Despite Record, Coach Collins Still Optimistic About Direction Of Program

Geoff Collins sure doesn't sound like a coach with a team whose record is 2-6. Coming off of a game against Pitt where the Yellow Jackets experienced their lowest offensive output of the season, the first year head coach chose to praise the team's effort instead of lamenting their performance.

"Regardless of adversity or injury, I thought our team came out there and played really hard and stuck together", Coach Collins said. "They were in some tough circumstances throughout the game and they handled it. I don't know if six months ago that this program could've handled the things that have happened to them."

As many many know at this point in the season, his first initiative as head coach in his inaugural season in The Flats was to instill a reenergized effort-based culture in hopes to make the transition from the triple option to a pro style offense more fluid. So far he's happy with his results: "our guys have embraced [the culture change]. They've engaged in it every single day. They're living in it".

The shift in culture around is starting to make itself more evident on the gridiron as well. On the goal line fumble by Lucas Johnson against Pitt that was mere inches away from tying the game, receivers Adonicas Sanders & Malachi Carter refused to give up on the play and helped prevent Pitt from going up by 2 touchdowns. Immediately following this, 3 consecutive tackles for loss by the Georgia Tech defense continued to help keep the game within reasonable striking distance.

Coach Collins points to this situation as one of the many instances that the culture change around the program is paying dividends. "There's moments [like that] that you can really tell that things are starting to get really engrained in them," he said.

Getting a young team more experience as well as his recruiting opportunities in a football-rich region is another reason why Coach Collins is excited about the program's direction In his weekly presser, he stated that 73% of the reps so far this season have been from freshmen or sophomores. He also believes that the culture change will eventually help him go toe-to-toe on the recruiting front against the likes of Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, as well as all the other football powerhouses in the south.

For the Class of 2020, as it stands Tech currently has the #22 recruiting class in the nation and the 5th best in the ACC (Rivals). Although Collins is more worried about the team-building aspects as it pertains to recruiting, stating: "we're not just worried about recruiting talent, we're worried about building a team." Though it helps that he is getting talent along the way.

So while on the outside to some it may seem that Georgia Tech is in a bad spot given their record on their 2019 campaign, Geoff Collins seems to be confident that that notion will change pretty soon in the future.

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