To Dublin, Ireland. From sources on the ground, I hear it's beautiful this time of year.

Waiting for player media availability later this morning. We will be talking with Haynes King, Kyle Efford and David Shanahan shortly.

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David Shanahan's unconventional trip from Ireland to Atlanta and back - link (ESPN)

US crushes the Joker and Serbia. Durant couldn’t miss.

Sorry for the delay, but this was lengthier than I thought it was going to be. There were a lot of good quotes from the three players today though so I didn't want to cut much of it out. Enjoy!

The Jackets' next stop will be Dublin, Ireland.

Per key Seither is out for the season with knee injury.

If I'm them I guess I'd be confident too. Still, I don't think it's going to be as easy as this guy thinks...

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I was just passing this along as the school said in its press release about replacing Shaboozey as the opener.

So I'm also an alum of Florida, so I get their AA emails, too. Got this one today - not a bad idea at all.

Football | August 21, 2024 Introducing the Florida Victorious 50/50 Raffle

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The Florida Gators are excited to announce that the Florida Victorious Foundation will be managing the 50/50 Raffle for all 2024 Florida Gators football home games at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, presented by the UF Bookstore. Featuring an extended format that opens the Sunday following each home game through the exciting 4th-quarter drawing, more Gator fans than ever before will be able to participate in the 50/50 Raffle online and in The Swamp. Proceeds support Florida Victorious, the Official NIL partner of the Florida Gators. The Florida Victorious 50/50 Raffle is now open for the season opener vs. Miami.

Greetings from Dublin

Barely made my connection in Amsterdam thanks to a severely understaffed passport control. I legit had to run to the furthest gate where they were using bus boarding.

Anyway it is beautifully Irish here, 66 degrees and overcast with wind.

I hope to see some of you soon.

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I think they missed the boat on some.

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Greetings from France where it is late morning. I slept for like 12 hours after not sleeping for almost two days so now I have time to do the Mailbag. Alex will be at GT on Tuesday and Wednesday for media early afternoon ETAs on those and I will be in Dublin on Thursday for Tech's media avail.

With Petty's commitment and Tech showing they are playing ball, is there any renewed and/or new interest from recruits that?

KQ- Yes, the Petty commitment has had a lingering impact on recruiting both helping keep kids in the boat and renewed interest from others who were maybe less than enthusiastic before. Kids want to play with other talented players and if you show that you are getting those kids then it can snowball on you. That is part of what happened in the 2007 class btw and in the 2010 classes two of the better ones I've seen GT sign from a pure talent standpoint.

Which QB after King has the highest ceiling?

KQ- There isn't really a way to tell that. I'll say from a raw physical skills standpoint Graham Knowles has NFL measurables but right now he would be like the 5th QB behind everyone including Aaron Philo his fellow freshman. Philo and Zach Pyron both have some it-factors that are really interesting for that position. We don't know much about how Pyron has progressed because he hasn't really had to play meaningful snaps in a non-situational role since his freshman year so that is an unknown, but he is light years better in practice than he was in 2022 or 2023.

Do you think the new NFL kick off rule will make its way to college? Do you think onside kicks will be abolished in college?

KQ- People keep asking me that and I have no clue. I really don't. I haven't even watched a real snap of NFL preseason to see how it is going. I saw a few clips on twitter of some random plays and saw a game in a bar playing in the background and that has been the extent of my NFL exposure.

Noticed that Gary (new bball hire from Mercer) was integral in Purdue's efficient offense under Painter prior to Mercer. What kind of impact do you think he has for our team and what do you think we can expect to see with him having input moving forward?

KQ- Damon Stoudamire brought Greg Gary to help with Xs and Os and to be someone he can lean on with an extensive background coaching the game and who has worked with great coaches. I think Damon knows what he wants to do offensively and that hasn't really been a question. I think he was clear in his media avail that he knew the defense was their primary problem. They got plenty of open looks offensively last year but Miles Kelly primarily or others were hit-and-miss with those. I think they have that sorted out now.

Now that GT no longer has a permanent conference foe, which ACC team will likely become a good rival, where each team wins roughly 50% of the time?

KQ- I've always thought the game with VaTech was a really strong rivalry and very back and forth. You have the "Tech" thing as well and they bring a decent amount of fans to the party.

Is the team taking a red eye over to Ireland? How are they planning to adjust to the time change, or do you think they'll just try to keep their bodies on east coast time? Any idea what FSU's travel plans are. I just took the family to Amsterdam for a week, and we never recovered from the red eye over. Granted I'm not a 20 year old, but still. It's not easy for anyone...

KQ- Everyone is doing the same thing with travel, everyone leaves on Wednesday and arrives on Thursday in Ireland. There is no easy way to do it, but flying overnight and not really sleeping is the easiest way to reset your body. I can attest to this having done this a few times now. You are miserable the first day and then sleep like the dead that night and then are fine. I literally just did this and I was up basically from 9am Saturday morning until 2pm ET on Sunday when I basically just blacked out in my hotel room from exhaustion. Now I feel fine and my body clock is reset.

What’s the question related to this football season we aren’t asking? What’s the answer?

KQ- I think too many people expect the offense to be plugged back in and it will be the same as it was at the end of the year. I think there will still be growing pains and adjustments unless Haynes King has really leveled up his game. That part I don't know the answer to.

Who are the biggest leaders on our football team? Who do the guys look up to?

KQ- There are many guys, Haynes King, Jordan Williams, Weston Franklin, Clayton Powell-Lee, Slyvain Yondjouen, Zeek Biggers, Warren Burrell and LaMiles Brooks pop to mind. There are also different styles of leadership on the team as well.

Flash forward to December. Tech is coming off a 9-3 season. What were the main causes?

KQ- The offense was able to stay the same or get better from an overall performance standpoint and the defense took a giant leap forward in year one under Tyler Santucci.

Instead, we're in the darkest timeline and Tech is coming off a 3 or 4 win season. What were the main causes?

KQ- Dude I might disappear for a while if that happens. That would take a 2015-like string of injuries at key spots and some teams being significantly better than I think they are on the opposing side.

How difficult is it for you guys to source All 22 tape? I’ve noticed a lot of analysts keep their college All 22 behind a paywall, and that’s due to how they acquire it. With how big the scouting and analysis business has become, how long do you think it is before a conference packages and sells All 22 game tape like the NFL? Seems like you could sell that DTC and independently of any other media rights deal.

KQ- I don't have access to All 22 tape very easily. I can get it through some sources if I really needed it, but it is a pain in the ass and I don't have rights to post it anywhere so I don't bother. I feel like the TV networks would freak out if someone tried to sell All 22 stuff though it essentially still is a rights issue even without the commentary part.

We just can’t catch a break

As requested

Does the ball not bounce our way? Is the schedule too much to expect us to match last year’s total?

Do injuries play a role? Does the defense take a forward bounce like the offense last year? Will LB play be a question mark all year?

Does the ball bounce our way? Dodd’s luck returns and we ride it all the way to a CFB tourney title?

Let me hear your thoughts.

Greetings since I’m heading out for a brief vacation and then heading over to Ireland I figured it would be cool to take you along each day.

I didn’t sleep much last night. Right now on a Delta flight from Atlanta to NYC (Kennedy Airport) where I have a long layover before heading over to Milan, Italy.

My wife and I save Delta Sky Pesos and Hilton points for quite some time to pay for this trip. I’ll be going to the Swiss Alps and then flying over to Dublin ahead of GT’s media avail on Thursday there. I’m saving our JOL fund for in-season GT related travel. Lol

Thanks to a concerned MIL my wife and I are flying separately and she got the direct from Atlanta to Milan. She won’t be joining me in Ireland and we left our boys with their grandparents.

We will have the normal content flow throughout and Alex will be at GT in my place next week for whatever media they have there.

I’ll try to also share stuff from Ireland and the media avails and various behind the scenes stuff.

First off any tips for a family who's never went out of the country... kind of stressed ain't gonna lie...

Staying in Dublin but wife wants to go to Blarney Stone which appears will take all day. Any advice on transportation there. Cliffs near we can check out? Also it appears to be out in the country part of Ireland so is there any food out that way...

After 5 years, the off-season is over! Time to get your minds rite. Punch those criminoles in the mouth AND make em pay an exit fee to the conference.

Tech’s rise back to national prominence starts this week!

I thought this was pretty cool.

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We were on top of the mountain at Mannlichen, Switzerland walking between cable car station from Grindelwald and the aerial tramway down to Wengen. I’m wearing my Tech hiking hat, and some dude says, “I hate to do this to you but, Go Dawgs.” 🤮 I’m sure he hated saying that.

And he was wearing a UVa hat! If I had thought, I should have pointed out that both Tech and JMU (my wife’s alma mater) both beat the Hoos last year. 😡 I mean I hate the Mutts, but I never shout or say anything to them when traveling. I don’t even acknowledge them as it feeds into their belief that we are obsessed with them. But they love to say things to a school they allegedly don’t care about.

They're not nearly as optimistic as most of us. 7 "experts" predict the order of finish - and we're 7th or (much) worse in all of them.

We're also listed as "most overrated" and "most Underrated". so take it FWIW.

And I've learned my lesson about I-75 traffic in the morning. I'll leave an hour earlier tomorrow.

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A good session with head coach Brent Key as he talks about the excitement of the team to be getting ready for a game on Saturday and the big opportunity to play an opponent like Florida State in a showcase-type game.

Greetings from almost 13,000 feet as I enjoy Zermatt.

Up on a glacier right now.

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