By: Kenneth Harrison

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

Geoff Collins is only in his second season at Georgia Tech. It may be too early to say if he was the right hire, but we can check his progress.

As you know he replaced Paul Johnson, who was there for 11 years. He was famous for being the only Power 5 team to run the triple option.

Collins runs a spread offense, so he has a completely different style. Many of the kids on the roster do not have the skillset for that offense.

Johnson was also notorious for not recruiting well. Collins is trying to improve the overall talent on the roster.

Tech’s 2020 recruiting class was ranked 27^th nationally and fifth in the ACC.

There were four 4-star recruits in that class. They include quarterback Jeff Sims, running back Jahmyr Gibbs, corner back Miles Brooks and defensive end Jared Ivey.

The 2022 class is currently ranked 32^nd and they have two 4-star players in the class. Obviously, it’s not set in stone until signing day so this can change.

Anytime you see Collins he talks about changing the culture and the 404 (Atlanta’s first area code). I’ll be honest, I think it would be better if he spoke more about the game of football.

It seems like he has more style than substance because of that but what do I know.

Let’s take a look at his on-field results. His record at Tech is 6 – 14.

In his first season in 2019 he was 3 – 9 and 2 – 6 in conference play.

He was not expected to have instant success. One score I want to mention so we can compare it to this season is the Clemson game. Last season in Death Valley the Tigers won 52 – 14.

This season they played Clemson at home in the fifth game of the season.

They were steamrolled 73 – 7. I was alarmed by that score because it made me think, how was your team better last season?

In year 2 there should be better talent and more experience playing in your system. I probably oversimplified his progress by just looking at that game.

The Yellow Jackets are 3 – 5 so far in 2020. All three wins are in conference play, so they have more ACC wins than they did last season.

Also, we have to admit during this pandemic that this year is more difficult than normal circumstances.

Speaking of that, Georgia Tech just played their first game after an unexpected four-week layoff. I think this game may have been the turning point for Collins.

They beat Duke 56 – 33 at home. The true freshmen played well. Gibbs had touchdown runs of 61 and 26 yards in the first half before leaving with a hamstring injury.

Sims threw for 3 touchdown passes and ran for 108 yards, setting career highs. Jordan Mason ran for 105 yards.

Three players earned ACC honors after the game. Defensive end Jordan Domineck was named defensive lineman of the week. He had 2 sacks and 2.5 tackles for loss. He had a strip sack in the end zone and recovered the ball for a touchdown.

Sims was rookie of the week and offensive lineman Zach Quinney was co-offensive lineman of the week.

My opinion on Collins has changed and I think he has the team on the right track. He needs one or two more recruiting classes and a normal offseason to get things back on track.