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Mailbag 5/25 Memorial Day Edition sponsored by Auto-Owners Insurance


What will next month look like for our players? player driven workouts? QBs and WRs/RBs getting together? Will the whole team get together (with out coaches)?


KQ- Not sure what you are asking. Are you asking if the team gets allowed back on campus what happens? Are you asking what are the kids doing on their own? School is closed so they will not be on campus unless everyone green lights it like I've laid out before. If that happens it would initially be S&C work and not practicing for football. Hoops would be allowed to have individual workouts I believe in that circumstances.

Would you consider reaching out to Quincy Avery to get an honest review on Jordan Yates and his abilities? We’ve learned a lot about JY over the last year, but I’m curious as to how his athleticism and intelligence matches up against some of the other elite QB’s being mentored by Avery.

KQ- You think his QB coach will be the honest reviewer of his abilities? I've got a bridge between Manhattan and Brooklyn for sale if you are interested as well. Those position coach guys are not going to be who you would get something like that from. It is hard to get that from a HS coach. At best you might get what he has worked on and improved on, but that will still be pretty jaded. If it was a lineman or another position it would be more workable. QB coach dudes are interesting cats...

Given the situation of the pandemic putting the best possible scenario at games with fans social distancing (Ohio State only plans to have 20% max fan capacity), will there be a restructuring or a delay of the 5 year Mayhem @ Mercedes Benz Stadium deal whose whole point was to bring in more ticket revenue and national attention that was supposed to start this year? The AD went into debt over this leasing deal and with the current situation I don’t see a way we will even break even. If this happens will the ND game be moved to The Dodd or will we just find someone else to play this year?

KQ- You should be more worried about there being games period with fans or games at all. No one knows what is going to happen. How did the AD go into debt over the Benz deal? It is the exact opposite of that actually.

If there are students back on campus with SA’s, do you think SA’s will be isolated (all online, no in person classes for SA’s & only a specific dining hall) to prevent from any infections breaking out & games/practices/team events getting cancelled? One positive test I assume means the SA is out for a minimum of 2-3 weeks.

KQ- Again that is a far off deal, it would be impossible to isolate them and act exactly opposite of the reasoning behind opening the school. This is COLLEGE FOOTBALL not the NFL. They have to go to school like the rest. Giving them online only is an advantage and not much different than what UNC did or others did manipulating classes if they can't do the same as everyone.

Any updates on Edge Rice since last week?

KQ- On indefinite hold right now. I expect many of the financial commitments are being pushed back due to lost income from donors and GT is in survival mode right now. The economics of the GTAA are very different May 25th than they were March 1st or Jan 1st. Any major capital project like that won't happen anytime soon from what I'm hearing from my sources. So it is delayed like everything else.

Would the athletic department consider blocking off seating and only making x amount of tickets available for fans?

KQ- Certainly has been discussed on some levels. Here is the thing anything you can think of in regards to that has been discussed but freezing out tickets 100 days from kickoff is not wise given how much things can change between now and Sept 5th.

What the longest time you've had to wait to publish a recruit's commitment story?

RJ- Another one was three weeks, and another was two weeks, on one that I had to sit on quotes and everything from after deciding not to commit on both Christmas and New Year’s Eve AND Day.

On the flip side, there have been two times where I have been forced to publish a story before a recruit has gone public with his decision. On both occasions, another website “beat” me to the story by leaking it ahead of time. Those were two very hard times to hit publish ahead of time.

Five or six weeks? It was for Jonathan Mingo’s commitment, a WR from Mississippi.


KQ- I sat on a commit that never actually went public once. That was Nick Marshall committing to Georgia Tech in 2010. I was in Las Vegas with my newborn son (he was adopted at birth in Las Vegas with my first wife) and was stuck out there. His HS coach would not put him on the phone with me and at that time I had no additional staff to go down to Rochelle and track him down. My GT sources were going nuts because they knew something was afoot to flip him to UGA. His family was broke and didn't have a phone so I couldn't get a hold of anyone. A few days after I got back from Vegas in June he "flipped" to UGA but I caught grief because they denied they had committed to GT. Charles Kelly is still pissed to this day over what happened.

When comparing between similar recruits, does the staff focus on the recruit whose coaching staff could be in trouble at the end of the year. Or does the recruit's coaching staff's job security not factor into our recruitment strategy? Damn you odd-year Gus (Tate Johnson, Wesley Steiner, Desmond Tisdol, Kobe Hudson, etc)

RJ- I am assuming you are referring to a potential flip, and evaluating their situations? They absolutely look at the big picture when it comes to that kind of thing. They’re not going to push as hard for someone committed to Clemson as they are South Carolina, for example.

Seeing that story about Jaylend Ratliffe got me thinking about all of the "what ifs". It seems as though our program, in particular, has had horrible luck with impact players (or potential impact players) having their careers (or lives) cut short. Then there's the Stephon Tuitt thing, which could have been a program-changing statement for recruiting.

Here are just a few I can think of chronologically (and I'm not counting JC Lanier or Omoregie Uzzi who were just shells of their former selves when they graduated)...Stephon Tuitt, Julian Burnett, Denzel McCoy, Chase Roberts, Travis Custis, Chris Griffin, Jaylend Ratliffe, Dedrick Mills, AJ Gray, Brandon Adams, Bryce Gowdy

I know other schools have kids with high-profile flips, injuries, medicals, academic/rules violators, and even off-the-field tragedies. Are we any different than other schools, or does this seem worse because of our margin for error versus other programs?


KQ- To be honest it is not that unusual, the Adams and Gowdy things back to back in less than 10 months it not something I've ever dealt with but I've seen all kinds of chronic injuries knock out guys or academics like Custis or off the court injuries like Chris Griffin or Ratliffe. You forgot some other good busts like Jordan Woods the 4-star DE from Florida who never played a down or other busts like Steven Threet or DJ Donley or Jamaal Evans. GT has a disproportionate number of 4-star guys who've busted, but the other guys like Burnett or Roberts are pretty common. I've seen plenty of injuries both off and on the field. I remember covering UGA one year where they had two OLs who were in the two-deep medical out because of injuries lifting weights that blew out their shoulders permanently.

I know this may not be something you’re comfortable with and if not, no worries. But any way we can get a break down from the CGC era QB recruits (from Yates to assuming Peery at this point) as to who beat fits our new offensive system and who, from their high school tape, looks most poised to take us to the next level offensively?

KQ- I think it is hard to tell because Patenaude has altered his offense at every stop to the QB he had up until last year really. I think he may have been flummoxed by the fact that each QB had a totally different skillset and really only two Lucas Johnson and Jordan Yates actually fit what he was trying to do and both of them were not ready or in the first case able to compete at a high level. I think it is premature to break it down much. I saw Tucker Gleason in five practices and Jeff Sims in six basically learning the offense. I have not watched a ton of Peery film yet. I've seen Yates and Graham play well in what he is trying to run.

Creating the Perfect Throwback Jersey and Alt Jersey Ideas for Future Seasons

Now that we have finally settled into the adidas ecosystem, a transition which I have been a huge fan of, I think it’s time to open debate on how adidas should go about creating a quality throwback jersey. I know some on here are hardcore traditionalists and will say anything outside of GWG is sinful, but in my personal ideal throwback I’ve opted to go for a look with Tech emblems that have aged the best in a vintage look. So here’s my crack at it:

I absolutely love the WGW of the design of the CJ21 days all the way down to the the shade of gold (hopefully GT branding won’t freak out and let us use this shade of gold for a special occasion):

https://www.google.com/search?q=cal...oECBsQAg&biw=375&bih=551#imgrc=gp7rshgQxeO13M

The entire design of the uniform executes vintage so well that the only thing I’d change is swap the GT logo on the helmet for a favorite vintage logo of mine:

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Some minor tweaks can be made to made the logo pop better like making the T gold of the jersey color and “Georgia Tech” white and changing the black to our navy blue and coloring in the gold stripes on the yellow jacket.

I am curious as to what y’all think.

There are rumors we may be using our Children’s Hospital of Atlanta alternates again this year but Collins might try to add a few new alternates going forward in his tenure to attract attention of recruits. I personally am not a fan of black jerseys or navy helmets although a matte white helmet with a gold face mask used this season might look cool going forward. Interested in any ideas y’all have.

Mailbag 5/18 Sponsored by Auto-Owners Insurance


How are current players staying on track to get better and stronger physically? Is Lew having some kind of home workout sessions with them?


KQ- He sent the players home workouts and modified workouts that they can do if they don't have access to things like weights and whatnot. Lots of cardio type stuff. Some of the players have tweeted what they are up to if you are interested in that.

I must've missed this, but I thought it was expected for the NCAA to vote to permit one-time hoop non-grad transfers without sitting out a year. There was speculation the vote was going to be delayed, but then it was clarified it would still happen. But everything I'm hearing is now is it's not going to pass. When/what changed...and when is the vote (this month?)

KQ- The winds changed on it, I have not really heard the specific reasons, but I'm sure with everything going on it was not an easy time to start that and to do it so late in the process. The waiver is expected to take effect in 2021-22 instead of 2020-21.

Do you know, or can you find out, what spring sport seniors (specifically baseball and golf) plan on coming back to take advantage of their additional year?

We had a very strong senior golf class.

KQ- I can ask, but I think with baseball it will depend on the MLB Draft and anyone not taken in the shorter draft will try to come back. Golf is more difficult to handicap but I have someone I can reach out to and see if they have some insight there.

Changing it up, asking about us as opposed to what we're here for. Do you notice anything different about us as a community/group of consumers during this odd period? Obviously and statistically, we're much more likely to be unemployed and/or stuck at home, etc. But on an emotional level, do you find us gravitating towards a type of content or expressing a reaction to a degree that you didn't expect, as moderators/journalists?

KQ- I think people are much moodier myself included right now. I haven't been helped by having a baby at home who wasn't sleeping through the night until a few days ago. That certainly shortened my fuse some.

I think it comes in waves and there are topics that really show people's thought processes that are interesting to see. I think we serve a higher purpose than normal right now because this is basically like the local bar where GT fans can gather, have fun, maybe argue and follow the program.

As far as programming, I think you see us focusing on what you men and women are mostly interested in.

Second, you and Russell acknowledge that bagmen and paying players are a reality of the sport/industry, and we all appreciate that candidness. It's definitely something everyone across the board is more aware of (especially since the Ole Miss fiasco, and the subsequent Steven Godfrey documentary). What we all know as fans is, "it's more rampant than the NCAA would have you think". I've always assumed it was just rampant but with no logical bounds on how rampant. So in "real general terms", how much is a healthy amount to assume? Like, are bagmen more of a thing with 4 & 5-stars and factory schools? Or any player that's in a precarious economic position? Or is it just so rampant that it happens with any school with any tier of player to some degree? *I understand any answer you give is largely speculative and potentially sensitive to your sources, contacts, and colleagues.

KQ- I mean I saw people get money back in the 1980s when I was a kid or have things cars/jewelry that the family couldn't afford let alone think of affording. Cheating is always going to happen. There hasn't been a time where someone doesn't try to gain an advantage over an opponent. It could be what happened in the MLB with the Astros or what happened at Ole Miss or Louisville or what people are accusing Duke of with Zion Williamson.

With our connections, it is easy to hear/see stories. When I tell someone what I do for a living and they know an interesting story they are quick to tell it for example I used to know the delivery guy for a bagman for a certain P5 program who drank at the same bar I frequented...

Sometimes it comes other ways. I probably have 200+ college coaches/staff numbers in my phone by now and I stay in touch with many people in the business and we swap interesting war stories.

Same thing for Russell, it is not our job to out people or burn sources or whatever. I'm not Charles Robinson or Jeremy Schaap or whoever!

With only being ~$7mill away from completing the $125mill AI fundraiser, has Stansbury given out any timeframe for breaking ground, the construction, and/or the completion of the new Edge Rice? (I really hope to see its addition in modernizing The Dodd before I graduate)

KQ- Once the money is all in place, the next goal was to begin the meetings to start breaking ground. It is unfortunate they didn't already break ground because this would be an excellent time to work on that project with everyone off campus and the Edge empty. ADTS last told us something like once they had the money they could begin work within a month or two I think. There are some other hangups given what is going on that may push that a little. I think they have to make sure everyone is still on board with the timetables for giving and not pushing back anything. So that is probably another layer to all of this as well. I'll check with some people this week and see where they are with the Edge rebuild.

Role play/improv time.

The scene: You are a member of the GT Football staff and you are recruiting a 4* or way underrated 3* that fits the bill for what we are trying to build. Those young men also have offers from big P5 schools. What are some of the main recruiting points that you push?

(This may vary by position needed/recruited, but more interested in what the big sell is right now for the upstart of our program)


KQ- Sure it varies depending on the kid and the other programs. The two hardest ones non-football sales wise are Notre Dame and Stanford who can undercut the education piece here some. What am I pushing, I'm showing them what happens to a kid that blows out his knee and showing him what some of the graduates at other schools (read SEC) are doing with their degrees if they didn't make it to the NFL. I'm showing them what happens when someone does really well for this staff and how they have put many dudes in the league. I'm showing them the opportunities to brand yourself in the ATL vs a small town SEC school for example. If they are into women, I'm showing them the number of single women in the ATL area compared to somewhere else regardless of the type they are into. Lots of stuff.

I asked RJ this in the live Q&A but this one is for you. Per your scouting ability, who is your favorite player in this class so far?

KQ- Joshua Robinson pops for me, I like big guys, he is a bigger end with a nice frame that will fill out in college.

In one of the articles about JBS, Russell mentioned him being influenced by Collins flip. Any further information concerning the specifics.

RJ-Sure. Collins was committed to Central Florida, a school that while they aren’t close to JBS in terms of distance, it is one of the in-state schools, and one of the better G5 schools in the country.

When Collins announced his move to the public, it caught the eye of not only JBS, but recruits all over the country. It is one thing to be extremely interested in a school, it is another when you see elite talent joining the class.


At the end of the cycle, do we finish with more or less 4* talent than last year?

RJ- I still believe so, yes. BlackStrain is someone who could see his rating get back into the 250 if he is able to have a strong year.

I keep seeing David Daniel hype UGAg on Twitter. Is the flip a real possibility? And if it happens what would that mean as far as recognition goes for Tech?

RJ- It will get more real, imo, as the calendar approaches December and February. Academics are such a big deal to his family.

If it happened, that’d be a potentially program changing win. Not only to beat UGA for a recruit, but also to flip a top-100 caliber player and top player in the state.

Would put the area, the state, and the country on notice were it to happen.


Wonder why we do not have any OL commits yet. Who are the 4 most likely to commit to GT? Who are the 2 most critical to the effort?

RJ- Stay tuned, young grasshopper.
Jakiah Leftwich
Micah Pettus
Weston Franklin
Eli Richey

That’s the four that will be on my projected class.


If GHSA allows football to start back in june or july will Ga host a rivals camp?

KQ- I doubt it, I could see Chad trying to do something on his own maybe. I think our camps are dead for this year. We have not heard a peep about them and some of our staff who have to work the camps and the company we work with have people in some of the hardest hit areas of the country or most closed off like California and New York.

WAR ROOM 5/16

So remember what is said in the WAR ROOM stays in the WAR ROOM, it doesn't go on twitter, facebook, DMs, or whatever.

FOOTBALL

Discussions are underway to get the football team back on campus next month. The staff are hopeful and are letting people know that it is a legitimate possibility so be prepared, however there are many people who have to sign off on it so there are a lot of hurdles that have not been cleared yet. Everyone from legal to the president of the school have to be onboard.

ADTS and the brain trust of GT are working on this behind the scenes with aims to play a football season this year if it is safe.

Several SEC programs are planning to come back either June 1 or 15th including UGA so that may help the cause at Tech to make it happen. On my end, I just want everyone to be save and healthy so they hopefully have a good plan to keep the kids that way.

On football scheduling, there is lots of talk right now about fractured schedules since some teams won't be playing including possibly an ACC team like Syracuse or Virginia/Virginia Tech because of concerns about COVID-19. The Pac-12 football programs in California are not on track to play as of now and that will be the case with many other programs especially in areas that become hot spots again with the virus.

Without fans in the stands, it will be easier for scheduling on the fly for teams. It is not like hotels are booked out or planes hard to charter at the moment so hopefully you could see some interesting old rivalries rekindled. That whole idea of fans or no fans is still very much unsettled on every level from talking to sources at both GT and other programs.

On the GT side, most of the non-conference games except Notre Dame are regional opponents so that is a good situation to be in right now.

Team wise, the staff has done a nice job of helping the kids get workouts in and most are doing a good job of staying in shape and trying to keep their S&C gains from the offseason. Many are figuring out unique ways to workout and get some football work in at home with family members helping them. You've probably seen a good bit of this on social media lately.

FOOTBALL RECRUITING

Things are starting to get interesting at the quarterback position, as other schools are offering and identifying new targets in the last several days.

One of those schools, Louisville, is thought to be the main competition for GT for Chayden Peery. While Peery's senior season could be in jeopardy based on the recent rulings in the state of California, Louisville may be pivoting at the position. An offer on Thursday from the Cardinals went out to Glynn Academy QB Terrance Lewis.

Other schools, such as Georgia Tech are recruiting Lewis as an ATH. In this type of recruitment, GT being the local school could actually hurt them. Louisville could very easily tell him what he wants to hear, sign him and call him a QB, and then day one or two of practice, move him to another position with some type of BS excuse.

GT doesn't have that luxury, and has been honest with him throughout his recruitment about that.

Getting back to Peery, he recently went on a virtual visit to Vanderbilt in addition to the ones he went on to both Louisville and Georgia Tech.

Kansas and Boise State are also heavily in the mix.

I still don’t think that the staff is done evaluating/sending out offers at the position for the class of 2021, but that could change if these signal-callers start pulling the trigger in the weeks to come.

***I can confirm that there was no contact between GT and Aaron McLaughlin following his Auburn decommitment.

Speaking of virtual visits and conversations with Georgia Tech in recent days, LB target Caden Fordham is another that was recently in contact with the staff.

His conversations with the staff this week were important, as it was reported early this week that he was going to be announcing this week, and Georgia Tech was also reportedly out of the mix.

That is no longer the case, per my sources. GT is squarely in the mix, and one source went as far to say that they are one of his top options.

I don’t think BlackStrain will be the only four-star receiver in this class.

In the projected class I am working on, this is what the WR class looks like in terms of CURRENT RR-

5.8
5.8
5.8
5.6
(if there is no RB in the class)
5.7
5.6

Another major topic of conversation recently has been offensive line recruiting, and the lack of commitments at the position.

Georgia Tech remains in a strong position for Westlake OT Jakiah Leftwich, and while he has planned a commitment in July, things could get pushed up.

Another offensive lineman that Key and the staff are in a good spot for is Micah Pettus. Pettus has blown up a bit throughout this shutdown, but has remained in contact with the staff, and has had his questions answered.

I’m working on gather enough for a story on new OL offer Charlie Patterson.

Continuing on the OL, the more people I talk to about Weston Franklin’s recruitment, the closer I get to putting in a FutureCast in for him.

Franklin projects as a guard at the college level, a good one at that.

With a class thought to have five members in it, if possible they will add multiple interior linemen.

In an ideal world, multiple OL from the state of Alabama will be in the class.

the time off the road and at home has given coaches time to evaluate multiple classes, not just for 2021.

While every other school has the same advantages, there’s just something special (in the eyes of an in-state recruit) about having their first offer come from Georgia Tech.

Staying in the trenches, the commitment from Zeek Biggers on Mother’s Day means that of the two DT they hope to sign in the 2021 class, they have one of them committed already. The staff views Biggers like an unmolded piece of clay that is the perfect size for the DT position and they are very excited about his potential hence why they pushed so hard because he is a good fit for the program in all aspects and he has size they cannot teach.

This means that of the other names listed on the offer list, only one will (more than likely) be in the class.

Long-time target Cameron Ball remains the most likely candidate, and sources close to his recruitment believe that while Georgia Tech remains in a good place, he is holding firm (as of 5/14) on his wishes to visit campuses before deciding.

Staying in the state of Georgia, a couple of offer list changes that I know if I do not mention, may get missed:

I fully anticipate Miles Campbell committing to Tennessee next week. He will remain on the offer list.

Until I hear more about him, Ola DL Devin Lee will be removed from the offer list.

Look for more changes this weekend on the offer list. Finally, I am still planning to release an updated (still) too early projected class. Look for it early next week, if not before.

BASKETBALL

Romello White is off the board, he never spoke with Josh Pastner and was pretty locked into dealing with people he knew very well already like Stackhouse at Vandy and the Ole Miss assistant who recruited him to Arizona State. Those guys had the strong previous relationships and he apparently shut everyone else out. Pastner never really dealt with him because he was not going to make it into school out of HS and Brian Gregory had already been planning to recruit over him when he was fired.

On the team front, the staff are hopeful if football gets the okay and things go well that will open up the opportunity for the basketball team to return in a similar fashion so they can get to working out. With it being a key season for Pastner and the players with NCAAT hopes they really want to get going as soon as possible. Everyone except for Maxwell is hanging in the Atlanta area including Saba ready to come in when they get the greenlight.

On the recruiting front, they are holding steady leaving open that final scholarship spot for now. There is a chance some more players could become available if teams opt to not play come Oct/Nov (looking at you Pac-12) so they may be able to pick up one final piece that way for 2020-21.

Looking ahead to the 2021 class, they are still looking for a pure point guard, but are going hard after Deebo Coleman as a Devoe-like combo guard who can play both. GT is in good shape with him.

GT leads for SF Alex Fudge right now, the staff have really gone all in on him.

It is still a GT/FSU fight for Matthew Cleveland who is not in a hurry to make his decision right now

GT wants to sign four if possible in 2021, a PG (must-have since they'll be down to one after this year), a SG/combo guard, a wing and a big.

One interesting big man is John Butler from South Carolina. He is a big academic kid, also very skinny but he would be a perfect fit.

GT 2020 FB - How will we do?

Okay, this working from home stuff has me bored as well as the Zoom, Skype, and WebEx meetings. Although most focus is on 21 recruiting, thought I would take a look at what record we may have considering our difficult schedule and that there there is a season. Decided to do it by position group and come up with an arithmetic answer. Tried hard to take the GT glasses off and add short comments. Sorry for the length.

I hope others comment and make their own assumptions.

Scoring: 3 = One of the best position groups in CFB (top 5 to 7); 2 = one of best in conference and better than most on our schedule; 1 = slight advantage over teams in conference; 0 = neutral; -1 = slightly worse than teams in conference; -2 = one of the worst in conference; -3 = one of the worst in CFB.

Offense Score: 0
OL = 0
  • Think it might be most improved position group with the two graduate transfers and coaching, but need time to gel, history of injuries, and young backups.
RB = 2
  • Probably strongest unit on team and think Gibbs is real deal
QB = -1
  • Think Yates starts this year and unless one of the true freshman really does something special in fall, both will probably redshirt. Graham improved, but ...
WR = 0
  • Get couple injured players back and Brown looked great last year, but nothing spectacular
TE = -1
  • Would be worse, but incoming freshman looks decent and won't play as much with multiple sets and better OL.
Defense Score: +1
DL = 0
  • Probably better than last few years and more depth, but no game changers yet. Still need more size. Interesting how couple of freshman do this year.
LB = -2
  • Probably weakest unit on defense. Unless we move one of the safeties, Knight really gets better, or one of the freshmen really step up, not looking great.
CB = 1
  • Think one freshman plays and did not really lose anyone.
S = 2
  • One of the team's best units
Special Teams Score: -5
PK = -2
  • No proven kicker and two walkons (one injured). Probably will be better than last year, but nothing proven.
P = 1
  • Just needs more consistency
PR = -2
  • Think it might get somewhat better, but nothing to go on.
KR = -2
  • Pretty bad last year
Summary is offense is improved with no advantage, defense slightly better, and special teams are rough. If we assume that ST improves some, then we should finish one to two games under 500 this year.

BASEBALL Guldberg, Waddell Named Academic All-District

Georgia Tech one of two ACC teams with multiple selections

THE FLATS – Recognized as part of the nation’s top student-athletes for their combined performance on the field and in the classroom, Georgia Tech baseball juniors Michael Guldberg and Luke Waddell were selected to the 2020 Academic All-District First Team, the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) announced Thursday.


The Yellow Jackets were one of just two Atlantic Coast Conference baseball teams to have multiple selections as the juniors joined eight ACC selections overall. Tech earned multiple all-district selections for the first time since 2012 (Brandon Thomas and Sam Dove) and fourth time overall since 1979.


Guldberg earned his second-straight selection to the all-district first team, earning a 3.90 grade-point average in his third year in the industrial engineering program at Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets’ captain, Waddell, capped his third year in the business administration program with an impressive 3.86 GPA.


On the field for the shortened season (16 games), Guldberg amassed a whopping .450 batting average to lead the ACC, garnering 27 hits (five doubles) in 60 at-bats, striking out just three times total for the stretch. The Marietta, Ga. native was the last in Power 5 and one of the final three hitters in all of Division I to not record a strikeout. “The Machine” reached base at a 52.1 percent clip and was 3-of-3 for stolen bases, while also managing a perfect fielding percentage in left field.


For Waddell, it was another stellar year as one of the nation’s top shortstops and table setters. From the leadoff spot, Waddell hit .300 through 16 games, recording 18 hits, including four extra-base knocks, for nine RBI. He drew seven walks to average a .419 on-base percentage during his junior campaign. Of the Loveland, Ohio native’s nine RBI, none proved more clutch than the go-ahead run in the eighth inning of Game 2 during the ACC’s opening weekend against Virginia Tech.


The banner year in the classroom continues for Georgia Tech baseball as it posted a program-record 3.40 team GPA – one of eight sports to record program bests.


First-team academic all-district honorees advance to the academic all-America ballot. First-, second- and third-team (when selected) academic all-America selections will be announced in June.

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