Faulkner interviewed for Southern Miss HC job, as posted on X by GTFan

FightWinDrink

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I think with the rapidly increasing budgets in the portal and NIL world we’ve seen the job pecking order change and I’m not sure a G5 head coaching position is necessarily higher on the ladder than a P4 OC / DC position. Faulkner already makes more money than several G5 head coaches. I would be more concerned about losing him to a super big money program OC position than a G5 school tbh
 

slugboy

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This was true before the transfer portal. Now, balanced classes don't mean much as transfers blow all of this up. Look at how many DL we lost last year...
When you’re getting players from the portal, they probably aren’t freshmen. We take grad transfers and others. We might lose a junior to the portal, but we’ll probably replace them with a junior or senior or grad transfer. We should either be equal or maybe even have more seniors than before the transfer portal.

I’d still expect about 17+ graduates a year (or more, with some graduating in three years). We gotta reload every year.

That doesn’t count the players transferring out, but we’ll also have players transferring in. We’ll lose a bunch of players. We should also get some good ones.

The graduating class is pretty well balanced in numbers by our incoming high school class. Our outbound transfers plus players out of eligibility should balance out compared to our incoming recruits and transfers..

We need a punter, a TE (I think), and a bunch of other players. I think we look pretty attractive, and next year will be good.

I think the coaches are looking forward to fielding an even stronger team next year. I don’t think our class numbers are a concern for them.
 

GoldZ

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Five on DL. Several DBs. 3 OLs. just to start.
Good replacements for most of them. Numbers wise the DL is of concern---a lot of 2025 Sophs are gonna have to step up. Biggers is hard to replace. I could see us having a Top 10 OL and secondary in 2026 & 2027. Hopefully there's a Pat Swilling type to go with em.
 

AugustaSwarm

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Good replacements for most of them. Numbers wise the DL is of concern---a lot of 2025 Sophs are gonna have to step up. Biggers is hard to replace. I could see us having a Top 10 OL and secondary in 2026 & 2027. Hopefully there's a Pat Swilling type to go with em.
I could see Christian Garrett and/or Derry Norris being impact players pretty early on. It's tough in the trenches though - most kids need a year or three to bulk up and gain the strength to play on the LOS.

But back to the topic at hand - I don't see Buster leaving while King and Philo are here, especially not for a lower tier program.
 

stinger78

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I could see Christian Garrett and/or Derry Norris being impact players pretty early on. It's tough in the trenches though - most kids need a year or three to bulk up and gain the strength to play on the LOS.

But back to the topic at hand - I don't see Buster leaving while King and Philo are here, especially not for a lower tier program.
It’s certainly two top-shelf QB’s. Get a couple of WRs like White, Campbell, Watkins, and Glover and we’ll be ready to roll.
 

SunBum

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But back to the topic at hand - I don't see Buster leaving while King and Philo are here, especially not for a lower tier program.
My fear, and it's not something that keeps me up at night - but when discussing these things, is that Faulkner and Philo could be a package deal for someone else...
 

WreckinGT

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I think with the rapidly increasing budgets in the portal and NIL world we’ve seen the job pecking order change and I’m not sure a G5 head coaching position is necessarily higher on the ladder than a P4 OC / DC position. Faulkner already makes more money than several G5 head coaches. I would be more concerned about losing him to a super big money program OC position than a G5 school tbh
Not many P4 OC's are becoming big money OC's these days. The few that do are for massive amounts of money like Dembrock or Kotelnicki. The other big money OCs are usually hired from within, brought along by new head coaches, or up and coming G5 OCs that can be hired for a little less. If he wants to be a HC then it isn't the easiest route to get there. He is probably better off going to a solid G5 program.
 

Techster

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Can we get Graham Knowles some love also? He also is a darn good QB, on the roster, that nobody mentions.

Dude is tall and athletic. I wonder if he's willing to entertain a move to another position. WR, TE, DE...QB will be tough for him unless he's willing to wait behind King and then Philo for the next few years.
 

yeti92

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If Knowles isn't going to see the field as a competitive QB, I'd like to see him used like we used Pyron this year and also as a WR for fades in the EZ. I'm sure he's plenty athletic, and he can literally just fall forward without moving his feet and pickup 2-3 yards every time. Height is something we really lack from our receivers and I wish we'd used Blackburn more in the EZ too.
 

UgaBlows

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Dude is tall and athletic. I wonder if he's willing to entertain a move to another position. WR, TE, DE...QB will be tough for him unless he's willing to wait behind King and then Philo for the next few years.
You never know with injuries, he could be the starter at some point next season
 

Root4GT

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If Knowles isn't going to see the field as a competitive QB, I'd like to see him used like we used Pyron this year and also as a WR for fades in the EZ. I'm sure he's plenty athletic, and he can literally just fall forward without moving his feet and pickup 2-3 yards every time. Height is something we really lack from our receivers and I wish we'd used Blackburn more in the EZ too.
If he isn’t on the field as a QB he likely transfers as the future starter post King is in the s as me year group. He is not changing positions. He will play QB at GT or elsewhere.
 
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