Is there anyone running with the 2’s or 3’s right now that we could see get a significant bump in snaps soon?
KQ- There are a few guys. I'll start on offense, Trelain Maddox and Anthony Carrie I expect will play a larger role as the season goes along. Luke Harpring at TE and Zion Taylor at receiver are two other guys on the cusp of getting some burn. I know Taylor has been frustrated by the slow go of things but the lack of playing time for Christian Leary so far really says a lot about the depth at WR.
On the D side, Tah'j Butler, Amontrae Bradford and Jordan Boyd are guys I'm keeping an eye on who could end up playing bigger roles.
What 2 teams (other than uga) does GT benefit from when they are bad? In terms of FB recruiting. If you had to name 2
KQ- Auburn is the next biggest one from my experience here and they have a ton of head-to-head recruiting battles. The other one would be Clemson.
Any idea how Key will utiliize the upcoming 125 man roster limit?
KQ- I think they are waiting to find out from President Cabrera and J Batt what the plan and budget are for that. Key told me over the summer they had different scenarios worked out for different numbers and with HOPE scholarship and NIL they can be a little more creative in how they do it to be budget-friendly if needed. Every team I've talked to is scrambling to figure out how to make this work. My assumption is they will not have over 100 guys on scholarship.
What impact does GT's success have on your job?
KQ- You guys are less miserable and people are more engaged so it improves our numbers and I make more money and can grow the site and my income.
How happy do you think is Paul Johnson with the new clock rules? I feel like he would love to take 9+ minutes off the clock on an offensive drive and score a touchdown
KQ- I'm sure he has enjoyed seeing the tempos slow down some and more physical running football return across the game.
Got a few:
✈️ 1) If I understand correctly the team flew in a specially outfitted plane to Ireland where ALL the seats were lay flat business class style. Is that right?
If so, do we have ability to fly in similar plane templates for longer trips (Cuse this week but also looking ahead to the California schools joining)
KQ- No they flew on an Aer Lingus charter jet that was taken out of service by Aer Lingus from one of their other flights to handle the GT and FSU charter. I'm not sure where you got that from. I spoke to Danny Karnik the GT photographer and he was sitting in a regular economy middle seat on the flight over with the team when I bumped into him in Dublin.
🏀 2) CDS put out some cool takes for the FSU game - the “Birrrr ice in the veins” Schtick was pretty great. Do you get the sense our coaching staffs are similarly close, more close or just good marketing with them supporting each other MBB/FB with regards to general P5 programs?
KQ- Not exactly, Damon and Brent cheer each other on and try to help, but I don't think they are having drinks in Brent's man cave.
😇 3) PrezAC seems to be serious about turning around the big revenue sports, and JBatt has been super responsive on detailed issues (like the security SNAFUs) while also having made some great hires and bringing in $[̲̅$̲̅(̲̅100)̲̅$̲̅]; obviously we want to sustain the large programs but do you see nonrev sports getting a “rising tides raise all ship” effect too?
KQ- All money is focused on football with men's hoops next, that is the driver.
🤼 4) The whole Sheamus thing has been fun, and a good reminder that having some celebrity fan support is cool. Do you think we’ll have more of this type stuff if we can keep the winning going? Always seemed like the movie/music scene in ATL could be a huge recruiting bump, like what CBK did with getting tie ins with TBS for kids with podcast/media content ambition. I know it’s more flash than fire for CBK and he is clearly motivated by/ focusing on different things than Ol’ ScootsMaGoots was, but I do think bringing some of the ATL flavor back to The Institute makes sense.
KQ- The Sheamus thing is a flukey thing that happened and wasn't manufactured, but yes you can do that if you win. I saw USF get in with a few rappers when they were winning under Willie Taggart as an example.
🎬 5) Seems like CBK has been purposefully communicating that we should/do/must enjoying the wins this last week. You mentioned he gets feedback from a variety of people about everything to do with being a HeadBallCoach™ so I was curious if you had inside baseball on if he’s being told to pull back a bit from the AngrySaban energy?
KQ- No
Also, seemed to me that we came out softer than expected at GSU. How much of that was caused by (in your opinion most to least):
- 🥵 Game 1 being in Ireland with 60s and low humidity versus Georgia heat and humidity for game 2
- 😴 Lack of seriousness in preparation when we thought we were playing an inferior opponent
- 📈 GSU being better than expected
- ⏰ Travel adjustments and jet lag
- 🧘♂️ Practice outweighing recovery time leading to weak bodies
- 🤕 Guys being dinged up and playing through / guys not cleared or ready to come back
- 🎱 Ofher factor TBD by you if I missed something.
KQ- I think they were tired and overlooking them a little bit.
