Brent Key is Confident If He Has To Move Forward With Zach Gibson At Quarterback

Brent Key spoke about the Yellow Jackets backup quarterback after the game

Georgia Tech lost its prime-time ACC Coastal clash against Virginia on Thursday night and one of the big stories coming out of the game was starting quarterback Jeff Sims going down with an injury and not returning. The Yellow Jackets had to insert backup quarterback Zach Gibson into the game and the offense could not get anything going (to put it nicely). 

Georgia Tech quarterback Zach Gibson had a rough game vs Virginia on Thursday night / Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

For the game, Gibson went 10-25 for 99 yards and was sacked seven times. The offense totaled 41 yards in the second half and was lifeless without Sims and his ability to make plays on the ground and through the air. 

When asked if he was confident in moving forward with Gibson as the quarterback in future weeks if Sims was not able to play, here is what interim head coach Brent Key had to say after the game:

""Yeah. I told the team in there... we will be in the weight room tomorrow and back on Sunday practicing and with Zach being the quarterback, we have to go back to the drawing board and find what gives him the best chance to run the offense and give us a chance to win. That's something that's... it is not about me being confident, that is only a small part of that. The rest of the team has to be confident. That is the name of the game. The name of the game is everyone on the field and collectively in all three phases having confidence in each other and that is what has to take place. It is those guys that have to have confidence, they have to have confidence that the product that is out on the field and the players that are out on the field doing that, that they are in the best position to go out and have success for everyone else on the team and that is defense, that is special teams, that is everyone else that is playing in the game, that is who has to have confidence."

"Now, it is up to us as coaches to build that confidence Monday through Friday to build that confidence to go and play on Saturday."

With the continued poor play of the offensive line, it is going to be a challenge for the Yellow Jackets' offense to perform well enough to win without the threat of Sim's rushing ability. The coaches are going to have to do a good job of getting Gibson ready and making some tweaks to the offense. 

Georgia Tech is back in action next Saturday. The Yellow Jackets will hit the road to take on Florida State at 12:00 p.m on the ACC Network.

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