With some stats and info on how the 2025 signees and one 2026 commit so far are doing on the prep level...

I kept this brief as I was the only media person there.

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Taking a walk with my wife in my in-laws ‘hood with the pooch and had a GT hat on. Large young man on a bike passed us and asked if I went to Tech. We stopped and talked and it turned out to be former GT OL Clyde Yandle Jr. His parents live in the same ‘hood and he went to Nease High with Tebow. Well spoken and a great rep for Tech.

If a company waters their grass in freezing weather and causes ice to form on the road- can they be held liable for an accident?

Jacob Cruz lands at Jax State

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It's cold as crap here

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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

I was wondering if anyone knows if jahmyr Gibbs is on any autographs websites? Hes one of my son’s favorite players and I’m trying to get him a signed jersey. I know it’s probably a long shot but thought I’d ask.

THE FLATS – Georgia Tech long snapper Henry Freer (College Park, Ga./Woodward Academy) and punter David Shanahan (Castleisland, Co. Kerry, Ireland/St. Patrick’s Secondary School) were both named to the College Sports Communicators’ 2024 academic all-district football team, CSC announced on Tuesday.



To receive academic all-district recognition, a football student-athlete must have at least a cumulative 3.50 grade point average as both an undergraduate and graduate student (if applicable) while competing in at least 90% or starting 66% of his team’s games for the season.



Freer, Georgia Tech’s long snapper for the last three seasons, and Shanahan, the Yellow Jackets’ four-year punter, earned academic all-district honors for the second-straight year.



The first active football student-athlete to ever be enrolled in a Ph.D. program at Georgia Tech, Freer is in his second year in the Institute’s doctoral program in chemical and biomolecular engineering, after earning a bachelor’s degree in the same major in 2023 (Tech’s School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering program is ranked No. 3 nationally). In addition to being a two-time academic all-district honoree, Freer was Tech’s representative in the 2024 Go Bowling Military Bowl STEM scholar-athlete program and is a two-time member of the all-Atlantic Coast Conference academic team.



Shanahan, who averaged 43.2 yards per punt in 2024 (good for 35th nationally) and finished his collegiate career ranked second in Georgia Tech history in punts (228) and punting yards (9,751) and third in punting average (42.8), is in his first year in Tech’s prestigious master’s program in analytics. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration in 2024 and is a three-time all-ACC academic team selection.



In addition to being named academic all-district, Freer is in a select group of all-district honorees that have advanced to the academic all-America ballot in recognition of their elite performance on the field and in the classroom.



Freer and Shanahan helped lead Georgia Tech to back-to-back winning records, fourth-place ACC finishes and bowl appearances in 2023 and 2024, which marked the Yellow Jackets’ most successful consecutive seasons in a decade.

Any update on Romello Height?

KQ- I belive that ship has sailed to that hole in the Earth called Lubbock.

We have some important cut off dates coming soon. Today is the last day for our players to show up in the portal. Monday is drop/add deadline to enroll at GT.

1. When does the dead period end for transfer prospects to visit GT?

KQ- There are a lot of various windows depending on if you are a grad transfer to visit or a regular portal guy, to be honest I'm not really sure.

2. Do we have “unknown” prospects that you think will jump on board before Monday?

KQ- By today, no, are there guys who could end up here by this weekend, yes. Two DLs I'm tracking and at least one DB I'm still tracking.

3. What quantity of additional players would you guesstimate are a 51% or better chance of joining us in time to enroll for Spring practice.

KQ- Haha, I got no clue, this is very transactional right now sort of like free agency in pro sports. My gut feeling or whatever goes out the window when it comes down to money.

Any chance you think UGA tries to poach Buster away from us if Bobo leaves/is fired

KQ- Sure there is always a chance of whatever. There is a chance I'll hit the Mega Millions and disappear forever to a beach. I think it is unlikely to happen.

By the time you get to this there may be some answers already to this one....is there anyone on the UGa roster hitting the portal we may want and/or have an inside chance? If so, any names you can reveal at this time? Similar question...is there anyone on the rosters of the teams left in the CFP we may want and/or have an inside chance?

KQ- No and that could be viewed as tampering to float the names of guys who could potentially end up at GT. Last year they added JJ van den Berg and Thomas Gore post classes starting for spring semester. I think they added the two DB transfers after that as well Jayden Davis and Zach Tobe, but I could be mistaken on the timeline. I'm not going to look that up.

At some point during the off-season, will you or Alex write a feature on how the Transfers are taking to the coursework at Tech? I know very few “come to play school” nowadays, but it does seem like GT gets a decent share of transfers from programs with strong academic pedigree such as the Ivies and Cal. I’m also interested in how guys from other programs adapt to the academic rigor (if there is any).

KQ- I'll see what I can do, that would likely be something we'd have to work up during spring ball when we have access to players again. We probably won't talk to any players until then per GT media policies.

In CPJ's last year or two, the NCAA made some rule changes regarding cut blocking.
Something about banning cut-blocking outside the tackle box.

Was this in response to anything specific we were doing at Tech ?
Do you recall if this had a negative impact on the blocking of our WR or other blockers, especially on rocket-toss plays, etc ?
Did it limit what CPJ was able to do with his offense, and did he have to make significant changes in response ?

KQ- It came because of complaints by certain coaches. I think @hiveredtech would be happy to go into detail on this and how it played out.

Who do you have your eyes on going into spring ball?

KQ- E.J. Lightsey, the young DLs including the newcomers like Derry Norris and Christian Garrett and what can they do. I'd like to see how Trelain Maddox and Anthony Carrie develop as well and Luke Harpring and Josh Beetham at TE.

Do you see the playoff going to 16 teams in the next few yrs?

KQ- I'm not sure if that will happen. If it does it will be because people complain about the byes.

Have you ever seen a team face as bad of officiating as GT did this season like the VT, Ugag, and Vandy games?

KQ- Watching games every week I'm seeing pretty awful officiating all the time. I thought the UGA and Vandy games were particularly amazingly bad. They have to figure this out and probably move to a P4 and G5 crew bases and do away with the league having control over the officials.

Apologies if this has been answered and I missed it. What's the plan for replacing Ricky Blumfield? Also, did we get any specifics on why he's no longer with the program?

KQ- Ricky Brumfield and no Key is trying not to screw up guy's careers so he gives them the option to leave before they get fired or whatever. He screwed up and it wasn't special teams performance-based. Had the special teams been better maybe he'd survive, but the timing wasn't in his favor. He opted to leave and is seeking employment elsewhere. GT has handled the matter internally and Key does not want what happened out there nor does Ricky. I've spoken to both of them privately about it and will respect their wishes. Mistakes were made and the price as paid for it.

As far as replacing Ricky, as I've said since the VT game, Tim Salem is the special teams coordinator but he is not going to be on the road. Key confirmed again that is the long term plan during our media avail in Birmingham. They will have an additional DB coach most likely a CBs coach and keep Cory Peoples in his role as DB coach focusing on safeties and nickels. Key has spoken to a few candidates, but as of last week he was not ready to hire anyone. One of the guys he talked to is someone I know personally as well so that would be good for me if that happens, but we shall see.

What's the story on Keith Brooking's kid? Which side had no interest?

KQ- GT offered Logan Brooking, he had zero interest in GT and committed to Clemson.

Can you give a Cliff's Notes explanation of how Revenue Sharing will work and whether it will have any real effect on NIL?

KQ- There is a 20.5 million dollar cap for 2025-26 that schools can begin to share in July when the new academic calendar starts. Schools are allowed to share as much or as little of that 20.5 million as they want with SAs or none at all. Most schools will spend the bulk of the dollars on CFB and hoops, but you will see some prioritize other sports as well. This is not a cap for NIL either, just what the school can do in-house.

Georgia Tech continues to roll with an 85-64 win over Boston College as the Jackets prepare for a pair of road trips next week.

Going out tonight to Brady Marchese from Cartersville. Teammate of recent Tech signee Jamauri Brice.

Marchese had a big junior season, and I think he is about to get several more offers to add to his list.

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It is absolutely hilarious how much UGA fans hate Mike Bobo. As if Bobo was out there leading the country in dropped passes and a QB throwing a ton of INTS.

Reading their board, they obsessed with the idea of firing Bobo and hiring Faulkner. One of their posters said they should throw Monken money at Faulkner.

The Bobo stuff was funny under Richt and it is just as funny under Kirby. Cant wait to see them do it again next year.

Some good info in there today from Damon as he took part in the zoom with the media while on the plane to Syracuse. Chad asked about DO and the status was still the same and also asked about Reeves and O'Brien and Stoudamire said still no timetable for their return.

I thought it would be helpful for everyone to see this broken down like this. This is everyone expected to enroll this week plus any additional portal pickups.

SPRING ENROLLEES
Signees
S- Jayden Barr HS
DT- Blake Belin HS
WR- Jamauri Brice HS
OL- Xavier Canales HS
DE- Andre Fuller HS
DT- Christian Garrett HS
S- Tae Harris HS
DE- Derry Norris Jr. HS
OL- Kevin Peay Jr. HS
OL- Josh Petty HS
RB- J.P. Powell HS
CB- Elgin Sessions HS
OL JaKolby Jones JUCO

Portal Additions
DT- Matthew Alexander (UCF)
TE- J.T. Byrne (Cal/Oregon State)
WR- Debron Gatling (SC)
CB- Kelvin Hill (UAB)
DE- A.J. Hoffler (Clemson)
RB- Malachi Hosley (Penn)
LB- Melvin Jordan IV (Oregon State)
TE- Harry Lodge (Wake)
RE- Brayden Manley (Mercer)
P- Marshall Nichols (UNLV/Miss State)
WR- Dean Patterson (FIU)
WR- Eric Rivers (FIU)
OL- Andrew Rosinski (UNC)
LB- Cayman Spaulding (Tenn Tech)
DE- Ronald Triplette (UTSA/Kansas State)
CB- Daiquan White (Eastern Michigan)
LS- Luke Whiting (FAU/Idaho State)


These players won't be on campus until the summer plus any portal additions who are not ready to enroll yet or are added after Jan. 10th.

SUMMER ENROLLEES ALL HIGH SCHOOL FOR NOW
QB- Grady Adamson
WR- Jordan Allen
OL- Jimmy Bryson
RE- Carrington Coombs
WR- Cal Faulkner
DB- Fenix Felton
OL- Peyton Joseph
RB- Shane Marshall
CB- Dalen Penson
TE- Kevin Roche Jr.
TE-= Connor Roush

I jumped on the first part of his ACC Coaches Media Call a little bit ago. I also have the full call with Damon that I am working on transcribing now for a smaller version of notes and quotes. (Damon was clearly on his phone on the plane to Syracuse so the audio isn't great, but I'll do the best I can with it. Might be some paraphrasing instead of direct quotes. Ha.)

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Hope the right folks win! As a bit of history, a good friend of mine who went to ND undergrad and Tech for grad school remembers the last Sugar Bowl between these two. He and a friend were jumped unprovoked right off of bourbon street by dawghead rednecke who poures out of a pickup to mug them. These are among the reasons as a GA native I could never support the Dawgheads.