Tech's Gold Masks: Thumbs Up

See where Tech was wearing gold facemasks on their practice helmets? They look good, better than those black monstrosities they've been wearing for almost 40 years. The gold mask blends in with the helmet, for a better visual look – like white masks look good on white helmets.

 

Actually not black masks any more – the last year or so they've been navy blue. Typical Tech grad just had to correct me for accuracy's sake. Whatever. You sure can't tell black from navy on TV or from the stands. The dark mask on gold and / or white helmets just dominates the appearance, totally taking away from what could be a good-looking helmet.

Come to think of it, if Tech is smart they won't debut those gold masks on the road at Temple this weekend, but wait until the next week when they're wearing special uniforms against UNC. Not that GT has every been that smart with anything related to uniforms. BTW GT can wear those ridiculous three dark adidas stripes on their practice helmets as long as they never consider wearing them in a game. Give adidas or Nike or Under Armor an inch and they'll take a mile.

ESPN is finally getting the idea that Jake Fromm may be a first round draft pick. ESPN has been so focused on Tua and young Trevor Lawrence and anyone they can scrape up out west (this year its Oregon's Hebert) that Fromm had been forgotten. All Fromm has done in two years is lead the Dawgs to two SEC Championship Games, a National Championship Game, and run off two five star quarterbacks. He reads defenses better than any other college QB. He can make all the throws. He stepped onto campus as a high school senior and started directing upperclassmen five years his senior. Against Notre Dame (and in the Rose Bowl against Oklahoma) Fromm proved he can run the ball. The ESPN College GameDay crew knows about Fromm. But evidently ESPN Draft Experts don't. First round draft pick? Jake could be the number one overall draft pick.

 

Funny that last year the media loved Tua and forgot all about Jalen Hurts. Now Hurts is back in the spotlight. If Fromm were to choose to skip his senior year for the NFL Draft (you heard it here first - he won't) the Dawgs will take a step back toward the pack. Forget Bama - beating Florida and Auburn will be harder.

 

UGA kicker Rodrigo Blankenship is on the Lou Groza Award Watch List, along with half the other kickers in the country. On November 7 the award committee narrows the list down. Last year Rodrigo made the fist cut but was not one of the three finalists, despite having a far superior Total Kicking score, which combines field goals, extra points, and kickoffs. Two of last year's finalists didn't even handle kickoffs for their teams. This week Blankenship was named one of the Groza Award's stars of the week, as well as SEC special teams player of the week. After four games the senior is perfect for the season, and has never missed a point after.

 

The Groza Award is voted on by a panel of over 300 "experts" – sportswriters, muckety-mucks, NFL kickers, and the like. You'd think they'd award the best statistical kicker, but that's not the case. A voter can vote for any kicker he wants.

 

I need to start using that CPAP machine. Ceil is leaving town Thursday so that will be a good time to start. I downloaded that app to monitor my sleep, but it thinks I'm awake whenever Barney starts moving around in the bed. So my sleep should be better when Barney leaves town with Ceil.

 

Other people are meeting here so there were leftover sandwiches that I ate for supper last night and lunch today. Also potato salad. Worked past six. Could've gone longer. Stopped by Dollar Tree on the way home for Kool-Ade. C was at her ministry. Anna got home from work. I crashed on the couch. Had the Braves on the TV.