Haven’t heard much regarding summer workouts/OTAs. Any nuggets you can give or has it been kept pretty quiet this year?
KQ- They are going pretty well. I had an update on summer workouts back in June. They have quite a bit of time off this month and many of the players went home or on vacation like the coaches during July. The staff are pretty confident in what AJ Artis and his staff are doing. It is interesting because some USF fans thought he didn't do a great job, but my theory there was Jeff Scott just had a terrible plan and didn't know what he was doing and that impacted everyone on that staff including AJ. I have other friends that worked there that are really sharp dudes and they struggled because Jeff Scott was in way over his head.
Key got Batt to dramatically increase the budget for nutrition and the training table and they hired two people to work exclusively with the football program under Leah Thomas who oversees the nutrition thing for the whole athletic department. I think that budget is like 4-5x what it was last year for that and the players are loving it.
I'll actually have a little more on some of this stuff later this coming week. I am scheduled to talk to someone tomorrow night or Tuesday who is a good source for this type of info.
Since we are not in season yet, and there aren't many questions yet this week, I'll stir the pot with something off topic again: Fender, Marshall, or Mesa?
KQ- I don't need the volume of a Marshall stack or anything like that. I like an old tube Fender. I had Peavy Amps and like the big stuff 4x12s and stuff like that. I had a Peavy bass amp as well that weighed like 200 pounds and was the size of a small fridge that was loud as hell back for live stuff. I want to get into amp modeling when I have the time to play some. That hasn't been lately. My guitars are just collecting dust at the moment, but my toddler and teenager like to come in and strum them.
Have you heard any talk about season ticket sales, in comparison to the last couple of years?
KQ- I asked this question to a source yesterday and I am waiting to hear back. I am also curious. I know the initial push was strong, but I'm not sure where they ended up. I feel like if it was a huge jump they'd have press released that though.
When do the Football Coaches return.
KQ- This week. The team reports a week from today. The staff will be doing some recruiting this weekend as well. Everyone even Georgia and Alabama were out of the office the last few weeks. It is a skeleton operation for most of July at every school.
Does practice start August 7th? I keep forgetting.
KQ- August 1st
Could we have a list of current scholarshiped basketball players on our roster as well as commitments, Thx.
KQ- The bottom two move up to
Seniors:
Tyzhaun Claude- PF/C
Kyle Sturdivant- CG
Lance Terry- SG
Juniors
Deebo Coleman- SG/SF
Ebenezer Dowuona- C
Miles Kelly- SG
Kowacie Reeves Jr.- F/G
Sophomores
Amaree Abram- CG
Jalen Forrest- CG ^mid-year enrollee joining in December
Tafara Gapare- F
Freshmen signees
Baye Ndongo- F
Ibrahima Sacko- F
So that's 12, one spot left that I doubt they use unless they give it to the walk-on from Air Force as a practice player.
Any updates on Adidas extension deal? Hoping JBatt can get us an even better deal.
KQ- They have not signed anything nor do I think it is super far along. I would bet money that Batt will be open to all options this time around. Last time you had Adidas and Nike (only wanted to do rev sports or something like that per sources at the time) so hopefully more companies get involved.
Any updates on 2023 uniforms?
KQ- Those are planned pretty far out, I do not expect anything earth-shattering for this upcoming season. If/when Key changes things it will be 2024.
How can we lighten your load/help you while you deal with all your family issues?
KQ- I'm not really sure. I am driving back up to take my mom to deal with a lot of financial stuff tomorrow and then driving from there to Charlotte so I'll be in and out. My stepbrother is helping quite a bit so that has been a nice surprise. I'm just going to go up there when I have some free time and deal with stuff. That is the best I can do right now. My mom is looking to stay in the house until she has a better idea of what the long-term situation is for my stepdad if anything. Right now everything is day-to-day. There has been a lot of crying and a lot of me trying to push everyone to remember the good times and not get too down.
2023 football team:
The player who we can’t afford to lose?
KQ- Probably someone like Sylvain who I think is poised to earn himself some NFL money this year. Even as good as LaMiles Brooks is they have a little more depth there and experience and that would be huge, but I think Yondjouen is the real deal.
The game(s) most critical to going bowling?
KQ- I've said I think it is the Wake Forest game on the road. They are going to be a tough out and they don't often beat themselves. Dave Clawson is a great coach. I think especially if Louisville doesn't go GT's way that is the swing game early in the year.
The position unit who will be most improved?
KQ- The OL, I think they have an OL coach who knows how to get a lot out of what he is working with. Key helped build up UCF organically upfront and then walked into Bama where they were loaded so it was a very different job here and you throw in covid and bad luck with injuries and the portal and you have an ugly OL situation at the position that was the thinnest other than defensive tackle on day one. They now actually have depth and quite a bit of experience after taking lumps the last two years and adding some key guys. I think Wade knows how to work with mismatched parts better than many other OL coaches and he knows what Buster wants and they are hand-in-hand with the plan. I think that will be big.
In reality, Collins needed to take like 12 OLs the first two years and they took a bunch in the first real year in 2020 but then had two medical out and two end up as not being rotation quality guys and one left because he was a depth piece. They dropped all the bad commits that CPJ had the previous year on the OL so you got one starter out of two classes in Jordan Williams. The two guys signed in 2021, one is starting (Weston) and the other is playing a lot (Jakiah) so that is not enough dudes and that came from the HC who set the roster. They took too many transfer guys and didn't sign enough OLs to replenish what they had.
The position you that if they step up will make reaching a bowl game that much more likely?
KQ- Wide receiver, if they can find two solid guys on the outside I think they have a chance to go bowling. I'm not that worried about RB production, I think the slots will be good and I think the TEs may surprise some people finally, but the outside receiver spot has the most boom or bust potential.
Ole miss - they lost some folks but remain a well funded program. What are the realistic odds of winning? If GT were to win - what would have to happen?
KQ- They have major issues on D highlighted by them taking a guy who had been a 5th-string DT in 2022 and was undersized for this league let alone the SEC West in Akelo Stone. They took 17 players via the portal or something like that on D. I think to beat them you have to score a good bit. Lane Kiffin will always figure out a way to score points so it comes down to offense.
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