Georgia Tech fans are fired up about the 2025 college football season opening up in a few weeks. Questions relating to the Yellow Jackets’ Fall Camp and upcoming season dominate this edition of the JOL Mailbag sponsored by our friends at Auto-Owners Insurance.
The new weight room and the sports nutrition will be housed on the first floor of the Fanning Center, along with the Sports Science department. That way, everything is readily available for the players.
Q: Do you think Tech will ever get a GM?
They have someone essentially filling the contract role in JJ Cosh, who is the contract side of that role. That is what most people are hiring. Brent Key also has a staff of people divided into scouting both high school and portal talent, as well as roles within that framework.
Errin Joe was the GM of the team, and Key decided he wanted to set that role up differently in the new age of college football. J Batt hired Cosh, and they brought in Alex Mathis to work on the recruiting side of that role.
Q: What’s your gut feeling on Gideon?
I have no idea yet. I’ve learned from doing this job to wait and see with coordinators before I come to any conclusions. I thought Chip Long would be better than he was or Nate Woody, but I also had my doubts about Dave Patenaude, Ted Roof, and Al Groh.
Everything mostly looks good in practice except for Geoff Collins‘ first year at Georgia Tech.
Q: Was Tuccis D overly complicated to the players? Seems like it from the Gideon and player interviews.
You’d have to get into the weeds on the specific calls and things like that. I think that Gideon has a clear design of what he wants to do on the back end of the defense. That seems to be more cut and dry than what they were doing before on paper, but also different.
Q: o/u 5 CBK postgame presser tears this season?
I’ll go under.
Q: Is CBK a Zyn 3mg or a Zyn 6mg guy? also whats his zyn flavor of choice?
He is a Smooth 3mg guy and sometimes uses Wintergreen and Smooth together, and he likes to pop two at a time sometimes. It is also weird that I know/can find out this information for you.
Q: What senior will make the biggest leap this year
I assume you are asking about someone returning from last year. My gut feeling is Keylan Rutledge will be an All-ACC and maybe a 2nd or 3rd team All-American if things go well. We saw a fraction of what he is capable of last year because he was playing on one foot with limited offseason preparation and overweight by his own admission because of the time he missed with his foot.
On the defense side, Omar Daniels is my dark horse guy. I think that kid is a baller.
Q: Week 1 fall camp eye test this year vs last year. How are the new pieces meshing? Who is surprising, where are we lagging?
It is so hard to say much of anything as they just put the pads on. They are definitely not lagging.
Isiah Canion looks insane. I’m still wrapping my head around how they have him and Dean Patterson together on one side and Eric Rivers and Zion Taylor at the other outside receiver spot compared to some of the outside receiver options last many seasons.
The O-line looks big, and the D-line looks bigger as well. Those things stand out to me.
Q: I don’t know if you can answer this, but does King have some type of therapy he does with his shoulder to hopefully prevent him from reinjuring it?
They spent a lot of time working on all of that type of stuff and he has a QB coach he works with on the side as well. It was a fluke injury, but a difficult one to overcome during the season.
Q: Make your all-time (your favorite/the best) offense over the time you’ve covered/been around the program.
As of today, it would be:
QB- Justin Thomas
RB- Jon Dwyer
WR- Demaryius Thomas
WR- DeAndre Smelter
SLT- Malik Rutherford
TE- Jackson Hawes
LT- Corey Robinson II
LG- Parker Braun
C- Sean Bedford
RG- Shaq Mason
RT- Jordan Williams
Adding in the CPJ slot backs, I’d go with Roddy Jones and Clinton Lynch or Orwin Smith.
Q: ON A SCALE OF 1-10, 10 BEING THE MOST WORRIED. How worried should we be about Gideon cutting his teeth with calling plays and having to make in-game adjustments as a DC for the first time in his career?
It is so hard to say. I have never covered a first-time DC play caller before in my career. At UGA, they had guys who had done it before, and everyone at Georgia Tech has done it as well that I’ve covered.
Q: After the first week of camp is there any inside news you can share on who the staff may be giddy about this coming year from a newcomer (transfer player or freshman)?
Jordan Allen has turned heads from the jump of summer workouts. Tae Harris hits like a truck, and Dalen Penson can fly. All of that we’ve kind of reported already.
On the portal guys, I updated that in the WAR ROOM.
Any news on the new PK Shaffer? Seems like he has a big-time leg
Aidan Birr is the guy, so there isn’t a ton of pressure on Landon Shaffer right now other than just competing. We have a special teams day coming up with Tim Salem on Thursday, and Alex will get you up to speed with where things are at and how Salem sees it.
Q: Any news on when we might get rid of the astro turf and put in real grass for Hyundai field?
My guess would be after the stadium renovations are done in that timeframe, but I have not heard anything other than they’d like to go back to grass eventually but they have other more important things tying up money right now. They improved the turf, apparently, with the new stuff, and it seemed nice the other day when I got to walk on it for the first time.
Q: With the contract extension for Buster and him now being a top 10 paid OC in the nation, does that lock him in for 2026? Percentage wise, can you give your best guess, Buster is on staff next year ?
I am not a psychic nor do I read the future, so I have no idea. Buster has a contract through the 2026 season with an option for 2027. He has been very selective and knowing Buster a good bit now, I expect he will be very calculated in whatever his next job is when that time comes. He is very happy at Georgia Tech, though.
Q: Most are concerned about the D. My biggest concern are the Offensive Tackles. Am I wrong?
On the offensive side of the ball, I guess that would be the next area up, but not for me. I am more concerned about the depth in the guard box than anything else, and they get a little thin at tight end outside of the three older guys and Luke Harpring. There isn’t much in the cupboard beyond that because the two freshmen are not ready to play physically in my opinion.
Q: What grade do you give Cabrera for hiring Alpert and for the hiring of the Troy AD as our #2?
I don’t like to grade things out of the box because we have no idea how this will play out. I think everyone who has met or spent time with Alpert has been very impressed with him. I think he has very big plans for Georgia Tech and thinks more outside of the box than Batt and that could really benefit Georgia Tech.
On Brent Jones, the former Troy AD, he is following a path that you are seeing a lot of G5 ADs moving toward. The ULM AD quit today over funding issues and pending downsizing of their athletic department, per some reports I saw this evening. Being the number two AD at Georgia Tech has been a good pathway for people to move into positions to get other jobs. I think if Batt had stayed longer Jon Palumbo probably could’ve got a Big 12 or ACC job eventually.
I always enjoy Geep Wade who we get tomorrow as an interview, and he is just a great guy all-around. I like all of the staff for the first time in a long time, as well as on a personal level. As far as a player goes, that is like asking me to tell you my favorite child.
Q: Is there a meaningful difference in recruiting results this time in December if we finish with 7 regular season wins vs 10? If so, what would that look like?
Yeah, I think so. People don’t realize, but I talk to all of these players and also their coaches, sources at Georgia Tech, and sources at other schools, so when I say a player might do X, Y, or Z if GT wins 10 games, it is not blowing smoke or anything like that. I wouldn’t be successful at this if I pumped sunshine.
I think if you are in the ACCCG and win 10 games, you are talking about 4-5 more Rivals 300 kids signing with Georgia Tech in December.
Q: Fill in the blank: _____________ will lead the team in receiving yards in 2025
Rivers is my bet for the leader in yards. I think catches could be Malik Rutherford, like last year.
Q: How did the name change happen for COFH? Does GT get some money for this too? I think I saw they’re getting $10M to play in the game this year.. are we being compensated or just continuing to call it the COFH game?
They announced this deal months ago, and it is a branding deal for a series of games being played in Mercedes-Benz Stadium over several years, including Florida-Georgia next year. That was built into whatever deal Georgia Tech signed with them.
Q: There seem to be a lot of “rat poison” out there right now on us. It seems like everyone has us a sleeper, dark horse whatever you want to call it, to make the CFP or ACCCG. I’m sure CBK is aware of this, but does this make us overlook everyone except Clemson and Ga?
I don’t think this team is in a position to overlook anyone starting week one with Colorado. I think the schedule sets up well with some teams Georgia Tech has some history with having tough games against, as well, and that will avoid that type of thinking. Getting Clemson week three will be a huge reality check, good or bad, just like the Buffs.
Q: I can’t remember – are we “in” on Tyson, the RB from Brookwood? He’s a JR
Running back Brayden Tyson and yes, Georgia Tech offered, but they are not in his top 8, which he dropped a few weeks ago.
Q: What happens first:
Men’s Basketball reaches Sweet 16 (first time since 2004)
or
Baseball reaches Omaha (first time since 2006)?
Baseball should’ve reached Omaha at least two times in the last 15 years. I’m not sure the men’s basketball team was remotely close to that other than the 2021 team and that was a stretch. So baseball.
Q: Who do the coaches bounce things off of (professionally speaking), before, during and after the season? Who are their mentors? Is that even something they even share?
They have lots of people they share stuff with. I could talk about Key or Buster’s guys, for example, but I’d have to go back and look or check with them first. Key is very open about George O’Leary and Nick Saban being huge for him, but there are many others he is close to. Key also works with experts in various fields relating to coaching, time management (not football time management), and other things like that. You will see some of them crop up as speakers they will thank on social media channels.
Q: How do the coaches stay professionally relevant? Do they attend coaching clinics? Study film? Read?
All of the above. During the winter/spring, during dead periods, they will invite coaches to come to Georgia Tech or go to other schools to work with coaches who are not on the schedule, but maybe share some core concepts with them to bounce ideas back and forth. There are also conventions and other development opportunities, just like any professional career path typically has.
