Georgia Tech Football: Jackets top team in the state, former Tech QB passes away

The Georgia Tech football team was picked as a top team in the state while a former Tech quarterback and college coaching legend passed away.

Tech picked as top team in the state:

While the Georgia Bulldogs may be getting all the hype entering the 2017 season, it’s the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets that were selected by CBS Sports as the best team in the state of Georgia.

The Yellow Jackets are coming off a 2016 campaign that saw the program achieve its fifth 8+ win season under Paul Johnson. The Jackets nine win season was a strong bounce back to a 2015 season that saw a disappointing 3-9 record posted by the Jackets.

Here is how each FBS team in Georgia finished last season;

• Georgia: 8-5 (Liberty Bowl)
• Georgia Southern: 5-7
• Georgia State: 3-9
• Georgia Tech: 9-3 (TaxSlayer Bowl)

Here was the reasoning behind the selection of the Yellow Jackets;

"No, Georgia Tech doesn’t have the street cred as big brother Georgia … but it has two wins over the last three seasons — both at Georgia — and is fresh off a 9-4 season. That’s enough to give the Yellow Jackets the edge over Kirby Smart’s crew for now."

Former Jacket Frank Broyles passes away at 92:

Former Georgia Tech quarterback Frank Broyles passed away on Monday at the age of 92. Broyles was born in Decatur, Georgia and played at Tech from 1943 to 1946. The Yellow Jackets were highly successful under Broyles leading the team to three winning seasons over his four years.

Following his playing career at Tech, Broyles was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the NFL Draft but chose to go into coaching instead. In 1947, he joined the Baylor coaching staff, where he would stay for three seasons before going to the University of Florida for a single season. In 1951, Broyles returned back to The Flats and coached under his former head coach Bobby Dodd.

Broyles was the offensive coordinator for the Jackets from 1951 to 1956 and in those six years, the Jackets went 64-7-3 during his tenure as offensive coordinator. Following the 1956 season, Broyles left The Flats to go onto Missouri where he would have his first head coaching position.

At Missouri, Broyles went 5-4-1 in his lone season before accepting the head coaching job at the University of Arkansas. Once he arrived in Fayetteville, Broyles would last there for 19 seasons before he retired from head coaching. During his tenure in Arkansas, the Razorbacks become one of the best teams in the country.

Through those 19 seasons, Broyles lead the Razorbacks to seven Southwest Conference championships as well as one national championship in 1964. Overall, his career record in Fayetteville was 144-58-5. Following his retirement, Broyles went into broadcasting and was part of a broadcasting duo with legendary broadcaster Keith Jackson.

Since his retirement from coaching Broyles has been remembered numerous ways by Arkansas, Georgia Tech, and college football as a whole. Arkansas in 2007 named the field at Donald W. Reynolds Stadium “Frank Broyles Field” to forever remember his impact on the Razorbacks. The Yellow Jackets inducted Broyles into their own Hall of Fame.

He was widely recognized around college football as well being part of the College Football Hall of Fame as well as a member of the Cotton Bowl, Gator Bowl, and Orange Bowl’s own respective hall of fames. In 1996, the Frank Broyles award was created and is now annually given to the best assistant coach in all of college football.

Yellow Jacked Up sends our deepest condolences to the Broyles family.