Poole brothers to add depth for the Yellow Jackets

Brian Gregory's second season at the helm is showing massive progress from last year's inaugural sub-par season. The Tech faithful has seen their team go undefeated in newly revamped McCamish Pavilion including a win over rival Georgia and compete with a top ten team on the road for 35 minutes. Now, the future seems to be brighter, with the enrollment and eligibility of brothers' Stacey and Solomon Poole.

Stacey Poole, a transfer from Kentucky, is all set to start his Yellow Jacket career on Monday against Alabama State on Monday barring any problems with grades in his first semester. His younger brother, Solomon, is enrolling early after playing his last high school game last week and will be allowed to practice with Georgia Tech starting Saturday. (Solomon) Poole was expected to not be eligible to play for Georgia Tech until mid-January, though recent circumstances and a possible approval from the NCAA Eligibility Center has him possibly making his debut Monday as well. The brothers have definitely experienced the normal ups and downs a high-prized recruit typically goes through.

Stacey Poole, a top-10 Small Forward in the 2010 class, was not truly satisfied at Kentucky and received very sparse playing time. The minimal playing time led to his father, Stacey Poole Sr., being publicly outspoken about his displeasure with his son's minutes. Poole, Sr. was a star player at the University of Florida felt like his son was being unfairly treated and backed up his son's decision of transferring to Georgia Tech. Poole, 6-5 186, will be classified as a RS-Sophomore and will be a tremendous help on defense as he will be intermixed at the 2/3 positions.

Solomon Poole, a top-10 Point Guard in the 2013 class, graduated from the North Florida Educational Institute in the fall and played his final game at Terry Parker High School last Friday. Poole, 6-0 180, will likely be the back-up to Mfon Udofia and will bring major explosiveness and high athleticism off the bench. The 18-year old from Jacksonville, Florida experienced some great and not-so-great times on the court in high school. First, the good, averaging 21 points per game made him an all-state player and the ability to throw down stellar and highlight reel dunks made him YouTube sensation. Now, the bad, Terry Parker was Poole's third high school in three years, as he was caught multiple times for cursing at refs and dumping water onto the court from the bench leading to him missing his team's playoff games via suspension. However, Washington Wizards guard Roger Mason had a heart-to-heart with Poole over the summer about his attitude, and at the top 100 camp many recruiting gurus stated that Poole was a positive influence for his team and had a much improved attitude.

It will be interesting to see how things play out with the Pooles and how long it takes for them to get on the same page and develop chemistry with Brian Gregory's current squad. Fortunately, Georgia Tech has a very easy schedule in the upcoming weeks and their first ACC contest isn't until January 5th against Miami so Yellow Jacket Nation is hoping the Poole brothers will be ready for the ACC slate by then.