Without Custis and Hunt-Days, is Tech in trouble?

Paul Johnson isn't singin' in the rain. (Brant Sanderlin/AJC)

Credit: Mark Bradley

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Credit: Mark Bradley

It rained on T-Day -- actually T-Night -- and that was the better part of Georgia Tech's spring. Since then, the Jackets have seen Dave Wolkosky, who had spruced up the world's least-special special teams, and director of player personnel (read: recruiter) Matt Griffin, leave for undisclosed reasons. Now this.

Freshman B-back Travis Custis and linebacker-turned-defensive-end Jabari Hunt-Days have been ruled ineligible for the 2014 season . Custis will transfer to Georgia Military College for the 2014-2015 academic year and conceivably could return to Tech for the 2015 seasons.

Not to get all gloom-and-doom so soon, but these aren't insignificant losses. Custis was being hailed as the best Tech B-back since Anthony Allen if not Jonathan Dwyer -- in March, esteemed colleague Ken Sugiura wrote that Custis might be Tech's finest athlete --and Hunt-Days had been a two-year starter at linebacker. And Tech's depth of personnel, as we know, has never been considered bottomless.

The Jackets lost quarterback Vad Lee, who transferred to James Madison, and defensive end Jeremiah Attaochu, who's expected to be taken in Round 2 of the NFL draft tonight. Those were the key men on offense and defense last season. They're gone, and now Custis and Hunt-Days are, too. Given that athletic director Mike Bobinski has said seven-win seasons aren't good enough -- and that Tech has won more than seven games only once since 2009  -- this wouldn't appear to be the high point of Paul Johnson's tenure as head coach.

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