Tuesdays with Gorney: Nothing but potential at Arizona State, Georgia Tech
There are now three Power Five coaching jobs open at Arizona State, Georgia Tech and Nebraska. We’ve talked ad nauseum about the Huskers so in today’s Tuesdays with Gorney, Rivals national recruiting director Adam Gorney goes in-depth on the Yellow Jackets and Sun Devils and argues that winning big at those places is possible:
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There are reasons to believe Arizona State could be a sleeping giant in the Pac-12 and other considerations that if the Sun Devils cannot overcome they will bounce around the middle of the conference rankings, win some big games but generally not get anyone too excited.
The situation there now is tricky as an NCAA investigation slogs on concerning recruiting visits during the COVID-19 shutdown. Herm Edwards is out and a bunch of young and vibrant assistant coaches are gone as interim coach Shaun Aguano, who has tremendous connections to the area since he was the head coach at Chandler, Ariz., for many years, takes over for the rest of the season.
First, the opportunities: Over the last 10 years, five programs in the Pac-12 (Oregon, Utah, Washington, USC and Stanford) have won more games than Arizona State, which has 64 victories in that time. More than Washington State, four more than UCLA, plenty more than the rest of the conference.
Over that timeframe, Arizona State has actually recruited well usually finishing anywhere from fourth to sixth in the Pac-12 team recruiting rankings but the last two recruiting cycles have been poor. For all the talk of Edwards’ recruiting capacity and a staff that can go out and win recruiting battles, it hasn’t happened recently especially with an NCAA investigation hanging over the Sun Devils’ head.
ASU is dead last in the conference rankings now with only six commitments. The Sun Devils finished dead last last recruiting cycle and ninth in 2021. Over the last 10 years, though, ASU has an average class rank of 7.3 in the conference which is nothing to write home about but not the pits, either.
In-state recruiting has been a major problem - and it’s fair to say it’s been that way for Arizona, too. The truth of the matter is that top kids from that state just leave. There’s no two ways about it and the numbers are actually pretty striking.
None of the top 20 2023 prospects in the state of Arizona are committed to Arizona State. The Sun Devils signed none of the top 10 in 2022, none of the top 15 in 2021, one of the top 25 in 2020 and two of the top 2020 in 2019. The last No. 1 player in the state to sign with ASU - and the only one in a decade - was five-star WR N’Keal Harry in 2016.
Now, for the good part. The state of Arizona is booming in population with some of the fastest growing cities in the Phoenix suburbs. Chandler, Scottsdale Saguaro, Chandler Hamilton, Phoenix Brophy Prep, Phoenix Pinnacle and others regularly pump out high-end football players. The trick now is to compel them to stay home and play for the Sun Devils.
The weather is phenomenal (maybe not in the summer when it feels like you’re living in an oven but it’s nice and warm in the winter when half the country is freezing). Tempe is, let’s say, conducive to an overall positive college experience. There’s a whole lot to sell when it comes to the city, the school, the football program and the weather. Most teams in the North would kill for any of those recruiting advantages.
Winning can be done at Arizona State. But it starts with in-state recruiting and hiring the next coach who isn’t the buddy of the athletics director who seemingly didn’t care or didn’t want to learn recruiting rules. The Herm Edwards Experiment collapsed but the Sun Devils could be primed for relevancy again.
And now to Georgia Tech.
Many Tech fans have been so mired in Geoff Collins’ miscues, missed opportunities and three seasons of losses that they forget that Paul Johnson had a lot of winning teams, that Chan Gailey never had a losing campaign although he squeaked by in a lot of those years and George O’Leary only had one losing year.
This is not a program necessarily built for ACC and national championships yet but there is potential for not only winning football but making some serious noise.
However, over the last 10 years only Virginia and Syracuse have won fewer games in the ACC. Duke has seven more wins during that stretch than the Yellow Jackets. Louisville has 17. Clemson, forget it, it’s 114 wins to 52 for Georgia Tech.
Over that stretch, Georgia Tech’s recruiting classes have ranked 9.3 in the ACC so its on-field performance is a tick lower than expected based on the players the Yellow Jackets have been getting. Georgia Tech’s classes have ranked 11, 9 and 11 in the ACC the last three recruiting cycles which is clearly not ideal.
In-state recruiting has been an issue and it shouldn’t be since Georgia is arguably one of the three-best states in the country for talent and certainly within the top five. Even with Georgia getting whoever it wants, that second-level player in the state has not been going to the Yellow Jackets and that needs to change.
None of the top 87 prospects in Georgia’s 2023 class are committed to Georgia Tech right now. None of the top 30 and only three of the top 70 in 2022 picked the Yellow Jackets. Three of the top 23 in 2021 did which was a positive sign but an outlier as only one of the top 36 in 2020 did and it was Jahmyr Gibbs who has since transferred to Alabama.
This is why I’ve argued vociferously for Deion Sanders to get a serious look. Coaches all run similar stuff and have the same looks and the ones who win have not only the most-disciplined players but the biggest, fastest, most-athletic ones. Sanders would be able to recruit Atlanta like crazy and win some of these recruiting battles. Maybe not against Georgia and Clemson to start but there are plenty of others Georgia Tech has been losing as well.
He would also bring energy and cachet to the program. You’re telling me an elite cornerback wouldn’t want to play for arguably the best corner ever? That’s why Travis Hunter went to Jackson State.
Coastal Carolina’s Jamey Chadwell would be a fine choice and others will definitely get looks but the Georgia Tech decision-makers tried to make the program cool and fun with Collins. Yeah, right. Coach Prime is the epitome of what they were looking for.
Georgia Tech doesn’t need the flexbone to win games. It just needs to recruit better in-state, get a coach that brings vibrancy to the program and sell, sell, sell Atlanta and everything it has to offer as well.