Is the transfer portal turning into unrestricted free agency?
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Partywaggin: Who gets drafted?
Ben: I feel pretty good about Caleb Williams getting drafted. That seems like a pretty solid projection.
I assume you’re talking about Tech folks getting drafted. I’ve seen some smoke on Twitter that Dontae Smith could get some late-round looks. Myles Sims and Dominick Blaylock could probably also get some looks, but I don’t know that there’s a must-draft guy who came from Tech this year.
Logan: I have seen some buzz around Dontae Smith getting drafted, he would probably be utilized as a late draft pick for a platoon player as a 2nd or 3rd stringer if that happens. Dominick Blaylock has also gotten hype, but its so hard to tell if he will get drafted because of the sheer amount of receiving talent in this year’s draft. You can see in our Mock Draft there are a ton of talented receivers on the board, so Blaylock has a shot but it would be more likely to see him as a UDFA. The last guy I have heard things about is Connor Scaglione, who is another player who may go late to add depth for teams on the O-line. Those would be my top candidates, but you never know who else you might see get drafted.
Nishant: I don’t think any Tech players get taken, honestly. Dontae will land somewhere as a UDFA, and I think Blaylock will do the same thanks to his blocking ability. On defense, I could see Myles Sims and Paul Moala getting training camp invites, but both feel like long shots to make an NFL roster.
Yeller Bug: Within NCAA rules today, is it unrestricted free agency every year and anyone can transfer anywhere and immediately play or are there limitations? Does the transfer portal close at some point? Can those with eligibility and are graduating this year wait until they graduate to transfer?
Ben: I don’t see anything in the update about the timing of transfers changing, so student-athletes will still have to comply with the timing of the transfer portal to maintain eligibility. My understanding is that all players who transfer multiple times will have instant eligibility.
Logan: There is still a start and stop date for transfers to occur, but within the transfer window it seems to be the wild wild west with almost no restrictions on transfers and eligibility anymore.
DressHerInWhiteAndGold: How are we all viewing sports these days?
I cut the cord some time back, switched to YouTube TV. Extremely disappointed that I can’t see the Barves without buying something called FUBU. I’m reduced to watching the highlights the next day on YouTube.
Realizing now that I probably would be OK going back to an antenna on the roof to pick up the networks and just watch highlights from streamed.
Oh for the days of the Superstation….
Ben: Using my parents’ cable subscription to watch things on WatchESPN.
Logan: Currently my household is only using streaming services. I’ve got MLBtv to watch the Braves because I love them, although that seems like an overpriced deal. We were able to get some specials with paramount plus and HBO to watch the NCAA tournament. ESPN+ and Hulu do have some hockey games and college baseball games… The real problem is football, so once the season rolls back around we will most likely end up back with either YouTube TV or Hulu Live. YouTube TV wasn’t the greatest thing in the world, but I did like their split screen watching options for college sports game which were on.
Jake: I like YouTube TV. The multiview is decent, and apparently can be customized now, plus it comes with ACC Network Extra (which is probably the channel/streaming thing I watch the most, with all the WBB/VB/Softball/Baseball I watch). I’m not really a Braves guy, so I make to with the Cubs single team MLB.tv or radio (depending on the year) for them.
jabsterjacket: If Reggie Bush can get his Heisman back, can we get our 2009 ACC title back too?
The NCAA can STILL kiss my ass.
Ben: In my mind, Georgia Tech never lost that 09 ACC title.
Logan: It won’t happen because Tech isn’t a priority to the NCAA or ACC at large, especially given the number of lawsuits going on currently, but we deserve to have that title back and it’s ridiculous that no one else acknowledges it.
Jake: Just hang a banner while the ACC is tied down with other things.
Frodo Swagginz: What were your takeaways from the Spring game and who stood out to you?
Logan: It’s always hard to take things from the spring game for a multitude of reasons. I guess my take aways were that Haynes King looked good, but still needs to work on not turning the ball over especially when he is on the run and on curl routes. The read option will still be a big part of our offense, which is good because we seem to have some talented runners (RB or otherwise) on offense. The other QBs we have are very talented if they decide to stick around long enough to actually play (or in case injuries happen). I couldn’t really tell much on defense, but that has more to do with the spring game rules than anything the defense actually did on the field. Overall things looked as good if not better than last years spring game.
GTBuzzed: Very tardy to the party: How was the Heckuva Block Party with Ludacris before COFH?
Jake: I was nearby, but not there. However, everyone I know that wandered over seemed to have a lot of fun. I can confirm he was a blast the next day at the Falcons game, though, too.
gtbadcarma: The big ten likes to make hay about the AAU accreditation. looking at the members, there are some institutions that are very good and others I am surprised are members. There are some recent actions/additions by the AAU that suggest standards and being impartial have fallen by the wayside. Any thoughts on the possibility the powers that be in the big ten are influencing the AAU to deny/accept entry of applicants to serve the big tens needs. IE the big ten could kick any non charter school for “suddenly losing accreditation” and keep other schools from applying by the AAU not allowing a school to join despite meeting the requirements?
Ben: I won’t say that isn’t happening, but if the B1G decided to kick someone out because they “suddenly lost accreditation,” that would be a MASSIVE lawsuit waiting to happen.
Jake: Nebraska isn’t in the AAU anymore, and hasn’t been for a while, and they’re still in the conference. In addition, the AAU isn’t accreditation body, it is a advocacy arm of a research cooperative, so no one is losing or gaining status as an accredited program by being in or out. I don’t think anyone is getting kicked out of a sports conference because of this association — no matter how much said conference has blustered about it in the past — nor do I think anyone is being pulled into a conference because of it. In addition, there are more or less 70 schools in the AAU, so the Big Ten members in it make up a minority in a diverse group of schools across the US and Canada and several levels of NCAA competition.
jabsterjacket: I haven’t seen a picture on a public site I can share (just FB), but it looks like Money Down will be a thing at Carowhina this year.
Ben: Not a question, but I wanted to include it anyway so we could all laugh at it.
Logan: Ok… so that is stupid and we all know it; but I am going to point something out for the rest of the year when Coach 404 not found gets discussed. We need to beat UNC this year, if we win every other game this year but lose to UNC then the season is a failure. Key better make winning against UNC his second highest priority (only topped by beating uga) because we will never hear the end of it if UNC snaps their losing streak to us with coach 404 managing the defense.
Submitted via email: What do we know about new basketball transfer Luke O’brien? His skill set seems really similar to Deebo Coleman’s. Also, is Jalen Forrest still going to be on the team next year? He hasn’t been included when y’all are counting scholarships.
Drew: I’ve got an article up this morning on Luke O’Brien. He’s the consummate role player. Shooting, defense, energy, and leadership. He’s got experience and especially important experience on a winning team. Hopefully he can come in and lead by example.
Honestly I had totally forgotten about Jalen Forrest. He went to a small college in Texas in the fall to get the right credits, but I can’t find any news on him joining the team in the spring as was planned. At this point I’m assuming he is not on the team unless I see some evidence otherwise.
Submitted via email: Hey Guys,
Hope you are doing well this week. My week has been hectic but fun. Looking forward to the draft, I’m expecting a lot of impact fantasy players to come from this draft in the long run. Should be fun to see who goes where.
Question this week. We still have 4 months (give or take) until the season kicks off. With the kickoff being in Ireland this year I wanted your thoughts on that neutral game. Someone was asking me why Ireland would want to have a college football game and why college teams would want to go to Ireland to play so far from home. I personally thought both of those were easy questions to answer, but I also thought it would be fun to hear your opinions. What do you think of the upcoming Ireland trip and how does it benefit both Tech and Ireland to have the game played there.
Yall finish up the week strong. Later,
Shillelagh MacTadhg
Ben: If nothing else, I think it’s a great opportunity for the kids to go travel to another country and experience some of the culture. A lot of these kids probably haven’t traveled internationally before. As for what it does for Ireland, anything like this is a MAJOR boost to the economy, so nobody will be complaining about that.
Logan: I think people often complain about losing a home game in Ireland (which doesn’t really apply to us this year), but the upsides tend to outweigh the negatives. I think for the athletes, this is obviously a huge plus to see the world and go somewhere fun to play a game in a big stadium. For fans, this is a great opportunity to travel overseas and see their team. Having been to our last trip, I think Ireland enjoys the tourism, but the people of Ireland also seem to enjoy learning a new sport and seeing the game played in their country. I hope we give them a good game this year, maybe even a big upset for them to talk about.
Jake: Tech gets a big payout, it is a great way to engage with alumni who otherwise might not catch a game or to deepen their relationship with existing engaged alumni, and it gives the players a great experience. Seems like a win-win-win for all involved on the Tech side. As for college football generally, it is essentially the equivalent to the jaunts around the US that the Premier League sides do, international friendlies in a variety of sports, or the NFL/MLB/NHL/NBA games outside of the US. For Ireland, it isn’t necessarily a huge economic boon (it’s a one day sporting event in a stadium that is used all year round, after all), but it is interesting and different for the locals and brings in tourists, who otherwise might spend their vacations elsewhere and could also tell their friends that they enjoyed their trip to Ireland.