Brent Key Tabs Several Standouts From Today's Scrimmage

Jackson Caudell | Apr 6, 2024

Oct 21, 2023; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets head coach Brent Key on the field / Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

Georgia Tech is getting closer to its annual White and Gold Spring Game and it is going to be a big one for the Yellow Jackets. There is a lot of excitement around the program after Georgia Tech won its first bowl game since 2016 and the Spring Game is going to be the first glimpse that fans get of seeing the 2024 Yellow Jackets. 

Today, Georgia Tech held its second spring scrimmage, and after the scrimmage was concluded, head coach Brent Key met with the media to talk about what happened on the field and this scrimmage went different than the one that happened last Saturday. The offense won last Saturday, but the defense had several standouts today and sounded like they outplayed the offense for much of the day. 

Key had no shortage of guys that he wanted to single out today for their performance. 

Among the defensive standouts, today was defensive lineman Josh Robinson. 

"He's had a really, really good spring so far. Really good to see his. growth and really, you look at a guy that's been around the program a long time and really taking all the coaching right now, playing in the scheme and we talk about doing your job. He's somebody that he doesn't say a lot, comes to work every day and truly does his job every play and he's been very consistent throughout the entire spring. Really pleased where No.27 is right now in his development for us. And it shows too, you don't have to be a young guy to develop in a program. I mean, you can be a four-year -fifth-year guy and still have ways to go. And he's taken that and he's really run with it and he's doing a great job"

Cornerbacks Ahmari Harvey, Omar Daniels, edge Jacob Cruz, linebacker E.J. Lightsey:

"Defensively, Ahmari Harvey, he's playing with a lot of confidence right now. There's things in his game we're working on, and we've had a lot of individual kind of one-on-ones with me and him of being able to focus off his energy on playing the game. Not always the emotional part between the plays, and he did a really good job of that today, and he showed the way he played, being able to get his hands on a lot of balls out there. Thought 21 showed up. Omar (Daniels), today was to make some good plays. You know, talked about No. 27, No. 35 Jacob Cruz, we've moved down to the rush spot. He's been there for about a week now, and he's starting to, starting to flash. Starting to make some, make some plays, showing his length and his speed. I think he's going to be, be a big help for us. But No. 2 (E.J. Lightsey), man, it's good to see him out there. He's a big, imposing, looking guy that can run and bring people down kind of in their tracks."

Key talked about the secondary as a whole and made sure to mention Syeed Gibbs and Warren Burrell, two transfers looking to make an impact. Also mentioned today was safety Clayton Powell-Lee, who is coming into his third year with the program. D.J. Moore, who is a converted receiver playing defensive back, was also mentioned by Key as someone who is having a good spring. 

Uh, so we've got some guys banged up. You know, we brought some guys in. I think Warren (Burrell) is obviously a really, really good football player. He's six foot, 195, you know, maybe over six foot, but he's what you want in a cornerback. You know, true cover corner. You know, some of those guys have been banged up a little bit, so it gives me a chance for some. some of the other guys to come in there and play. DJ Moore has had a really, really good camp so far, got banged up out there at one point. I think Clayton (Powell-Lee), Clayton has, Clayton's improvement from the start to now has been probably as good as anybody on the back end. I was really impressed with the tackles he made today, some of the tackles in space he made, some of the ones behind the line of scrimmage some of the different calls we had. Then, I've already talked about Ahmari. I thought Ahmari did some good things.

Offensively, Key did not list as many names as he did with the defense, but some players who have been praised this spring got more today. True freshman running back Anthony Carrie seems to be making his presence felt so far this spring and Yale transfer tight Jackson Hawes had another good scrimmage. Another running back that was mentioned today by Key was Trey Cooley: 

"Anthony (Carrie) had some really big runs, some really good runs. Showed really good vision and balance, made some good cuts. He's getting more and more confident every day he's been out here running the football We still got to work pass protection on the running backs with blitzes and those things, but I thought six and I thought Trey Cooley did some good things out there today."

"But then today really showed up as a big target that's hard to bring down is Jackson Hawes, the Yale transfer. He's a big target to see over the middle, especially when you get down in the red area, part of the game."

It is encouraging to hear about the defense stepping up and playing today, but there is still plenty of work to be done. The next scrimmage for Georgia Tech will be next week's spring game.