Everything From Brent Key After Georgia Tech's First Fall Camp Scrimmage

Key spoke with the media after the first scrimmage

Oct 28, 2023; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets head coach Brent Key on the field before a game against the North Carolina Tar Heels at Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports / Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

The first fall camp scrimmage is now in the books for Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets are now three weeks away from their season opening game in Dublin, Ireland vs Florida State.

After the scrimmage ended, Georgia Tech head coach Brent Key spoke with the media and here is everything that he had to say.

Opening Statement

"So just kind of what we did out there, we got out. I think we finished up a few minutes ago. Probably three hours total, three and a half as far as time out there with pre -practice individual stuff. So good, long scrimmage, right at 160 plays total this time last year. I think we were shooting for 140. And I think we ended up, you know, the first scrimmage getting around 126 or 129. I can't even remember exactly. So even at that 126, 125 mark this year, there was still, guys were still moving around really good, fresh, staying off the ground, playing the game the right way. So really, that goes back to the depth. They were able to, you know, we've been able to acquire and build over the last year because the threes were able to get out there and they were over 30, 30-35 plays. The third group was able to get today. And we wanted to see if we could get that many with that group. Because there's a lot of guys in that group that we're looking to see if they can help us this year. And that's what camps for to see what young guys can go out and help play winning football So that was good to see those guys be able to get out there and have some success and sustain drives on both sides. You know, a lot of things we've got to fix, a lot of things to clean up.

We went into this talking in terms of this in -dress rehearsal. This is game day. You've got to prepare yourself going into it as if it's game day. And then we'll hit a hard reset tomorrow and go back into camp preparation, you know, building our football team mode. But, you know, a lot of things we have to get better at. A lot of things we have to work on. I think now is the point in camp where, you know, the guys know what to do. It comes down to the details, the techniques, the alignments, you know you go back and forth.

There was not a dominant on one side of the ball or the other, and that's what you look for. You want it to be, you don't want it to be one -sided. You want it to have flow back and forth. And, you know, both sides of the ball, if you talk to Santucci or Buster, I'm sure they both going to tell you, well, the only reason the other side had success was because of mistakes. And that's what it's about. It's about being honest with yourself, you know, being able to self-assess and Challenge everybody to look themselves in the mirror. It starts with me, starts with the coordinators, starts with the position coaches and the players. If we can come in and have a real hard, tell the truth, day tomorrow, we have a chance to get better this week. But it did. It flowed back and forth in the first half when we were going sustained drives, you know, really from the minus 20-yard line. I think it was four touchdowns, five, three-in-outs, and a 52-yard field goal that had leg on it to go a mile, but defense got in and got a hand on it. So, and threw it off. So you see right there just the flow back and forth that both sides had. And really, when it comes down to it, if you look at why there wasn't success, it's things we did ourselves, whether it was an alignment, whether it was an assignment -based or an adjustment, we've got to make sure we get those things done so we can have success both ways.

Went into a third down scrimmage. I really wanted to see where we were at as far as from a protection standpoint, from a improved pass rush standpoint, from a coverage standpoint, receivers being able to, you know, get open, cover on the back end. You know, in third group, I mean, I think they were 67 percent efficient the offense was. Second group was 50 -50. Just like I said, you're seeing balance in both things. But if you look at the first group, defense was 100 % efficient. Defense was eight for eight in big plays against the first offense. So we'll talk about improvement in a football team. Now we've got to look at that offensively and see why that was. Okay. But we've got some, we've improved ourselves depth -wise and personnel -wise on the defensive front, you know, schematically, some of the rushing the passer in a one -on -one situation, that's what we're looking for. You know, you can scheme all the blitzes and stunts and movements all you want, but, you know, it comes down to a guy's ability to line up and win a one -on -one pass rush, and we were able to do that consistently today. You know, flip the other side, we've got to consistently be able to, you know, to block one -on -one in the pass protection. So it's not a fault of one side or the other. It's an improvement, I believe, in the defensive side. And then, you know, some things where we need to possibly help a guy or chip a guy, and that's part of football. We had two drives in the red area, plus territory, scrimmage part of it. That's where last year we almost looked at each other and said, all right, we got to kill this thing. We were still rolling good. You know, two drives, two touchdowns there. So you should go from a third down period where the first group, you know, the first group in offense didn't have success. The first group defense did. All right, well, now you flip around the other way in the next period. All right, well, they adjusted. They didn't let one thing carry over to another. You know, two long ones, and then, you know, we don't need to be in those long, third -down situations. All right, but he came up and converted, and that's what you look for. One of them was on a two -minute drive, one was in the red area.

So I thought Leo had a really good day. Man, I was really, really excited and proud of him, really proud of him of what he's been through and how he's come, you know, just continually the resiliency that he's shown to come back and be out there with us and be a big factor for us. The tight -in group had a big day. You know, you talk about, you know, from a receiving standpoint, but, you know, there's a lot of things we've got to improve from every other facets of the game, too. But, you know, Jackson Hawes had a really impressive touchdown in the red area. He's like a monster truck. Big, big-body guy with good balance. I think, four catches and a touchdown. If I'm not mistaken four catches and a touchdown out there, sure-handed, catches everything that comes in sight. The details are what Harp's got to work on, just understanding all the different alignments and the motion, the alignments, and all the things that happen before the snap. Because once the ball snapped, he's, even if he's not precisely or whatnot. He's a competitor now. It must run in his blood or I don't know. So it was good to see that and then really big day for Brett Seither. I thought to see Brett have two touchdowns today. Had a really good day catching the football and the way he played out there. So really really proud of Brett, you know, and that's what he wanted to do and he went out and did it.

So the quarterbacks, the quarterbacks did a good job. You know, a lot of different looks, the first team offense at the same versus the first defense. You know, and then, you know, some of those packages start to, you know, diminish a little bit just because of personnel that you have when you get to the other groups. But, you know, Haynes had a solid day out there with the first group that would deliver the ball, put it where it needs to be, manage the offense. We had crowd noise at times in different areas to start to simulate the crowd noise good job. So all in all, there's a lot of things we have to work on. We have to be honest with ourselves. We have to develop the consistency. Everyone in the team played today. Everyone was able to get in there and play. So now we can really have a true evaluation of who we are and the personnel on our football team. Not just who's going to help us on offensive defense, but who's going to help us on special teams. And that's where a lot of those young guys are going to be factors until they really start to, you know, settle into the offensive and defensive schemes. Hopefully we've improved ourselves and our personnel when it comes to the special team's part. But everyone got to play. We'll check, watch the tape tonight, see where we're at, and come back and get ready to go tomorrow."

1. On if he changes his philosophy with rotations and the roster in scrimmages now that they are deeper...

"You know, everything depends on the position. You know, defense is different than offense. You know, if you have the luxury to do it on the defensive line, yes, you want to do it. I mean, you don't want to sit there and look at the end of the game and D -Tackles had 60 -65 plays. It's not healthy. It's not a winning formula. You know, the stress that on those guys and the effort they have to play with in the effort, we expect them to play with every play. And Jess holds those guys to a high standard and, you know, no different than anybody else. So, you know, we'll be able get, you know, multiple waves of guys coming in. But that also, you know, you know, you got to be sharp on substitutions. All right, you got to know when to, right, you got to know when you have the package is ready to go. So coming on, coming off and practice it through the week and some of the things that might have been little glitches throughout the week this week. You know, we were hard on it this week during the – when we come off the field, and so those things got cleaned up. But I think Tuch (Tyler Santucci) has a great feel of the game, a great feel of the game, a great feel of calling the game, when personnel is coming in and out, very calm. You know, you flip – I'm flipping back and forth, and you get on the defensive headset. No one's talking. There's no craziness going on. No people aren't, you know, losing their minds, and he's got control. He's got poise. You know, and does a really good job calling a football game. He's, you know, been very impressed with him now. This is what, two plus three, the spring game, this is the fourth time, you know, really hearing him call a game and been impressed with not just him, but the standard he holds his entire staff to on how they operate on game day. So, but, you know, yeah, we want to play as many guys as we're able to play. And that's our job. You know, our job is play the best guys. Whether you're freshman, whether you're a senior, it doesn't matter. Once the guy's ready to play, all right, and, you know, I don't believe in waiting your turn. I believe in going out and practicing as hard as you can every day, put yourself in a position to be the best one out there. if you're fortunate enough to have."

2. On how the new defensive line additions handled themselves today...

"We're deeper, we're better. It allows the guys that have been here that have played a bunch of reps to play more, you know, efficient reps. I guess the best way to say it. And, you know, you don't want to count your chickens before the hatch. We still have a lot of camp to go. But like I said, we've, I feel like we've improved our pass rush. Inability to stop the run with the front."

3. On Keylan Rutledge and the right guard competition...

"Yeah, I mean, took every rep. First team guard today. He's a throwback. He is a throwback O -lineman, nasty, plays the game in weigh the old heads, you know, wanted that position to be played. And it's contagious, the toughness he plays with, the mentality he plays with. He's able to, you know, one-on-one move a man, you know, to get movement. You can anchor in a pass pro and all the things you look for in a guard. Been really pleased with him this camp, not just with his performance, but the mentality that he's brought to that group. Going into the scrimmage, we said that we'll really look hard at the depth chart tomorrow and we'll really set it for the next week. We wanted to see guys play today. I wanted to see a lot of guys play. I wasn't as concerned with who was with the ones or the twos or the threes or right side, left side. You know, where they were at, that didn't matter to me as much. Come October. So by next Saturday, we'll have a little better feel for who's settled into what spots right now. Right now we're trying to get a lot of them reps, but I've been very impressed with Keylan and so far."

4. On how recruiting is going...

"It's part of this everyday thing. I mean, there's a, you know, when you come and you're a college football coach, you're not, you're not just a coach, you're a recruiter. We coach and recruit, all right? You can't not do one one day and do something the whole one day. And then, you know, here at Georgia Tech, we have a responsibility to our guys on the team to make sure they're doing right. And we're heavy in the academics that they do in the school, and that's been reflected with how they've done academically. So it's really three hats you wear here. I mean, you're a little bit of an academic advisor with these guys academic mentor with them. You know, and it's just to aid the academic staff that we have and that do us such a good job. And then it's a coaching recruiter, and you can't take one day off from any of them. So, yeah, we've been doing all of them a lot. And there's only so many hours in the day, so we're getting it all in. And I think I've been very happy with the staff. Very happy with the staff, very happy with the coaching staff, the support staff that's involved. We've got a good group of people here, men and women."

5. On the running back position and how Trelain Maddox is progressing...

"Yeah, I think he's at nine and a half months now from his injury. But we want to be certain with him with Tre and make sure that he's fully ready to go when he goes back out there. He's a beast now. You're talking to 6 -2 -210 -15 -pound running back that does everything right for a freshman. This kid sits in the front row. He takes every single note of everything. He's early. The way he works, the focus he has every single day. You would not believe the way he carries himself that he's a freshman. So that's only going to add to his ability to come back from a mental standpoint after the physical part as well. So I'm really excited about him and hopefully we can get more and more as the weeks go on, getting him involved in things. Other guys, we know Jamal is a good football player, very versatile. Today was a day to be able to see some of the other guys. Thought Scooter had a good job, did a good job today. You know, had some hard carries. Evan Dickens had some really nice carries today but you know it's it's overall you know the it's what they have to do you know I don't think we had one ball in the ground we were covered back it was a lot off the ground calls it or not off to look of film and see but for the most part I think we did a good job of holding on the football all right and then the big part of it running back though I mean you know they're a running back they ought to be they ought to call them a blocking back because they have to understand past protections. And that's the hardest thing for a young guy to do. That's the hardest thing for young guys to understand those protections.you know, to see them, to see the pictures. All right, the technique that on with it because that's just as important as carrying the football because if we just thought about the part of running football and they had a very productive day you know you know good balance and that was the thing I know Evan's been working on and you know the balance you know some of his things and I thought he showed up today doing some of that and then like I said Scooter is, you know some really good hard runs he's a good inside runner that to continue to work on his pad level, you know, and like all the freshmen continue to learn, you know, the different things that go on all before the snap."

6. On the speaker series he has been doing recently...

"Yeah, so it's been really, the first week of the speaker's been really, really cool. It's a Monday night, Brandon Marshall spoke to the team. You know, got played for us at UCF many years ago. You know what? That's why you coach. At the end of the day, that's why we all coached. To see these guys come back, you know, it's been, gosh, you know, 20 years, 19, 20 years since that. But to see him, to see the obstacles that he's overcome in his own life, to be able to get in front of our guys and talk about those things, to talk about the challenges, you know, he could have talked for five hours, and our kids would have been dialed in. I mean, just kept asking questions. And, you know, something he talked, you know, one of the things that stuck out that Brandon said, I keep wanting to say B. Marsh, Brandon said, you talk about success and failure, are really, they're the same. They're both distractions. Man, You talk about hitting home to our team, right? Because that's what we're trying to do right now. We're trying to build a consistent football team, right? You start with learning how not to lose, and you start learning how to win. Well, now you're going to learn how to win consistently, okay? I would understand that and hear him say that, and you're talking to one the best ever. You know, you're talking 13,000 career NFL receiving yards, you know, just, but the obstacles he's overcome and the challenge he's had and his talk about mental health and what he does to control his emotions every day and not being an emotional person.

And then the success he's having now with his companies and what he's doing as an entrepreneur, just, man, so proud of him, so good to see him there. And then Brian Kite came in on Wednesday. You know, Brian's a guy that does a lot of things with the mental coaching part of the game, works with a lot of different people. He works with us throughout the entire year. But to talk to the team and put things in a way that the team can understand, Brian talked, the thing I think probably that stuck the most. I mean, after the meeting, I mean, every single quarterback came right up and said, hey, can we get those slides in the recording? We want to watch that. We want to see it again. You know, have that type of impact on it. And, you know, we talked about, you know, the, how do you say it? When you're talking about stacking days, have, all right, with a sense of urgency, but yet you have to be patient over the course of time and not get frustrated and just say, well, I'm not there yet. Stop. So be able to talk about the discipline that it takes to do those and the discipline with other things. You know, I thought he hit home and then last night, you know, we had two Marines come in.

We had a master sergeant and a major from the U .S. Marine Corps, Thomas Fisher and Batro Zico. He was a former Bosnian refugee. He came to the United States, got into the military, but just to hear them talk about grit and toughness and focus. Some guys, you know, you get sore feet or, you know, a little cut here or there. And they're talking about, you know, trekking 15 miles with 120 pounds on their back and sitting in a corner with, you know, seven other people for 48 hours, wait for one chance to do something. So all of them have great messages, you know, all of the messages, really, you know, centralized back around the things we talk about as a program, but they have different ways of saying it. So sometimes when you have somebody else come in and tell that story, you know, you never know who in the room is going to be affected by someone different. You know, and it might be somebody you don't think will, and to have those guys come in and really be telling their stories and giving very insightful information to the team. But it's really the same stuff we say all the time, but it's a little bit different. It's someone else saying it, so the effect sometimes becomes a little bit greater."

7. On the offensive line depth and if that helps special teams...

"Well, my thing is if you're a first team offensive lineman, talented, they can help us. Yeah. But, you know, it's not the YMCA. We're going to put our best people on the field. We're going to put them in position because when we're kicking, we're kicking for points. When you're kicking for points and you're trying to score points, the points are to win."

8. On Kyle Pope, Jess Simpson, and the defensive line...

"I've been very confident in in Pope and Jess uh it's coaches and in his teachers you know that's the best compliment you can say about those guys they are unbelievable teachers They compliment each other so well. I mean, just tremendous compliment to each other with what they bring to the table. You know, are we in a different place and we're worth in the spring? Yeah, much so. You know, a lot of, it's personnel driven. It's also the improvement over the summer these guys have made that we're here. But, look, I mean, you know, it's not necessarily. I mean, there's a lot of good coaches out there and they have a lot of good schemes. and, you know, they don't go to bowl games. So, you know, it's about the talent and the type of, you know, culture that you build in each individual room as a coach. And I think both those guys have a tremendous job of that. And, you know, now you turn the tape on now, and, you know, neither one of those guys will have a smile on their face. But that's what it's about, you know. The expectation is to do things right. All right. So as a coach, all we are is teachers, right? We're teachers and teaching his ability inspire learning. We have to get the guys to learn what to do and to do it consistently over time. And that's what those guys do a great job of. So, you know, to think we're going to come in and show guys tomorrow everything they did well, that's not the case, right? The expectation is to do things well, to do things the right way. Our job is teachers to show them what they didn't do right and get those things fixed. And that's what they do a great So I've been very pleased with those two guys. All right, I'm super glad I got both those guys here riding next to me. "