I have read and read about how bad our defense is but if anybody was watching the Louisville game tonight!! Y’all may need to rewatch it. 9% on 3rd down! After that they have been 54%. WOW!! I love it because there’s better days ahead.

He is very pissed and it showed.

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Saturday games getting ready to kickoff.

Worst angles to the ball. No assignment discipline. No tackling. Non existent pass rush. Zone in the middle of the def is left wide open by our “all acc” safeties.

Stop defending this trash. It’s effing bowling green. There are no recruiting barriers. It’s called just shitty coaching and players who don’t get it.

People bitching about the defense.

And how much do they break the NCAA record by? Gonna be ugly.

That is all

He just stands there. This millionaire doesn’t even care

These were all submitted prior to the Friday night game getting underway.

Louisville (-3.5) vs. NC State
Louisville- Sed, Kelly, Bronston, Alex
NC State- Russell

Clemson (-6.5) vs. Syracuse
Clemson- Kelly, Bronston
Syracuse- Sed, Alex, Russell

UVA (+3.5) vs. Boston College
BC- Sed, Kelly, Bronston, Alex, Russell

Bowling Green (+22) vs. Georgia Tech
Georgia Tech- Sed 48-10, Kelly 45-13, Bronston 52-14, Alex 48-21, Russell 55-24

Notre Dame (-5.5) vs. Duke
Notre Dame- Kelly, Sed, Alex
Duke- Bronston, Russell

Pitt (-2.5) vs. Virginia Tech
Pitt- Kelly, Sed, Alex, Bronston, Russell

Really fired me up!!!

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Louisville looks rough tonight! Dropping passes! Very little rushing room

BLACKSBURG, Va. — No. 11 Georgia Tech volleyball blew by Virginia Tech for its seventh sweep of the season and first of conference play on Friday in Cassell Coliseum, resulting in coach Michelle Collier‘s 101st ACC win to become the program leader on The Flats. The Yellow Jackets (12-1, 3-0 ACC) outscored the Hokies (10-4, 0-3 ACC) by 20 in the first two sets combined on the way to the 3-0 (25-16, 25-14, 25-21) triumph.

The White and Gold were dominant in all phases, leading the way with ease in kills (48-28), hitting percentage (.353-.198), assists (42-28) and aces (11-2).

Senior outside hitter Tamara Otene turned in the most well-rounded performance on the day with eight kills and a team-leading 12 digs. Freshman right side hitter Larissa Mendes fronted the attack, tallying 12 kills at a .440 clip. Sophomore middle blocker Liv Mogridge followed close behind with eight kills at a .467 rate, and junior middle blocker DeAndra Pierce picked up six kills of her own on a .417 hitting percentage. Senior setter Bella D’Amico led the squad with 21 assists, and freshman setter Heloise Soares came away with a career-high 13 assists.

How it Happened

Tech used a pair of five-point runs to take control in the first set, speeding ahead 11-6 early thanks in large part to back-to-back aces by senior libero Paola Pimentel and widening the gap soon after for a 16-9 advantage. The Jackets closed out the set by claiming the final four points as graduate middle blocker Afedo Manyang slammed the door with a kill for the 25-16 set one win.

The White and Gold rolled on into the second set, winning the first five points as junior outside hitter Bianca Bertolino strung together four during the stretch with three aces and a kill. Virginia Tech maintained within striking distance until yet another burst of five, including a pair of Mogridge aces, propelled the Yellow Jackets to a 19-9 lead. Once again, Georgia Tech cruised onto a set victory on a final swing of Manyang, closing out set two, 25-14.

The third set was neck-and-neck nearly throughout as neither side could separate by more than two early. The Yellow Jackets began to pull away by picking up three straight, moving ahead, 18-14. Another flurry of three gave Tech some breathing room, pushing further in front, 23-17. The Hokies would make a last-ditch effort, but the White and Gold held on to close out the set, 25-21, securing the match sweep.

Up Next

Georgia Tech will wrap up the weekend at Wake Forest (11-3, 2-1 ACC) on Sunday at 1 p.m. in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Over the last handful of days, I’ve been able to connect with some members of Georgia Tech’s 2024 class.

Whenever Georgia Tech wins a big game, the first question always on the mind of fans is about what this might do to recruiting, if the commits were watching, etc.

While many GT commits had went into last Saturday night's matchup with Wake Forest expecting to win, given that GT was an underdog, on the road, facing off against one of the conference's best teams the last couple of years I made the executive decision to qualify this as a "big game" and began gathering reaction after finishing my re-watch.

QB commit Aaron Philo-
"This was definitely a big win! I got to watch the whole game and it was awesome. I really loved how the team never stopped fighting and how hard they play. Shows what the culture is there and I’m excited to be a part of it."

OL commit Jameson Riggs-
"I thought we looked pretty good. Defense definitely stepped up this week and the offense still looked good. Didn’t run the ball as well as we should have, and still have to play better in the second half, but definitely a great conference win."

DB commit Troy Stevenson-
"I really like how we were stuffing their run game, and how we were moving the ball on the offensive side of the ball. I am planning to make it down there either for the BC or UNC game."

WR commit Trey Horne-
"The offense has been great. It is a very exciting scheme, they take plenty of shots and let dudes make plays on the ball. I am excited to watch myself in this offense. Going to be a lot of fun."

RB commit Trelain Maddox-
"Great game, good to see another win. I feel like my playing style is a good change up, because I am a bigger back so we can go in and out and create problems for the defense once I get there."

I was surprised by how low GT was ranked in EPA/Play, but then saw the Opponent Adjusted EPA/Play chart below. We are slightly above 'average'. Progress. Progress indeed.


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I intentionally left out some stuff on his assistants because I wanted to make that a separate piece.

At the 16:30 mark he talks about us. He mentioned how successful we were in the portal last year but he points out that our defense is unique. He says that it’s a complex defense that attacks offenses from multiple angles and says he’s coached against this style only a few times throughout his career. He also says that the players have to be very smart to run this style because there is very few bust on our end. Unique offenses stand out but unique defenses do not. Tbh I didn’t know that we had a unique defense until he pointed it out. Maybe the bust we were having under Collins had something to do with it being so complex? Anyway thought it was interesting and figured I would share. As I said earlier the 16:30 mark is where you want to start, before that it’s all about BG.

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Brent Key had no clue what the uniforms were actually called so we decided to just skip over talking about that in the media session. He did say they will have Coach Curry at the game and this is a little bit of a tribute to his GT era.

Key talked about a switch they made to the schedule this year with practice. They still go full pads and full out on Tuesday and Wednesday but Thursday which used to be a shells practice is now basically a walk-through for the travel squad, but in the first 40 minutes of practice they have the developmental team (aka scout team/redshirting players) go in full pads and the rest of the team does their lifting and training. He said this is really helping with player development and they go through a mini-practice with those players who are not in the two-deep with indy and live reps with 10-minute periods. He said getting those extra 40 minutes a week has been huge for his guys because they are getting more fundamental work and technique taught to them and they could end up moving up as the season moves along instead of just redshirting and being put on the shelf for the year.

Key said that some guys that have started to show up during these Thursday sessions are DT Shymeik Jones, DE Ezra Odinjor, OT Patrick Screws (Key said he is a big man that can really move and does things the right way), OG Ben Galloway, C Gabe Fortson and TE Jackson Long.

The other area this has helped with is guys who were injured going into the season or got hurt in camp like WR Juju Lewis and WR James BlackStrain who are guys who could end up in the rotation at receiver eventually and can make up reps this lost in fall camp or the preseason with these extra sessions now.

Key said they also have added more good-on-good this week in practice to increase the competitive situations.

Key said they are trying to make practice and the prep flow in more of a W-shape now with Tuesday and Wednesday as ramp ups and Thursday as a wind-down and then ramping back up on Friday with some shells work ahead of Saturday games. Key said it is the GT part of him coming out when he came up with this instead of the old method where you went hard Tuesday and Wednesday and then ramp down on Thursday and Friday and then try to get back up on Saturday.

Key said he gives a lot of credit to Mark Smith and his sports medicine staff along with AJ Artis, Jordan Diaz and Sean Boyle who do the sports science stuff out of the weight room for helping make this work and also making the team play faster overall and helping with the preparation each week.

Key said that Jordan Williams will be out for a couple of weeks and they are targeting the post-bye week to get him back. They want to rest him and let him heal up. Key said he was really proud of how Jakiah Leftwich stepped up in the Wake Forest game and played the whole game and they didn't have to make huge swaps on the OL like they used to 2-1 for 3-1 moving guys around anymore when someone goes down. He said that is a huge sign of growth with the depth on the line.

Key said that WR Dom Blaylock is a full go now and will be a full go for the game coming off his injury.

WR Chase Lane should be out this week unless there is some big emergency at that position. They are shooting for the Miami game for him to return. He said Lane is huge in the WR room because of his mindset and maturity and he really plays and carries himself with a great level of maturity and professionalism that lifts up that room.

Key said he has a different approach with the redshirts and he isn't worried about saving kids right now because almost everyone graduates from GT now in 3.5 or 4 years and they'll have that powerful Georgia Tech degree in their pocket when they are done and can take their chances in the real world if football doesn't work out. He said he is trying to build his roster to win games and everyone on the team has to be bought into that vision and put the time and energy into building up to that goal. He brought up Patrick Screws as an example as he is up with the varsity now with Williams out this week and he has a tremendous future but if they need to play him they will play him.

Key said that Jaylon King is a shining example of what a Georgia Tech football player is and what he did academically in school and the pride he has in that is just as much as his football prowess. He said that he is a guy that has continued to overcome adversity over and over. He said that King pulled something ahead of the Louisville game and they did not think he would be able to play and somehow he was out there and playing hard banged up and he thought maybe they'd get 10-12 plays and he had to go the whole game (LaMiles Brooks was knocked out early) and that shows his true grit and toughness.

We talked about Ethan Mackenny which is for a story I'm doing this week, but he recapped the same story Ethan told yesterday about him camping and being underweight and then growing and he loves how he is developing. Key said that one thing that he loves seeing is the accountability the other OLs are teaching Mackenny and the young guys. He said that Mackenny missed a run block in practice and Weston Franklin nearly ripped Mackenny's facemask off and that is what he wants to see from his guys.

Key told a story about playing NC State his freshman year and he was the RG and they were holding a lead and he missed an assignment and gave up a TFL that was entirely on him. He said that he remembers this as clear as day even today, Ken Celaj the starting LT ripped him to shreds at the end of the game and that is when it clicked for him how important every play is and how important it is for your senior leadership to show the young guys that and how the game is supposed to be played. That is the culture he is trying to develop at GT. He said Mackenny has tremendous talent and that thing with Weston is a great sign the program is going in the right direction.

Key said practice this week has been better and he isn't one of those guys who is happy all the time. He knows how the game should be played and if they want to play that way the players have to practice that way and his expectations are extremely high for this team day in and day out. When they don't reach his expectations or reach their potential he isn't happy. He said they don't need people playing above their heads and he thinks that happened in the first games of the season, he just needs them to be the best they can be. He said it is disappointing when that doesn't happen and then unhappiness with that turns to anger and that was the strong message he sent the team last week during WF prep. It has been better this week and that will help them get the results they want.

I asked him about Dre White and Kyle Efford and the LB depth starting to emerge after years of just having three guys only. Key said it has been really good to see and something they were expecting to see as the season moved along.

Key said that once recruiting was over and the roster was set he wanted to see player development and that is why he hired Kevin Sherrer to coach LBs. He said that Sherrer is the best LB coach he has been around hands down and he is going to get the most out of these guys and develop them. He said you are seeing the adjustments being made and Kevin has done a helluva job getting what he is out of that group. He said that Sherrer is cut from the same mold as Key personality and coaching wise and they are never satisfied and want to build up the identity and standard for this team, but it is a constant work in progress.

Be careful of what you ask for…

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I’m editing because I wanted to include this article which said Nebraska got better adding Jeff Sims and we got worse losing him.

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Equal opportunity…

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No real surprise, but Mackenny and Singleton are set to burn their redshirts tomorrow against BG.

Cruz and Dickens next up having appeared in three games, they can play in one more while preserving their redshirt year.

Ethan Mackenny - 4
Eric Singleton - 4
Evan Dickens - 3
Jacob Cruz - 3
Taye Seymore - 2
Bailey Stockton - 2
Nacari Ashley - 2
Ashton Heflin - 1


Patrick Screws - 0
Gabe Fortson - 0
Zion Taylor- 0
Benjamin Galloway - 0
Elias Cloy - 0
Shymeik Jones - 0
Ezra Odinjor - 0
Nico Dowdell - 0
Steven Jones - 0
Bryston Dixon - 0
Malcolm Pugh - 0

Let's do this. Sorry for the delay, was coaching softball tonight.

I'll go as long as you have questions

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I'll add more names as needed. Working to confirm, but I am unsure if Jaden Smith is still visiting this weekend now that GT has Kirouac committed.

Okay guys, have kamado and love it for grilling and smoking. Anyone here changed over from BGE, Kamado to a pellet smoker and truly happy( no regrets) ?