I believe both O’Brien and Reeves will be eligible for a medical redshirt if they don’t play again this year. They would both be under the 30% of games played umbrella.
Is this something Damon is thinking about for next year? Or will he sacrifice their eligibility for a couple late season wins? Assuming they’re healthy enough to play at the end of this year.
KQ- That has not been discussed publicly or even with some people around GT that I have asked. I haven't asked Damon about it yet and I doubt he would answer it, but if they don't get healthy in time it would make a lot of sense. He worked it out for Lance to get his extra year.
Joe Tipton or Hayes Fawcett? Who does your kids’ edits and why? 😀
KQ- I'm all about my boy Steezo
Why are they not many southern colleges have wrestling programs? Sec has none and acc has like 7 or so. Most high schools in Georgia has a wrestling team.
KQ- It is not as big of a sport down here even on the high school level. I've covered HS wrestling tournaments (it is literally the worst thing I ever covered at the newspaper, the smell and it lasts all day) and it is just isn't as big of a deal. Some of our Rivals sites cover college wrestling, especially in the Big Ten. Just a regional thing I think. The weather sucks up north for large chunks of the year where down here you can play baseball 9 months out of the year or track and field or other sports. I think that is why indoor volleyball is so big in Nebraska or other places with shitty weather as well while at USF they have a beach volleyball team. It is just what kids grow up doing.
I dropped this in a bball thread but then thought it might be better in the mailbag. Can you put our basketball injury situation into some perspective for us? Specifically, how does Damon’s team this year compare to Paul Johnson’s situation in 2015? For those who don’t remember, that 2015 team was decimated by injuries and won only 3 games. And that was following up a very successful 2014 during which we won 11 games including the Orange Bowl. I’m just curious from your POV Kelly is this situation similar to 2015 football in terms of the injuries and their impact on Damon’s ability to win? Looking for your no BS answer here, whatever the answer is. Thanks!
KQ- The 2015 football team is interesting to bring up because they were so close to being much better than that record even with the devastating injuries. They lost six games (really five I don't know that eight points at ND in a frantic comeback counts the same) by one score. Several were lost on fluke plays like Pitt, VT and UVA that year.
I think people don't really think about it like this, but Damon expected Doryan to be playing 20 mpg at the 5 and Luke O'Brien and Kowacie Reeves to each play at least 20 mpg at the 3 and 4 spots. You lost Javian McCollum for several games with the concussion. Lance Terry missed a game, Jaeden Mustaf is out now and even a more fringe guy like Ryan Mutombo was away from the team for like a month after his dad died. Heck two different players, Mustaf and Mutombo had their father's pass away before the season. The just seem snakebit. I jokingly asked Damon if he wanted to hire a voodoo priestess or something to fix whatever the hex is on the program right now, but I haven't seen this many injuries in my time covering GT and it isn't S&C either, McCollum getting a bad concussion after having a few before wasn't S&C nor were guys rolling their ankles or getting rolled up on or Terry hurting his hand.
What does the BB team need to do differently in pregame warmups to be ready to score at the start of the game? Take our practice shots more seriously? Script the first few possessions with pays we think will get a open shot? Thoughts?
KQ- They are missing shots and that is making them unable to get the defense set on the other end because they are giving up some long rebounds or transition opportunities so it is a double whammy. They just are clearly to me pressing in the opening minutes of the game, but at FSU they had two good looking shots just rim out and they aren't very big at times and can't crash the offensive glass as effectively either. I do think maybe running some different actions early in the game like a football script might help.
What do you think is affecting Baye Ndongo?
KQ- He is weak, his hands are weak and he doesn't control the ball cleanly and is constantly fumbling with the ball and that is causing him to miss easy scoring opportunities. I think that is a mix of mental and mostly physical issues and he needs to bulk up his body and get his hands stronger.
Non Tech related guitar question: you ever mess around with a Fender Bass VI? One of the guitar YouTube channels I watch featured one the other day, and I’m intrigued.
KQ- I may have saw the same video. I watch a bass guy named Danny Spako who has a great and very funny channel that is heavy on the shorts side which is perfect for me when I'm killing like 5 minutes on my phone. I have only seen a Fender Bass VI once in any guitar shop I've been in so I've never played one, but is seems very cool.
What do you think Paul Johnson would have to say about option football being the new hot thing in the NFL? Redskins ran predominant option attack against Detroit.
KQ- He enjoys seeing that stuff. He helped the Baltimore Ravens and Greg Roman their old OC when he first retired from GT back in 2019-20 with some option concepts and helped some other college teams as well. He is a purist at heart, but I know he likes that the NFL has embraced it some.
Any thoughts on Maxie Baughan getting into NFL Hall of Fame?
KQ- I had never thought about it until you asked, but I know he has one of the best resumes of any player not in the HOF from his era. It seems like something a veterans committee would look at. I'm not sure if the Pro Football HOF has one of those like the MLB does. If they do not they should.
GTYH, How many inches of snow will we get this week?
KQ- I think it will be a big nothing burger, 0.5.
How good do y’all think the Baseball team can be? Sounds like a lot of young talent.
KQ- I'm not really sure that was Russell's thing. Alex will be stepping into the baseball shoes shortly. We should have some type of preseason deal fairly soon for baseball.
Forecast date for first 2026 FB commit?
KQ- Key has taken the approach of not taking too early of a commitment. I'd not really expect anything until March. The sticking factor is quite bad with the earliest commitments. They held back and took Andre Fuller at the end of March but here are some other first commitments to put some perspective on why they wait.
2024 first commitment was Jakhri Williams and the second was Duke Watson
2023 RB Ja'vin Simpkins committed in 2021, decommitted, recommitted, decommitted (was dumped I think, don't remember) and ended up signing with Coastal Carolina
2022 RB Antonio Martin ended up transferring out after getting recruited over
So I think being careful and not pushing kids into things before you get your spring evals is a strong strategy. Ideally you want the QB to the first but 2024 was the only time that happened and they were not all in agreement on taking Williams back then.
Im curious if you can get Key to answer how a game day experience is for him.
I picture it’s like your wedding day where everything is coming at you and it’s all a blur. At the end you’re just worn out and wonder if it’s all worth it.
KQ- He really likes the game and it is tiring but he loves the chess aspect of it and the game within the game stuff. Like he legit likes it. We've talked about it privately when I asked about this and this is something he has probably spoken about on the record as well, but he really enjoys being a head coach and running the program and the different decisions and all the different aspects of it on a game day. That whole process is a challenge for him (I think this is the GT student side of him coming out) along with the competitive piece of it as well and trying to build toward his vision of the program. He loves each of the 12-13 or more opportunities he gets to be the head coach.
Hearing anything on the ESPN opt-in? Is it getting done?
KQ- I think there is no way in hell they opt out, it would cost them more money and they'd lose inventory if they didn't.
