With the season over, what do you see as the biggest area each player needs to work on in their game(outside of free throws)?
- Deebo
- Miles
- Rodney
- Jalon
- Devion
- Kyle
KQ- Deebo has to work on his finishing skills and ball handling, Miles needs to work on his finishing skills around the rim, Rodney needs to work on his hands and his footwork on both offense and defense and going up stronger to the hoop. Jalon Moore has to learn what took Ush a while which is playing under control, he has tremendous ball skills, but his clock is going 100 mph. Deivon Smith is similar to Jalon, has to play with himself but slow down his shot and he has to work on his finishing around the rim as well. When he takes his time and squares up he is very accurate. Kyle needs to work on keeping up his stamina and work on his footspeed and burst. I think his game is refined.
How would you grade how each position group looks this spring and do you see any breakout players in each group for 2022?
-QBs
-RBs
-WRs
-TE
-OL
-DL
-LBs
-DBs
KQ- We still have a couple more practices so I'd like to push this out to the end of the month to be honest.
I finally remembered to ask. You couldn’t say at the time, but what is/was the messaging with the recruits that kept the class together and led to the transfers in?
RJ- The biggest selling point for Georgia Tech won’t surprise many. That point was how close the team was to turning several of their losses in 2021 to wins. The message from the staff was that they would have a chance to not only impact the results in those games in 2022 and beyond, but to also know that the best players are going to play.
That last statement (best players playing) is something that can quickly make or break a locker room. As GT knows, if you have some of your best players own the bench not playing, that is likely not a good sign for the level of cohesion with your team and family entirely.
The recruits knew there would be turnover in terms of the assistants. None of the recruits I spoke with in Dec. 2021 and beyond was worried much about any chatter Geoff himself may lose his job.
Will that come up in recruiting early and often? Yes, it already has.
Will it be a determining factor or deal-breaker for someone considering GT given the level of uncertainty? Not If it is their first time going through the process either as a recruit or as a transfer.
What was said, over and over again, was that this class will have the chance to be special, and to change the perception nationwide, game by game.
Of course, talking and doing are two different things, though.
Transfer portal: 1. Do either of you have players reach out for help saying that they made a mistake entering it?
KQ- Yes, it is a tough situation and my advice has been to go to the old coach and the old teammates and try to repair the damage. Right now at GT they are reluctant to take anyone back after Jamious Griffin's deal.
Transfer portal: 2. Is it an issue with players being encouraged to enter with the promise of a landing spot, and the school in question reneges on the promise. Or, is this a case of players/advisors just being supremely confident in the player?
KQ- All of the above, what is funny is guys are changing the terms or what the promise is once guys enter the portal and that has become a major issue for several kids and there have been some bait and switches as well
RJ mentioned to expect 8-10 adds from the portal. From that 8-10, who should we be watching that is currently in the portal and how many of the 8-10 do you expect to enter the portal after spring?
RJ- DL Morris Joseph Jr., DB Nicktroy Fortune, OL Danny Corbett, DB Quincy Riley?
KQ- Impossible for us to say even if we knew anything about guys not in the portal just to be clear.
Monthly uniform question.
Any update on whether we get new primary home/away uniforms?
Have these uniforms going on 5 seasons now.
Just curious if there have been any conversations inside the organization?
KQ-
In your opinion, who does GT have a better chance of upsetting, Clemson or Ole Miss?
KQ- Clemson mainly due to all the changes and the challenges of those guys coaching in their first game with more pressure on them than really GT IMO. Ole Miss should be good offensively and they've added a ton of portal dudes and will have a few games under their belts.
Why do I feel underwhelmed by the spring game? Why do I feel like we still haven't made progress and are less talented than last year.
KQ- I'm not really sure what to say. I think it was very clear to me how different some things looked especially offensively despite the starting LG not playing, the top WR Malachi Carter being limited and several other WRs and a key TE not playing. Defensively they only had four scholarship DTs available and held back reps on guys as well. You watched a practice, if you are looking for anything earth-shattering that is more on you. No one is tipping their hands in a spring game with the scheme when you open with Clemson. They ran their most vanilla stuff on both sides of the ball and just let the kids play in some base formations and plays on both sides.
