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As the season draws near, and fall camp begins, this means two things; toe meets leather in less than 30 days, but more importantly it means the time is now for incoming freshman to head to campus. With that, several incoming freshman stand out among what was another impressive recruiting class for Coach Paul Johnson and the rest of this Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets staff. On the offensive side of the ball, several players are going to be battling for starting spots, and of those positions with openings, one in particular stands out.
The wide receiver position is one that can be overlooked at times in a spread option offense like the one run by the Yellow Jackets. The past several years however, have seen many former WR excel at the next level (Demaryius Thomas among several others) Coming into this pivotal 2015 season, the Yellow Jackets lost both of their leading wide receivers from last season. DeAndre Smelter, who had 35 catches last season for 715 yards and 7 TD, and Darren Waller who had 26 catches for 442 yards and 6 TD, have both moved on to greener pastures: Waller to the Baltimore Ravens and Smelter to the San Francisco 49ers. This leaves a huge opening for incoming freshman Christian Philpott.
Philpott was a standout wide-out at North Florida Christian HS in Tallahassee, FL. He has a prototypical frame for this offense, standing 6-foot-3 and weighing over 200 pounds. According to 247Sports, he was rated as a 3-star prospect, and chose to play for the Yellow Jackets over other offers from Miami, Penn State, and Wisconsin among several others.
Philpott uses his size and strength to make plays with the ball in his hands, something that other WR have thrived on in the past at Tech. His large catch radius could also impact the amount he plays as a true freshman. While other options for this offense may be there when it comes to wide-outs, the amount of upside Philpott possesses is something CPJ and the rest of the staff cannot ignore. He's got a chance to make a name for himself early, and to be a go-to weapon that opposing teams will have to prepare for on top of the already lethal triple-option offense.
Check out his highlights one last time before the season starts, courtesy of Hudl: