Technical Tidbits 8/1: Georges-Hunt and Thomas Face Bumps in Road to the Pros

Marcus Georges-Hunt was waived by the Orlando Magic yesterday. The former Yellow Jacket great seemed to be well on his way to securing a full roster spot after a strong summer league performance. However, the Magic’s signing of veteran SG Arron Afflalo last week created an excess of wings, leaving Georges-Hunt as the odd man out. MGH broke into the NBA last season with the Miami Heat, before signing on with Orlando for the end of the season. He played in 5 games for the Magic, scoring 14 points in 48 minutes. In summer league action, Georges-Hunt improved every aspect of his game, scoring 14 points per game on 50.0% shooting (42.9% from 3). He has shown that he is worthy of a full roster spot and should get a shot with one team or another during training camp.

Marcus Georges-Hunt isn’t the only recent Georgia Tech alumnus to have hit a snag on his road to a professional career. Departed QB Justin Thomas was cut by the New Orleans Saints this weekend. Thomas originally made the team during their rookie mini-camp, signing onto their offseason roster as a wide receiver. Although it didn’t work out with the Saints, Thomas was quick to land another opportunity, flying up to New York on Monday for a workout with the Jets today. Thomas will try to make the team as a wide receiver, returner, and/or a cornerback. The road to the NFL was always going to be hard for Thomas, but he has impressed at every opportunity thus far and had interest from multiple teams after being cut by the Saints.

With conference media days wrapped up, the mothership’s Jason Kirk took the official preseason polls from each conference and put took a look at what bowl season would look like if those polls turned out correct. Kirk has Georgia Tech facing off against South Carolina in the Belk Bowl. Personally, I think this would be a fun matchup, as it would continue Tech’s recent tour of the SEC East and would presumably get good turnouts from both schools, as Charlotte is within a three hour drive from each campus. Other notable matchups include Florida State in the playoffs against Ohio State and old foe Urban Meyer, Clemson in the Orange Bowl against Penn State, and the Richt Bowl in Orlando (Miami-UGA in the Citrus Bowl). Soon we’ll be able to stop projecting and start watching actual games - football’s back this month!

• Georgia Tech released July’s Toddcast, in which Athletic Director Todd Stansbury and Voice of the Yellow Jackets Andy Demetra discussed scheduling, branding, and Costco. I haven’t given it a listen yet, but it’s in my queue.
• I’ll leave you today with some advice from senior safety Shaun Kagawa (third picture in the embedded tweet).