A chat with Geoff Collins
Georgia Tech head football coach Geoff Collins carved out some time on Monday to chat with Jacketsonline ahead of a busy early signing period week. Topics ranged from recruiting to the impressive work done by first-year college assistant Marco Coleman and everything else you can imagine.
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Q: Is there anything that surprised you about last season or that you feel really good about in retrospect?
Obviously the way they continue to fight and battle and improve. I mean, that was noticeable. It was tangible. I think even the average fan could look out there and see from spring game until the last game of the season, we incrementally got better.
Regardless of attrition, regardless of who was out there playing. We still kept playing at a high level and improving level all the way to the end of the season. You saw our guys fight in battle. never gave up. I thought that was that was pretty special. Because it's very easy. When you're not having the success that you want to have and you set out to have on the scoreboard to shut it down. Our guys never did that. They knew there were a lot of young guys playing and they were playing for the small senior class that they loved and kept battling for them.
But also they knew we're going to be really good moving forward. So let's just keep putting that out there and keep working and keep getting better. You guys get to come to practice. They practice like they're a championship team, and for you to win championships in the future, you got to establish that mindset and that work ethic and I think they did that.
Do you have an ideal roster breakdown that you are shooting for as you try to rebalance the classes for your offense and defense going forward?
We do have a roster management sheet. I'll show you (produces a card with a breakdown of the entire roster with what they have, the ideal and needs). So there's positions over there to the left. And then it's each class broken down, and then its goal have projected. Sure. So that's what we want to have per position. That's what we do have. That's what we're projecting that do have a goal to have, do have projected to have. So we've got to manage all of those are some of them, goals that we have that we're projected to have.
In terms of that, that is in flux all the time. And one of the cool things we do too, is normally I just do it at the end of the spring, who are our top 85 players. We do it with every person in the entire organization from Mike Flynn (GT SID), our equipment managers do it, Mark Smith, our athletic trainer and everybody does. Here's the top 85 players and I do not micromanage what your criteria is. Mike Flynn's criteria might be who has got a good sound bite.
Some of the guys might be like, they always say thank you. They always say please always clean up their locker. So that kid might be elevated, so I don't micromanage any of it. That's what we're doing Tuesday afternoon, we're doing they're turning in another one. So when I go for the break, because this will be the first time in a long time that I've had a Christmas break, and we won't have one (a season without a bowl game) moving forward. So we're going to take the time to digest and really evaluate where everybody sees, you know, the players in the organization.
What has been the reaction to your guys on the road recruiting in schools?
It's light years ahead. The reception that we get when we walk into high schools, even in Florida, Georgia, wherever we go, this brand and us being in downtown Atlanta is palpable.
The excitement, the energy, what we promote on social media is true to our culture. And the coaches eat it up. They love what we're doing. They see the progress that we're making, they understood the transition that we were going to go through and watch us go through it and we're impressed by how we did. So everybody's excited. You know, the recruits, you know, they can feel the vibe and the energy and us being right in the heart of downtown Atlanta, within the top five academic schools in the country.
All of that resonates and we're promoting it. We take pride in the fact that we're in downtown Atlanta. Everything that's about the culture surrounding this. We've promoted it since day one. It's never changed. Other people are piggybacking or trying to piggyback off of it. I won't name any names, obviously.
You know, we take great pride in being here in downtown Atlanta and all the things, the internships of Fortune 500 companies, the social life, all of those things here are special, and we're promoting it. We've promoted it since day one that I've gotten here because I'm from Atlanta. I was born 8.8 miles away, right one and raised right here. So I love this city. Everything that it affords the opportunities and know how to promote it and brand it because it's real. And I think our staff does that as well. And our recruits high school coaches. I love it.
What is your strategy for the transfer portal and how do you incorporate that into your recruiting?
So what we've done, we got into signing class and we knew we wanted to save a number (of spots) three. So we wanted to go into it sign the full class of the elite High School players. But we wanted to save three that were specific by position for the portal and, you know, preferably grad transfers or guys that had two years left, or if there was an extenuating circumstance and he leaked, player to position that's not an immediate needs, all of those things. You got to factor into but we absolutely went into it, knowing the number and we've stayed with that target and, you know, we are executing it now.
Do you feel like you've addressed all your needs with this recruiting class that you are about to sign?
So we have the roster management system, numbers that we need at each position. And then the big thing with us, and you've heard me say it over and over is the position flexibility. So if it's close, and we're trying to choose between Player A and Player B, what is the position flexibility, sometimes that'll override, you know, things like that.
So it's a constant balance, you know, of the players, the position in the position of need relative, you know, because there's still you have a chance to get to great players that puts you to over that position, but they are of such a caliber that you need to upgrade you there. You gotta, you know, you have to look really hard at that. And I think Patrick Suddes, our general manager, his staff do a great job helping me maneuver so that I can actually recruit.
You know, I take a lot of pride in my ability to recruit and connect with people. But if I'm having to sit there with the minutia and managing all the numbers in great detail, that's why I have such a trusted staff that gives me valuable feedback on how to adjust and they can kind of look at it, you know, from a very objective or subjective whichever word.
So they do that, and then I get to be subjective and get in the relationship piece. For whatever reason, I've been able to be good at that and do that.
Can you talk about the three transfers Allen, Clayton and Ezzard who didn't get to play this year and how they will impact the program in 2020?
If you could write a chapter in a book of how to handle sitting out a year doing the NCAA policy, those three were unbelievable. They were great teammates, they got better every single day. They bought into our culture. They enhanced our culture, even though they weren't playing. I mean, they I mean, I could go on forever about each one.
Antonneous Clayton probably had the hardest time, you know, the effect on him personally. But the way he handled it, you know, initially was really hard. But he trusted us, he and I've known him since he was 17 years old. We have a great relationship. And the fact that I'm coaching the scout team defense every day, and I'm right there coaching him personally, I think that helped. But he's going to be an elite player force.
And he made us better every single day going against queening going against Southers every day, going Against TD. So, he helped us a lot.
Derrik Allen was one of the most popular kids on our developmental defense. He was an unbelievable teammate. There's a bunch of walk-ons over there. And not that we care about that, but the respect that he gave them, and the bonds that he made with them. I mean, he's won one of the top hundred players in the country. But he came here was on the developmental team, and never acted like he was something he just acted like he was a great teammate. He acted like he was just on the developmental team, I'm going to get better. I'm going to get better with my dudes, anyone out there and had a great attitude.
Marquez Ezzard, the same thing would go over there and at times, playing against Marquez every single day of the week. That was the best receiver that we played all week. He's really really good. But again, an unbelievable teammate. Probably 11 to 12 times a game at home games. He comes and checks on me, "coach you straight, coach you straight? You're doing a great job coach."
I'm like, Marquez I got you, I got you, go, go hype up your teammates, don't worry about me, I'm good. He would make sure I got my push-ups whenever we get a turnover. He's just a joy to be around. All three of them are going to be really good players force, you know, would love to have them last year but we are excited to have them moving forward.
How do you see Derrik Allen fitting in? Could he play some linebacker?
He is gonna play safety or nickel, he's gonna be able to do that for us and we'll move guys around, but that'll be the spot that he plays. I think he's going to be really good. And then getting Jalen Camp back and Kenny Cooper back and Jahaziel Lee back. And I think Jahaziel will finally get an entire year playing the position that he's going to play at the next level defensive tackle. And he's going to be really good defensive tackle.
I've coached a lot of great ones. We've had seven and The last three years from the previous place. He is an NFL defensive tackle. And now that we get that he had to play OL for us last year out of necessity and did a good job for us, but the depth that we've built along the offensive line and then recruiting is going to fill that void as well so we can make the move. And I'm sure like we did the last place. He'll have some short-yardage goal-line flexibility. But he's going to be an NFL defensive tackle.
With Lee going to DT, does that allow you to keep Antwan Owens outside?
Yeah, and it's the same thing that I thought Antwan did a really good job with the outside and the inside this year. He's more comfortable as a five-technique to the field side and does a really good job with it.
So that does help us with that, but the nice thing is getting Antonneous so you got Antonneous Clayton, you got Antwan Owens, you got Jahaziel, you got Michael Lockhart, Chico Bennett. There are big guys you know In our guys that were playing later in the year due to attrition we're out there battling every single day. And I love them, and they're going to be really good for us. But just the girth and the size and the length, you know, that helps. And then you supplement that with guys that can move around and do some cool things within our scheme. It's going to help get those guys back.
Something that impressed me so far is how well Marco Coleman has taken to coaching and recruiting in college as a first-time assistant coach. What are your thoughts on how he has done so far?
Yeah, he's done good on all those accounts. You know, one of the biggest reasons is his story.
He came here during a coaching change. He had an average first year, and then his junior year they win the national championship, right? He was the 12th pick in the NFL Draft. He goes and plays however many years he played, the NFL goes and has a great career in finance, and then wants to get into coaching. He is the playbook of why you choose Georgia Tech. And we've used him over and over and over on why this recruiting class and it's an elite recruiting class chose to come in, we would use his story over and over and over. And it resonated with a lot of people.
And then I just think his development as a coach being around us, more defensive scheme and him getting better every week. And he's had some trials because there's just a different group rolling out there every single week. You know, Sylvain (Yondjouen) starting games for us, you know, playing from Belgium, never really (played) just as raw as they get. And yeah, and he's amazing, unbelievable athlete size-speed guy, but the way Marco has taught him from the first-day spring ball to the last game of the season, unbelievable development it is.
Last question, how do you feel about your staff size and what you are working with now? Do you need more staff?
That's a whole other conversation that I would love to have but the staff that we have I'm unbelievably happy with. And one of the cool things and you guys have noticed, you know we have there's nobody on our staff that's really exactly alike. It's a very diverse staff personality wise and the backgrounds where they're from, but for whatever reason, it really works. And you know, just the comments from the parents yesterday, my closing meetings at the end, the official visit was just how impressed everybody was with our coaching staff, how they're all on the same page, unbelievable energy personality. They can tell how much we get along, and you can't fake that. You can fake it for an hour, but you can't fake it for a whole year of a recruiting cycle and you can't fake it 48 hours where it's just us together, you can't fake it. It's real. The bonds that we formed are real. I think the things that we do in the offseason to form a bond with our team and form a bond with the coaches do the same thing with our staff. And they're unbelievably close. And I'm just lucky I get to work with them every day. They do a great job.