Both teams are very efficient and Vandy has a great special teams unit and up for and excited to play.

On health

We have a couple of guys, the whole team came over and we have a couple of guys out who had surgery right after the game. They won’t be playing, but other than that we will be a full go. Kyle Efford and Rodney Shelley had surgery after the season.

On seniors

It might be their last game, but this isn’t their last time being a part of this program. Whether you are here six months, six years ,one year, Georgia Tech is special and once a Tech man, you are always a Tech man.

On his Bama ties being a factor in the game

It is not about that, it is about these guys having one more time playing together. The stands will be filled with white and gold, 100%, but I know we will have a great turnout for Georgia Tech and our fans will make the short drive over to see our guys play on Friday. I’ve been fortunate to not be at a lot of places, the most impactful people in my life start with Jack Wood my HS coach. He was a lot of things to me and the longer you are out of high school the more you learn.

On what he learned from Nick Saban

I worked for George O’Leary for almost 20 years of my life (joked it was tough) and then Coach Saban, those three men have impacted my coaching and my coaching style. Then I’ve learned a lot from these guys on this team. It is not a one-way street, it is a two-way street, I want to give them everything they need. It is not about everything I need or they need, it is getting feedback from them. Since the midpoint of the 2022 season, that is when we made that change and it was a two-way street and they can come in and ask for things or share thing from the locker room. That two-way communication builds a lot and it helps hold people accountable. When we got here the police were telling our guys where to go and not go and I wasn’t worried about them. I want them to have fun and be the most disciplined team on the field, but to ask them to be the most disciplined and have fun and celebrate with each other and have no stress. You can’t ask that 12 times a year, you have to live your life that way. That is one of things that in engrained in my head from coach Saban, discipline is making the right decisions no matter the circumstances. Also seeing how he recruited and how he evaluated. It was starting 9th graders and you never stop evaluating, Miles Brooks I offered in 9th grade at Bama, every moment in our program we evaluate our guys to help make them better.

I’m really proud of these men and this season, but also these guys at Georgia Tech finished with a 3.0 GPA, the highest in-season GPA in program history. They aspire to be great on and off the field. That is what I’m most proud about.

HAYNES KING QUOTES

On the drop in his turnovers
Big goal this offseason, one was knocking down the turnovers and that was a big battle this past season and it was turnover margin, when you don’t turn it over you have a chance to win in every game.

On momentum
It shows the growth and maturity this whole team has with the ups and downs this season and momentum coming into the bowl game, hopefully that travels through the next season as well.

LAMILES BROOKS QUOTES

On momentum
Momentum, we see it but we don’t, we view everything as a one-game season, but we do see it catching strides as a team and hopefully we can keep it going this weekend.

On the bowl
I love the camaraderie and the making the most of this opportunity outside of the football trying to hang out as a team. We have a big senior class. Golfing will be a good chance to compete and we have bowling later this week.

On his last game

Sadness, I’ve embraced my journey and what it took to get here, leaving a lasting impact on my teammates and what it takes to keep this ship going.

This gave me a good laugh this morning.

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Didn’t see a thread for it but **** it, another thread.

JMU vs WKU in a very elite game

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Just went in after the change.

Hosted by Chase Lane! He's definitely a Tech man!

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So guys are still entering the portal and more will continue to enter until the deadline. Here is a look at some of the targets we are currently tracking. Some will not end up with offers and some they've offered or would take if they wanted to come. Not every portal kid is telling everyone about offers but I know these are guys they are interested in.

DEFENSIVE TACKLES

Georgia Tech has one DT portal commit now with Matthew Alexander announcing today.

They will look to add two more before next season.

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Dawson has been an early target for GT in the portal at DT. He has been a three-year rotation piece and will be a 6th year SR.

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Senior with two years of starting experience in the Pac-12/2

DEFENSIVE ENDS

Tech has one DE commit already on board

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GT lost out on Nate Johnson from App State who was down to GT and Mizzou.

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Olds is down to a few schools including GT who was the favorite going into the weekend. He is visiting Kentucky and Ole Miss. He had six sacks this season in a breakout year.

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Everyone and their brother is on George. I have not heard that GT is a favorite or out of it for him. It has been hard to get much info on him in general.

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Tech offered Norman who had a strong redshirt freshman season with 2.5 sacks. He has garnered a lot of attention in the portal.

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GT has gotten involved with Pat Payton. He had a down year like the rest of the Noles teams but still had four sacks. Has 16 career sacks over three seasons at FSU.

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Searcy had 3.5 sacks for the Gators in 2024. Auburn is also involved with Searcy.
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He literally went into the portal yesterday. Camac had 5.5 sacks for the Rebels

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Pitt is heavily involved with the Mercer transfer along with NC State, Indiana, FSU and others. He is a top portal guy. He had 9.5 sacks last year.

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Yates has been a solid defensive end with 11.5 sacks over three seasons at UConn. He actually had a down year for him with 2.5 sacks due to injury was very consistent his first two years.

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Finkley visited Miss State this week, not sure if he has a GT visit or not. He had a down 2024 season.

https://n.rivals.com/content/athletes/amorie-morrison-254825

Bigger DE who had a strong season and is a veteran guy but hasn't quite lived up to potential.


Khris Walton had 13.5 sacks and 18 TFLs at Tifton College, he was an All-American this year at Tiffin University

https://georgiatech.rivals.com/content/athletes/mustapha-coly-299584?view=cv

He had five sacks this season at Virginia State

Brent Key, "We have a couple of guys, the whole team came over and we have a couple of guys out who had surgery right after the game. They won’t be playing, but other than that we will be a full go. Kyle Efford and Rodney Shelley had surgery after the season."


https://x.com/Kelly_Quinlan/status/1871637021367980369

This one is maybe the least surprising



Romello Height is discussing a return to Georgia Tech and is having major remorse over his move and Texas Tech apparently hasn’t fulfilled their of the bargain.

At this point he could even play in the bowl game if it happens before the bus leaves for Birmingham tomorrow.

Another get them into the portal and bait and switch deal.

I’ve confirmed conversations with GT are ongoing to bring Height back.

….

Also there is one more that Key wants to bring back that could happen as well that entered the portal.

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To troll FSU and Clemson fans on the futility of their weak ass lawsuit. Now that the season is over all this realignment bs is going to crank back up. They don’t have much argument against 2-10 so use that.

This is your place to argue or discuss whatever you want to argue about. No cancellations due to topics in this thread or I will show up at your house and beat your $100 out of you.

Feel free if you have a few extra bucks to drop a couple in the old tip jar for myself and Alex.

Looking to go to the game but parking within reasonable distance of the stadium seems to be sold out. Where is everyone parking?

@Kelly Quinlan - Can you please make this new "JOL TICKET EXCHANGE 2022 FB" thread sticky for the next 6 months?

We have this thread from last year (JOL TICKET EXCHANGE 2021 FB) but I assumed we'd want to create a new one for this year.

how do you think the staff feels today about next years DL situation?

KQ- Confident they will get the pieces and develop enough to do the job. They are not as concerned as the board is.

Any updated developments about the portal targets from your War Room a couple of days ago? Any other guys that have been added to the board?

KQ- We've been doing updates once there is enough info, there should be a few more updates coming soon.

Is there a date set, or approximate date for when the ACC will release all dates on next years in-conference football schedule? I know all the out of conference games have dates, I'm just eager to know since other conferences like the SEC already dropped all their dates

KQ- They have been doing it after the season ends in early January. Last year it was Jan. 24th. They do a TV show and everything. As to why it is so late? I am not sure.

How big a difference between the NIL for Rivers vs what ESJ got from Auburn? Enough to get us 2-3 additional portal contributors?

KQ—I do not know Rivers' number yet. Based on what I heard, you could get him, Patterson, and another player for what Auburn paid Singleton.

General Question: when there is an official “Staying Home” tweet released about one our current SAs, should we assume that’s because there has been a new formal NIL agreement made with that person OR are these just queued up to be dropped periodically for marketing purposes? Since GT doesn’t release one for every player who stays, I assume the announced ones are the ones getting significant deals?

KQ- All the NIL deals have been done for a while and agreed upon. You sort of saw the backlash of that with the Malik Rutherford thing but it got settled as well. Some guys are choosing to do the announcements and others are not into doing it.

We went from laughingstock to middle of the pack to next year being a borderline playoff team (judging from the schedule). What are the next steps to get us over the hump from a coaching, player, fan contribution/support standpoint? We'll never be that school down the road, but with NIL evening the playing field, is there a ceiling and if so, what is it?

KQ- I think behind the scenes they are seeing a strong commitment from some people on the NIL front, but GT always needs grassroots help like the TechWay. As far as a ceiling, there isn't one as far as Brent Key and J Batt are concerned. The thought is if you win, support will get stronger, you build more sidewalk fans and the fan base will start to grow for the first time since probably 2009.

What effect is the portal having on the AQPR numbers? I would figure at some point it has to.

KQ- I think you lost me with the acronym. Can you ask that a different way.

What would the impact be if we could actually sell out and fill the stadium for games?

KQ- It would help with a few top end recruits, but more importantly it would give Batt and Key more financial resources to invest in the program on multiple fronts.

Would the world end if you took a long flight at the same time that Alex walks his dog?
KQ- Brent Key would become the Atlanta Falcons head coach and GT would hire Bill Lewis back as head coach with GC3 as his DC if that happened.

All football:

Do you think within the next few years, there will be a commissioner of college football? Like Rodger Goodell.

KQ- It would be nice, but I don't see that happening unless there is a breakaway from the NCAA system.

Who’s your top 3 guys to get drafted this year? What rounds?

KQ- JJ van den Berg, Keylan Rutledge, Eric Rivers all are day 3 picks. Ahmari Harvey and a few others could jump into this mix. Also I am curious if Haynes King can stay healthy and play his way into the draft.

Who impressed you the most this season?

Chad Alexander when healthy was really dynamic as a change-up at RB. I thought EJ Lightsey looked really good once he got healthy and got some reps under his belt and I'm excited to see what he can do next year. I also see some spark from the freshmen Harrison Moore, Isiah Canion and Luke Harpring that is really encouraging to me.

Who disappointed you the most?

KQ- I think Romello Height's lack of actual sacks, the special teams play in the first half of the season, and the road losses to Syracuse and Louisville that kept the season from being a special one for GT.

What young player are you excited to see get some burn in the bowl game?

KQ- One of the young DEs like Jordan Boyd or Jacob Cruz or Amontrae Bradford.

Seems like Portal Season not only has impacted coaches, but reporters/journalists too, do you feel like your going to need a nap after the holidays?

KQ- We are all exhausted, coaches, media and even some of the players who are in the portal getting hounded by coaches and media.

Do you think a lot of teams (GT included) are signing transfers for Spring "try outs"? Come in, compete and if they aren't in the 2 deep or a physical fit, they'll transfer out in Spring. Jack Barton types

KQ- I think that is not really the case most of the time. That was a unique situation. There will be one or two guys like that every year. They had Ayo Tifase and Jack Barton last year. Those guys will dip if they are not in the two deep when spring ball ends.

Do you think the playoff will expand number of teams in 2 years?

KQ- Yes, this is always about money.

In the past it was mentioned GT mainly went after only Freshman and grad transfers, because it was hard academically to add others and have their credits transfer over. It seems like this year, they are going after a lot of sophomores and juniors. Has something changed on that front?

KQ- They have a little more ability to handle stuff in the portal, but if you look the majority of the kids coming in are either high academic kids or kids close to graduation from their prior stop like Rivers or the snapper they just took who was in his third year and an honor roll guy at his previous school.

Do you think we will go over 85 scholarships in anticipation of Spring attrition?

KQ- I expect them to be around 95 come August of 2025

With our 7th commit, JT Byrne, in house, what other position pick ups do you expect with quantities per position.

DL
LB
OL
RB
KQ- They've since added a DL, but they need 3 more DLs, zero LBs because they added two, probably no more OLs and one more RB. I could see them still looking for another DB.

Dalen Penson mentioned in an interview around ESD that the staff might use him as a two-way player and it was kind of a pitch to him to play at GT. Do you think that will actually happen? And if it does what type of role would you expect him to play on offense?

(I know he’s a crazy track athlete so it would be cool to see him give it a shot)

KQ- It depends on whether he can catch or not. If he can then they will definitely come up with something if he is good enough to break into the two-deep. It is not that hard to teach him a few plays to feature him on offense if that is something that Key wants to do and what they promised him.

Is Harvey returning?

Is it anyones business what these guys are receiving through NIL, let's just support our team(s) and the staff. Big things popping off around the flats. Let enjoy and help it grow. NIL is what it is until whatever changes needed are made.

#gojackets
#whatsthegoodword
#THWg

Akhmatova Harvey yet? Seems like a solid piece. J/K what is the latest with the former Ala RB JHaynes? Kinda dropped off. Did I miss that we have no shot?