How many more 4 stars or higher will GT land before the High School class is done?
KQ- One or two is the likely answer going back to when you asked this on Saturday. Peyton Joseph was one I was counting on them landing so one more is probably the most likely outcome if they get any other 4-stars or 5-stars in this cycle.
Thoughts on the Prevent Defense drive after going up 27-13? Georgia went down and scored in 1 minute and 58 seconds off the clock, 5:37 to 3:39 left. I know you were down several DBs in the two-deep and maybe that played into it, but the defense had played so well prior to that then everything changed afterwards. Way too quick, way too easy.
KQ- They were down multiple guys in the secondary and the 2 of their best 3 one-on-one cover guys and LaMiles was having a rough day as well. I don't blame them for trying to keep UGA in front of them.
Don’t want to go too crazy but gotta ask about the play calling in OT. Couldn’t believe what we were seeing - 6 drop back passes and 1 QB run with no RPO component or pop pass. Why abandon the RPO game that worked so well at the goal line all year? The one run play from the 1.5 yard line looked like a designed keeper for King with no read component, and it would have been a walk off TD to the slot motion man on a read play.
KQ- I'll let Sed go into more detail on that, I was on the field and not able to see the play on TV or anything because I didn't want to.
Did we want to keep Demetrius Knight? Man we could have benefitted with him out there.
KQ- He would be ineligible now. The reason he left is the same reason why Christian Leary left the team this season. Key isn't going to save a shirt for an older guy who can help them win. They needed D Knight in 2022 to try to get to a bowl game and Key wanted him to be the third linebacker. Had he done that he would've had one more year last year left. He went to Charlotte and got his game reps he needed that GT couldn't afford to give him all the time and then turned himself into a pretty good LB in year 5 or 6 or whatever he is in now. That one I give everyone involved a complete pass on. D Knight gambled on Charlotte and turned that into something.
With NSD around the corner, how is it looking for early enrollees?
KQ- Working on that list.
Should we expect any more flips/fireworks?
KQ- Still working on two more.
After a devastating loss like this how do you think the players will respond in the bowl game?
KQ- It will be a month later, they are not geared like fans and will put on their big boy pants and play ball I believe. Most of GT's bowl wins since 2001 except for 2014 and 2016 came after losses to UGA.
Are there any players from UCF that GT had a history with that might be a fit if entered transfer portal?
KQ- Kylan Fox, aka momma Fox drama. DE Njalik Kelly had a pretty serious flirtation with GT before going to Miami then transferring to UCF. He had a good year 5.5 sacks as a DE. DB Jakob Gude picked UCF over GT last year same with LB Qua Birdsong. Waltclaire Flynn wanted to come to GT real bad last year. Those would be the ones, but I know about a dozen kids already reached out to GT backchannels to see if there is interest.
Why do we continue to blitz a safety late after the snap from 10+ yards from the line of scrimmage? He rarely even gets past the line of scrimmage before the balls out.
It has been ineffective all season.
KQ- Good question, I'll ask Tucci about it next time we get him.
Why did we start the drive from the inside the 5 when Singleton called fair catch? Thought a fair catch for anything inside 25 gets you to the 25. Also he got hit pretty good there too-no call of course just wanted to drop that in
KQ- The ball bounced that would be why, he caught it on a hop.
Do bowls take into consideration when inviting teams guys opting out? Assuming Miami drops out of the top 12 and doesn’t make the playoffs they’re going to have lots of drop outs, so would bowls pass on them?
KQ- Yes sometimes, if there is a bad history that might become a factor.
Basketball question-do you know if Javian will be back for the game Tuesday night?
KQ- I think there is a decent chance, he bumped his head in the Cincy game so he should be getting close to being cleared to play.
Legit question…not trying to just complain. How are refs held accountable? Does the conference look at missed / wrong calls and let the refs know?
KQ- They lose assignments and start getting the shittiest games, if they suck enough they get fired. Now the SEC might bonus those guys from Friday night. I'm kidding, I hope.
Do we get an update on redshirts kept/burned this week?
KQ- Nothing changed, Philo's shirt was saved and the bowls don't count so the only ones burned were
Here is the list of where everyone stood going into UGA.
Georgia Tech Football Redshirt Report after 11 games
Georgia Tech football has played 11 games this season, and eight true freshmen have burned their redshirts already.
On Dec 4 WHAT exactly are recruits signing since the LOI is no more?
KQ- Financial aid agreements
Do you think Haynes King will return for another season? I personally think he could be a Heisman candidate. I know the future is bright with our QB backups, but Haynes is just a warrior and my vote is to insure he has NIL money to stay. I must say of all the talented QBs that have come through GT, he really elevates the team.
KQ- I think it just depends on what is important to Haynes and his family. I don't know them well enough to tell you, but I am hopeful that they can keep Haynes and Philo.
Do you anticipate challenges keeping Philo given his outstanding performance (ie showing he's ready to start) combined with the likely return of Haynes as starter?
KQ- Maybe, the market is full of different QBs with different levels of experience. He has a great opportunity here and GT took care of two QBs and Philo last year so I think they could handle it, but it just depends on who comes after him or King.
I've lost track of how many new flips you still anticipate for this week? Hearing anything promising for what I believe is our biggest area of need - LB?
KQ- Portal, it isn't the need it once was. Kyle Efford, EJ Lightey, Tah'j Butler and Jackson Hamilton are all back. They just need to add some depth and someone to push those guys, two guys via the portal IMO, one more experienced and one younger guy. It was a bad LB class.
Are there talks of a contract extension and raise for Key? He doesn't deserve to be the lowest paid coach in the ACC.
KQ- Yes, they had to get Batt squared away first and I think Key is pushing to make sure his staff is handled and then they will worry about his deal.
As somebody who knows Coach? If you had to pick what is his #1 lesson learned from the game? Is it a game management or something else? Fans have been on him for that over the season, maybe it takes a 8 overtime loss to make it stick.
KQ- I think maybe he goes for it on one of those short FGs earlier in the game and he uses a timeout to get a better 2-point play in OT1 that he liked better to try and end it there.
Same question but about Coach Faulkner and Coach Santucci. Ppl are on the 3 man rush and the short yardage O some and definitely the refs, but do you think the takeaways after a L like this to end the season are x's and o's or are they big picture stuff?
KQ- I think they are all learning on the fly. Santucci made huge adjustments as the season went along. I think what both got exposed by was just the lack of depth at key spots. They were down at RB in the game and wore Haynes King running the ball and ran 93 plays on offense. That's 30% more than most games. On D, the CB room which was pretty thin all year lost two guys for the game and had two guys trying to play through injuries and a banged-up Syeed Gibbs having to play much of the game at NB. It was a bad recipe.
Are we gaining significant enough ground on our “secret” top targets to where you think we may get their commitment before signing day?
KQ- Nope, so far status quo there.
Out of curiosity, is this the best year as a beat writer?
KQ- Not sure what you are asking. Is this the most fun I've had covering the team? No, I think 2014 or 2016 were a ton of fun and in 2016 you had the win in Ireland as well so that was super cool. This year has been more stressful because of Russell retiring to be honest. It has been great having Alex but all of that happened pretty close to the start of the season so there was no learning curve for Alex on recruiting so he had to dive head-first into the pool. He has helped a lot take some of the workload off on beat writing though.
I feel that we haven’t had the best luck with 4 star guys. Do you have a sense that this may change with this group of 4 star players?
KQ- A lot of them were either fringe 4-star guys or guys that sort of fell into GT's lap like a Jeff Sims and then they've had a lot of tragedies with guys like Brandon Adams or Bryce Gowdy or even Denzel McCoy going way back. So yeah it has been tougher sledding there, but you've also had the Justin Thomas types too who lived up to the hype.
Do you think we could have tried some running plays during those 8 OT's? Or were their other plays that would have worked?
KQ- Yes and they should've used Singleton or Malik and tried to get them to the edge, but we are Monday morning QBing on all of that, but I thought that during the OTs.
How did GT do with penalties this year?
KQ- Tied 10th least penalty yards given up and 24th in the number of penalties called on. So very good.
