Given our list of portal commitments, which ones do you think will make the most impact?
KQ- Offensively Hosley and the two FIU WRs are clearly the big signings. Rivers should be a more reliable threat in the pass game and Patterson has the potential to be an upgrade from that other WR position that has been a black hole. Hosley gives them a more powerful back to compliment the shifty/speed guys like Jamal Haynes.
Defensively, Melvin Jordan is big because he is a 1:1 replacement for Tren Tatum and should be an upgrade there. That allows them to take more time developing Tah'j Butler. Matthew Alexander at the NT and the three DEs are all big additions, AJ Hoffler, Brayden Manley and Ron Triplette.
Who stands out to you on GT staff as an underrated coach / assistant?
KQ- The two guys who pop in my mind are Geep Wade with the OL and Jess Simpson on the DL. The way they've improved the play on the lines of scrimmage and the player development piece has been pretty impressive from both of them. Nathan Brock the TE coach also does a great job and is a tireless recruiter as well despite not being one of the ten on the field coaches.
To the previous poster’s post, are we compensating the current staff to stay? While there were some disappointments this past season, they was definitely some improvements particularly on defense
KQ- Yeah, guys get bumps and raises as Brent Key and J Batt see fit. Generally there is a cost of living component and then sometimes you are matching or giving some extra when someone tries to poach one of your guys.
Do you think the Spring portal will be better for us? Or do you think that it can't be better than this?
KQ- I'm not sure I understand your question. They are not going to sign like 12 guys this spring. They are going to target the major areas of weakness they see in spring ball. Last year that included adding Thomas Gore (they already landed JJ van den Berg after the portal closed because he was finishing out the spring at Penn State) and Romello Height as well as Jayden Davis and Zachary Tobe on defense. They added Josh Beetham on offense in the spring portal. All of those guys save Davis ended up in the rotation and contributing with Beetham missing time with injuries limiting his production a little.
Think of it like MLB free agency around spring training when you see some guys who didn't sign get picked up later.
Outside of DL, what position do you think the coaches are most concerned about improving?
KQ- I think it is probably the safety/nickel room. You had a ton of injuries there last year and guys not playing their best at times and then some guys emerging like Omar Daniels later in the year. I'm really curious how they use everyone. Tae Harris is a big strong safety-type guy for example and are they scheming for him or are they going to switch things up with the nickels.
If we are to compete for an ACC championship next year what are three things that have to go right for us between now and when the season starts?
KQ- I think they need to find the final couple of pieces of the DL puzzle in the portal or through player development in the spring. I think staying healthy is a huge part of this. They lost some real key guys in August of last year that I expected to contribute in major ways like Brett Seither for example or even just having Jamal Haynes get dinged in the first scrimmage of fall camp and not really be himself again for most of the season. They can't afford that. Thirdly, I think you need to see the offense take a step forward. I think they were very caught up in protecting the defense early in the season and keeping Haynes King from throwing picks and they need to open it up more.
Will gt have 0, 1, 2 or more important players leave in portal?
KQ- No clue. I had no idea that Akelo Stone would get poached by Ole Miss for example, no one did after spring ball two years ago. Everyone has NIL contracts and other things that should keep them in place but it is the wild west.
How would you generally rank NIL deals in value by position? Ie, QB is most expensive, next is DE,etc...
Any scale you can provide would also be helpful to understand.
KQ- I can't provide you with scale. I know about the schools I cover and can find out things but other than deals I'm paying attention to I couldn't tell you what the Judkins kid makes at Ohio State or one of their OLs.
The way it goes is OL/DL and then QB unless you have a high profile QB like a Cam Ward. Then for like last season it would be the Eric Singleton, Jamal Haynes, Malik Rutherford type guys and then the backup QB, the CBs and the top skill D guys and then every one else sort of slots in. A lot of guys make decent money in the set up. There are huge variations in what guys are getting paid except for the key ones like Big Red or JJ or Haynes King who are higher up.
