TOOT TOOT MFers!!! Wow, what a job by Pry and Co retaining the nucleus of this team and working the portal hard. I think everyone recognizes how special 2024 could be. This is the most excited I have been about the program in a very long time. Let's go!!!
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Bravo. Incredible retention in this portal+NIL era. Now let's get him a little more OL help and a few defenders up the middle and 2024 could be really interesting.
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Great to have him back. I have a feeling that unless Thomas just wants to be here, he probably looks for more carries. If that happens, we have a healthy gap back to the number two back. Wouldn't be at all surprised to see Brown come on board to slide in that gap. Edit: maybe add George Pettaway to the list of people of interest.
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I'm really surprised at this. I didn't think he would necessarily get a good draft grade, but I thought he would have stuck on a roster. With RB shelf life as short as it is I thought he'd try to spend as many of those seasons in the NFL. Of course the NIL might be competitive to an UDFA rookie deal plus he knows he's going to play. If that's the case, then it's probably the biggest benefit of NIL to players is that they can play at a high level longer rather than chasing a paycheck that may or may not come.
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Undrafted Free Agents make $750,000. But you probably still have an agent (-15%) and NIL doesn't require filing taxes everywhere you play. Room and Board is handled too. So you're looking at like $600k NIL equivalent to match a UDFA. Also we have better facilities than most pro teams.
An all-American kick returner definitely can find a place on a roster. But getting 3rd -4th round you're going to get a lot more money, so staying makes a lot of sense if you are a lower round pick and can make that money in college football.
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There is money in being an UDFA, but it's not 750K unless you make a roster and are active for all the games and even then the league min for a game is 41k or so.
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That's my point - IF you make the active roster. Practice squad is 216k annually. You stated USFA make 750k and I think that's misleading as they have to pass multiple gates to get that money.
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Listen to it on a good stereo and TURN IT UP........phones and PCs won't cut it.
I used to start Mondays with this cranked in the R&D Lab......to the enjoyment of most of the surrounding engineer offices, and the frowns of management LOL.
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We have to have ol and dl first. But, some of the smoke was we had to have the promise of a better OL as part of the draw for tuten to come back. So, hopefully, that means we have some people coming on OL.
People projecting anything better than 8-4 next year are setting themselves up for disappointment. Look at the schedule and find me 8 games... it's more like 6 or 7 at this point.
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It's hard to make projections at this point. Cuse, for example, is making waves in the portal. I dont know if they have the NIL to really build out that team or if their never-been-coordinator before HC will pan out, but they very well could be a difficult team to beat in the Carrier Dome. GT is also making a few ripples in the portal. And I don't know that Miami is ever a guaranteed loss.
Further, if VT gets Peebles, Gilliam and Brumfield, you can pencil in a stout 2-deep defense. Swings and misses on all 3, and that D will be gashed by any rushing attack. Similarly, VT doesn't look like it'll be getting an upper-level OL via the portal. They'll have to rely on a lot of freshman and sophomores to fill up that 2-deep. An injury there could be catastrophic.
That said, 8-4 is a safe bet at this point. Essentially the same as this year, except not starting in a 1-3 non-conference hole. Should be 5-sure wins. Should be 1-sure loss. Six unknowns.
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Maybe, but winning the ACC might be a bit far. If you look at the top teams that returned their production in 2023 it was led by Kansas, who had a great season for them, Mizzou was 2nd and they had a great season, FSU was 3rd and undefeated. But the 4th team was UNC and 6th team was A&M. USC also was 10th.
Starting 3-0 should be fairly easy as Vandy was worse than just about everyone we played, ODU and Marshall we should beat. Rutgers we can beat but we have to put up points, if we don't they will run the clock and play defense. We need them to throw the ball. After that, Miami, Clemson, and GT are the tough games, so there isn't a reason we can't go 12-0 but that is a lot for a 6-6 team that doesn't great lines or linebackers.
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It's awesome to have everyone coming back. However, we have a lot to fix or replace on both lines of scrimmage. I will be cautiously optimistic unless it becomes clear that both lines of scrimmage are improved from last year.
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I mean if you look at it this way, our offense should be as good as it is now. Defense loses Payne, but if Mcdonald continues to get better at LB we might a bit of a shot being as good as we were this year. That means ODU, Cuse, UVA, and BC are wins cause I don't see them closing the gap as we beat them all badly. Marshall should be a win with the end of season team. So that's 5 wins minimum with out any improvement.
Vandy is arguably worse than every team we played. Stanford wasn't good either. That means 7 wins should be the floor.
Duke got worse and wasn't good at the end of the year. GT was still only 6-6 and won on razor thin margins. Miami is a mess. Clemson doesn't have a QB and the offensive coaching is offensive. They haven't played the portal well so how much they get better is really on the coaches, which is not something I'd bet on.
Clemson at 8-4 and Miami 7-5 are the only teams we face next year with winning records this year.
We could not improve 1 bit and still get 9-10 wins. I really think with out knowing what other teams do right now the magic number is 8 wins. We had a good year but the talent is still lacking. We need talent in hard to fill spots too, so portal isn't always the answer. If we get to 10÷ wins we either got talent in the portal or Crooks, Price, and Marve/Quinn coached their butts off.
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I agree on Vandy and I always wonder what they do with all their $EC money because it's not going into the football program. I know the expose being such high academic standards etc etc but just seems comical how bad they are with all that money.
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Northwestern, Stanford, Duke, Cal, and UCLA all rank above Vandy academically and while Duke's history is about as bad as Vandy, they #1 have basketball and #2 have had better years than Vandy.
Notre Dame is ranked right behind Vandy and they have probably had fewer losing seasons than vandy has had winning. (Michigan is next and same probably holds true).
I am now to believe that Vanderbilt football is the largest money laundering scheme in the world. The amount of money that comes through there with nothing to show. It's quite amazing, I can't believe that women's bowling is that much of a money sink.
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Northwestern, Stanford, Duke, Cal, and UCLA all rank above Vandy academically and while Duke's history is about as bad as Vandy, they #1 have basketball and #2 have had better years than Vandy.
Duke has ACC football championships. They might be from 60+ years ago, but Vandy has never won the SEC in football. The only reason the SEC keeps them around is to keep their academic averages up.
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Steve Spurrier won the ACC at Duke in 1989 (the last time Duke won the title). It's why when he was still coaching that Duke would be in the others receiving votes on the first coaches poll of the year, because he would always put a vote in there for them at 25 on the preseason poll.
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Ah, I missed that one on the Wikipedia page because they shared the title with UVA. I was just looking for "Duke" while scrolling. Good catch! I was going to say damn you for making me remember that UVA has ever won an ACC title, but then I remembered that they shared them both so that's a warm fuzzy after all.
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Yeah I'm not saying we're ACC title contenders right now...still have the issues from this year to address. However, our schedule at least now seems easier than this year. I think we really have a great chance to take another step in 2024.
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this past season, after either Wake or Cuse I said UofL is the only game I didn't think we have a chance in, but I doubt we'd win them all. There isn't a game I don think we can't win next year, but I don't see us winning them all.
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Comments
Let's Go!!
HOKIES!!!!!!
LET'S GO!!!!
YAAAASSSS
TOOT TOOT MFers!!! Wow, what a job by Pry and Co retaining the nucleus of this team and working the portal hard. I think everyone recognizes how special 2024 could be. This is the most excited I have been about the program in a very long time. Let's go!!!
lfg
whats going on with gallo?
Really glad you asked, add me to the curious.
Bravo. Incredible retention in this portal+NIL era. Now let's get him a little more OL help and a few defenders up the middle and 2024 could be really interesting.
That Heisman ballot is gonna bleed M&O with a QB, RB and 1-2 WRs from Virginia Tech University.
Let's do this folks!
(also, donate a few bucks to Triumph. They're slaying it).
TOOT TOOT MFERS!!!
TOOT TOOT MFERS!!!!
Edit: so weird that the me and the guy above me wrote the same damn thing. Anyway, I'm drinking
You had the same exact idea at the same exact time, but you typing that one extra exclamation point caused you to be second :)
Great to have him back. I have a feeling that unless Thomas just wants to be here, he probably looks for more carries. If that happens, we have a healthy gap back to the number two back. Wouldn't be at all surprised to see Brown come on board to slide in that gap. Edit: maybe add George Pettaway to the list of people of interest.
Oh, you don't want DL and OL transfers coming in?
Oh, i most definitely do...
And I hope this keeps happening...
We shall rename this time of season to "erectus festivus"
Whew.
Pepper Needs New Shorts!!!
(I'll insert the gif when I land)
Let's grab a few more on the OL and DL, and a LB in the portal and fuck up 2024.
"Why do I hear DOOM music?"
- Opposing defensive players
Hope that kid on UVA is out of eligibility because he's going to have flashbacks when he finally climbs out of the shadow realm to see this news
I just (metaporically) went from 6 to 12.
Hopefully our 2024 regular season win total does a literal 6 to 12
Well played my friend.
Moved to new thread
Gonna start looking into booking travel accommodations for the playoff next year
That's a hell of a poster.
Is that in the NIL store somewhere?
Tuten dropped it on X. Not sure if team media guys or Triumph guys are doing them. Havent seen it for sale on Triumph but they should.
I'm really surprised at this. I didn't think he would necessarily get a good draft grade, but I thought he would have stuck on a roster. With RB shelf life as short as it is I thought he'd try to spend as many of those seasons in the NFL. Of course the NIL might be competitive to an UDFA rookie deal plus he knows he's going to play. If that's the case, then it's probably the biggest benefit of NIL to players is that they can play at a high level longer rather than chasing a paycheck that may or may not come.
Undrafted Free Agents make $750,000. But you probably still have an agent (-15%) and NIL doesn't require filing taxes everywhere you play. Room and Board is handled too. So you're looking at like $600k NIL equivalent to match a UDFA. Also we have better facilities than most pro teams.
An all-American kick returner definitely can find a place on a roster. But getting 3rd -4th round you're going to get a lot more money, so staying makes a lot of sense if you are a lower round pick and can make that money in college football.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/38284480/the-surprising-upside-being...
There is money in being an UDFA, but it's not 750K unless you make a roster and are active for all the games and even then the league min for a game is 41k or so.
41k x 17 is $697k
Math will get after you!
That's my point - IF you make the active roster. Practice squad is 216k annually. You stated USFA make 750k and I think that's misleading as they have to pass multiple gates to get that money.
NFL agents can't take more than 3% of salary earnings. It's often negotiated down to 1.5%.
One of the many reasons lots of guys got out of the business.
Huh, did that change or did I just completely mess up the decimal?
And running running and running running...
BIG TIME NEWS!
And runnin', runnin' and runnin', runnin'.........
Let's Get It Started - Black Eyed Peas
Listen to it on a good stereo and TURN IT UP........phones and PCs won't cut it.
I used to start Mondays with this cranked in the R&D Lab......to the enjoyment of most of the surrounding engineer offices, and the frowns of management LOL.
This is a big relief. Him coming back will hopefully buy TKP the time we need to finally come up with some puns about his name.
2024 expectations are high for everyone, not just the team.
AAAAAAAWEIWEHIWREGHGHGIEWFHWEFOWOOOOOOOO
Exactly, beard. Exactly.
Damn man, that's what I was gonna say...
So, we're making the playoffs next year I guess
Depends. Will we be in the SEC or Big10?
ftfy
We have to have ol and dl first. But, some of the smoke was we had to have the promise of a better OL as part of the draw for tuten to come back. So, hopefully, that means we have some people coming on OL.
People projecting anything better than 8-4 next year are setting themselves up for disappointment. Look at the schedule and find me 8 games... it's more like 6 or 7 at this point.
8-4 seems right.
2 Losses: Clemson, @ Miami
6 Wins: @ Vandy, Marshall, @ Old Dominion, UVA, BC, @ Syracuse
Go 2-2 vs. the Likely Toss-ups: Rutgers, GT, @ Duke, @ Stanford
Wins: Vandy, Marshall, Rutgers, GT, Duke, Stanford, ODU
Also wins: UVA, Cuse, Clemson, Miami, BC
This is probably the reasonable approach. Six win floor, ten win ceiling.
It's hard to make projections at this point. Cuse, for example, is making waves in the portal. I dont know if they have the NIL to really build out that team or if their never-been-coordinator before HC will pan out, but they very well could be a difficult team to beat in the Carrier Dome. GT is also making a few ripples in the portal. And I don't know that Miami is ever a guaranteed loss.
Further, if VT gets Peebles, Gilliam and Brumfield, you can pencil in a stout 2-deep defense. Swings and misses on all 3, and that D will be gashed by any rushing attack. Similarly, VT doesn't look like it'll be getting an upper-level OL via the portal. They'll have to rely on a lot of freshman and sophomores to fill up that 2-deep. An injury there could be catastrophic.
That said, 8-4 is a safe bet at this point. Essentially the same as this year, except not starting in a 1-3 non-conference hole. Should be 5-sure wins. Should be 1-sure loss. Six unknowns.
We might be pretty good next year...
Maybe, but winning the ACC might be a bit far. If you look at the top teams that returned their production in 2023 it was led by Kansas, who had a great season for them, Mizzou was 2nd and they had a great season, FSU was 3rd and undefeated. But the 4th team was UNC and 6th team was A&M. USC also was 10th.
Starting 3-0 should be fairly easy as Vandy was worse than just about everyone we played, ODU and Marshall we should beat. Rutgers we can beat but we have to put up points, if we don't they will run the clock and play defense. We need them to throw the ball. After that, Miami, Clemson, and GT are the tough games, so there isn't a reason we can't go 12-0 but that is a lot for a 6-6 team that doesn't great lines or linebackers.
It's awesome to have everyone coming back. However, we have a lot to fix or replace on both lines of scrimmage. I will be cautiously optimistic unless it becomes clear that both lines of scrimmage are improved from last year.
I mean if you look at it this way, our offense should be as good as it is now. Defense loses Payne, but if Mcdonald continues to get better at LB we might a bit of a shot being as good as we were this year. That means ODU, Cuse, UVA, and BC are wins cause I don't see them closing the gap as we beat them all badly. Marshall should be a win with the end of season team. So that's 5 wins minimum with out any improvement.
Vandy is arguably worse than every team we played. Stanford wasn't good either. That means 7 wins should be the floor.
Duke got worse and wasn't good at the end of the year. GT was still only 6-6 and won on razor thin margins. Miami is a mess. Clemson doesn't have a QB and the offensive coaching is offensive. They haven't played the portal well so how much they get better is really on the coaches, which is not something I'd bet on.
Clemson at 8-4 and Miami 7-5 are the only teams we face next year with winning records this year.
We could not improve 1 bit and still get 9-10 wins. I really think with out knowing what other teams do right now the magic number is 8 wins. We had a good year but the talent is still lacking. We need talent in hard to fill spots too, so portal isn't always the answer. If we get to 10÷ wins we either got talent in the portal or Crooks, Price, and Marve/Quinn coached their butts off.
I agree on Vandy and I always wonder what they do with all their $EC money because it's not going into the football program. I know the expose being such high academic standards etc etc but just seems comical how bad they are with all that money.
Northwestern, Stanford, Duke, Cal, and UCLA all rank above Vandy academically and while Duke's history is about as bad as Vandy, they #1 have basketball and #2 have had better years than Vandy.
Notre Dame is ranked right behind Vandy and they have probably had fewer losing seasons than vandy has had winning. (Michigan is next and same probably holds true).
I am now to believe that Vanderbilt football is the largest money laundering scheme in the world. The amount of money that comes through there with nothing to show. It's quite amazing, I can't believe that women's bowling is that much of a money sink.
Duke has ACC football championships. They might be from 60+ years ago, but Vandy has never won the SEC in football. The only reason the SEC keeps them around is to keep their academic averages up.
Steve Spurrier won the ACC at Duke in 1989 (the last time Duke won the title). It's why when he was still coaching that Duke would be in the others receiving votes on the first coaches poll of the year, because he would always put a vote in there for them at 25 on the preseason poll.
Ah, I missed that one on the Wikipedia page because they shared the title with UVA. I was just looking for "Duke" while scrolling. Good catch! I was going to say damn you for making me remember that UVA has ever won an ACC title, but then I remembered that they shared them both so that's a warm fuzzy after all.
Yeah I'm not saying we're ACC title contenders right now...still have the issues from this year to address. However, our schedule at least now seems easier than this year. I think we really have a great chance to take another step in 2024.
this past season, after either Wake or Cuse I said UofL is the only game I didn't think we have a chance in, but I doubt we'd win them all. There isn't a game I don think we can't win next year, but I don't see us winning them all.
He enjoyed curb-stomping UVA in their house so much he just HAD to know what it felt like to do it again in Blacksburg.
THIS is the one I was waiting for! (begins searching cities and dates for next season's playoff games)
Haven't TKP'ed last couple of days. Took wife away for weekend and stayed off my phone.
This is fabulous news.
Racing down the track to catch up. Toot, toot.
Love the Wallace and Gromit gif