What do you expect from Kaleb Edwards this year? What position?
KQ- Interesting question, I think he will be back on defense and in the mix at nickel and/or safety. He would like to play safety I know or nickel. They moved him to RB as an emergency thing and had a couple of things he could do. I'll ask around and see what's up with him though. That is not something I've dug into too much.
Will the state of Georgia change their stance on high school athletes profiting off of NIL? If more states start allowing it, could top talent leave the state?
KQ- Maybe, maybe not. I think this NIL stuff is coming to a head really fast for the NCAA. Something is going to give before a lot of that is sorted out IMO, whether that is making them employees of a school's AA or some other actual real financial piece because we are starting to see lawsuits and there will end up being lawsuits over the NIL bit as less reputable programs or cash strapped ones who make poor decisions don't pay out.
What are the chances GT lands Dom Blaylock from the portal? What are the chances we land his half brother '24 LB Ashton Woods out of Walton?
KQ- Russell maybe can shed light on Ashton, GT was one of the first schools to offer him. He has not seemed overly interested in GT.
Blaylock I think ends up at GT, but for his sake, I think he will take his time announcing since he has two months left of coursework at UGA.
I counted over 60 offers to 2024 kids from the state of GA in the new big board post. How many of those kids do you think we would take today if they called and wanted to commit?
KQ- I get what you are asking, the ones we put up are generally committable offers (sometimes there are academic hangups or something else that causes that offer to become non-committable later). That is not every kid in Georgia that GT has offered and space is the great limiter in the age of the portal so you couldn't take all of them there is a pecking order for some of them, but a lot would be first come, first serve.
Do you know the reasoning for us scheduling games against two Division 2 basketball teams? The first one kind of makes sense given that Pastner probably wanted to start with a W, but the second game seems to more of a head-scratcher.
KQ- Very simple, Josh did not want an exhibition game this year and wanted to play two games that didn't count as secret scrimmages so they played Tulane and Vandy to get his young team some experience. Then he had to make what would've been an exhibition game the opener. The Florida Tech game is something he has done pretty much every year here, he plays a buy game with a low-level team instead of having a bye week from the ACC. GT should've been off Saturday but Josh likes to keep them in rhythm and playing so they play a game in that slot against a lesser opponent. That is how you ended up with two of those. The other part of it is he didn't want the first game of the season to be at Georgia State. The buy options for that small window to play game one were probably not ideal so you get two D-2 games. Last year they played Clayton State in that ACC bye week game but the Morehouse game was an exhibition.
When’s the basketball portal window?
KQ- When the regular season ends, March 13 that first Monday after Championship Sunday. It closes in mid-May.
Assuming we’re looking for a C in the portal but any HS kids in consideration as well?
KQ- They are still recruiting a few HS kids, but nothing too serious at the moment. They have two guys that are basically HS kids signed and playing this year in Freds Pauls and Cyril and they'll add Blue Cain so you are not likely to add more young guys at that point unless it is a Deivon Smith/Jordan Usher type addition (kid moving home with multiple years left). Those have been hit-and-miss though so they'll be picky.
I've been trying to think of any similar basketball player I've seen at Tech or anywhere else that has/had the same characteristics in terms of pure athleticism, but still developing true basketball skills as Deivon. Who would that be?
KQ- It is weird because he is so bouncy and has such great elevation for a guard. It is really unusual. I have struggled to even think of an ACC comp. He plays like a forward at times especially rebounding and then isn't quite a pure PG and plays more like a slashing two-guard. He kind of plays like Josh Okogie with a less reliable shot and without the benefit of the height to help him finish.
As we know CBK is involved in totally changing the head coach’s office. There have been some interesting snippets of the reasons for the changes. When finished would it be possible for JOL to do an in depth report on what it looks like and how the additions will be used and how those will benefit the Football Program.
KQ- Sure, I can ask about it the next time I'm down at GT. I imagine Key would be fine with that.
Seems like every year our Oline doesn’t have the quality depth to weather the injuries we always seem to have. I fear that losing Quick is such a loss. We have Robinson, Gibson and Leftwich at OT. Fusile, Williams and Tchio (can we count on him?) at OG and Franklin and Best at C. That’s seven or eight. Who else has promise? What about Maye, Green and Koots? Can no longer advance good ol’ William Lay from third string to starter.,
KQ- No one has a lot of OL depth anymore, it just doesn't exist. Even at Alabama it is an issue these days due to the portal. You can't just sit on kids for four years anymore. You forgot about Jordan Brown the transfer from Charlotte that the new OL coach brought in and he can play OT or OG and is a bigger guy. They'll add Gabe Fortson in the spring and I think he can help as well. Wing Green has played a little bit, he has always been a project guy for them, but maybe a new OL coach and voice can help him find it somehow. A lot of the tackle guys could move around some even someone like Elias Cloy could move inside if need be. I'm not sure about guys like Mike Maye, maybe he clicks with Geep Wade. Who knows, I think the good thing about Coach Wade is he knows who to work with spare parts and build something that might work better in this situation. Key got really devastated by injuries to key guys in each of his seasons at GT, it was pretty amazing and they had the whole drama with Devin Cochran that kept him out a year. It was like that room was cursed.
Assuming there will be some change to schemes with all new Coaches- which area do you see turnover with players leaving after Spring?
KQ- This seems like a loaded question no? I have no idea. I'm sure there are some guys who will move on if they are not in the plans moving ahead and have their degree and are not needed, but I don't want to single anyone out because honestly with a mostly new staff it is a blank slate for most of the kids that were not playing and you never know who will rise out of that. Hell look no further than Jack Coco who was a walk-on OL turned snapper turned H-back or Will Lay. No one expected Clayton Powell-Lee to play and had Jaylon King not got hurt he would've been playing a handful of snaps a game. LaMiles Brooks was a guy people wanted to write off a year ago and he is the best DB on the team right now.
Do you know if there are any NIL Funds currently in place to help Pastner make waves in the transfer portal?
If not, are you hearing of anything in the works?
KQ- I've been told by multiple people they have that in the works. That has to be in place either way anyway if you keep Josh or make a change because you will whiff very hard on trying to hire a coach in this league right now if BC can outbid you or Pitt. That happened this last cycle. Josh has had to coach against several players they didn't get simply due to NIL money this year in the ACC.
With Edge construction now set to begin immediately after the 2023 season, have you heard anything new on what might happen inside BDS itself? Beer garden area, streamlined concessions design, etc? It sucks that removing seats is a solution 20 years after expanding started this whole mess, but it seems like that is the right way go at this point.
KQ- There was a plan in place, but I have not checked on it since J Batt was hired. The plan that I heard about was basically typing to upscale the experience sort of like the Falcons stadium for Atlanta United Games, like nicer food, and better seats (dropping the seat count). I know ADTS tested the Beer Garden thing last spring and I think that may happen at some point, but I haven't really followed up on it lately.
