8:30 on Wednesday plus hoops and anything else news worthy.

I have been bitching about this for years, beyond frustrating. We have to quit shooting our selves in the foot with the hardest schedule in the conference crap every year. So Freaking stupid. Thank the good lord Clemson is no longer our permanent rival, but they are back on the schedule after next season. We need to start scheduling like Wake Forest, Duke, heck even Ugag......sorry had to get this off my chest, melt is over, lol



Stop me if you have heard this before, but Georgia Tech is going to have one of the nation's toughest schedules in the country next year and the toughest in the ACC.

This is an annual occurrence for the Yellow Jackets, but it is going to happen again and they are not even playing Clemson.

247Sports Analyst Brad Crawford ranked the 15 toughest schedules in the country for the 2024 season and the only ACC team in it was Georgia Tech. He ranked the

Here is what Crawford had to say about the Yellow Jacket's schedule:

"The only ACC team in our toughest schedules ranking, Georgia Tech has a difficult road ahead. Dates for all conference games for the Yellow Jackets will be revealed later this month, but what we do know is Georgia Tech won't miss any of the projected contenders in the conference and have to play nationally-ranked Notre Dame and Georgia, too."

The teams that were ranked ahead of Georgia Tech were UCLA, Arkansas, South Carolina, Oklahoma, and Florida.


It is no doubt going to be a tough schedule for the Yellow Jackets. Georgia, Notre Dame, Miami, Florida State, NC State, and Louisville are all likely to start the season ranked next year. Throw in games against improved teams like Virginia Tech and Syracuse and Brent Key's team will have their work cut out for them.

But they are used to this.

Key has had his team ready to be the underdog more than once. They were big underdogs last season against Miami and North Carolina and against the Tar Heels and Pitt the year before. Georgia Tech is going to have one of the top offenses in the conference next year and Key has made some strong hires on the defensive side of the football, where Georgia Tech was the weakest last year. If there is enough improvement on that side of the ball and the offense does not regress, Haynes King and the rest of the Yellow Jackets can navigate this schedule.

Brent Key is working to find his defensive backs coach and cast a wide net interviewing 10 different candidates over the last week. The field has narrowed down and now it is up to Key and the few remaining targets to make a deal. Folks sometimes forget these are people and often you are asking them to uproot their lives so it can be a process you can't rush to make a hire especially if it i not a local guy or an ATL-native. I expect he will have this wrapped up soon, however. Stay tuned.

On the recent departures from the recruiting staff, that is the natural churn of that job. DPP Beau Davidson who followed Errin Joe here from UConn is moving upward to a GM position at Memphis as reported last night and as Russell said in another thread Brooks Barrineau is leaving the business as well. It is tough to work in recruiting and pretty thankless and coaches like Key, Nick Saban or Kirby Smart are very demanding so there will be churn there. Key will aim to make some moves in these departments over the coming weeks with Joe likely taking the lead on the hires.

Key is also still working on adding and tweaking his analyst positions. I do not expect Brian Baker to return with the hiring of Jess Simpson and Kyle Pope, that area is pretty well covered now and Key has some really interesting candidates for analyst spots that will be fun if they come to fruition. Stay tuned on that one. I'll share more of the backstory as I can once the hires are made.

Former assistant Andrew Thacker has been interviewing for jobs recently both on and off the field at other programs. I expect we will see him surface with a job soon. I am less sure about whether former on-the-field assistants Travares Tillman or Marco Coleman continue their coaching careers post-GT when their contracts expire at the end of this month. Key is very close with all three of these guys but he made the moves he thought were best for the program.

That leaves Kevin Sherrer as the other guy still floating around. The hirings of Tyler Santucci and Pope squeezed him out of a spot on the field. I thought he might stay on as an analyst, but that remains to be seen. I know he was interested in returning to the NFL if possible. Out of the guys pushed off the field, Sherrer is the only one I could see coming back in some capacity next year.

Let's go..

I will go until around 10 or so.

Much more content coming.

Bring all your 2025 recruiting questions, and I’ll be ready to answer.

Working on stories on Antwann Hill, Aaron Gregory, Tax Williams, Christian Garrett, and several others.

Talk to y’all soon.

story from Hunter

**

I am not linking it as I assume it is behind the firewall, but if you have access you don't want to miss it. Bottom line: Santucci coaches an aggressive defense that the Duke players loved. And one objective is disguising things to keep the offense confused (as opposed to keeping ourselves confused which seemed to be the hallmark under Thacker). Can't wait to see it in action on the Flats!

I have a lot of Uga friends. And it has been VERY HARD over the years because, as others on here I am sure, I have taken a lot of BS for a long time. But is it just me or has it been exponentially worse here recently ??? One of my buddies will not stop calling me and talking Uga crap and throwing dirt on Alabama. I have bit my lip so much I have no bottom lip now. I hate Uga....always have and always will ! But d--- this is getting ridiculous.
Please Lord bring blessings on Coach Key and GT and let's figure a way to beat them !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am not asking for much LOL ! GO JACKETS UNTIL MY DYING BREATH !!!!!

I am working to confirm from elsewhere, but I have confirmed the following trio from OTE will be at the game tomorrow-
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Also have confirmed that this will be Brown's first time at GT. I'll add more names as I get them.

The game against the Cavaliers on Saturday is a big one. It is a very winnable game as UVA has really struggled on the road. They're 0-4 in true road games this season, and they haven't really been competitive in any of them losing by an average of 20PPG.

Memphis L 54-77
Notre Dame L 54-76
NC State L 60-76
Wake Forest L 47-66

As fans, we need to give the Jackets a homecourt advantage. The more energy in the building the better. We're coming off two straight home losses against teams we should have beat, so we need to come out strong and avoid a let down.

Should be a good one. See you at McCamish on Saturday night!

Nothing of real note here. Dom Blaylock appears to be done playing football. He is not on here, that is the only missing guy. All the mid-year guys have been added but without their jerseys, as they will be assigned shortly.


Here is my current scholarship count.

CURRENT STATUS
Georgia Tech has 76 scholarship players scheduled to be on the roster as of 1/5/24 who count against the 85 scholarship cap, plus nine freshmen who will join this summer. Tech needs to be at 85 scholarship players by the start of school in August. GT has 21 seniors this season, which means there are currently 21 available scholarships for the Class of 2025, including incoming transfers prior to that season. This does not account for future attrition that will take place due to early graduation, medical hardship, NFL, transfers, etc.

GRADUATION TOTALS BY SEASON
2024- 11 offense, 8 defense, 2 special teams, 21 total
2025- 9 offense, 8 defense, 0 special teams, 17 total
2026- 7 offense, 7 defense, 1 special teams, 15 total
2027- 15 offense, 8 defense, 0 special teams, 23 total
TOTALS- 42 offense, 31 defense, 3 special teams, 76 total

ROSTER BY GRADUATION SEASON

2024 SENIORS
Offense
Avery Boyd - WR
Trey Cooley- RB
Weston Franklin- OL
Ryland Goede- TE
Jackson Hawes- TE
Abdul Janneh- WR
Haynes King- QB
Chase Lane- WR
Christian Leary- SLT
Brett Seither- TE
Jordan Williams - OT

Defense
Jack Barton- DE
Zeek Biggers- DT
LaMiles Brooks - S
Warren Burrell- CB
Kevin Harris- DE
Joshua Robinson- DE
Makius Scott- DT
Sylvain Yondjouen - DE

Specialist
David Shanahan- P
Gavin Stewart- PK

2025 JUNIORS
Offense
James BlackStrain- WR
Leo Blackburn- WR
Jordan Brown- OL
Joe Fusile- OG
Jamal Haynes- RB
Jakiah Leftwich- OL
Corey Robinson II- OT
Keylan Rutledge- OG
Malik Rutherford- SLT

Defense
Omar Daniels- CB/NB
Khari Gee- S
Jackson Hamilton- LB
Ahmari Harvey- CB
Eddie Kelly- DL
Tyson Meiguez - LB
Clayton Powell-Lee- DB
Rodney Shelley- DB

2026 SOPHOMORES

Offense
Brandon Best- OC
Evan Dickens- RB
Jamie Felix- RB
Jackson Long- TE
Ethan Mackenny- OT
Zach Pyron- QB
Eric Singleton Jr.- WR

Defense
Jacob Cruz- LB
Kyle Efford- LB
Syeed Gibbs- CB
E.J. Lightsey- LB
Horace Lockett- DT
DJ Moore- CB
Taye Seymore- S
Ayo Tifase- DT

Specialist
Aidan Birr- PK


2026 FRESHMEN
Offense
Tana Alo-Tupuola- OL
Isaiah Canion- WR
Anthony Carrie- RB
Jordan Floyd- OL
Gabe Fortson- OC
Benjamin Galloway- OG
Trey Horne- WR
Graham Knowles- QB
Trelain Maddox- RB
Harrison Moore- OL
Aaron Phlo- QB
Jameson Riggs- OL
Patrick Screws Jr.- OT
Zion Taylor- WR

Defense
Nacari Ashley- LB
Justin Brown- S
Jordan Boyd- DE
Tah'j Butler- LB
Nico Dowdell- S
Cedric Franklin- CB
Shymeik Jones- DT
Steven Jones Jr.- CB

Damon Stoudamire and Ty Claude spoke to the a larger group of media today

Damon said that he hopes and thinks the momentum from the win over Clemson will carry over into the UVA game tomorrow. He said UVA plays a totally different style but they need to build upon the win at Clemson and start winning some ACC games.

Damon said that Tony Bennett has done a great job at UVA and was a helluva player in his own right back in the day. He said most people don't know about his playing career. Damon said that UVA is really good on defense and they are slow and deliberate on offense and they have to really move the ball on offense to have any success tomorrow night against them. He said they have struggled with that at times offensively moving the ball and executing. He said that UVA is feisty and you really see that in the tape from the VaTech game. He joked that Tony must've really got after his guys after the loss at Wake with the way they were playing against VaTech. They were getting gaps and creating turnovers and being physical. He said they will have their hands full with UVA, but he is excited about the opportunity to play them for the first time.

On Claude's big role in the Clemson game, Stoudamire said they've had decent games from both Ebe and Claude at times, but not both at the same time. They need to be better against bigs because PJ Hall killed them in the last game and the bigs need to start playing well at the same time. He said this game is a different matchup than Clemson. He said that Claude has to help Baye inside.

Stoudamire said that Kowacie Reeves has been the most consistent player since he has been here and he hits big shots and gets a big rebound, he makes the right pass. He is very consistent on defense and you don't call his name all the time because he plays so consistently. He said he gets better every day at practice and he has really bought into his role and his percentages are above average for his position to the higher end and he is getting better and he really is excited to work with him this summer to take his game to the next level and add more to his game.

Stoudamire said he is all for Reeves dying his hair whatever color or his eyebrows, he loves self expression from his players.

Stoudamire said that UVA reminds him of some NBA teams where they try to make it a possession to possession game and slow things down and they have to avoid trying to play too fast on offense against that and you have to be selective with your shots and not get sped up. He said it can seem boring almost ot outsiders but they know who they are at UVA on offense and defense and they play physically on the ball and tag rollers and you have to make the simple pass against them and not get bored. He said a lot of times this year they've gotten bored on offense and not kept the game simple and this is one where they can't do that.

Damon said they rebounded like crap against Clemson.

Damon said that they put Nait George in a difficult spot when they started playing him and he hadn't been playing at all and now he is starting and he is processing that and most guys who are put in that type of spot are one and done and he is not that type of guard so he is learning the position on the court right now and there are times where he gets tired or hits a little wall and he is starting to get his legs under him now and that is helping him shoot better.

Damon said his former teammates Dale Davis and Sharone Wright who both played at Clemson and were in his texts ahead of the game haven't said a peep since the win the other night. lol

Damon Stoudamire

Ty Claude

Caleb Wilson '25 at Miller Grove tonight
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Jaeden Mustaf '24 commit in action on Prime Video tonite at 7PM with City Reapers.
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Darrion Sutton '24 commit and Daquan Davis '24 recruit will have their RWE team in action tomorrow night at 7PM on Overtime Elite YouTube.

Now I get to drive home and go to bed.

🤣 🤣 🤣

RB signee Anthony “Scoota” Carrie, the No. 133 recruit nationally, expands on why he chose Georgia Tech over Texas A&M & several others.

His YouTube channel seems like a place GT fans are going to find themselves on frequently in the future Login to view embedded media

After being shocked he was even named the starter 4 months ago, I offer a big THANK YOU to Haynes for coming to GT 👏👏👏👏👏

And he hasn't been on campus a full 365 days yet. (Same for Buster)

Just marinate on this...

He's gonna get better. (OL too)

Oooh....