, a rising sophomore, is listed at 6-foot-7 and 365 pounds according to the official Georgia Tech website, one pound for every day of the year that Georgia Tech is still better than Georgia. He has spent the majority of his Tech career to this point struggling with conditioning but will hopefully be on track to play more in 2015.

In accordance with NCAA specifications, college programs around the nation were finally able to send out official scholarship offers to their many football targets for the 2016 season. If you visit that above link, however, you will notice that the way those offers look seem to really reflect the personalities of the head coaches who signed off on them. Take Miami's, for example. It is very busy and confusing with lots of irrelevant chatter all over it. Sound like Al Golden? Yup. And yes, Georgia Tech's is just a sheet of printer paper with what looks like a legal document on it. Paul would have it no other way.

Should Georgia Tech embrace its underdog status or fight for more national respect?