Georgia Tech quarterback TaQuon Marshall got a peek at some new Adidas apparel Wednesday at the ACC Kickoff. He liked what he saw.
“Oh, man, I cannot wait,” Marshall said. “I saw the gloves (Wednesday) when we were doing that little photo shoot, and, I mean, they’re amazing.”
Anticipation for the arrival of Adidas gear, as well as the opening of the new locker room, is high among Yellow Jackets players.
“The guys are definitely getting antsy,” linebacker Brant Mitchell said. “Antsy about that and the locker room, as well. I know when we come back for camp, everything will be in full swing, so it should be pretty exciting times around Bobby Dodd.”
However, like many Tech fans who have been awaiting the arrival of Adidas apparel for purchase, they’re ready to have it in their hands. For instance, team members are waiting to take delivery of their new cleats.
“I asked them (Wednesday),” coach Paul Johnson said. “They were talking about not getting their cleats yet and breaking them in. They’re kids; they’re excited. They want to get the new stuff.”
While Tech's contract with Adidas officially went into effect July 1, players have been going through summer workouts in the Nike cleats that they wore through the 2017 season.
The cleats have arrived at Tech, but need to be inventoried.
The inventory process of hundreds of cases of Adidas gear for Tech’s equipment room staff has been complicated by a number of factors. Storage space is limited in the Edge Center, Tech’s athletic headquarters. The football equipment room that will accompany the renovated locker room is not completed. As a result, some of the new Adidas gear has been stored in another on-campus space away from the Edge Center.
Equipment manager Tom Conner recently compared the process of receiving, storing, inventorying and distributing with "musical chairs with almost 1,000 cases of goods."
Further, the Edge Center storage room was flooded when a sprinkler head broke, requiring about half of the boxes in the room to be moved during a week when a large shipment was arriving. The accident set the inventory process back about two weeks.
Marshall, a team captain, had concerns about break-in time for the new cleats.
“I actually just talked to coach Johnson earlier, and he was asking about it,” Marshall said. “I said, ‘Coach, I’m hoping we can get some cleats within the next week or so because I don’t want to be breaking in some new cleats the first day of camp.’ That’d be awful.”
Despite the delay, anticipation and excitement remain high. Tech starts preseason training Aug. 3.
“I really cannot wait until Adidas and the locker room (opens),” Marshall said. “But at this point, I’m like, ‘Hey, I can wait for it all.’ As soon as camp comes, I’ll be ready to see it all.”
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