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With everything going on I pushed this back until I was in my hotel in DC able to focus on it a little more.

83 FBS teams have at least 1 2025 commit. 13 ACC teams have at least 1 2025 commit. 22 teams have at least 5 commits. On a scale of 1-10, how concerning is it that we have no 2025 commits?

KQ- Not very. If you look at the lower end of the league you'll see some very average commits and guys GT would be able to get if they offered for example. Some schools like to load up early and hang on like Dave Clawson at Wake who has 7 right now. I think Key also decided to let his new staff get in place and let them do evals before they jumped into pushing for commits from too many targets. They just replaced exactly 1/2 of the on-the-field staff and all but one person in the recruiting office.

I wasn't on JOL during the MaChelle Joseph saga. Can you shed some light on what happened there and the result? According to LinkedIn, it looks like she is a realtor now.

KQ- This is always a hot topic for like 2-3 people on here so essentially it boiled down to Joseph being accused of inappropriate behavior toward her players namely abusing them verbally and bullying them. ADTS fired her and then the NCAA hit GT over the whole saga as well during covid.

Here is Ken's story on it, it is not paywalled.


What’s the best College Football Environment and Basketball Environment you ever been at?

KQ- CFB was probably LSU at night for an SEC game of consequence back in the early or mid-2000s. For basketball, I mean it is Duke with Coach K and GT having a decent team. I sat on the court taking pictures for one of those games about 10 feet away from the Duke bench and that was pretty intense. Rupp Arena is pretty impressive for hoops as well.

Through the years we’ve had some really good coaches pass through The Flats. A few duds but more good than not. Some great recruiters, some excellent with development. a few great motivators, and a handful brilliant tacticians. I’m not qualified to judge, but that doesn’t prevent me.

Great recruiter? If a staff had Choice, McWhorter, MCCollum and Giff Smith they’d own the Jmmys and Joes market. Worst recruiter? Steve Spurrier edges out Buddy Geiss. Excellent developer? D’Alasandris (sp?) always impressed me. Motivator? Well he frequently lapsed into being sanctimonious but Bill Curry could get his players, just as importantly, his coaches, to run through a wall. Brilliant tactician? “The Silver Fox” was a gamer but also had a mystique which caused other coaches to choke. And we had a HC who never played the game, an awkward guy from west Carolina, give our opponents fits with his game day tactics.

Which coaches are in the KQ HOF?

KQ- So are you asking me who are the HOF recruiters in GT history? Sorry I got a little confused with the question.

Will Leo be back for the spring or is he still having problems?

KQ- What problems was he having other than his two ACL injuries that were both fluke plays? Leo is back and 100%.

Who should tell Gapare to never venture out to the 3 point line and attempt a three?

KQ- The issue is that is part of the scheme and you'll see Ty Claude or Baye go out there as well, though Baye is shooting like 4-10 from three or 5-12 or something not terrible. That is probably something Damon will have to look at when he works on the offense, however Gapare has and can hit that three, he is short arming them in games for some reason.

What are the names of five players you think well of who you think coukd have a standout spring and claim, for now, a place in the two deep?

KQ- So off the top of my head from guys who didn't play last year a meaningful role, Ben Galloway at guard as he jumped into the two-deep by the final five games of the season and should get a ton of reps at RG with Keylan Rutledge out for at least most of the spring ball. Next would be someone like Taye Seymore who the staff loved and he was sort of stuck because of the three-headed monster at safety last year. I expect he will play more this fall. I would not be surprised to see Anthony Carrie crack the two deep at RB and Isiah Canion at WR either. Jackson Long the R-So who came last year from USF is another one I'm really curious about because they were pretty high on him early on and then he was not dressing after the first few games of the season.

Can you provide any more insight to the DJ Moore move to DB? I recall last year speculation that he could see the field as a freshman at wide receiver. Is our wide receiver room that good or we lacking DB talent and he could be in the two deep there?

KQ- Brent talked about it last season when I asked him about it probably around the final couple of games of the season. Key said that he got hurt and fell behind in the WR room and they liked his ball skills watching him on scout team play some DB and he moves well and is fluid and isn't afraid of contact so they've tried him there and he has taken to the position and is performing better there than he was at WR so he has stayed and they ended up flipping Justin Brown back from safety to WR instead of Moore for camp.

Considering how well Dukes defense did last year, can you compare our front seven with their talent wise? Are they that much better or could we assume an improved defense in the front seven.

KQ- Brother you are giving me way too much credit thinking I watch that much ACC football. I watched two full Duke games last year just watching because they were playing and I was home and it was game on, one was Clemson and the other may have been UNC. GT didn't play them so I wasn't following too closely, but maybe post-spring when I have some quieter time I'll take a look at that.

What are some position battles you'll be looking at for Spring?

KQ- That'll be something I write about during spring break week where GT will be off mid-spring ball, but I think RB#2, the X position at WR and the TEs are the main ones I'm looking at one on offense and defensively, the LB rotation and the nickel spot are two I'm focused on over there.

- Why does Georgia Tech University continue to be a thing?

KQ- GTU forever! So kids couldn't tell you what the mascot of Ohio State is, so you are surprised you'll see a GTU?

Several of the incoming freshman look like they have the talent to compete for playing time this year. How many of the incoming class will have the physical attributes (weight, strength, speed, etc) to realistically compete for playing time this season?

KQ- I mean I look at Carrie at RB, the two young WRs who are in spring ball and Tah'j Butler as being the four guys who have the best shot out of the box. Jordan Floyd looks like a NFL vet out there, but those guys typically take longer to see the field.

What does the media availability look like for spring practice?

KQ- I have no idea, they gave us a one-day schedule so far and that was just Monday. WIth basketball overlapping, they are holding back on doing something on Wednesday and Friday is Pro Day, so we haven't received anything else. The added issue of the Edge Building being torn down complicates everything I'm sure as well.

O/U 1.5 games won in DC this week for basketball?

KQ- My take has been the same for over a week. I think they will either beat Notre Dame and Wake or they will lose to ND and be done. I think that is how they play.

We have 2 LB coming into Spring with game reps - Tatum & Efforts - are you hearing who may provide depth/competition from the Spring Roster?
Lightsey, Hamilton, Dean - transfers
Meiguez, Cruz, Ashley. - roster
Butler, Pritchett - Frosh

KQ- Tatum and Efford have extensive experience, I expect that EJ Lightsey, Jackson Hamilton and Tah'j Butler will play. The big question is how much can Jacob Cruz or Nacari Ashley help. I don't see Tyson Meiguez playing much of a role, he has been on the team forever. I'm not sure who Pritchett is, the Pritchett that signed is a safety who will be here in the summer time. Caleb Dozier the other LB signee is not in spring camp, he also comes this summer.

I think the staff expect Tatum, Efford, Lightsey and either Hamilton or Butler to make up the core LB depth. Anything else is a bonus at this point, but it is a new staff so it is a clean slate for guys like Cruz or Ashley.

Current chances in your estimation of landing:

- Davis?
- Pippen?
- Onwuchekwa?

KQ- I really don't know, I don't think the staff knows yet either. Some coaching movement may sort it out for GT after this week as guys get fired or get another year.

Tomorrow there will be practice and media with Buster and Haynes King. I will not be there because I couldn’t get my flight changed to the morning (had to hedge on GT winning at least one game in DC) but I’ll break listen to it and give updates.

Friday we get Santucci for the first time and a I think Zeek plus Gt will have Pro Day so I’ll be on the Flats for most of the day.

The team is then off for 10 days for spring break. That’s when I’ll focus on a lot of spring football analysis stuff that folks have been asking about. I knew that break was looming.

Georgia Tech began spring football practice Monday with a two-hour session on the Rose Bowl practice fields. Second-year head football coach Brent Key spoke with the media after practice and detailed his five new assistant coach hires including his all-new defensive staff.

Key said that new defensive coordinator Tyler Santucci was the first person he spoke to about the open defensive coordinator position when he decided to move on from the previous defensive staff and several weeks later he hired him to lead the Jackets defense.

"You go through the process of talking to people for different spots and we were really lucky to hire Tyler for defensive coordinator," Key said. "He was the very first person I talked to and fast forward 4-5-6 weeks later, he ends up being the guy that we were fortunate enough to be able to get."

Santucci is only 35 years old but Key said he coaches like an experienced veteran coach twice his age.

"He is a wise past his years. You forget a lot of the time what his age actually is especially when you see the energy he coaches with but also the detail he coaches with and the toughness he coaches with. He has been around really good coaches in his career and the outstanding thing about him is when you look at what he has been able to do and what he did at the last place he was at (Duke), he had a group of guys that played cohesive and played together," Key said. Yeah, they were good statistically, but that is because of the way they were coached and the expectations demanded of them."

Prior to hiring Santucci, Key brought in Jess Simpson who happened to be Santucci's defensive line coach at Duke. The former Buford HS coach and Atlanta Falcons assistant was a priority hire for Key because of the boxes he checked."Jess is a guy I've known for a long time. He is as respected as anyone there is out there as a defensive line coach. It is just the relationships that he is able to have with those players in the room and when you have those relationships you are able to push them to do a lot of things with them to push them out of their comfort zones. I thought that is what we needed but he is also a very detailed coach and very technique-driven to (make his guys) strong technicians. He has coached at every level and had success at every level," Key said of Simpson.

Working alongside Simpson, Key hired Kyle Pope who was the defensive line GA at Alabama when Key was the offensive line coach under Nick Saban. Pope was most recently at Memphis prior to coming to the Flats. Key said he likes the chemistry between Simpson who coaches the defensive line and Pope who will coach the edge rushers and outside linebackers in subpackages.

"Kyle was a graduate assistant in Tuscaloosa with us and just the energy he had at a young age then as a coach and a recruiter was impressive. He goes about it the same way every day and the recruiting part is huge as well all know. He has proven to be a very successful recruiter working at a couple of different places and has improved upon what he was doing as a GA six or seven years ago and he developed that and has become an even better coach. I'm really excited about having him working with edges and outside backers if we go into a 3-4 mode. Kyle and Jess working together is a really good pairing and they feed off each other and I really expect big things out of those two guys."

New secondary coach Cory Peoples came to Tech from Georgia State to round out the new on-the-field hires on the defensive side of the ball.

"Corey was right down the road and he was one of the first people I talked to at that position and the relationships he had with people in the area were big. When you talk to people whether it be local high school coaches or former players that he coached, everything was super positive. Cory was able to do a lot with the guys he brought into his last place and his relationships with coaches in the area were very important," Key said of the Peoples hire.

Key also added to the plate of special teams coordinator Ricky Brumfield putting him in charge of the cornerback positions."Ricky who has been here for a year already coaching special teams, adding corners with him allows him to affect things in a different way with another position group and allows him to use his recruiting skill even more than we were able to last year," Key said.

On the offensive side, the only change was the hiring of Trent McKnight as receivers coach. McKnight joined the staff late last month after the sudden departure of McKnight's former boss Shawn Elliott from Georgia State started a ripple effect with Dell McGee getting hired to be the head coach of the Panthers from UGA and UGA hiring Josh Crawford away from the Jackets to replace him as the running backs coach flipping him from being a long-time receivers coach.

"Trent we hired two weeks ago I believe, you are able to see him out there for the first time with the guys and I'm excited to able to watch him," Key said. "I'm looking for him to coach receivers and be able to recruit his area and his position at a high level as well."

Key said he contacted former players, high school coaches, and fellow college coaches to vet all of his new hires.

Seeing as FOS has over 250,000 followers on Instagram.

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Miles Kelly is a full go. However Baye Ndongo is in the middle of Ramadan and will not eat or consume any water during the game or ahead of the game so that’s interesting. Sacko and Souare also doing it.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (theACC.com) – North Carolina senior guard RJ Davis has been voted the Atlantic Coast Conference Men’s Player of the Year, while the Tar Heels’ Hubert Davis earned ACC Coach of the Year honors, highlighting the 2023-24 All-ACC Men’s Basketball Team and award winners.



The 2023-24 All-ACC Team was determined by a 75-member panel consisting of the league’s 15 head coaches and 60 members of the media.



Virginia’s Reece Beekman notched ACC Defensive Player of the Year laurels for the second straight season, while Notre Dame’s Markus Burton earned ACC Rookie of Year honors. Clemson’s Ian Schieffelin claimed the ACC’s Most Improved Player, while Pitt’s Ishmael Leggett was picked as the Sixth Man of the Year.



RJ Davis was the overwhelming pick from the voting panel as Player of the Year, earning the nod on 68 of 75 ballots. Davis is averaging a league-leading 21.1 points per game this season as well as 3.6 assists per game, which is 11th in the league. The native of White Plains, New York, is a finalist for the John R. Wooden Award, presented to the nation’s most outstanding player. He also is a finalist for the Jerry West Award for the top shooting guard in the country. Davis has scored at least 20 points 19 times this season, which is the most 20-point games in a season by a Tar Heel since Justin Jackson also had 19 in 40 games in 2016-17, which also marked UNC’s last ACC Player of the Year honoree. He is on pace to become the first Tar Heel to lead the ACC in scoring since Tyler Hansbrough in 2007-08 and record UNC’s highest scoring average since Hansbrough averaged 22.6 that same season.



In his third season at the helm of his alma mater, Hubert Davis led the Tar Heels to their first outright ACC regular-season title since the 2016-17 campaign. He is UNC’s first ACC Coach of the Year honoree since Roy Williams in 2011. The Tar Heels have racked up a 25-6 record, including a 17-3 mark in league play, and hold the No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament this week. UNC’s 17 ACC wins tied the ACC record for regular-season wins (Virginia was 17-1 in 2018-19).



Beekman became just the third player to earn back-to-back Defensive Player of the Year honors since the award was instituted in 2005, joining Duke’s Shelden Williams (2005-06) and North Carolina’s John Henson (2011-12). He is the sixth Cavalier to win the award in the last 10 seasons. A senior from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Beekman ranks second in the ACC in steals (66 total, 2.13 per game) while leading the ACC’s top-ranked scoring defense at 59.1 points per game. Also named a Second-Team All-ACC honoree, he averaged 14.3 points per game (14th in ACC) and a league-leading 6.0 assists per game.



The first member of the Fighting Irish to earn ACC Rookie of the Year, Burton has scored a Notre Dame freshman record 535 points this season, averaging 17.3 points per game, which is sixth overall in the ACC and third nationally among all freshmen. He also is averaging 4.3 assists per game, which ranks sixth in the ACC, and 2.0 assists per game, which is fourth in the ACC. The Mishawaka, Indiana, native Burton could potentially become the first player in program history to finish a season averaging at least 17.0 points, 4.0 assists and 2.0 steals per game and currently is the only freshman in the nation to boast those averages.



Schieffelin has been a key part of Clemson’s strong season, averaging 9.7 points and 9.6 rebounds per game. The junior from Loganville, Georgia, currently ranks third in the ACC in rebounding. He has more than doubled his rebounding totals from a year ago, when averaged 4.1 boards per game and has raised his scoring from 5.5 points per game as a sophomore. He also has become one of the Tigers’ top threats from 3-point range, shooting 19-of-36 (52.8%). He hit on 33.3 percent of his attempts last season.



Leggett is the second straight Panther to earn the nod as ACC Sixth Man of the Year, joining Nike Sibande in 2023. The junior from Prince George's County, Maryland, has averaged 11.9 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game this season. He leads the Panthers in rebounding and steals (36), while ranking third in scoring and assists. He has scored in double figures 22 times, including 11 of the past 14 games off the bench.



The All-ACC first, second and third teams showed incredible balance, with 12 schools representing the 15 players selected. North Carolina (3) and Duke (2) were the only schools to have multiple players on the teams.



2023-24 ALL-ACC TEAM

FIRST TEAM

Name, School, Points

RJ Davis, North Carolina, 373

PJ Hall, Clemson, 363

Kyle Filipowski, Duke, 346

Hunter Sallis, Wake Forest, 292

Blake Hinson, Pitt, 280



SECOND TEAM

Armando Bacot, North Carolina, 271

Reece Beekman, Virginia, 263

Judah Mintz, Syracuse, 219

Norchad Omier, Miami, 172

Quinten Post, Boston College, 135



THIRD TEAM

DJ Horne, NC State, 109

Harrison Ingram, North Carolina, 91

Jeremy Roach, Duke, 85

Markus Burton, Notre Dame, 69

Sean Pedulla, Virginia Tech, 62



HONORABLE MENTION

Joseph Girard III, Clemson, 54

Jamir Watkins, Florida State, 47

Jared McCain, Duke, 29

Ian Schieffelin, Clemson, 24

Miles Kelly, Georgia Tech, 16

Carlton Carrington, Pitt, 12

Brandon Huntley-Hatfield, Louisville, 10

Ryan Dunn, Virginia, 10



Note: All-ACC Team points are determined on a 5-3-1 system (five points for first team, three points for second team, one point for third team).



Player of the Year

RJ Davis, North Carolina, 68 votes

Kyle Filipowski, Duke, 3

PJ Hall, Clemson, 2

Armando Bacot, North Carolina, 1

Quinten Post, Boston College, 1



Defensive Player of the Year

Reece Beekman, Virginia, 43 votes

Ryan Dunn, Virginia, 19

Armando Bacot, North Carolina, 4

Maliq Brown, Syracuse, 4

Quinten Post, Boston College, 2

Jaeden Zackery, Boston College, 1

Jack Clark, Clemson, 1

Quadir Copeland, Syracuse, 1



Rookie of the Year

Markus Burton, Notre Dame, 46 votes

Jared McCain, Duke, 20

Carlton Carrington, Pitt, 5

Baye Ndongo, Georgia Tech, 2

Caleb Foster, Duke, 1

Kyshawn George, Miami, 1



Most Improved Player

Ian Schieffelin, Clemson, 30 votes

Hunter Sallis, Wake Forest, 18

Lynn Kidd, Virginia Tech, 12

Harrison Ingram, North Carolina, 5

Brandon Huntley-Hatfield, Louisville, 3

Maliq Brown, Syracuse, 3

Devin McGlockton, Boston College, 3

Isaac McKneely, Virginia, 1



Sixth Man Of the Year

Ishmael Leggett, Pitt, 33 votes

Quadir Copeland, Syracuse, 20

Seth Trimble, North Carolina, 6

Kyle Sturdivant, Georgia Tech, 5

Mason Madsen, Boston College, 4

Primo Spears, Florida State, 4

Caleb Foster, Duke, 3



Coach of the Year

Hubert Davis, North Carolina, 49 votes

Jeff Capel, Pitt, 12

Adrian Autry, Syracuse, 6

Micah Shrewsberry, Notre Dame, 3

Jon Scheyer, Duke, 2

Brad Brownell, Clemson, 1

Damon Stoudamire, Georgia Tech, 1

Tony Bennett, Virginia, 1



All-Defensive Team

Reece Beekman, Virginia, 73 votes

Ryan Dunn, Virginia, 65

Maliq Brown, Syracuse, 48

Armando Bacot, North Carolina, 26

Quinten Post, Boston College, 21



All-Rookie Team

Markus Burton, Notre Dame, 73 votes

Jared McCain, Duke, 73

Carlton Carrington, Pitt, 65

Baye Ndongo, Georgia Tech, 60

Elliot Cadeau, North Carolina, 39

GT updated the roster so here are the new #s

0- Christian Leary was 6
2- Eric Singleton was 13
2- E.J. Lightsey transfer from UGA
3- Trey Cooley was 0
3- Ahmari Harvey was 18
4- Abdul Janneh was 18
4- Warren Burrell transfer from Tenn
6- Rodney Shelley was 17
6- Anthony Carrie FROSH
7- Taye Seymore was 25
10- Eddie Kelly was 97
12- Aaron Philo FROSH
13- Isiah Canion FROSH
14- Graham Knowles FROSH
15- Tah'j Butler FROSH
16- Syeed Gibbs transfer from Rhode Island
17- Jackson Hamilton transfer from Louisville
18- Zion Taylor was 83
25- Cedric Franklin FROSH
28- Trelain Maddox FROSH
40- Trenilyas Tatum moved back to his old # after going in the portal
50- Tana Alo-Tupuola FROSH
50- Ayo Tifase transfer from FSU
52- Harrison Moore FROSH
70- Jameson Riggs FROSH
77- Keylan Rutledge transfer from MTSU
79- Jordan Floyd FROSH
81- Trey Horne FROSH
83- Justin Brown SWITCH FROM DB to WR, I expected this for a while now
85- Jackson Hawes transfer from Yale
86- Ryland Goede transfer from UGA
90- Jordan Boyd FROSH
93- Jack Barton transfer from Furman

Kicker Aidan Birr also switched permanently to 33 from 93, he made that switch in the bowl game.

Everyone is accounted for matching with my scholarship sticky thread as well.

for Filipowski for tripping the UNC player or for throwing stuff at their players? Kidding. I kid.

Fire away

As I alluded to in my Ramblings column and in another thread, Monday was a big day for Georgia Tech as they look to put together a 2025 class that is strong locally and beyond.

Visitors from today include two noteworthy from Texas that I linked over the weekend, and a handful of local targets as well.

Login to view embedded media Login to view embedded media Login to view embedded media Login to view embedded media Login to view embedded media Login to view embedded media Login to view embedded media Login to view embedded media Augusta Christian OL Evan Scott was in attendance as well.

For those who don't remember he was in a car accident in Atlanta back in December and he injured his foot at the time and had to have surgery. It is not a big deal, he is week to week per Key but may not be available until the summer.

Thanks to our sponsor Inteleca for helping bring back Q's Take my weekly look at things around GT and college sports from my vantage.




Last year was a learning year for Brent Key and Georgia Tech football as the first-year head coach was experiencing a list of firsts running a program. The 2024 spring will have some new wrinkles as well and a lot of teaching on one side of the ball.

For the first time since the spring of 2018 and maybe even 2016, the Georgia Tech offense has the majority of the pieces back and a competent offense led by Buster Faulkner and the offensive staff where there was limited turnover with just the change at WR coach. The leading passer, rusher, receiver and four of the five starting offensive linemen are back. The major questions facing this group mainly revolve this spring about finding consistency at the WR spot opposite Eric Singleton Jr. and what the TE room looks like with only Brett Seither back from the trio last year led by Dylan Leonard. Seither was a good receiving weapon, but a back injury limited his overall snap count benefitting Luke Benson last year. They will need someone to replace the quality reps and work Leonard gave them. The WR position has been beset with numerous injuries over the last few years headlined by Leo Blackburn's two ACL injuries.

Developing more depth at various positions and finding a replacement for Dontae Smith who was the yin to Jamal Haynes' yang at RB will also be a priority though I would put my money on Anthony Carrie taking that role.

The bigger questions come on the other side of the ball. That was the more stable side coming into Key's first full year, but after a very disappointing 2023 on that side of the ball, Key cleaned house replacing every single coach and even some support staff on that side of the ball. Enter Tyler Santucci the new DC, Jess Simpson the DL coach, Kyle Pope coaching OLB/rush, Cory Peoples coaching DBs and special teams coordinator Ricky Brumfield also coaching corners now.

Key made changes on that side of the ball the priority in the offseason and that area is the biggest concern and question going into spring ball. The defensive line has decent experience back, but the production fell off considerable under the coach duo of Marco Coleman and Brian Baker compared to David Turner and Larry Knight the previous year. Key jettisoned Coleman and Baker in the offseason despite being very close with Coleman and the duo of Simpson and Pope will aim to bring back the mojo to the DL that should produce more sacks, TFLs and pressures than they did.

Santucci will handle the linebacker position overall and he has his work cut out for him with two of the more productive linebackers, Paul Moala and Braelen Oliver out of eligibility, one strong returning starter in Kyle Efford who improved dramatically as his playing time increased and the inconsistent Tren Tatum as the lone other returning player from a four-man rotation at those two spots last season. Tech added E.J. Lightsey from UGA and Jackson Hamilton from Louisville, but neither of them have extensive game experience playing major snaps at linebacker. They need to find two LBs to rotation with Efford and Tatum especially given Tatum's hold and cold streaks as a player.

In the secondary, things look better with a lot of options at cornerback with Ahmari Harvey and Rodney Shelley both back. Those two played a lot of snaps in the back half of the season and Harvey was Tech's best CB overall last season coverage-wise down the stretch. Syeed Gibbs and Warren Burrell were brought in to compete and push in the secondary.

The safety spots should be LaMiles Brooks who had a really difficult junior season due to injuries starting in the season opener and Clayton Powell-Lee who was inconsistent in his sophomore season. The nickel spot will be interesting as Santucci could do something different there. Omar Daniels looked good in his limited snaps behind K.J. Wallace who transferred to UCLA. Taye Seymore seems like a guy GT needs to get on the field at one of these three spots and Khari Gee a year removed from a pretty serious health scare could hopefully push as well for playing time entering his final season.

All three kicking specialists are back and the Jackets added some new blood via the portal to the snapping game with Ronnie Thomas from Kennesaw State to push returning starter Henry Freer and walk-ons Joseph Soever and converted OL Will Scissum at that spot.

Overall, Tech has a very solid core back on offense and Faulkner should be able to add wrinkles and complexity to his system in year two with Haynes King at the helm. I'm excited to see the QB room and how the true freshmen come along and if they can continue to develop the run package with Zach Pyron now that they have more depth at the QB position and King has more confidence in his role. King needs to improve his reads and progressions and stop forcing the ball with predetermined throws that led to about half of his 16 interceptions. If he can just improve in that area, the Tech offense should be humming come the fall.

Defensively, there is a lot of work to do, but a lot to like about some of the pieces. I think it will come down to pass rush and tackling once again for the Jackets. When they've been able to get pressure in games and tackle well, they play better. The defense just was very inconsistent under the previous regimes in both categories and that puts too much pressure on the back seven and then things unravel.

That is what Key is paying Santucci to fix and that will be a big storyline in spring ball.

Thought this was an interesting bit of info.

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Portal Season opens one week from today.

Anything you can do to help the GT hoops warchest counts hugely right now.

Why I'm doing the job of @thetechway to promote this, I'm not sure, but someone has to do it.

Has won 15 in a row, is 6-0 in the conference for the first time in awhile, and now ranked in at least one poll.

At UGA this week.
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THE FLATS – Georgia Tech softball (18-7, 6-0 ACC) has been ranked No. 25 in the most recent Softball America Top 25 poll, it was announced today. The Yellow Jackets are ranked in the Top 25 of a national poll for the first time in since 2012, following another ACC series sweep, over NC State, this past weekend.



The Jackets have won 15 games in a row dating back to Feb. 21, the fifth longest active winning streak in the nation and the second longest winning streak in program history.



The ranking sets up a Top 25 edition of Clean Old-Fashioned Hate featuring No. 25 Georgia Tech at No. 6 Georgia on Wednesday at 6 p.m. in Athens. The game will be live streamed on SECN+. The Jackets will return home this weekend for an ACC series against Notre Dame (12-9, 0-3 ACC) beginning this Friday at 8 p.m. Tickets for the Notre Dame series are available at ramblinwreck.com



QUICK HITS

· - This is the Yellow Jackets first ranking in the Softball America Top 25 poll and the first Top 25 ranking in any national poll since being named preseason No. 23 back in 2012.

· - Tech has won 15 games in a row, the longest winning streak since setting the program record (19) back in 2007.

· - The Jackets have tied the program record for the best start to ACC play, going 6-0 for the first time since 2002.

· - The White & Gold have won six straight conference games for the first time since 2022.

· - Tech swept an ACC series on the road (at NC State) for the first time since 2018.

· - GT has now hit 48 home runs this season, the most among Power 5 teams. The Jackets have tied their total HR output from last season while playing in less than half of the total games.

· - The Jackets came from behind in their most recent win. Tech has come from behind in 11 of its 18 victories so far, defeating opponents by an average margin of 5.4 runs, with five come-from-behind wins ending via run-rule, including today.

· - Tech has now won four of its six ACC games via mercy-rule, tied for the most ACC run-rule victories since 2010 (6).

· - The Jackets have won 14 consecutive games at home dating back to Feb. 11, the longest home winning streak since winning 17-straight between the end of the 2021 season and start of 2022.

· - Georgia Tech swept an ACC series with all three games ending in a run-rule for the first time in program history after dispatching of Pitt , 14-5(5), 10-1(6) and 8-0(5) in the first weekend of ACC play.

· - Georgia Tech leads the ACC in runs (189), doubles (43), home runs (48), RBI (176), slugging pct (.645) and walks (100) this season, while owning the second-best fielding percentage in the conference (.974).

· - Individually, Sara Beth Allen leads the ACC in on-base+slugging (1.493), owning the second-best slugging percentage (.910) and the fourth best on-base (.583). She is second in the conference in walks, drawing 22 free bases.

· - Mallorie Black and Ella Edgmon are first and second in the conference in runs scored, coming in at 30 and 29 respectively. Edgmon has scored 14 runs in ACC play already, the only player in the conference with double digit runs scored.

· - Black, Allen and Madison Dobbins are in a three-way tie for the most home runs in the ACC, each delivering nine.

· - Dobbins leads the conference in RBI with 34. Tech has four student-athletes in the Top 7 for RBI in the ACC: No. 1 Dobbins (34), No. 2 Black (32), No. 4 Domingue (28) and No. 7 Allen (24).

· - Four Jackets were ranked in the national Top 10 in their position groups by Softball America last week: Allen was named the No. 1 utility player in the nation with Black earning No. 2 at 3B, Dobbins No. 10 in the outfield and Domingue No. 10 at 2B.



UP NEXT
The Jackets take their 15-game winning streak to Athens for a Wednesday edition of Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate. No. 25 Tech will face No. 7/6 Georgia (19-3, 0-0 SEC) on Wednesday, March 13 at 6 p.m. The game will be streamed live on SECN+.

Per GT Athletics-

THE FLATS – Georgia Tech baseball’s March 1 game against Georgia will not be made up and is officially canceled, the schools announced on Monday.

School officials with both the Yellow Jackets and Bulldogs were unable to find a mutually agreed upon date to finish the game after umpires suspended action in the top of the fifth.

Things could not have started out much better for GT baseball. Danny Hall and his staff could have had things written into a script by some local movie producer for the first chunk of the season.

The offense was producing, pitching looked improved, even dominant at times, and the coaching blunders that have defined the last handful of years had disappeared.

That was, until the final game of the Cornell series. Hall and GT, in that moment, had earned the benefit of the doubt and the phrase “that’s just baseball” permeated through the JOL message board.

Following a bounceback performance (in a big way) in a 10-0 shutout over local rival Georgia State, any worry about the loss to Cornell had quickly flown out the window.

Expectations were high. Then Friday night happened.

Getting out to the 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first felt like a big win for Hall and GT, and then the second inning happened. Hill gave up seven runs (all earned) between the second and third inning, and the game had gotten away quickly from the Jackets.

To make matters worse, this is when the bats really cooled off as well. In the 4 1/2 innings played Friday night, GT was only able to get three hits, with the other four baserunners coming on walks and HBP. They struck out 8 times in 15 AB.

Those 15 AB are likely not to count officially, due to an inability to find time for UGA to travel to Atlanta to finish the suspended game. They counted in the eyes of the media, in the confidence levels of both teams, and I am sure they counted in the eyes of the remaining fans, too.

Finateri had a strong start (though he missed far less bats than he had in his previous starts) but the bats on Saturday again couldn’t even put up five hits.

Sunday’s debacle likely doesn’t need to be discussed too much, but anytime you blow a 9-3 lead in the late innings, it is going to make headlines. Do it against your rival after basically losing the first two games, and people are REALLY going to be talking.

Tuesday’s matchup with Northeastern didn’t do much in the way of instilling any level of confidence going into the Youngstown State mega-series (4 games in 3 days currently scheduled)

Northeastern is not a slouch by any means, but Georgia Tech didn’t look competitive from the first inning on.

To look at this season, so far, it is only fair to look at what could have been. The following players were set to play for the Yellow Jackets prior to being drafted and signing-

MIF Antonio Anderson (Red Sox)
MIF Tai Peete (Mariners)
OF Isaiah Drake (Braves)
OF Kyle Henley (Reds)

Had Peete and Anderson not left for the draft, the need for transfers Payton Green and Mike Becchetti.

Isaiah Drake would likely be starting somewhere, too.

The makeup of the team as well as the expectations changed when it became clear that Georgia Tech’s top recruiting class was going to be raided by agents and MLB.

Taking transfers at such a high quantity is good for plug-and-play, usually, but in terms of roster management, it doesn’t do much.

Regulars Mike Becchetti, Cam Jones, Bobby Zmarzlak, Trey Yunger, and Matthew Ellis are all seniors and out of eligibility after this season.

If the season goes sideways, what will fans have to look forward to seeing as a sign towards a better future in 2025 and beyond? Other than No. 8 in CF, of course. Though Burress in his last three games, the Freshman phenom is just 3-14 with 3 K and 1 2B.

That includes an 0-5 showing on Tuesday against Northeastern.

Back to the point, which is that as the season progresses, if the results don’t change, things could really ugly.

No offense to the veterans listed above, but GT fans are not going to pleased if there are meaningless games played in April and May. They will be even more (not) pleased if GT continues to trot out such a seasoned lineup.

Especially with freshmen like Vahn Lackey, Carson Kerce, Ryan Jaros, Michael Graziano, and several others waiting in the wings.

Sophomores Parker Brosius, Carsten Sabathia, Nico Senese, and Tyler Minnick also continue to wait for a consistent opportunity to contribute.

That’s without even mentioning the pitching situation.

2024 doesn’t have to be a lost season for Georgia Tech baseball, regardless of what happens in the win-loss column.

It is clear big changes are needed at the top, and it is becoming more and more likely that those come to fruition.

The Yellow Jackets open a four game series with Youngstown State today, and while many are ready to call this a must-sweep series, that is certainly a likely scenario if you want to be in the hosting discussion.

This team doesn’t appear to be at that level. There will likely be a TON of fireworks around the program this weekend, though, as the Penguins are arguably the worst team in all of Division 1.

The results of this weekend may begin to generate some level of excitement around the team and some newfound hope, but it just does not feel like this is a team that can capitalize on that.

My expectations for the team have been lowered, and I am not sure that any results against a team with a combined staff ERA of over 12 and 20 HR given up in 78.2 IP. Teams are batting over .300 against them! As a team, they are batting just over .200 in 10 games.

That’s not going to get the job done.

My prediction is a 3-1 weekend for GT, if they find a way to get the four games in.





UPCOMING VISITORS

The quiet period is alive and well, as Georgia Tech is set to host several visitors throughout the month of March and beyond.

There are some big names heading to campus. Some of them had previously eliminated Georgia Tech by not including them on their top schools lists. It becomes clearer by the day that for many, those lists don’t mean much.

For Brent Key and his revamped coaching staff, they will be looking to re-establish some relationships they may have had at their previous jobs, while also creating a foundation for relationships they may not have had previously.

The number one priority moving forward for Georgia Tech is recruiting the Atlanta-area, followed by the state of Georgia, and from there moving over into the out-of-state targets in places like Alabama, South Carolina, Florida, and others.


These visits are going to be different than they have been in the past. There won’t be fancy photoshoots, and the areas where recruits normally file in is currently under construction.

Visitors instead will spend time with the coaches, watch film from Georgia Tech’s 7-6 season, as well as clips from places such as Duke, Georgia State, and Memphis, among others.


New recruiting staffers will have the chance to re-connect with recruits they have spent significant time with at places like Tennessee and UGA, among others.


The expectation is that the program adds at least one commitment in the next few weeks.

They will certainly have a significant amount of their top targets on campus. Here’s a look at the next few days-


3/8
https://n.rivals.com/content/athletes/kamren-flowers-309158?view=pv


3/9

Cali Power 5v5 (OL/DL team) will be among the group.
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3/11

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Winner gets Wake in next round

So I figured this was worth a standalone update as things are changing minute-by-minute.

Here is the latest on each top recruiting target

Daquan Davis (Overtime Elite- Baltimore, MD)

Davis wants to come to GT and the staff wants him at GT. He has some people around him clouding and trying to make the decision about money. However, the #2 school FSU has its own issues including whether or not Leonard Hamilton returns. They also had some reported NIL payment snafus this year and that overlapped with Davis being on a visit down there and that was not a great look. Several of the FSU assistants are looking to bail out if they can get a job this offseason on another staff like Steve Smith who will be interviewing for mid-major jobs as a HC and Jarrod Lazarus who is the glue guy on his staff who wants to be a full-time assistant somewhere. The family sees the unraveling at FSU as a major problem. Davis really likes being in Atlanta and the reality is the situation is probably better here for him long term to make money via the profile of being an elite player in Atlanta versus Tally. There will be some headaches taking Davis, but they believe he is worth the headaches.

Davis' weird OV went extremely well and may have closed it out for the Jackets.

All signs point to GT, but stuff can change between now and his decision in a couple of weeks.

Justin Pippen (Sierra Canyon- Chatsworth, CA)

The staff are thinking about taking both Davis and Pippen now. That would be three interesting guards along with Jaeden Mustaf (Overtime Elite- Bowie, MD) who already signed. Pippen is more of a combo guard like Mustaf if you project him out and look at how his brother and dad continued growing. Pippen's situation is similar to Davis where the other main schools involved are also facing near-term coaching changes. This comes down to space IMO and fit. Also like Davis, Stoudamire is inviting some headaches by having the Pippen extended family circus around his program. Does he want to deal with that?

Xavier jumped into the mix along with GT, Stanford and A&M. Xavier coach Sean Miller is a possible candidate for several other jobs including Ohio State while Buzz Williams hasn't really caught fire at A&M but is likely safe for another year with the AD situation there and Stanford is expected to fire Jerod Haase after an absolute collapse the last few weeks will give him a losing record in league play for the 5th time in eight years with just one winning season and one NIT bid there and no NCAAs.

The other big target Doryan Onwuchekwa (Faith Family Academy- Dallas, TX) appears to be a GT/TCU race now.

So that is recruiting.

On the team side, they are preparing a large NIL package for Baye Ndongo to keep him. Right now Miles Kelly is the highest-paid player and will have to take a more reasonable cut if he wants to return for another season which he does. His NIL deal was set up for a top 15 ACC player and he has not performed like one and I think everyone involved understands, he is a piece not the thing you build it around. Damon has done a lot for him to expand and improve his game and now he has to put that together with better players around him to market himself for a future pro career with a good senior season.

With Ndongo, he is happy, the primary goal there is keeping it that way and keeping poachers away from him. He likes the situation and his teammates and the staff here so he wants to stay.

The really interesting one for me is Tafara Gapare because two weeks ago I thought he was actually going to get squeezed out, but he is an X-factor guy and shows enough flashes where you want to build around him. It will be interesting to see if he squeezes someone like Ibrahima Sacko out of a spot.

Stoudamire views this like the pros because the players are getting paid and are not tied to the program so he is trying to put together the best team he can year to year.

There are 13 spots and this is how I see it right now.

I expect to return and class for next year (6 players)
Tafara Gapare (Jr.)
Nait George (So.)
Baye Ndongo (So.)
Kowacie Reeves Jr. (Sr.)
Ibrahim Souare (R-Fr.)
Lance Terry (R-Sr.)


Commits (3)
Jaeden Mustaf (Overtime Elite- Bowie, MD
Darrion Sutton (Overtime Elite- O'Fallon, MO)
Cole Kirouac (North Forsyth- Cumming, GA) I'm curious if he somehow ends up as a gray shirt or blue shirt

So that puts you at 10. If they take Davis/Pippen and Doryan that leaves two more spots. If they need that spot then it gets interesting with someone like Kirouac IMO. He is a project guy.

On the bubble
Miles Kelly (Sr.) does he try to cash in and see if there is someone willing to pay him more

I expect to leave
Amaree Abram (just didn't work out)
Deebo Coleman (should graduate)
Ebenezer Dowouna (I wonder if he would change himself to a NIL walk-on to come back)
Ibrahima Sacko (I think he gets squeezed out, also there is a huge cultural barrier with him because he doesn't speak English well so he is hard to coach and they have someone interpreting for him, which seems like a lot for his skill set).

So that is where things stand.