If the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets are playing a SEC-ish team, that means it's time to turn our attention to Paul Johnson's recruiting. Nobody brings this up when Tech plays Virginia or N.C. State or Wake Forest, but it always resurfaces around Clemson week or Virginia Tech week.
Thus, both former Clemson Tigers coach Tommy Bowden and Johnson himself have been asked about recruiting for the triple option offense. In the most general of terms, they arrived at a similar conclusion.
Here's Bowden on recruiting against the offense -- though it's worth noting he did very little of that himself, as he left halfway through Johnson's first season:
It's hard to convince an offensive lineman to go there because he won't practice pass protection, a defensive lineman doesn't want to get chop blocked all spring, a defensive back doesn't want to work on run support, a receiver wants to catch more than three passes a game, a quarterback that wants to throw doesn't want to go there.
And while Johnson points out the success several of his players have had, he acknowledged there are particular factors at play when it comes to recruiting for Tech:
"I just point out the guys from Tech that are in the NFL." He added further that if a prospect looks at a college solely as a vehicle to get to the NFL, "he's probably not coming to Georgia Tech anyway because if that's his only concern, he's going to go somewhere where there's 100,000 people at the game and the school's not hard."
(Yes, some Georgia fans are taking the last portion as a shot.)
Tech still has yet to see what the attack will look like once Johnson's recruits really take charge. Tevin Washington's only a sophomore, for instance, while both of his challengers, Vad Lee and Synjyn Days, are freshmen. And there's not a single senior on the offensive line three-deep. And Roddy Jones and Tyler Melton are the only senior offensive starters. Whether it seems like an excuse or not, this is still a young offense.
For more on this game, visit Georgia Tech blog From The Rumble Seat and Clemson blog Shakin' The Southland.