Kelly, what's your plan for Ireland? You planning to go and cover the game only or take part in one of the GT travel packages?
KQ- I'll definitely be there. My wife will be going as well but she probably won't go to the game this time. I think we are going to go over to Scotland or the UK for a bit and then tour around Ireland and she is going to come back home to my sons while I stay back for the game. I like to travel my own way and book all my own stuff so I won't be using a travel package.
The last time GT played there was my honeymoon and my wife and I flew over 10 days before and did a grand tour of Western Europe clocking about 1,000 km in a rental car across Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany and then a few days in Ireland. There are some other parts of Ireland I would like to see this time and also I'd like to go up to Northern Ireland as well. I'm hoping my mom who has been researching our family history can come up with some places for me to check out because both sides of my family came from Ireland prior to moving to the US.
Do you believe that the transfer portal is affecting the way coaches play their guys?
For example. Let's say player X was a 3* in high school and he couldn't get the offers he wanted so he went to a smaller school. He's now on the college campus and looks like a 5* stud in practice/weight room. If he shows out, you know he'll take the NIL and leave.
Do coaches have a dilemma of how to play him and how much?
KQ- That scenario absolutely not. That is how you get fired. You can't hold guys back. If someone is doing that they will be unemployed soon or lose their locker room.
The scenario I am hearing about impacts schools that are paying HS kids as it creates issues in the locker room with the guys who have been playing and making less money, it impacts motivation for some of the kids and coachability as well.
Any word on how this visit went? Any chance you or Russell can interview Sacko like you do football recruits after their visits?
KQ- We've tried, the issue is from what I've gathered he doesn't speak English well enough to interview and no one knows how to get in touch with him either. There are 0.0 interviews with him on any network or even the basketball sites. We will keep trying but that is tough to crack.
It’s getting close and I’m excited to see what BF’s offense will look like. I feel like every aspect of the team will be much much better just simply with better Coaching as a whole. I’m still realistic in my W/L record predictions but my question is should I also be a little more realistic in the offensive scheme changes and giving more time to develop?
KQ- The fate of the offense will come down to a few simple ingredients and how they meld together on the field. The first is the skill guys like the wide receivers, they have slots but the outside guys are exclusively guys who have either played very little or haven't played here much or have limited career production outside of Abdul Janneh at the FCS level, Chase Lane at Baylor and Dominick Blaylock at UGA those three transfers and Blaylock has missed 25 career games to injuries to this point.
Let me illustrate my point.
Career Receiving #s in college
Abdul Janneh 54 rec, 694, 10 TDs at FCS level
Chase Lane- 48 rec, 617 yards 2 TDs
Dominick Blaylock- 35 rec, 548 yards, 6 TDs
Leo Blackburn 5 rec, 81 yards, 1 TD
If you go to 2022 production it looks worse aside from Janneh who had his one big season last year
Blaylock 15 rec, 225 yards, 1 TD
Lane 7 rec, 76 yards, 0 TDs
James BlackStrain has one career target that is the next most experienced dude. That's it.
Malik Rutherford is the only really experienced slot guy. Christian Leary had 64 career snaps at Bama and one career catch.
So they will need a lot to happen there.
The RB spot will be a key as well. How does Dontae Smith hold up? What do they get from Tre Cooley and how quickly can Jamie Felix and Evan Dickens assert themselves into the mix?
The TE production I do think will be better if everyone is healthy. I think both Dylan Leonard and Luke Benson's injuries messed them up last year and their position coach got in their head for whatever reason and that didn't help. Brett Seither is really hellbent on making the most out of this upcoming season to show he is a lot better than people think he is.
I think both Zach Pyron and Haynes King can run the offense so that is an improvement over really the QB situation since maybe TaQuon Marshall and Matthew Jordan going back like six or seven years.
You have several players as future adds to GT 2024 football class. That will be great if they come to GT.
One is committed to Miami. One has others projecting UGA. One hasn’t said much about anyone or even started visiting.
What gives you a good or 51%+ feeling about these players ending up at GT?
KQ- This is a question for @Russell Johnson and he is usually pretty good with his projected classes all things being equal.
* As he enters for his first full season as head coach, how do you think CBK will prepare for the clock management responsibilities he will now own? That was one of my few nitpicks last season in a couple end of half/game situations after CBK took over.
KQ- I think there is a learning curve for all head coaches when it comes to that stuff and he is keenly aware of those situations you are mentioning. Key has been studying and working his ass off to try to get ready for the challenge. Coaching live is obviously very different so it will come down to how he handles it, but I can also say having covered two pretty respected HCs over the years in Paul Johnson and before that the religious guy at the school to the East, there were times I would question calls or clock decisions even with guys considered to be excellent game day coaches.
* With the pending Northwestern fallout, do you think programs around the country will begin deep diving and eliminating any types of perceived hazing activities that may be ongoing within their programs?
KQ- I had no idea stuff like this happened anymore. I figured in the day and age of cell phones it would be very difficult to pull the stuff I saw in HS and declined to participate in. Back then you could opt out by just throwing fists or whatever, but who knows what the culture is like at a school. That sounded like some weird frat boy shit to me.
It is a little odd to me that this hasn't leaked out prior to now given how long it supposedly went on and if it was as well-known as people say.
Schools constantly check on their SAs in different ways and a lot of complaints about various things are fielded throughout an athletic department so I'm sure some schools that had some complaints are quaking in their boots at the moment hoping someone doesn't lawyer up.
