Everything From Brent Key's Tuesday Media Availability Ahead of Matchup With VMI

Key spoke with the media for the first time ahead of Saturday's game vs VMI

Aug 31, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets head coach Brent Key on the sideline against Georgia State Panthers in the third quarter at Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images / Brett Davis-Imagn Images

It was Tuesday at Georgia Tech and the Yellow Jackets were back on the practice field to prepare for their upcoming game vs VMI. Coming off of their loss to Syracuse, the Yellow Jackets are looking to bounce back and reach 3-1 before they go on the road to face Louisville. After practice today, head coach Brent Key spoke with the media and here is everything that he had to say.

Opening Statement...

"All right, guys, first, I just want to mention the passing of Walt. Walt Ehmer, you know, it was not just a friend, but, you know, Yellow Jacket to his core, true definition of what we talk about what a Tech man is, you know, what he was in the business community and, you know, with all the things he's done over his career, you know, the thing about him is what a great man that he was and you know how you know how much he did you know for Georgia Tech and for Georgia Tech you know how much he loved Georgia Tech athletics and you know it's really sad so to his wife and his three children you know Gregory and Kate, Leslie you know my condolences from me and Danielle and the entire Georgia Tech football program we'll miss our Friday talks before the game's buddy. Just, you know, sad deal. But what a great man. He's a better place now. So, you know, just, I can't even say talk, you know, a disappointing result on Saturday. You know, like I said before, we get 12 opportunities a year to go out and play. And, you know, and everyone's goal that plays this game, coaches this game, is to win them all. And, you know, we didn't accomplish that on Saturday, but now it's time to, it's been time to turn the page, move past, learn from, learn from things we didn't do well. And that's the same way we treat after wins is, you know, correcting mistakes. When you lose game, things become magnified with it. But we try to keep, we try to make sure that, you know, whether you win or lose, you're addressing the things that you have to get better at. And, you know, that's always the challenge is, you know, ignoring external focusing on the process of what you have to do to improve as a football team. And that really starts, you know, it starts individually, it starts with myself, the coaches, the players, and nothing, no different. But not the result we wanted. So we have an opportunity now to go back out and prepare and practice to be able to earn that opportunity this week with the challenge.

Comes with, you know, it's play to play day to day, you know, practice to practice week to week of continuing to be consistent. And that's not saying you have a, you know, a total train wreck bad practice. It's consistency in the level that you practice at as well. And it takes everybody doing that. You know, the goal of the coach is, is to shrink that gap between practice in the game. And obviously, we didn't do that well enough last week. You know, so what is going to be the input this week to get the output that we want on Saturday? Looking forward to being back here at home, it is Military appreciation on Saturday and we have our students and our fans the great environment that we have here at home, being able to play another game here. So really looking forward to and excited to be back home and playing the VMI team that, you know, when you watch these guys on tape, they pose a lot of problems. They pose a lot of problems with things that we've got to improve on. You know, they play three down front. You know, they like to bring different backers and safeties and blitz and we've got to be able to handle those things. You know, their coach, Coach Rocco is a long -time coach, long -time head coach, been successful everywhere he's been, had success as a coach, believes in the core principles that we do here of how to build a football team would be in tough, you know, looking to be able to establish the line of scrimmage. You know, I talk to the team about establishing the line of scrimmage. You know, I'm not just talking to O-line and D -line and tight ends and linebackers. You know, You're talking about, you know, line of scrimmage goes sideline, too. You know, it's the receivers, it's getting off blocks, it's sustaining blocks. It's really the entire, you know, width of the field, line of scrimmage there. But, I mean, I think Danny's got seven championships under his belt and seven out of 17 seasons. So, you know, they're going to be well prepared, they're going to be well coached, and they're going to play a full 60 minutes. So looking forward to being back here at home and have an opportunity."

1. On Injury Updates to LaMiles Brooks and Malik Rutherford...

"Nothing to concrete on them yet as far as what their status would be for Saturday. We're a banged up team. It is is this time of year. But you know what? You sit around and complain about it and say you're hurting or you can, you know, it's game of football. We know what the game of football is, and we have to man up and go out and practice and prepare and get ready to play the game."

2. On the long travel from Dublin then back home and then another long trip to Syracuse possibly being a factor...

"Yeah, I'm not saying it's a factor in anything. Well, everything that comes across is a factor and in some way or form but no we have been monitoring it it's something we all the way back in June May and June have been working towards knowing that this stretch was coming of how we're preparing our guys how we take care of our guys and how we get them ready to play."

3. On the reason his team seems to bounce back from a loss...

"Gosh, I mean, I tried to bottle it up and prepare the same way for the games that we lost, but I guess the bottle had a hole in the bottom of it or something. But I don't know. I don't. I think there's a lot to be said for just the makeup and the DNA of a Georgia Tech person. You know, the, you know, don't tell me I can't do it twice type mentality we're going to show them but you know I think early on you can look at that I think at this point in the program you know it's it's not because there's a different type of practice it's not because you know there's a different level of focus by coaches or player, you know, so, you know, I don't have an answer to it of exactly why, but, you know, let's hope it continues."

4. On finding a running back to complement Jamal Haynes...

"Yeah, you know, we got to have somebody to do that. You know, it was a big benefit for us last year. We've got to be able to, you know, have guys step up. But, you know, player availability is what it is. So we've got to, you know, continue to work to get healthy. And, you know, trainers and strength coaches and nutrition. I mean, they do a great job of working and get our guys back available to play."

5. On finding consistency from his team not just physically, but mentally...

"The mentality of a of a player is probably the most complicated thing and you want to compound it and make it even more complicated now try to evaluate that that factor that critical factor you know mentality mental toughness those things you can't write a number down on a piece of paper and and truly know what it is so yeah usually you know the you know big dogs that bite they bit as puppies and what the saying is so but i do believe that you can you get better at it at toughness you can improve your toughness uh i think a lot of circumstances uh in your in your past you know uh tend to lead towards different types of mindsets i mean i'm kind of sometimes wish i was a psychologist by I trade, truly, and it was educated in that, but I could read books on it. No, it's something that we're constantly trying to look for. talking to their coaches, you know, people you trust around them, that part of it and the valuation of it when you're looking to bring guys in."

6. On the Pass Rush...

"Yeah, there aren't. I mean, that was something we did a deep dive in on Sunday. I'm not going to give out specifics of the plan of what's going to happen. But, yeah, I mean, we have to be able to affect the quarterback. We have to protect the quarterback and affect the quarterback. We have to protect the football and get the football. Those are two of the big challenges this week for the football team. And, you know, yeah, the ball comes out quick at times. You can't use that is an excuse because that's what it is you know that's what happens after losses is when i said they're magnified now it turns into you know what people think are reasons why which reasons justification you know blame game it's it's all excuses uh even though some of them are real right but it's in the day so what now what we've got a job to do and we we have to improve that area."

7. On if he was surprised by the fact that they could not run the ball on Saturday...

"Yeah, I mean, you look at it structurally and you look at the game, you see why the mistakes were and why we didn't. You know, I don't know if I'd call it a super success in the first two games. I think the outcome of it was good, you know, a lot of times plays bounce, you know, and you get on the perimeter and guys don't fit it the right way on the defense and we get explosive plays or, you know, Jamal put his foot in the ground and make somebody, you know, dead leg somebody and make a miss and go another, you know, 12, 14 yards. Those didn't happen. That didn't happen on Saturday. And they were short tacklers. They played an umbrella behind the guys and were able to swarm tackle. You know, it's a good look of what, you know, talking about, you know, eight, nine, ten guys around the ball. But we weren't able to get those explosives generated the way we worked earlier. But at the day, you know, we've got to be able to, you know, be detailed in what we do. Look, you know, certain runs are designed to go certain places, all right? They're designed to be blocked certain ways, you know, same protections, all those things. So it's all encompassing. And this week is about being detailed, you know, knowing what, how, and why about everything we're doing, you know, what to do, how to be able to execute it. And then the big point and the big thing this week is while we're doing them, you know, it's not just running a play to run a play while we're running that certain play or making that call or doing that thing, you know, whether it's the run, whether it's the definition of a route, whether it's, you know, protection, whether it's the call on defense, the, you know, keeping leverage on the ball in defense, all of those things from a detail standpoint."

8. On the helmet comms system and how that is going three games in...

"Yeah, you know, we had some technical difficulties the first couple of games, but last game was smooth with the technical part of it. You know, I think it affords you to be able to have a cleaner game at times. I mean, it's a, you know, you still have to get the call in. You still have the, you know, whether it's a defensive call and they're playing, you know, tempo and offense or an offensive call and you're trying to get the situation or the play clock or whatever. So I don't really see it being over paralyzed, because really from the offensive standpoint, it's the quarterback. I hadn't seen it affect Haynes. It's something though we monitor every week. We do. When we go back and look at the game, we talk about, all right, that's one of the things we talk about Friday and then we talk about it again on Sunday is, you know, let's talk about the communication and if there are issues and what we need to improve on."

9. On Taye Seymore...

"He has improved a lot. A lot of the communication on the back end that's so critical at that spot. He improved, not to where we need to be, but he did improve from the tackling standpoint. You know, and some of his angles on the ball, you know, that's a hard position. It's a tough position to play safety with the communication part of it. You know, the communication and then, you know, going and making the play. So, you know, He's improving. He's not where he needs to be, not where he wants to be. But I've been pleased with his progress to this point. We just wish he could inject him with a little bit of hurry up of speeding that process up. And that's not, you know, that's just the nature of a young player, matured and in the game."

10. On how his team has responded following the loss...

"So you know we talked in the in the summer during training camp we had a speaker come in you know we talked about you know responses to certain things and how responses are and look we said you learn the most if you allow yourself to in failure, right? Well, look, we know every team we play is going to be well -coached. Every team you play is going to have good players. Every team we play is going to going through pre -season camp. Everybody in pre -season camp wants to win every game. All right. So I've coached a long time, and unfortunately, I've never been able to accomplish that in a single season. So, you know, it's something that you have to understand when that comes, right? You have to use it, right, the best way for us. And we try to level everything out from, you know, whether it's a win or loss. We try to be the same composure 24 hours after the game, right? But externally, we know that doesn't happen. We know that doesn't. So for us in our bubble that we're in here to try to make everything, you know, just try to compress the message, it's hard because they go out, they go to class, they go to different things, they play on their phones. But after a loss, you know, you have to use that. You know, Coach Saban used to say all the time, you can never waste a failure. You can't just turn the page and move on to the next game. I mean, you know, that's win or loss. That's a failure within a win, right, or a loss. So, yeah, I think that they were on Sunday kind of waiting to see. I think they were waiting to see how I was going to be. They were waiting to see how the coaches were going to be. They were waiting to see how each other was going to be. When they got in the weight room, that afternoon, I thought AJ did a really good job in the wait room, but really just hard resetting and saying, right, here's why, right, here's what did take place, and here's what we have to do. Everybody, you know, here, let's look ourselves in the mirror. Let's be honest with ourselves. That's hard to do as an adult, much less being as a young person. You know, to be truly honest with yourself. And, you know, because we all want to, we all take pride in what we do. But these guys, they want to work. They want to win. And as coaches, we want to work and we want to win. All right, we've got to put them in a position to be able to do that this week."

11. On his team still battling and making it a game in the 4th quarter vs Syracuse...

"Yeah, you know, the game was, we had four possessions in the first half before the blocked punt, it was 50/50, Then you go to the second half and, you know, I mean, in that game, it was either touchdown or three and out or four and out. That's the way it was. That's the model of inconsistency. Okay. But if you turn the fourth quarter of the game on, it's no consolation. There's no consolation at all, right? But when you turn the fourth quarter on, you saw us being able to do what we want to do. I do think our team's in good shape as far as being able to sustain because they did towards then it was the initial early on where we didn't have success and you know it was we didn't come over that hump we go down the field on offense we score and then you know it's three and out so it was kind of that imbalance of the game that led to that but yeah you know like I said you know these kids don't want to they don't want to just you work for 300 and whatever days and not win a game but yeah that is one of the positives, play for 60 minutes and that is what they expect."

12. On the lessons he learned from the Syracuse loss...

"Yeah, you know, that's a probably a long, long answer I can give you on that, but going in, you know, I keep track on the sideline of offensive drives, okay? And that really tells, you know, as you go through the first and the second quarter, and then you go into the third quarter, it really tells you how that game's being played, right? It's not going to change much. It doesn't deviate much from the way it is to those first two quarters as far as the fourth. but you look at it and you've had five possessions so that's been a big help this year is the feel of the game right so now you go into the third quarter right it gets halfway through the third to into the third you you have a feel for how many it's not guess like hey we got to score we got to three times we need to do this this and this right now there there's it's pretty set in how many possessions you're going to get back. So that helps with the, you know, the management of it, right? It helps with, you know, knowing when you're going to have those calls. You know, it helps me being able to tell Buster, hey, this drive, you know, fourth and five, fourth and five or less is a go You know, so now in his head, he's playing it out that way. Those have been the positives. You know, when you look at this game. There was one situation where they had the ball in the final drive. It was two minutes and 2: 30, I think, on the clock. And, you know, we're saving all three timeouts, obviously, for the end of the game. And it was a, it was a situation. They completed the pass, but it was kind of a, you know, bubbling around, right? And, you know, we're looking to see, okay, and then it was like a rugby scrum. Do we have it? Do we not have it? You know, and that was a situation where you want to use, you know, if you have all three, you want to go to use your timeout before the two -minute timeout, right? Well, now you're sitting there. It's scrumming around. We don't know who has it. All of a sudden, now it's been six, seven seconds off the play clock. So now if you've burned the timeout, you've already used seven of the seconds off of it so you're caught in there looking so if i had that one to do over again yeah i would go and uh regardless of what the scrum was there taking place go ahead and burn it then save yourself another uh obsession out ended up not uh matter at the end of the game but that's the one when we sat down yesterday and really watch the game that you know you've learned from the crazy thing is we practiced darn near that exact scenario over the summer, right, to be able to use that timeout before the two -minute timeout. So, you know, that was one that we looked at and said, you know, go ahead and do it, and now if it's possession flipped the other way, you know, they'll wave it back off. But, you know, six seconds, seven seconds, right? It really is a net, you know, time it takes to execute a play in order to get the ball snapped. It's probably a net, you know, 25 to 30 seconds that you would have saved back on there by doing it. But when you're sitting there looking and seeing, oh, gosh, it's the scrum, do we have the ball? So that was the big one we looked at yesterday."

13. On Jordan Mason's Performance on Monday night with the 49ers...

"That was awesome So I had to I was sitting there working And I had the game on And somebody had told me earlier in the day that J .P. runs And you know in this post -game interview, and they asked them, they said, did Christian tell you anything? He said, just be who you are and run the way you are. Don't try to be anybody else. I thought, what a great lesson for young players. Be who you are. Don't try to emulate somebody else. Don't try to be somebody else. I mean, J .P. Mason and Christian McCaffrey is too opposite of backs as you could possibly have. And to see J .P. execute his game in that I thought it was really, really good to see. I mean, he's a great kid. He's one of my favorites, man. since, you know, back in high school, I mean, what a, what a great night for him. And what was the one thing they said it was the most yards on the Monday night football game by undrafted, second most behind Arian yeah behind AP's boy Arian Foster, yeah it was the second most so really happy for him love the way they run the football love the way they get the ball in space and on the perimeter with different things and see him be a part of that was really good."