Technical Tidbits 8/7

Georgia Tech picked up a big commitment yesterday from from linebacker Emmanuel Bridges, a former commit of the Tennessee Volunteers. Bridges, a three-star recruit from Newnan, chose Tech over 18 other offers from a number of well-regarded programs including Michigan State, Nebraska, Penn. State, Clemson, and Wisconsin just to name a few. He ultimately decided to attend Tech over an offer from his other finalist, Ole Miss. As the AJC's article suggests, Bridges' greatest strength may lie in his versatility -- few linebackers are are mobile as he is, particularly for someone his size at 6-foot-2, 215 pounds. He joins Jakob Brashear as the second linebacker in the 2016 class.

The official announcement was made yesterday that Tech will be kicking off the 2015 basketball season in the NIT Season Tip-Off, featuring three of the best teams in college basketball in Arkansas, Villanova, and (to a lesser extent) Stanford. Play kicks off with Georgia Tech vs. Arkansas on Thanksgiving Day, with the winner of that game playing the winner of Stanford vs. Villanova later on in the week. The event will be held in the Barclays Center, home of the Brooklyn Nets and also the same venue where Tech as shown up by Ole Miss and St. John's in back to back games during the 2013-2014 season.

ESPN's Jared Shanker and Andrea Adelson debated which offensive line is the best in the ACC the other day, with Shanker arguing in favor of North Carolina's veteran line and Adelson arguing in favor of Tech's equally successful unit. I'm not ready to call Tech's o-line the best in the entire conference before the season even starts, but I will say that calling UNC's line the best in the ACC is a prime example of overstating the importance of experience. Veteran players are obviously an asset to any team, but does it really matter how experienced they are if they never performed very well in the first place? I have to see it to believe it.

It seems that ESPN has gotten more than a little bit infatuated with Tech's line play for the upcoming season, both offensive and now defensive -- staff writer David Hale makes the argument that an experienced and deep defensive line will be an anchor for Tech's defense in 2015. While he is correct in saying that the line is experienced, that isn't what makes me confident in its potential success. I did, after all, just call out UNC's o-line for not being successful despite being a veteran group and failing to call out Tech's porous defensive line from 2014 would make me a huge hypocrite to say the least. What excites me about this defensive line is not its experience, but rather its depth and new talent -- the return of Jabari Hunt-Days and the growth of KeShun Freeman along with newfound depth from freshmen make it much better than the 2014 unit, regardless of how old the players are.

Which player will be the biggest anchor on the 2015 defensive line for Tech?