It was a big day for Georgia Tech Football this spring, as the Yellow Jackets held their first scrimmage. The White and Gold Spring Game is still two weeks away and Georgia Tech has just a few more practices until then.
After the scrimmage today, head coach Brent Key talked to the media, and here is everything that he had to say:
Opening Statement
” All right, so, I mean, a lot of things, 155 plays out there today, yeah. A lot of things that I don’t want to talk about because I don’t really want to say until I watch the tape. Really, the key thing about it is, I thought about this this morning as I was walking in and seeing the building about to come down and ripping things down and whatnot and building a new building. Really, building a football team each year is no different than that. You know, it’s that as the Edge comes down and the Fanning center starts to come up and you know they’re building the foundation first and they’ll build the foundation they’ll pour the footers and you know start to build block by block and work on the exterior work on the things that support the building that build the building for to be able to endure a long period of time and endure a lot of things and that’s really no different than building a football team, team in that we’re building a team right now that we hope can be a competitive team throughout the fall.
But right now, it’s about laying a foundation. It’s about putting the bricks down. And every day is laying a series of bricks and the foreman of that construction site, at some point, is going to walk over to the guys over there working and say, hey, take those last five rows down. They’re not straight enough and they’re going to have to dig it out, and they’re going to have to dig it up, tear them down, and rebuild it, right? Because the person that’s in charge of building that building has an expectation that when that thing is completed that it’s gonna be perfect. It’s gonna look just like the drawings. It’s gonna be exactly like they’ve talked about now for two years. So that’s really the way I see this going right now. We’re building a foundation. There’s things that go well, right? And then sometimes you have to go tear a few things down and rebuild them again, again in order to get them right because it might look okay, somebody might not be able to see it, but all of a sudden the building gets finished, you’re ready to put the final pieces together and something doesn’t fit, something doesn’t work, something doesn’t go together. So you’ve wasted a lot of time, so to be able to point those things out, to be able to self-assess individually, collectively, starting with me down through the coaches, through the team, challenge the players to be able to do that, to focus on what they have to improve on, not with they did well. All right, yeah, you want to see what you did well, but that’s also the expectation to do it correctly.
So just those things hit me when I was walking in this morning, I was like, “Dang.” Probably because that’s what I wanted to be, was a construction worker and working on those types of projects and what not. So I guess I am still doing the same type of duty a lot, but now we had… uh, a lot of football out there today. It was a great day.
Good weather. Um, we had family day for the players today. We also had a, uh, a really good turnout of recruits. Um, you know, that, that’s exciting to see there hadn’t been a day of practice so far that we have not had an absolutely great turnout of recruits coming here. Um, really good football players, their families, uh, some former players out there, uh, former teammates of mine. . Daryl Smith were out there watching Tooch (Tyler Santucci) over there with the linebackers the whole time. So it was good to have guys that have had the careers and experience those guys have to be connected still to the program and want to see those guys have success and take them under their wings. So that was exciting.
We had four full field, move the field, where we started on the minus 20-yard line, worked the full field. you know, in those, you know, that was ones, twos, and threes. In those series, it was those eight series, seven touchdowns and a field goal. Then we did a situational series there where it was eight series of second down play the third, where there’s a second down, second 10, and then whatever the third down, wherever it lies, you play it. So all the defense really stepped up in that situational period, you know. Being able to play the call out, made some good one -on -ones, one -on -one tackles, one -on -one plays. I thought they did a good job. As the scrimmage went on, I thought the guys up front did a really nice job of containing the quarterback.
Early on, there were some holes in there, some seepage. We know that’s been a major, major emphasis every single day of how you rush in the passing game. That’s why we have those second 10 play the third series. All right, I was able to cover those things up. up and I thought Z -Core, some of those guys had a nice job of doing their job and their responsibility within the call and containing the quarterback and be able to pull them up a couple of times. So it’s good to see that. We went eight series of short yardage. I feel like that’s something that we’ve got to really build the toughness and build the identity of a football team through, as we say, when everyone, when it’s third and one or third and two and everybody knows you’re gonna run the football, can you stop it? And when everybody knows you’re going to run the football, can you get the first down? So the guys I thought really showed up in that period, I thought the O -line did a good job. D -line got some penetration on place, but I thought those running backs ran their tails off in that period. They really did. And that’s what I wanted to see. Had some guys in there, you know, seeing, you know, some of the young guys, Anthony Carrie, they can, that’s a really good day today and Chad Alexander was able to, you know, the guy that can run the way he does and be able to, you know, run behind his pads today, you know, pick up some of those tough yards. I was really impressed with the way those young backs played today overall and a lot of things to clean up with them, just as far as alignments and techniques, but I was waiting to see those guys have an opportunity to cut loose a little bit. And I thought they did a nice job. You know, they won a lot of blitz today.
Pretty vanilla defense. We just want to see if we can play. Obviously, that’ll change as the next week rolls around. Then we ended up with four series of move the field, really in the plus area. We started on the 35 or the 30, working down into the red area. Thought it went back and forth there. Thought it started to get sloppy at the end. Details, guys, pad level up front. both sides of the football, some of the ball exchange with the quarterbacks and the running backs, especially with the young guys in there, not even close to enough reps with those guys to be at a level to be able to count on yet and we had some touchdown, a couple touchdowns in that area, and then Ahmari Harvey showed up again with the block field goal down in that area, which really actually should have had two of them today and was really close on the one.
And then the second one was able to squirt through. So credit him for going all out at the very end, very, after 140, 150 plays practice, screaming that he was still going hard and was able to get a block field goal. But also notice on the other side of the ball, we got to work on the protection on the edge and the wings and build it. And we can’t allow it to happen. We can’t allow it to get down in the red area and not come over the point. So, you know, there’s a lot of ebb and flows in it. You know, we had field goals and PATs were go today. Other than that, we’ll continue to work on the kicking game through this next week. It’ll be a heavy installation this week of situational football. Just starting to get into the third downs in the red area right now with the team. So, all in all, you know, we had some guys get banged up, been banged up, but that’s what spring practice is. I mean, when you play a tough physical brand football, you know, those things are going to happen. When you play it the more you play, the more you become accustomed to it, and your body’s become accustomed to it. The longer you’ll be able to play and more you’ll be able to, number one, endure, but more importantly, dish out. I think we had 40 plays live. Not live, 40 plays of tackle situations on Wednesday and then another 155 today. So we’ll have some tired puppies chasing them, the Easter Bunny around tomorrow. But like I said, we’re building a foundation right now. I think we have a chance to be a good football team, but right now we’re nowhere even close.
We’ve got a long way to go. Challenge the guys each and every week to treat it as one week of improvement and then be able to sit down. And when we get together on Monday morning to self -assess and those guys look themselves in the mirror and say, you know what, you know what, I get better this week? Did I not get better? And what do I have to do to get better this next week?” So all in all, it’s a good day to be out there for the first scrimmage of spring. Exciting. Whenever football’s out in the stadium playing.
But got a long way to go. Got a lot of coaching to do. We didn’t have a lot of penalties. I thought that was a positive today for a first scrimmage. The ACC had a crew out there, you know, there are 26 officials out there today with different guys working, different crews working, you know, they’re coaching their guys up as well, so it was good to have those guys here and be able to answer questions and talk through things as they occurred on the field. So it’s coaching for them, good for our players to go up and get feedback from the officials when things take place, so they’re here in real-time, you know, so it’s a learning experience and I thought we had a good learning experience today.”
1. On the newcomers that stood out to him in the scrimmage…
“Yeah, I don’t want to miss anybody, I’m trying to go through. James and Riggs played left tackle with the ones today for 100 and whatever plays. I thought he did against a pretty static defense for the most part. I’ll have to watch the tape and see, but I thought he didn’t show up as making those killer mistakes out there. So I’ll no more than I have a chance to watch it all. He was running with the ones, Anthony. Evan’s not a newcomer, but he was good to see him out there. Jackson Hawes– I mean, he’s a big old sucker across the middle now, especially down when you get down in the red area. That’s a big old target, and they can fall forward for you. Tana, working with the twos at center, have been impressed with him so far. I think Harrison Moore, I think all those young O-linemen have a chance to be really good. I think Harrison Moore working with the twos. So I’m glad to see Leo (Blackburn) back out there. I know he’s not a freshman, but he is a newcomer right now. So it’s good to see Leo out there. I mean, he’s not just making plays, but he’s trying to play physical and imposes will in all that he’s doing. So it’s good to see him up.
Warren Burrell and Syeed Gibbs on the defensive side. Jackson (Hamilton) has flashed throughout the weeks. Didn’t notice him as much today. That’s not because I wasn’t just one watching him in particular. All in all, we’ve got to get off blocks better on the defensive side. We’ve got to be able to strike and use our hands. Didn’t notice him as much today. That’s not because I was just one watching him in particular. All in all, we’ve got to get off blocks better on the defensive side. We’ve got to be able to strike and use our hands.
I think the guys have been rolling with with that group you know Jackson Kyle, Tren, and Tah’j, I mean all four of those guys have a chance to really help us and play a lot of really good football for us but a lot of reps in front in front of them between now and you know now in August so I need everyone up we can get whom I’m missing, some of the new guys out there. Jordan Boyd, Jordan flashes, they can run. He’s athletic.
He’s going to be a really, really good football player every day’s a new day for those guys right now, though. So it’s good to see him in a little more of a simulated scrimmage out there where it’s not the full playbook, and really see who can go play. Because the next one will be a bit different when it comes in regards to that.
2. On how the players have adjusted to the new defensive scheme and coaches…
” I’m really pleased to have those guys here as coaches number one, you know, it’s a, it’s a scheme that I’m very familiar with I’m not from I was just seeing it in the league for a couple of years and following those guys, but very similar to the scheme that Front coverage -wise, that Coach O ‘Leary ran for forever when I was with him. So to be able to know it and know the ins and outs of it and know the expectations of it, and be able to really be comfortable with that as a good fit on this team. You know, it’s about… a balance of offense, defense, and kicking game. It’s not just about one side of the ball and what scheme they have. The schemes all have to go together, but they also have to be personnel driven. You can’t just say you’re going to run a scheme on defense and not have the guys to do it. So as we continue to recruit towards the scheme, we’ll continue to improve with it. The second to play the third. And I thought they really stepped up and did some good things. But like, you know, it’s like anything, it’s going to take time. But man, they are, the kids are all in as far as the coaching goes. I mean, they’re in here, they’re wanting to come in and get extra time and, you know, they’re in the meetings. I go through and sit in all the different meetings throughout the days, days and they’re attentive they’re asking questions I mean they’re there and they’re being coached up they’re being taught.
You know the job that Jess Simpson has done and Kyle Pope and Jess Simpson is a phenomenal teacher he’s a phenomenal football coach phenomenal person you know Tyler (Santucci) is a I think I said it before you know it’s hard to to believe he’s 35 years old out there as the DC and he’s almost like the and then the guys on the back end, you know really shown I mean Ahmari Harvey’s really continued to improve, he’s one that’s got to continue to stay in the moment of every play not let those not let some of the external things get to him and that’s what I was saying he could have had two block field goals and then snapped it, snapped out and poured it in, and got one that he probably had two of them in the scrimmage. Warren Burrell, I mean, just the coaching that he’s getting from Ricky in accepting the coaching. So I’ve been all in all very pleased with the receptiveness to the coaching. The coaching has taken place. The scheme that’s out there. there, but like all three phases, you know, thank goodness we don’t play more because we got a long way to go.”
3. On Rodney Shelley and Clayton Powell-Lee…
” Yeah, I mean, leadership, I want to say make plays first. I want to see those guys be on the field consistently and consistently do their job, and make plays. I’m very pleased with Rodney. Rodney’s been rolling with a group of three guys that are really rolling with those first corners, made a really nice play on the ball today down in the red zone. Tremendous special teams value that he brings. Clayton kind of the same thing. He had a play on Wednesday where he came up and had a one-on-one with Eric in the open field and made the tackle an open space. And I mean, I was just pleased about that now. I mean, to see that, to see the technique and the tackling that’s, that they’re being taught, taught and then be able to execute it. So leadership is not something you just expect from somebody. You can’t demand leadership from somebody. Leadership comes from, over time, earning respect and trusting your teammates. Right now it’s about seeing who can go out and play the right type of football, be fundamentally sound, play with great effort, be tough, show toughness. toughness, play with discipline. And as we go through spring and summers where leadership really starts to kick in, that’s where when coaches aren’t around and you have player-led drills, that’s where you really start to see the leadership kick in. And I think we’ve got some guys that have a chance to be good leaders on this team.”
4. On evaluating spring scrimmages compared to summer/fall scrimmages…
“Standard is the standard. You either do it or you don’t do it right. I don’t care if it’s in January, March, May, April, August or December. There’s only one way to do things. It’s the right way. It’s what you’re coached to do. It doesn’t matter if it’s the ones out there, the threes out there. Everyone’s coached the same. Everyone’s given the same information. Everyone’s given the same amount of time to learn. Everyone’s given practice reps. So no, there’s zero difference in the way that things are evaluated. And I think that’s something hard for people to understand at times. It was hard for me to understand as a young coach that regardless of who’s on the field, regardless of what time of year it is, the standard is what it is. There’s a certain standard that everyone has to play to every single day. Everyone has to coach to every single day and as soon as one person in the organization takes that, they often think that it’s not important that they are at the highest level and the very best that they can be as an individual. You’re going to have a crack in the ship and we can’t allow that. That’s my job as a head football coach, is to make sure that every single day everybody walks through those doors and we’re at the standard we are.
And you say, “Well, it is a standard.” It’s a very cliche term. will standards be better than you were the day before me that’s what best you can be that day he can make something up;”
5. On having recruits on campus and building out the 2025 class…
“I mean we’ve had more kids on campus in the last two weeks and we’ve had in the last you know one day there’s so many people out of the practice indoor, I’m flipping out. That’s getting too close to the sideline. Coach Eley comes up to me and goes, “Hey, young buck, I remember when there’s about 10 people here, now we have about 300, so let’s count our blessings and figure it out.” So the wisdom that I have from Chief. So, no, it’s, it has been good. It’s good to get the players here. You know, I’ll roll out of here and I’ll be in individual meetings probably over five or six weeks. o ‘clock tonight with prospects. You know, getting the right guys for us here and we’re involved with a lot of really good players, but I mean, you know, the worst thing in the world is to brag about being second, right? Might as well be tenth or last. So it’s all you are. All right, so our job is to recruit at the highest level we can for the best players schematically for our schemes, all right, and then the best players that fit into what we need here at Georgia Tech. And that is, you know, it’s a level. I mean, look, you don’t you don’t change where you’re at in the scope of anything in life, much less the scope of college football, all right, if you continue to just be comfortable where you’re at.”
6. On the young quarterbacks…
“We always go back to start at square one in installation, offense, defense, kicking game. I believe they’re going to the locker room. But when you’ve got a veteran group that the retention is there, the ability to process information quickly with the rest of the guys, you’ve got to coach to a certain level. And Buster has to install to a certain level. And that’s not the level, like I said, it’s different than I said in recruiting. I mean, if you’re going to install and coach the level to be as you were last year, then you’re never going to elevate yourself in the scope of– in the landscape of college football at all. So there’s a lot on the plate. They’ve got guys in front of them that have a wealth of knowledge in the scheme. It’s kind of a little bit of an unwritten tradition that the first scrimmage pass of a freshman is always a deep shot down the field for them. So we roll for both of them. So like I said, a lot to work on. So they are very good players. They are, and they’re very fortunate to have guys in front of them that you talk about leadership. I mean, those guys in front of them bring tremendous amount of leadership and have taken them under their wing and their heads spinning at times. But it’s a little different when there’s a big mistake by it. And you look out there and it’s a freshman quarterback, freshman run -back, freshman center, freshman tackle, freshman receiver on the motion. A little bit different reaction from me than if it’s your season. season vet that’s out there when one mistake happens.”
7. On the wide receiver room…
“Yeah, well, you know Trent McKnight came in very, very open with the guys and he’s a tremendous coach, tremendous teacher, tremendous evaluator, recruiter, and he’s shown that in his history of where he’s been and what he’s done. To be able to come in and walk into a veteran group and say, “Hey, look, I don’t have all the answers right now. I’m learning this. I’m going to get called up. I’m not going to tell you guys something.” something wrong if I don’t know. But to be transparent and open, that’s what I want all of our people to be. You know, we want to be black and white here, the way we talk with our kids. And for him to be able to walk in and do that and be very comfortable with himself and comfortable in his own skin to do that, that shows a lot of confidence as a coach, but also a lot of confidence as a man to be able to say those things. But our players respect that, they understand that. His drills are very good. He does a good job, job of coaching to the whole, not the part, meaning that he’s going to coach top to bottom every person that plays receiver. Not just the guys that are on the field when the first play of the game.
I think the players really respect that. You see the development of those guys. I mean, everybody talks about Eric and Malik and those guys, I mean, well, you know, the spring so far that Avery Boyd has had with what, Avery’s doing. And, you know, Abdul (Janneh), you know, Chase (Lane) being back out there, Leo coming back around.”
8. On the new helmet communications with the coach and quarterbacks…
“It’s been good. I think I probably made a bigger deal about it coming up in the time I spent talking about it in staff and the process. process of going through it. And it’s been quick, it’s been pretty seamless. I think you’re gonna see a little bit of a different flow of the game in college football, both sides of the ball, I really do. When it comes direct, and look, just because it comes to the quarterback, the NFL, so many teams, they huddle, they get the play call, they huddle, they tell everybody. But when you’re playing with tempo, when you’re playing no-huddle and spread, just because the quarterback gets it, doesn’t mean our getting it. So there’s still the same process of having to signals and dummy signals and relaying information. So that’s still there, the quarterback starts to get the information and process it and look, some people are better seeing a signal and saying it to themselves than they are hearing something and then regurgitating it.
But I think you’re going to see some differences, I do. And that’s what we’re preparing for. We’re kind of watching it now in these live situations. And seeing the time of the play being executed, time of the clock, I think it’s going to help defenses a lot with things coming in. But look, it’s not like you’re going to be able to come out there and right before the play, tell them what’s going on. In 15 seconds, it shuts off.”
