Everything From Brent Key After Today's Practice

Key met with the media after another spring practice for the Yellow Jackets

Jackson Caudell | Apr 5, 2023

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Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

Another spring practice is in the books for Georgia Tech and the spring game is a little more than a week away. First up however, Tech held a closed scrimmage last Saturday and it was another chance for the team to get some work in and some of the position battles could start clearing up ahead of the summer.

Yellow Jackets head coach Brent Key had his third meeting with the media for the spring today and here is everything the Yellow Jackets head coach had to say today:

Opening Statement:

"We are two practices away from the scrimmage on Saturday. We had a chance to go out on Saturday and get some really good work in just under 130 plays and that is what we were shooting for to get 130 plays of live reps and see what the guys can do without the coaches on the field. It was a heavy move-the-ball type of scrimmage but then mixed in with some situational things and there was some short yardage stuff involved and some second downs and third downs and some move-the-ball on the plus side of the field and work into the red area but overall I was pleased with the effort and pleased with the way the guys were learning how to practice, that is the biggest thing.

The competition out there, we are playing cleaner football out there but still have a ways to go as far as the discipline that we want to instill on a consistent basis. A lot of it becomes the pre snaps the alignments, the stances and the things like that where we have to make sure we are extremely detailed on and the things that we coached the first day of practice, we can't lose sight on on the eighth and ninth day of practice of those things and make them just as important as the first day and that is something I am challenging the coaches to do and they are challenging the players to do.

But overall, I was pleased with the outcome of the scrimmage and where we wanted to be and with that said, we still have a really long way to go. We came out on Monday's practice and had an extra hour of meetings on Monday to allow that scrimmage to really be put to bed and get all of the corrections made from it and then we were only on the field for an hour and 20 minutes, still in full pads, still the full team run and some more of the situational play and the red area and third downs and force drills so and the kids could have taken advantage of that day and said hey look this is a shorter practice and they were banged up from Saturday's scrimmage but they didn't, they came out in the right frame of mind which was really encouraging to me and they continued to improve on how to practice and that is what I told them after practice today, if we continue to improve on how to practice, that is going to carry on throughout the summer and the preseason and just really become a building block as we build the foundation of the team that we want to have.

I think we have a long way to go. I am excited about where I think this could be as the season gets closer but not necessarily excited about where we are not but that is part of it, part of the process of laying the foundation but I have been pleased with their response to what we have challenged them with and their response to the adversity they have been through in different situations within the game."

1. On the three quarterbacks and the competition...

"It is a competition for sure. It really is. Zach has experience playing games here and Haynes has played games somewhere else and both of the Zachs... when there is a familiarity with the guys around you, it puts the guys on offense at ease a little. It is a voice they recognize, a cadence, rhythmatic coming from that person so there is a familiarity that both of the Zachs came in with.

I think all three have strengths and all three have things they need to continue to work on but all have shown at different times and in different situations, the poise and the ability to take advantage and execute what we want them to do. Now, as the situational part of the game really kicks up as this week continues to go on and through the scrimmage on Saturday, that is where you really have to see the command really start to take place and then as tempo starts to increase, increase, and increase, it is the ability to play at a high level and tempo on offense and play really fast but that quarterback have that command and control of the offense and keep them calm while they are doing it.

I have been pleased with the progression of all three of them. Buster (Faulkner) does a really good job... it was the first time on the headsets hearing him call an entire game so that was good for me to hear how he calls it, the flow of the game and how he really adapts how he calls it with each quarterback that is in there so it puts them in position to make plays and take advantage of our strengths and make sure we stay away and kind of disguise and hide some of our inefficiencies."

2. On being able to play more physically...

"The big thing is we have really good teachers. That is what you look for in a coach. You, I have said it before, I want to hire great men, great husbands, great fathers, great teachers, and great recruiters and we have hit the nail on the head with that. They are tremendous teachers not only in the room, but teachers on the field and I firmly believe that is what coaching is. Coaching is teaching and the ability to inspire learning and to get these kids to come out and play a hard game and have a hard practice but to keep the mental edge and the mental part of it, I have been really encouraged with that part.

If you are thinking, it can slow you down, you can become paralyzed by overanalyzing things so the way they have simplified things a lot of the coaches offense and defense and special teams. Ricky (Brumfield) has done a tremendous job of being able to install the teams and keep their attention within the meetings and get a lot of content within those meetings and then come to the field and drill it and able to execute it so I have been pleased with the progression of the mental aspect of it and it is only going to improve how fast we can play and how physical we can play in the game."

3. On Haynes King...

"He has a high IQ, a high football IQ. Anybody that has played in games, that is the real advantage we have, all three quarterbacks have played in games, in college football games. You can't replace experience at all. As someone who is new to the team, he commands respect in the locker room and respect on the field and that is something you look for. One of the top qualities of quarterbacks is leadership and the ability to lead others and I have been encouraged with that out of Haynes."

4. On an aspect of the team that maybe has not been asked about...

"Kickers. We started our first reps of live field goals and I have been encouraged on where Gavin (Stewart) has left off from. A lot of the punt drills we have been doing and the progression of David (Shanahan) and his punting and I think we have a chance to have a really solid core there and again, the kicker is the one the praise and the blame in the kicking game, but it is the other ten guys around him doing their job as well so the kickers have done a nice job of picking up where they have left off and improving what they needed to improve during the offseason.

I think we have a really solid tight end room. I really do. That was evident by some of the production that we had on Saturday and really, the play of that position is such a combo position where they have to be an O-Lineman half the time and a receiver half the time and a running back protecting half the time, there is a lot on their plates and I think it is a really, really solid room and we still don't have Luke (Benson) back full go yet so we have a chance to have a solid room and I am excited about that. That is a real security blanket for the quarterback to have that guy in close proximity to them and we have some guys to have some matchups and Dylan (Leonard) might not have had the production that Brett (Seither) did on Saturday as far as catching the football, but Dylan Leonard has really had a tremendous spring so far and one of, if not the top performers so far this spring, just the consistency all around."

5. On the defensive line...

"It starts with the way the defense has evolved. The ability to affect the quarterback with four guys really helps the rest of the defense. We understand out strengths and weaknesses when it comes to that and we have some big and powerful guys over there and we have a mix of some big powerful strong guys as well as some guys that have some quickness and can do some things on the move and the combination of that starts with what Marco (Coleman) has done with that group and coaching all four of them and all of them playing together.

He has such a unique ability to coach guys hard but command so much respect out of them and that relationship with them off the field and he has done that at the highest level and now he has a lot of experience in coaching different places. His progression as a coach has been one of the most fun things that I have been able to see, not just this spring but all offseason as well and his teaching mannerisms so he has those guys playing good football.

It is not always a sack that the defense gets, that shows up on paper but the way the D-Line can get affect the quarterback in a lot of different ways and they are doing that right now."

6. On wide receivers coach Josh Crawford...

"When I was putting together the staff that is one thing that I was looking for. I wanted coaches from all different levels. NFL, college, high school... guys with experience coaching a lot of different types of ball. The one thing when you are coaching high school ball, you are recruiting those guys who live in your area and you are coaching those guys up and you really see those traits in Josh, the ability to coach anybody up. It is not just the ability to coach the starters or the top two guys, all 10, 12, 14 guys, he coaches them the exact same and you see the elevation and the connection that he has with them off the field where he has the ability to be real and honest and coach them hard but like I said about Marco, at the same time they know there is a care factor there off the field and he is coaching them to get them better and that is what we all want, we want to be coached and taught and motivated to play at a high level and he has done that but the teacher in him is what really comes through as a coach and a lot of that comes from having 12 years at the high school level and then it goes without saying, his ability as a recruiter, I would he hard pressed to say I have seen anybody work harder than he does at the recruiting game."

7. On if Andrew Thacker has made any changes to the defense...

"The first thing on defense is you don't want to beat yourself and you want guys on defense to play hard and to be confident in what they are doing and to be sure that if they do something and they do make a mistake that there is ten guys rallying behind him and rallying around the football.

I have known Andrew for a long time, he was a GA for us in 2007 I believe at UCF and then I had the opportunity to hire him back later on in the tenure as a position coach and I have been fortunate enough to see Andrew's progression from his first year as a GA to now and the things that he has brought from each stop that he has had and again, you are talking about someone who has coached in the NFL and he has a very very high level of football knowledge.

The most impressive thing about Andrew and this goes all the way back to when he was a GA and I kid with him a lot about this... he came up to me and said Coach, I want to make sure when I get a full time job one day that I am always able to keep energy and keep the guys going and that I have as much energy as they do on the field that I am asking them to do and he has done that. He has a lot of energy and he has passion for a lot of the things that he has done. His teaching and presentation of material has evolved so much in the recent time that we have been together.

He is as loyal as they come when it comes to giving a direction, giving a direction to the program, and giving the direction of what type of message you want through the meeting. I am not a big team meeting guy. I would rather give the message to the coordinators and let the coordinators give it to their staff and they give it to the players. I think that builds a lot more ownership on each side of the ball and all three phases and coordinators have that responsibility.

That is how you elevate coaches and how you develop coaches. Give them responsibility and let them do things and trust them to do things and when it doesn't go the right way, then you correct them and you fix those things. He has done all of that and more and he is also willing to learn more and he is going to be here in the offseason late at night clinicking, whether it is on a zoom or learning how we can do better. How do we take something that we are deficient in in personnel or scheme wise and how we can fix it. So I have been really really pleased with how he has developed and in his development of coaching the coaches. He has really taken that second step and he is the leader in the room."

8. On Travares Tillman and the defensive backs...

"The secondary and the offensive line, even though they might be the two furthest looking positions from each other are probably the two most similar and to be able to have position flexibility in there where the nickel star might go down and now you are putting your next best DB in the room. He calls his people to move around a little bit. His ability to create that in his position group and then when you are coaching two corners and two safeties and a nickel, it is kind of like an O-Line, you have two tackles, two guards and a center.

You have to be able to manage a lot of information but manage to teach it to those guys individually and so collectively they play together so it is very similar in regards to the offensive line.

It is also very similar in that one mistake from one of those guys shows up with a big play, you can't really hide it at that position so to be able to take the individual drills and coach all of them at the same time, he is another that has really really grown as a football coach.

The thing that Travares has is that he has such command and respect of those guys. He has done it at the highest level, he has done it here at a high level, but there is no phony to Travares, he is as really as they come, he is a straight shooter and the kids really respect that."

9. On Malik Rutherford's fit in Buster Faulkner's offense...

"Malik is a guy that really started coming on at the end of the season and if you go back and look at some games at the end of the season and the things that he was doing in a little more limited role, he was someone who really caught our attention then. His love for the game and the energy that he brings, all 150 LBS in his body is full of energy, they really are and he plays like he is 190-200 LBS, he is tough and not afraid to get in there and do the dirty stuff and block and his personality is infectious and he elevates the play of others around him because he has so much energy and he loves playing football.

At the end of the day it is still a game. It is a hard game to go out and practice every day but it is a game and when you can take the qualities of your football team and you can work and prepare every day for the toughness that you have to, the physical toughness, the mental toughness, have the discipline, but still go out there and have fun, that is when you have a chance to do something really good."

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