I knew this had been in the works for a while. Hoping this means better things ahead.

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A look at the info, stats, players to watch and some analysis of the battle between the Jackets and Irish set for Saturday in The Benz.

"We finished up our Thursday practice today getting ready for the Notre Dame game. We've had a good week of practice. I don't think there's ever been a time anyone's ever come up to a podium and say, man, it's a horrible week. We're not prepared. We're not doing anything. It was a very intentional week and we got a lot of things accomplished and focused. I thought the focus was extremely good, not stressed, not anxious, but, ready for the moment and excited to be able to have this opportunity on Saturday."


Student-Athletes of the Week:
Offense: Eric Singleton Jr.
Defense: Zeek Biggers

Scouts of the Week:
WR Chris Elko
DB AJ Cheeks
Special teams Blake Ragsdale

The Captains for Saturday are Jordan Williams, Sylvain Yondjouen, LaMiles Brooks and Avery Boyd and they will have a special captain, Will Scissum. Key joked that Scissum is a 9th-year senior and he has been here every year he has been back at GT and he does a great job of working with the defensive side of the ball and he truly bleeds white and gold and is in grad school here. Scissum was in the 2019 recruiting class as a walk-on. Key said he lives and breathes Georgia Tech football and would do anything to help the team and he is excited he will be one of the captains.

I asked about the QB situation and who will start on Saturday if he is ready to make that public and Key joked they won't have that meeting until this afternoon, but he said that Haynes King is day-to-day and it was good to see him back out at practice today.

Key said the Frat Radio Show thing was an idea that came up several weeks ago and he thought it was a great idea and a great chance to get in front of the students who have been so impactful in football games for GT this year and he said that he is really excited that they are buying into the program and that they are all in this together. He said that he hopes it is a great turnout tonight and that they have some trivia questions and prizes and he will give out a few things he has in his office. He said he hopes they take up the whole street tonight with people.

Key said he was impressed with seeing how many Tech students go to Falcons game as he drove through the campus after his radio show a few weeks ago and saw the hordes going over to MBS for the Thursday night game that week, he said it looked like half of the campus was going and the only down part of it for him was seeing them in red and black. He hopes that they show up on Saturday and make MBS into a block party for GT.

On facing the ND defense for his OL, Key said every game is a challenge but this is a particularly strong challenge and they've made some headway in the last few weeks with the things that make Georgia Tech football a successful program an they have to be able to protect the QB and establish the run game. ND is really good against the run and they've got a lot of experience and the two inside guys are super seniors and he joked they've been at ND as long as Key has been back in the league and they've been playing these crossovers ACC/ND. He thinks the two LBs are good and instinctive players and twitchy and strong and get-off blocks. The safeties do a good job of run/pass reads and getting down and being involved in the run and defending the pass. The edge guys play good responsibility defense and there are not a lot of busts.

A ND reporter was here and he asked a lot of questions as Key humored him since he traveled all the way down for his presser from South Bend. He asked about Riley Leonard and Key said that Riley is similar to Haynes King and that he has followed Riley's career since he is from Fairhope, Alabama and he likes to keep an eye on Bama kids who leave the state to play football. He said that ND has an offensive identity and their younger guys up front have matured as the season went along and are playing better. They get the TE involved as well and Riley is an explosive player like Haynes as a runner and they might do things a little better than the other one at certain things.

I asked about the evolution of the QB room from when he was interim to now where they are stacked comparably to the 2022 season and he said that the big thing was having guys made of the right stuff and do they have the right character and do they love the game and are willing to push through adversity. He said that they may not get to play right away but when it is their turn they take the ball and run with it and they have tough kids and a toughness in that room and are each other's biggest supporters. He said the number one goal was fixing the offense when he hired Buster Faulkner and it is QB driven and they had to acquire talent in that room. He said that over the last two classes they've been able to do that and they have some young guys that will be really good players. Are they ready to play 15 games right now a year? Not necessarily, but they'll be very good players. He said that Brody Rhodes has been there the longest and he is like having a coach in the room and really is a coach and Brody is a great example of someone who just loves Georgia Tech and Georgia Tech football and will do anything in his power to help the team win on Saturdays.

I asked about Tyler Santucci finding his stride with the defense and the players getting more comfortable in the system after seeing some live bullets in games and that adjustment to how it looks in a game. He said they tend to look at things overall during bye weeks and the scheme has to be personnel-driven and the mark of a good coach is adjusting to and taking your personnel and putting them in a position to be successful. He said it drives him crazy when a coach says someone isn't good enough, he said it is their job to recruit and put guys in a position to be successful and they can recruit each year and build it up and find guys who fit the identity of the program. He said that Tyler has done a good job of that and coming up with schemes that fit the personnel they have and working with them hands on and he has adjusted after seeing them face live bullets in games and seeing how they react to that and getting a feel for it and adjusting. He said that the thing he loves about Tyler is they could have the #1 defense in the country and he wouldn't be satisfied by that and would be looking for things to improve. Key said that they played a lot of guys early as well to figure out who could help them win games and they've adjusted and you can see the overall improvement on D and offense and special teams because of that. He said that Tyler is a grinder too and is as old school as they come and that is why he loves having him on the staff.

I asked about the status of Jackson Hawes, Josh Beetham and Ryland Goede and Key cracked a joke that he was going to put on the uniform and have an eligible number and just run verticals and seam routes, he said right now those guys are game time decisions and he wouldn't say that if they havdn't been practicing.

The guy from South Bend asked a bunch of very ND-specific questions, listen to the audio or watch GT's video later if you want that stuff, I didn't find it that illuminating.

anybody hear how badly he is hurt? Why did he all of a sudden miss our last 3 series?

Sorry if it’s already been said here: ROOF OPEN!!

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He committed to GT via his instagram.
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Seems like an extremely odd time to do so. Hope all is well with his health.

White had great things to say about the new addition to Georgia Tech's class of 2025.

Here are a few gifs i decided to breakdown to give an idea of what happened on field vs. UNC. These are used to give others a different perspective on how to watch football. I don’t do this to disparage players or coaches, but to give insight to GT enthusiast on what I’ve learned as a player and avid football fan.




Probably our best blitz disguise all season. #16 Gibbs easily gets around the big, slow-foot tackle on the Dime blitz. We do a good job finding our assignment and latching on. Job well done, but…..

The most glaring issue from this game is our pass defense with us being misaligned and not doing assignment properly. This looked like game 1 instead game 7.



1) I may have to go back and rewatch some clips but it appears that we have now made Tatum the MLB in some sub packages. Let’s just say it didn’t go to well.

Assignment bust: the MLB is zoning off the #3 receiving threat. Presnap that is the RB. As the route concept develops, the new # 3 is the slot who curls on the hash. Tatum, who is a hook/curl defender, pushes out to the flat. Now we have Tatum and the nickel in the flat which creates an easy first down conversion. If he stays on the has next to 3, it’s a PBU or coverage sack



If you want to get 375yds rushed you, just have a light box and an unsound defense. We motion the TE out. Collins must’ve told his defenders that Luke can shoot like his dad and if he looks like he’s running to basketball scrimmage then double team him. Two defenders go with Luke, now we have 5 blockers vs. 5 defenders. Easy money


It only takes 1. Fitted perfectly except for 1 guy. We can be better on this double team but I’m not a fan of how nonchalant Tatum is filling this hole. Also, bad footwork by Tatum. He needs to be attacking this RB on his inside leg bc even a miss will spill outside to an unaccounted for Burrell for a potential stop



We have to figure this out immediately especially before Miami. The nickel and Safety are a tag team here on how they will decide which person will take which based on if he goes inside or outside or IO as most call in the field. In this case based on leverage, it appears the safety will man the receiver if goes inside and nickel would take him if he goes outside. Whoever left after they declare who man it is, is now a robber defender and will pick up any crossers. Both defenders declare and now we have a wide open WR




Knowing your angles are not only good for IG pics. It works well in football as well. Great job but #17 Jackson taking out both OL on the screen and forcing the ball back inside to the help. Unfortunately, both of our defenders over pursued and made this a manageable FG attempt



One of the plays you can see a mile away due CGC defensive alignment. This is man Cov all the way. The stack backers and DE all take the RB and no one is accounting for King.




Funny how football works. Good things usually happens to well- coached teams. This was a batted pass/ lateral vs Louisville. It’s a 30yd gain vs. an unsound defense. GT got away with one tho. Not only a busted play but this very well could’ve been called OPI with the WR crack blocking here and Luke catch the ball beyond the LOS



Remember when i said i think Tatum/Efford switched spots on Dime? Well, apparently they are still doing their old responsibilities. We appear to be in a cover 2 shell. Tatum is the MLB and is a middle read player. If #3 going vertical down the middle, then he will run with them. He plays hook/curl instead. Efford is the WLB is hook/curl player zoning off #2 to the weak side, which would be the RB on the right hash. Tatum plays hook/curl causing us to have 2 guys in the same zone and Efford runs the deep middle route creating a huge void on the field. This cannot happen



Why the coaches were so adamant about telling Jamal he was going to bust one? Bc they probably noticed CGC defense wouldn’t have a deep middle defender in sight. UNC sends Nickel pressure. Their MLB over pursues and Jamal is untouched up the middle for the game winner

Good morning everyone! As some of you may know Football Renewals & New Sales for the 2025 season are launching later this morning and all season ticket holders will receive email communication about the renewal process. Considering that many of you here are loyal & passionate season ticket holders, I wanted to share some information and insight on the renewal process, as some things have changed from how renewals have been handled in the past to ensure everyone is aware of changes that have been made. If you have any questions about renewals, I am here to help.

Renewals will launch today and the renewal window will be open until January 20th. The renewal deadline for your 2025 season tickets is January 20th. There are three payment options that are offered to all season ticket members as part of launch today:

- Pay In Full
- 7 Month Payment Plan
- 4 Month Payment Plan

All three payment options will be available at launch. After the first month of the renewal period, the 7 month payment plan will become a 6 month payment plan, and continue decreasing each month until the renewal deadline. All payments for season tickets for next season will be due by April 15th.

We will be running our 30 Days of Giveaways again this season as part of our renewal campaign. Last season we gave away signed GT items, tickets to games, pregame sideline passes, and even a tickets to the Ireland game! In order to be eligable for our 30 Days of Giveaways, you must renew your season tickets by Friday, November 29th. This years giveaway calendar will be released early next month.

Obviously everyone here is aware of the news regarding the UGA game next season being moved to MBS and not being included in the season ticket for the 2025 season. Season ticket holders will have exclusive access to purchase tickets to this game and will provide you the opportunity to choose where you would like to sit for the game, instead of being allocated seats. You must have renewed your season tickets to have access to this presale opportunity.

Our home slate here at Bobby Dodd has some great matchups against Clemson & Virginia Tech and we hope everyone is back next season to continue to cheer on the Jackets.

You can renew your tickets through the link in email you will receive today, in your Georgia Tech account, calling your ticket rep, or by contacting our office at 888-TECH-TIX or tickets@atheltics.gatech.edu

Go Jackets!

Just got a notice of a new option for my neighborhood coming in: ATT Fiber 5G. I currently have Xfinity (only option) that I just measured at ~900mbps. How do you compare those two? Don't know prices yet. I'm sure most of you understand that I'd love to totally dump Xfinity.

THE FLATS – No. 17 Georgia Tech volleyball (12-4, 4-3 ACC) took their portion of the home-and-home against Clemson (8-10, 0-7 ACC) on Wednesday night, with the Yellow Jackets’ first reverse sweep since the 2024 season.



QUICK HITS

• This was the 38th consecutive sold out match at O’Keefe Gymnasium, a streak dating back to the 2021 season.
• The Jackets pulled off a reverse sweep, winning the third, fourth and fifth sets to get the win. It was the first reverse sweep since Nov. 6, 2022 at Florida State and the first reverse sweep in O’Keefe since Nov. 29, 2018, in the NIVC opening round against USF.
• It was the first reverse sweep of an ACC opponent, at home, since Sept. 27, 2015 vs, Boston College.
• Senior Bianca Bertolino secured a career-best 23 kills, her first 20+ kill match of the season. She also made 16 digs for her 7thdouble-double of the year and 32nd of her career.
• Bertolino added an ace, giving her 145 over her Yellow Jacket career, the 7th-most in program history and just three shy of tying Monique Mead (20019-12) for sixth.
• Freshman Logan Wiley came off the bench to start the third set, recording her first career kill (four), ace (two), dig (one) and setting a new season high in blocks (three).
• Senior Tamara Otene posted her sixth double-double of the season and 28th of her career, making 20 kills and 18 digs, along with a pair of aces.
• Senior Luanna Emiliano recorded 48 assists and 17 digs, both season bests. That secured her 72nd career double-double, the most of any active Division I player.
• Junior libero Sofia Velez recorded a career-best 19 digs, she has recorded 10 or more digs in 91 of her 95 collegiate matches.
• Senior Lauren Sanden set a career high with nine digs tonight, especially impressive since most of her action came as a serving substitute.
• Junior Liv Mogridge set a season high with 10 kills, playing much of the final three sets on the right side.
• Tech made a season-high 82 digs tonight. It’s the second 80+ dig effort of the season.
• The Jackets have made 277 digs over their last four matches (17.31 digs/set).
• This was Georgia Tech’s 15th straight victory over Clemson dating back to 2015, the longest active winning streak over any ACC opponent.

SET BY SET

Set 1 (GT 24 – Clemson 26)

The Yellow Jackets and the Tigers traded points deep through the first set, with Georgia Tech never surrendering a lead through the 20th point. Clemson took the lead 21-20 to force Georgia Tech on its heels and boil the game down to who could score two consecutive points first. Tamara Otene led the hosting Yellow Jackets through set one with five kills while Liv Mogridge and DeAndra Pierce tallied three respectively. The Tigers attacking percentage bested the Yellow Jackets’ by a mere four percent in set one.



Set 2 (GT 27- Clemson 29)

Georgia Tech struggled to find momentum on offense as Clemson took an early lead in set two, reaching a set-high lead of four points, three times (8-4, 10-6, 23-19). A late four-point run for the Yellow Jackets tied the game 23-23 before the teams went point-for-point, with three of Tech’s points coming from Clemson errors. Clemson took set two with a kill and a service ace to make Georgia Tech drop set two. Otene continued to be Tech’s point person with six kills, paired with five digs in set two.



Set 3 (GT 25 – Clemson 21)

Set three saw three lead changes between the Yellow Jackets and the Tigers with Georgia Tech establishing a quick lead before Clemson took the lead, 9-8. Luanna Emiliano’s kill to tie the game 10-10 kick started the Yellow Jackets’ offense and began what would end up being an eight-point run resulting in a 17-10 game in favor of the home team. Georgia Tech retained the lead through the remainder of the third set. Bertolino contributed nine points towards the Jackets third set win. Freshman Logan Wiley recorded her first career point in the third set with an early service ace to bring the Yellow Jackets to life.



Set 4 (GT 25 – Clemson 16)

Wiley used her third set momentum to get Georgia Tech on the board in the fourth set before Otene and two Clemson attacking errors provided the Yellow Jackets with an early lead. An aggressive Tech offense continued to blitz the Tigers’ defense while remaining defensively sound and keeping a minimum of a four-point difference. Bertolino was a dominant presence in set four with six kills and two digs.



Set 5 (GT 19 – Clemson 17)

With the game pushed to the fifth and final set, Tech and Clemson resumed trading points until the Yellow Jackets went on a seven-point run kick started by a kill from Emiliano. The Tigers battled back to bring the game within three points, but an attacking error along with a one final kill from Bertolino solidified the Yellow Jackets’ fourth ACC win of the season.



UP NEXT

The Yellow Jackets travel up I-85 for the away half of the home-and-home against Clemson. First serve is set for 3 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 18from Jervey Gym in Clemson, S.C. The match will be livestreamed on ACCNX.

With it getting closer to December can we get an updated projection for the class of 2025. Lot of rumblings online about losing two or three kids in addition to Turner. Hopefully we can get some inside insight. Thanks in advance

The latest #GaTech redshirt report through seven games with six true freshmen's redshirts burned and a couple more expected to be next.

Georgia Tech 2024-25 Schedule | Single-Game Tickets | Purchase Partial Plan Packages | Season Ticket Information

THE FLATS – Georgia Tech forward Baye Ndongo has been named to the Pre-Season All-Atlantic Coast Conference second team by the conference’s media panel, the conference announced Tuesday.

The 6-9 forward from Mboro, Senegal was the Yellow Jackets’ No. 2 scorer (12.4 points per game) and top rebounder (8.2 per game) last season, earning a spot on the ACC’s All-Rookie team and being named a finalist for the Kyle Macy Award as the nation’s top freshman. Ndongo ranked No. 7 in the ACC in rebound average, No. 6 in offensive rebounds (2.55 per game), No. 2 in field goal percentage (55.8) and No. 12 in blocked shots (1.10 per game).

He stepped up to pace the Jackets’ strong finish, averaging 16.8 points and 10.3 rebounds over Tech’s final four games while hitting 55.3 percent of his shots from the floor and 14-of-17 from the free throw line. He had six double-doubles for the season, and missed four others by one rebound.

Meanwhile, Tech was projected to finish 12th in the 18-team ACC. Ndongo is one of three returning starters from the 2023-24 team, including 6-3 sophomore point guard Naithan George (Toronto, Ontario), who averaged 9.8 points and 4.7 assists per game, and 6-7 senior wing Kowacie Reeves, Jr. (Macon, Ga.), who averaged 9.8 points and led the Jackets in three-point percentage (38.3 pct.). Tech also returns 6-3 guard Lance Terry (College Park, Ga.), who redshirted last season after averaging 10.1 points and hitting 38.8 percent of his three-point tries in 2022-23.

Preseason ACC Poll

School, Points

1. Duke (42), 956

2. North Carolina (11), 924

3. Wake Forest (1), 800

4. Clemson, 765

5. Virginia, 743

6. Miami, 659

7. Pitt, 636

8. NC State, 550

9. Louisville, 518

10. Notre Dame, 462

11. Syracuse, 454

12. Georgia Tech, 433

13. SMU, 344

14. Virginia Tech, 252

15. Florida State, 251

16. California, 206

17. Stanford, 165

18. Boston College, 116

First-place votes in parentheses; 54 total voters



Preseason ACC Player of the Year

RJ Davis, North Carolina, 40 votes

Cooper Flagg, Duke, 10

Hunter Sallis, Wake Forest, 3

Maxime Raynaud, Stanford, 1



Preseason ACC Rookie of the Year

Cooper Flagg, Duke, 53 votes

Jeremiah Wilkinson, California, 1



Preseason All-ACC Team

First Team

RJ Davis*, North Carolina, 54

Hunter Sallis, Wake Forest, 52

Cooper Flagg, Duke, 52

Markus Burton, Notre Dame, 41

Nijel Pack, Miami, 37



Second Team

Ian Schieffelin, Clemson, 36

Chase Hunter, Clemson, 31

Jamir Watkins, Florida State, 26

Baye Ndongo, Georgia Tech, 21

Ishmael Leggett, Pitt, 20



*denotes unanimous selection

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Not as explosive as King but he can make all the throws, he has experience, & he’s mobile. Manage the offense & GT has a great shot of winning.

We got to chat with Jamal Haynes, Sylvain Yondjoeun and Luke Harpring who made his Tech media debut. (I also typed Matt into my story and corrected it about three times while writing it). Will have more on Harpring in a feature later this week.

Also, Coach Key came up to me, Chad (AJC guy) and the assistant football SID Anthony during media viewing of practice and kind of just shot the breeze with us while they did individual position drills. Key said he gets to see the most out of the players at practice when they think he's not watching so he tries to act like he's doing other things during practice to make them think he's not watching. I think you guys might've been right about the question I asked yesterday because jokingly Coach Key asked me why I had to wait until the last question of the presser to ask about special teams. Ha. He said some other things (and words) that I won't divulge, but I thought it was pretty cool that he came over and just chatted with us off the record for a few minutes. I guess I still have to kind of pinch myself with this job.

Anyway, enough rambling, here are the notes and quotes from today:

Are referees taught to only call the obvious holdings? I feel there are several holdings each game that aren’t called.

KQ- There are specific things they are looking for because you could call it on any play in the game if you were to follow the exactly rules as they are worded.

Why is it that for two games in a row, GT has dominated the stats, but can't reflect that in the score? Against Duke we dominated almost every stat. At half time, it was greatly in GT's favor but only lead by three. Couldn't break away in that game until halfway through the 4th. Against UNC had a missed FG and a returned punt. But were better in yards, TOP, YPP, etc. and had two turnovers to none. Still tied with less than one minute remaining.

If just seems very odd to me that we have better stats, and look like the much better team, yet still can't score points that match the look/stats.

KQ- They gave up field position several times including the punt return for a TD and GT missed a FG, that was probably about 17 points of swing toward UNC and GT only had one momentum swing of 7 points in the positive. That would be the main reason. Same thing happened in the Duke game.

I get wanting to run clock, but the playcalling was WAY too conservative with Pyron in the game. Everybody talks about how Pyron practices and how he prepares as if he was the starter.

Why do you think they were so careful with their playcalling? Was it just focusing on running clock? Uncomfortable with lack of gametime experience in 23 and 24?

If (god-forbid) King can't go next week, what might the coaches hope to see from Pyron this week that they don't see every other practice with how he already preps?

KQ- That is a question for Brent Key and Buster Faulkner, I'm not sure why. Maybe looking at the game again might yield some answers, the substitution penalty that was Buster's fault killed that one drive when they were in 3rd and 1 and had two plays to probably pick up that first down. The D was playing well and they were slowing down a little offensively and it seemed like UNC was all over the WRs and the screen game as well.

Is there a possibility that you allow your members to vote certain people off the board with stupid moronic comments and inappropriate behavior? I would be happy to pay the lost revenue you would incur!

KQ- There is an ignore button that you all can use and I cannot, unfortunately. lol

Why do our fans hate winning?

KQ- I don't get all the handwringing. This team as I said at the beginning of the year is a 5-9 win team depending on how things play out. They are right in that line right now and anything above 7 wins was going to be a great season with the tough schedule set up.

Was the hole Jamal Haynes ran through the size of two or three Waffle House booths?

KQ- It was as big as the bar counter at a Waffle House. lol

Did Collins interact with any of our staff or players pregame or post-game or did he hide pregame and sprint to the locker room immediately post-game?

KQ- He hid like I thought he would. He didn't come out until the full team came out for warmups and he stayed on his side of the field with his players. I saw zero interaction. Maybe there was something after the game, but I doubt it was much.

What round do you think Omarion Hampton goes in the draft? They better hope he doesn’t go down. He’s really impressive.

KQ- He is probably a 2nd or 3rd round pick because the NFL doesn't value RBs and he has a lot of miles on his tires as well. He is closing in on 3,000 career yards rushing and will go over 500 rushing attempts in his career in the next game, that is a lot.

Anything you're aware of that's preventing Anthony Carrie from seeing the field? We ran the ball almost 50 times against UNC and he wasn't out there, and I don't think he ran against Duke or Louisville. Seems like he's at the very bottom of the depth chart, which surprised me after all the positive things we heard about him in the off-season.

KQ- He is not at the bottom of the depth chart, Anthony is 3rd right now behind Haynes who was the ACC POW and Alexander who was running for over 6 yards per carry. Most teams do not play 3 RBs in a game unless it is a slog with a lot of long drives. The two RBs had 29 carries 19 and 10 each, that is a pretty normal workload. I get people being excited to see him but Alexander is ahead of him right now and has a better grasp of the offense.

I know it really doesn’t matter, but why does Harrison Moore have to change numbers? Could he not report as eligible to the ref and be fine?

KQ- College does not have the same rules as the NFL where they'll just announce that #78 is eligible for this play when they bring in an extra OL so when Moore was coming into the game against Duke as an extra OL he could not run routes or catch a ball beyond the LOS. By switching to a non-lineman # he was eligible and they had him out in the pattern a few times.