Technical Tidbits 8/12: The ACC Soldiers On

It turns out that all of the media speculation was true, yesterday, the Big Ten and Pac-12 announced they were cancelling their fall sports seasons. However, the ACC, Big 12, and SEC have still not made decisions on the status of the upcoming season. In the ACC’s case, they are still monitoring all of the statistics and situations surrounding COVID-19, while preparing to move forward and play football next month. If the ACC (and other conferences) do play, it will be a monumental undertaking to get everyone on the field. The main question conferences need to be considering is, “will it be worth it?”

The Georgia Tech offensive line was one of the weakest in the entire nation last season. Even with top-OL Coach Brent Key, the struggle of being undersized and learning a new scheme was too much to overcome for the Jackets. This season, with a season of experience in a pro-style offense and a grad transfer from Tennessee, the unit looks to take leaps and bounds forward. The article above shares potential starting lineups along the line for the upcoming season and details how much players have improved since last November.

Geoff Collins and the rest of the Georgia Tech coaches have been insistent on practicing in a COVID-safe manner. For example, the football team has split practices to limit the amount of players in a small area at one time and has placed social distancing circles throughout the practice fields. All of this protection has paid off, as only 3 Yellow Jackets out of 222 tested positive for COVID-19 in the period from July 30 to August 9. That makes it 11 athletes that have tested positive in the almost two months since voluntary workouts began. Compared to many other schools, Georgia Tech is the standard-bearer for success against COVID-19.

I’ve covered Russ Chandler Stadium’s phase II renovations multiple times in the “Tidbits.” Today’s update has pictures from the construction site, with things seeming to be moving along nicely. The upgrades to the stadium will further solidify its place as one of the best facilities in college baseball.

Unfortunately for the Georgia Tech golf team, Andy Ogletree and Luke Schniederjans have missed the cut at the US Amateur. Fortunately for the Jackets, Noah Norton and Tyler Strafaci have made the cut and are advancing to the match play portion of the tournament. Good luck, Noah and Tyler!

Question of the Day: What do you think about the recent decisions by the Big 10 and Pac 12?