Question for Russell, out of these guys, what is your best guess on how many we sign.
Petty
Penson
Cortez Smith
Ajidahun
Jontae Gilbert
Canales
Scroggins
KQ- Okay @Russell Johnson I'll add they will get Canales
After 24 does Haynes get one more year ? I thought he was a Red Shirt Sophmore last year. Rivals shows - him as senior ? Just hoping he and receivers get another year together.
KQ- Jamal Haynes is a R-Jr. He redshirted in 2021, played in 2022 and 2023 and will play in 2024.
Regarding the $20 million number that’s being thrown around to pay players from the school, will players still be able to earn from outside sources too? Or is it mainly a way to kill off all of the collectives we have right now?
KQ- I am not sure how that works. I think they are going to force it to be actual endorsement deals if it is outside of the school paying and not the collective stuff, but someone else may be following it more closely than I am.
With all the interest by the receiver recruits, do they look at who may be QB when they arrive? Is there any buzz among them of the coaches that one of the two Frosh may be the real deal?
KQ- Aaron Philo is Buster's guy and Weinke loves both Philo and Graham Knowles so yeah I think there is some of that and Grady Adamson is recruiting kids as well. Phlio has relationships with many of the targets and commits and Adamson with almost all of them.
— With at least some of the insider support having fallen off, what kind of roster will the staff be able to build for next season? Will the NIL money be there to contend for the big Super Regional/Omaha run or will it be resigned to taking chances on high ceiling/low floor boom or bust players?
— Do you think waiting to make the announcement is to pack a punch during the CWS or maybe give a month of breathing room so emotions can die down, or possibly some other reason like internal discord still taking place?
KQ- I'll be nice and say I'm done talking about the Danny Hall shit for a bit. Please give it a rest.
At WR, are there any guys that may benefit from the coaching change? Is there anyone that is thriving under McKnight that didn’t under the previous 2 guys?
KQ- Zion Taylor had a huge spring and has really finally learned the offense and has a chance to be special. They are very excited about Isiah Canion as well even though he wasn't a full go this spring coming off the shoulder injury.
PFF put out a tweet stating that we are one of most underrated teams (along with Arizona, Indiana, and Kansas). I see more love for VA Tech this year in the media than GA Tech despite similar 23’ record and returning a decent amount of production. Even if Miami beats us last year, if we also do what we were supposed to do, we beat Louisville, BG, and BC. I’m biased of course and think we are better than VA Tech but…
1) Do you think we are overlooked?
2) Does our difficult schedule (opposed to VA Tech’s somewhat easier schedule) cause media to not talk about how good we could be? In other words, because we theoretically play better teams, why would the media think about how good the team could be since the assumption is 5+ loses.
KQ- I think there are a lot of media types how like Brent Pry and the Penn State connection that are pushing for VaTech to be competitive again. I think on the GT side, the schedule definitely plays a huge part of why they are not a sexy pick right now. They don't play a FBS team that had a losing regular season record last year. That is unbelievable.
I’d love it if we could sign Petty. It’d be a huge get and would create a lot of buzz given his ranking. But am I wrong to not be as concerned as others with his potential commitment? It feels like this position group should be the least of our worries right now. Like I said, I do hope that we get him. Just not worried about it
KQ- I think he is nice to have, but not going to make or break the class. I think RJ may have a slightly different opinion. I think they need to get some quality DLs committed and they are in a good spot with the O-line now with Canales on board and the commits already in the boat.
CBK & staff brought in a very good '24 class. In looking at the lowest rated kids in the class (the 4 5.5s), 2 of them have already impressed as EEs (Tana & Harrison Moore).
Many (including myself) believe Luke Harping will be an early contributor but I'm wondering if David Prince & Caleb Dozier (the other 2 5.5s) have a chance as well, in particular Dozier who played all over the field and had video game numbers as a SR.
I think Caleb could turn out to be a steal.
Of the FR reporting this summer, which ones do you think have a chance to make an early impact?
KQ- They just started OTAs so it is not exactly the type of thing that Caleb Dozier is going to show up his great LB skills in playing without a football two-hand touch. David Prince has the frame and the body type. The guy that people have been excited about is actually Uche Iloh. He looks like a guy playing in the NFL right now.
Of the transfers that we got for football who are you most excited about?
KQ- One of the early guys, Jackson Hawes. He is supposed to be the real deal at TE. They think he is a potential top 5-round pick next year.
What is the longest you had to sit on a commitment? How long and who (if you can share)
KQ- There were some long-ass ones back in the day. I think more recently, Jah Gibbs was in the can for a very long time before he popped.
If a player signs for NIL and transfers to school, bur suffers season ending injury prior to season, does he still get paid out?
KQ- Depends on the NIL agreement, if the school's collective is honorable or not and really there is no way to enforce payment that I'm aware of.
Your son is a HS football star, what advice do you give him?
KQ- Go to the school where you can get the best combination of player development/education in the field you might actually want to go into post-football. The average NFL career is 3.3 years and it would be almost impossible to save enough money on a rookie-type deal to be set up for life with that. Plan for the future.
How many Faulkners will be with GT football in 2 years?
0, 1, 2, 3?
KQ- 1.5 to 3
Once the HS season starts, which commit will be most challenging to hold on to?
KQ- This is the loser mentality. You all have to lose this shit. Brent Key is annoyed that GT fans think this way. That ain't big boy football. If someone leaves they will replace them with a comparable replacement.
Your opinion: In the (major) college football world of the future (say 2032):
A. Fewer or more schools playing at the top level of competition (I.e., future FBS)
KQ- Fewer like 60ish schools
B. There is a universal player pay scale for all schools ( excluding NIL)
KQ- Yes, I think legally any caps are a no-go and will get killed in court. So they will have to go into collective bargaining and have a pay scale.
C. The current P4 conference’s memberships are significantly different from today ( more than two schools moved or added or subtracted)
KQ- Yes, I think there will be attrition, additions and some schools who opt to not do it in the future cost structure.
D. Contracts with media will be made with the entire “league” as a whole; with conference contracts being phased out.
KQ- That would only work if there is one super league.
E. (Kind of goes with D) distribution of media payouts will NOT be distributed evenly to all schools but will be based on performance and/or ratings
KQ- Couldn't even guess on that.
How many Oline are we taking? Looks like the room is filling up with a few seeming to want to take their time. A few could be left out or maybe if another commits soon some could jump on board.
KQ- Probably 5, they'd go over for the right kid.
What is the criteria for selecting player hosts on OVs and how are they prepped? Seems like this time around the hosts are getting a lot of shoutouts and doing an incredible job.
KQ- Generally they match them up based on personalities and position groupings. The coaches know each kid on the team really well so they pair them up that way. Usually the primary recruiter will suggest player X and if they are available they will host. If there is a really strong prior relationship with someone that can come into play as well. Remember all the kids have OVd here too so they know how it works and what to do, but I'm sure each coach briefs them on the visit ahead of time.
How tall an order is it going to be to put together a defensive line in 2025? Apart from simply...having one. Yes, I'm looking ahead.
So 8 guys are leaving four ends and four DTs after this year.
They will have back
DE- Uche Iloh, Amontae Bradford
DT- Horace Lockett, Shymeik Jones
DT- Jordan van den Berg, Landen Marshall
RE- Jordan Boyd, Jacob Cruz plus Andre Fuller and Carrington Coombs
So they will be in the portal looking for a DE and two DTs. To put some perspective on this they added two DTs this cycle with starting experience and a RE from USC who played 200+ snaps. The situation is not that different from going into this year except at DE. I expect that Boyd and Cruz will get plenty of burn this year and you will see Iloh and/or Bradford play some as well.
