Opinion Week: I know nothing for sure, but here are a few things I think I know

This is the sixth year in a row I’ve written an Opinion Week article, but the notion of having an opinion has never made me as uncomfortable as it does right now. What am I supposed to know or even believe at this point? I can’t even hide behind a cute graph anymore because there’s no data to fill it with here in year zero of the Geoff Collins era. There’s no informed opinion to be found here because there’s no information to make it that way, so what follows is a list of things that I may vaguely believe to be true now but that I fully expect to be ridiculed for by future me when I can make cute graphs again. Enjoy!

Geoff Collins is one of very few coaches who could ever hope to make a non-option system successful at Georgia Tech.

To accomplish this, you can either be an offensive visionary or a culture-shifter. You know which one Geoff Collins is.

Before Collins was hired, I had never even considered the possibility that Georgia Tech could attract someone with the ability to so drastically change the direction of the program's local and national perception. I was terrified to move away from the option because it seemed like a foregone conclusion that Tech would never be able to compete for recruits in the heart of the most contentious recruiting grounds in the country, which meant that the pressure to replace Paul Johnson with the next Scott Frost was immense. The small recruiting footprint we do have is likely all that separates us from the bottom tier of the power five, and a five-year struggle under a bad replacement coach could kill all hopes of a rise to national prominence for many decades. That’s why I was so against the consideration that Ken Whisenhunt was reportedly receiving for the job.

But instead of finding someone to keep a low recruiting profile and overachieve with less talent, Todd Stansbury went for the cultural overhaul that carries with it the potential for Tech to become a big fish in the southeast’s recruiting pond. It feels like both a homerun and a safe play at the same time, which is what I like so much about the decision. We can already see the way Geoff Collins has changed the program’s standing around the state and around the country in a way that very few people could, and we have Todd Stansbury’s steadfast belief in his own vision for the program to thank for that. It’s already easy to say that Collins is the man for the job.

Nothing that happens this year will tell us anything about what will happen two or three years from now.

Seriously. Don’t let the hype surrounding the program distract you from the fact that this roster was constructed to run a completely different system, and don’t let the outcome of the 2019 season derail your confidence in the direction of the team. There will be growing pains, especially on the offensive line, and everyone should be willing to watch this season as much for a sneak-preview of things to come as for anything else. The worst thing that could happen is for a down year to cause an unexpected bank run on Georgia Tech dollars, so temper expectations.

And yes, the anti-Collins hashtags are coming. At least we have the GT Twitter Army to defend us against foreign invaders, though. Salute. But also, calm down a little bit.

Geoff Collins strikes me as someone who gives noogies to young children and wrestles with his older brother at Christmas and other family gatherings.

I’ve had this opinion since he was hired. I don’t know why. I’m not wrong, though, so don’t try to convince me otherwise.