Dropping this early as I have to be at GT in the AM. Russell will add his bit later
Did you get the "all looks good" message at your annual physical this morning? Just keep the oil changed?
KQ- Ehh it wasn't a great report. My stress level is way too high at the moment as we are launching that Bama site and some other stuff going on has led to some negative feedback. I'm okay, but my blood pressure is too high. Hopefully once that is more stable and my guys are up to speed there it will calm down. I've put a lot of pressure on myself with that and of course trying to kill it here to be perfectly honest and the timing sucked because it happened right as camp started so onboarding and training have been really stressful as Russell can attest to. I feel a lot of pressure to make something amazing like I've built here and I am probably putting too much pressure on myself to be really honest.
Inspired some by Bronston's practice report from earlier today:
Has GT looked into assigning some of our resident student nerds (I used to be one, so calm down) as part-time analytics interns for the GTAA? Utilize what we have in house to our advantage? Moneyball the shit outta that and then you also cultivate interest and excitement in GT sports for future alumni / fans.
KQ- That has been something various staff members in the GTAA have looked at over time for more of the analytics piece with teams. On the fan engagement and service part, I don't know. I don't get too involved in any of that stuff on my end. That is GT's job to lure people into the buildings.
You achieve limited time travel, but only for articles you yourself have written. You open an email and it’s an article you wrote in this coming December: “Q’s Take: 3 Key Factors That Led to a 6-6 Season and Collins’s First Bowl Appearance”. What are those 3 key reasons?
KQ- I'm writing about my future lotto numbers so I can retire to some place where I never have to wear shoes again. On to your actual question.
Factor one would be a healthy Jeff Sims. Even the other QBs in that room as competitive as each of them are would in their heart of hearts tell you the season likely rides on the back of Sims and if he can harness his talent and get to where he wants to go and where Collins needs him to get to. He is an elite talent that has shown flashes but didn't improve year one to year two visibly before he got hurt. He has clearly made progress under the new coaches so how does that carry over.
GT posts a top 50 defense for the first time in forever that wasn't aided by Paul Johnson's slow offense. GT would often chart higher on D than they should under Johnson because of the low possession games but the truth is the defense has been pretty suspect since Tenuta left town with a few bright spots here and there. If the D is in the top half of the ACC they have a chance to win the Coastal, if it is in the top 75 nationally I think they go bowling.
The offensive line finally comes together. Georgia Tech's offensive line has been a patchwork quilt with holes in it for the last three years through some of the worst luck, bad injuries and lack of talent and other factors. Coming together for 2022 and having a solid group on the same page could swing what were 6 close losses last year into at least 3 more wins.
You check again tomorrow, and there’s another article: “Q’s Take: 3 Key Factors that Led to a 3-9 Season and Collins’s Fourth Straight 3-win Season”. What are those 3 key reasons?
KQ- Sims gets hurt and gets shut down, the defense can't stop the run and is a quagmire and the OL looked like a screen door.
How do these pundits/football services analyze how a team will finish? What metrics do they use? Do they look at prior seasons and what is returning to determine an outcome? I know you have to come up with something but I don’t see how you could even come up with a potential record for this years team. You have an almost completely new staff and you have many new transfers. I remember my high school team was coming off a couple poor seasons. We were expected to finish below 5 hundred my senior year by the ajc. We ended finishing 10-2. Over the next 3 years, my high school only lost 5 games. Most of the starters my senior year didn’t even play the year before. The prior 2 season was full of seniors and the team had some disfunction. I guess the Ajc didn’t factor in a strong up and coming group that eventually played in college including myself. The prior season teams did not have that. This GT team seems similar to me. Young, hungry, and much more athletic. Am I missing something?
KQ- Most of the time especially in prep sports unless you are with a marquee program no one has any clue and they are just looking at past performance and schedule strength to make their predictions. In college football people look at returning starting talent, schedule and the coach's history so all of those are not in GT's favor so you get picked low. Also with the ACC media GT has one of the smaller media contingents that travel to those things so it becomes really Clemson/Carolinas/Va centric so those voters swing votes pretty hard as well. I agree that it is hard to measure who is hungry and wants to win and even things like team chemistry being good can make a huge difference like in 2014, the previous year you had a weird situation with Tevin Washington and Vad Lee and some chemistry issues and they didn't quite play to the potential and the next year you had a fun group led by a young and talented QB that the guys rallied around.
Will Leo play this year?
KQ- Yes, my understanding is he has a non-knee injury and will be back soonish. I don't know if he is playing against Clemson or not, but he is definitely not out for a long time either. It took me quite a while to figure out what was going on there and that is sort of the limit of what I can say. If it was more minor I would expect he would be in Fall Camp and if it was something more serious Collins would've already announced it as he has in the past with serious injuries. From talking to a few different sources Leo will be back sooner than later. It is not even a Keion White type deal either.
in your honest opinion, do you think GTAA botched the ticket/seating situation for the Clemson game like most on here say? Or no?
KQ- I think if you are going to play that game you sell every last ticket to make money. The whole idea of the Benz games was to drive as much additional ticket revenue as possible, but ADTS had no way of knowing when they signed the deal that CPJ would retire, covid would hit and Collins would struggle to ramp up the program. I do find it odd that they will play another game with a cap smaller than BDS by like 10-12k, but I am also not surprised. That is why they won't play UGA there. That was an early idea and that was a hell no from a lot of people involved per my sources including CPJ.
Did you get the "all looks good" message at your annual physical this morning? Just keep the oil changed?
KQ- Ehh it wasn't a great report. My stress level is way too high at the moment as we are launching that Bama site and some other stuff going on has led to some negative feedback. I'm okay, but my blood pressure is too high. Hopefully once that is more stable and my guys are up to speed there it will calm down. I've put a lot of pressure on myself with that and of course trying to kill it here to be perfectly honest and the timing sucked because it happened right as camp started so onboarding and training have been really stressful as Russell can attest to. I feel a lot of pressure to make something amazing like I've built here and I am probably putting too much pressure on myself to be really honest.
Inspired some by Bronston's practice report from earlier today:
- More receiving yards in 2022 - the RB room or the TE room?
- Is this the first year that coaches have had the 2-hours-per-week thing during the offseason? If so, was it a one-off or will they be able to do it every summer moving forward?
- CCL mentioned they "don't care" about last year's offensive ineptitude. Was there any time at all spent over the offseason reviewing old film to at least look to opportunities to improve fundamentals, for example?
- What does JOL gameday look like now that RJ is able to go to each game? Will y'all both be in the press box? One of you on the field? Or status quo?
- O/U 0.5 ligament injuries from JOL subs at the "fan combine" on Saturday?
Has GT looked into assigning some of our resident student nerds (I used to be one, so calm down) as part-time analytics interns for the GTAA? Utilize what we have in house to our advantage? Moneyball the shit outta that and then you also cultivate interest and excitement in GT sports for future alumni / fans.
KQ- That has been something various staff members in the GTAA have looked at over time for more of the analytics piece with teams. On the fan engagement and service part, I don't know. I don't get too involved in any of that stuff on my end. That is GT's job to lure people into the buildings.
You achieve limited time travel, but only for articles you yourself have written. You open an email and it’s an article you wrote in this coming December: “Q’s Take: 3 Key Factors That Led to a 6-6 Season and Collins’s First Bowl Appearance”. What are those 3 key reasons?
KQ- I'm writing about my future lotto numbers so I can retire to some place where I never have to wear shoes again. On to your actual question.
Factor one would be a healthy Jeff Sims. Even the other QBs in that room as competitive as each of them are would in their heart of hearts tell you the season likely rides on the back of Sims and if he can harness his talent and get to where he wants to go and where Collins needs him to get to. He is an elite talent that has shown flashes but didn't improve year one to year two visibly before he got hurt. He has clearly made progress under the new coaches so how does that carry over.
GT posts a top 50 defense for the first time in forever that wasn't aided by Paul Johnson's slow offense. GT would often chart higher on D than they should under Johnson because of the low possession games but the truth is the defense has been pretty suspect since Tenuta left town with a few bright spots here and there. If the D is in the top half of the ACC they have a chance to win the Coastal, if it is in the top 75 nationally I think they go bowling.
The offensive line finally comes together. Georgia Tech's offensive line has been a patchwork quilt with holes in it for the last three years through some of the worst luck, bad injuries and lack of talent and other factors. Coming together for 2022 and having a solid group on the same page could swing what were 6 close losses last year into at least 3 more wins.
You check again tomorrow, and there’s another article: “Q’s Take: 3 Key Factors that Led to a 3-9 Season and Collins’s Fourth Straight 3-win Season”. What are those 3 key reasons?
KQ- Sims gets hurt and gets shut down, the defense can't stop the run and is a quagmire and the OL looked like a screen door.
How do these pundits/football services analyze how a team will finish? What metrics do they use? Do they look at prior seasons and what is returning to determine an outcome? I know you have to come up with something but I don’t see how you could even come up with a potential record for this years team. You have an almost completely new staff and you have many new transfers. I remember my high school team was coming off a couple poor seasons. We were expected to finish below 5 hundred my senior year by the ajc. We ended finishing 10-2. Over the next 3 years, my high school only lost 5 games. Most of the starters my senior year didn’t even play the year before. The prior 2 season was full of seniors and the team had some disfunction. I guess the Ajc didn’t factor in a strong up and coming group that eventually played in college including myself. The prior season teams did not have that. This GT team seems similar to me. Young, hungry, and much more athletic. Am I missing something?
KQ- Most of the time especially in prep sports unless you are with a marquee program no one has any clue and they are just looking at past performance and schedule strength to make their predictions. In college football people look at returning starting talent, schedule and the coach's history so all of those are not in GT's favor so you get picked low. Also with the ACC media GT has one of the smaller media contingents that travel to those things so it becomes really Clemson/Carolinas/Va centric so those voters swing votes pretty hard as well. I agree that it is hard to measure who is hungry and wants to win and even things like team chemistry being good can make a huge difference like in 2014, the previous year you had a weird situation with Tevin Washington and Vad Lee and some chemistry issues and they didn't quite play to the potential and the next year you had a fun group led by a young and talented QB that the guys rallied around.
Will Leo play this year?
KQ- Yes, my understanding is he has a non-knee injury and will be back soonish. I don't know if he is playing against Clemson or not, but he is definitely not out for a long time either. It took me quite a while to figure out what was going on there and that is sort of the limit of what I can say. If it was more minor I would expect he would be in Fall Camp and if it was something more serious Collins would've already announced it as he has in the past with serious injuries. From talking to a few different sources Leo will be back sooner than later. It is not even a Keion White type deal either.
in your honest opinion, do you think GTAA botched the ticket/seating situation for the Clemson game like most on here say? Or no?
KQ- I think if you are going to play that game you sell every last ticket to make money. The whole idea of the Benz games was to drive as much additional ticket revenue as possible, but ADTS had no way of knowing when they signed the deal that CPJ would retire, covid would hit and Collins would struggle to ramp up the program. I do find it odd that they will play another game with a cap smaller than BDS by like 10-12k, but I am also not surprised. That is why they won't play UGA there. That was an early idea and that was a hell no from a lot of people involved per my sources including CPJ.
