Technical Tidbits 12/16: Marshall Announces Transfer Destination and Bowl Season Kicks Off

Former Georgia Tech BB Marcus Marshall announced his transfer destination on Thursday night. On his twitter and instagram, Marshall announced his intent to transfer to James Madison. As an FCS school, Marshall will be eligible to play immediately. The Dukes rank near the top of the FCS and are currently in the semifinals of the FCS playoffs. When Marshall was in high school, he had James Madison among his finalists before making the decision to come to Georgia Tech. Both of his parents attended James Madison, where his father played football and was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame in 2013. The loss of Marcus Marshall definitely hurts the Yellow Jackets, but I think I speak for all of us here at FTRS when I say that we wish him the best of luck at JMU.

On the topic of player movement, several players from that school out east announced their intent to return for their senior seasons. RBs Nick Chubb and Sonny Michel as well as LBs Davin Bellamy and Lorenzo Carter said that they were excited to come back and build the program back to where it should be. Chubb’s decision is probably the biggest surprise but he said that he made his decision to come back when he saw Tech players taking pieces of the hallowed hedge as trophies and planting a GT flag at midfield of Sanford Stadium. It’s a risky move to come back to school and take another year of wear and tear without being paid. Even though they are rivals and I hope they end their careers on a two game losing streak in Clean, Old Fashioned Hate, I also hope none of them suffer an injury next season that would impact their draft stocks.

Over the past few days, the ESPN college football blogs have been previewing each bowl matchup. Yesterday, the TaxSlayer Bowl preview was released. The preview is somewhat surface level but does a decently good job of covering the relative strengths and weakness of both Georgia Tech and Kentucky. Though Kentucky uses very different formations than Tech, their offense is similarly run-heavy. The ESPN bloggers seem to think the turnover battle may sway the result of the game as Tech has not fared well in games they lose the turnover battle but Kentucky has been one of the most turnover prone teams in the country. As the game approaches there will probably be more in-depth previews available, but this is a good starting point for those unfamiliar with Kentucky’s team.

Bowl season officially kicks off tomorrow with a five game slate, however no Power 5 teams are featured. The season starts with the New Mexico Bowl at 2:30 pm. The UTSA Roadrunners will travel to face New Mexico in the Lobo’s home stadium. Next up is one of the under the radar really good bowl games: Houston vs San Diego State in the Las Vegas Bowl. The Cougs have had a disappointing season and will be without Tom Herman, but when Houston is on, they can beat almost anyone. That said, San Diego State is no slouch. The Mountain West champions are an all-around solid football team and RB Donnel Pumphrey is only 108 yards from breaking the Division I career rushing record. Later in the day, Appalachian State plays Toledo in the Camellia Bowl and UCF plays Arkansas State in the Cure Bowl. The night cap will be Southern Miss and Louisiana-Lafayette in the New Orleans Bowl.

Finally, I can’t end my short stint writing Tidbits without one more check into the WakeyLeaks scandal. Over the past day, many teams have come forward to say that they were not contacted by Wake Forest as part of the investigation. These teams include Syracuse, Clemson, Virginia, Florida State, North Carolina, and NC State. Duke has refrained from commenting about the matter. On the other hand, there’s Virginia Tech. The school released a statement yesterday saying that a now former assistant coach had been contacted by Tommy Elrod prior to the teams’ 2014 matchup. The Hokies’ statement took a more apologetic tone than Louisville’s had, though former head coach Frank Beamer and current defensive coordinator Bud Foster denied having any knowledge of Wake Forest’s game plan. For those who don’t remember, the 2014 Wake Forest - Virginia Tech game was an instant classic.

You can’t make this stuff up.

Thanks to everybody for bearing with me the last few days. Your regularly scheduled, Cade Lawson penned Tidbits will return on Monday.

Have a great weekend!