Everything From Offensive Line Coach Geep Wade After Monday's Practice

Georgia Tech's new offensive line coach spoke after practice Monday

Jackson Caudell | Apr 4, 2023

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Offensive line coach Geep Wade was one of several new additions to the Georgia Tech coaching staff under Brent Key and on Monday after practice, he spoke to the media for the first time since being hired in Atlanta. The offensive line was a subpar unit last season and will need to be better for the team to take a step forward.

Here is what Tech's new offensive line coach had to say on Monday:

1. On what made him want to come work for Brent Key...

"I have known Brent for 10 years, when I was at Marshall, he was at Central Florida and I have always followed him and ran into him in spring recruiting, I have always respected him. When he beat Pittsburgh, I texted him heck yeah, good for an O-line guy to go get a win the way it should be done, toughness. It has been great, he is awesome to work for and one thing that you have to understand about from my standpoint is that I have worked for an O-line coach who is a tough-minded human being and we practice that way and it makes my job easier to practice with our pods, inside, team putting my guys in bad positions, its going to be better for my guys in the long run."

2. On the depth on the O-line...

"Well our goal is to have 7-8 guys to help us go and win a championship and I am fortunate here to have a young group that has played and we talk about that a lot up there in the building and I am glad we have some guys with experience. Right now, Paul Tchio is a 1 today because Jakiah (Leftwich) got a little bruised up and we are going to play magical chairs and want to practice eight in spring ball to understand if you play right tackle and you have to go to left guard, what we do with our zone scheme, you can do it and its not rocket science.

Right now we are trying to build depth, Jordan Brown is new here, Elias Cloy played the last four practices at right tackle and he just got here out of high school a few months ago so that is one of our emphasis right now is continue to build depth."

3. On how exciting it is to know each young guy can develop...

"It is exciting. We talked about that this morning. What we are doing now is just the start, it is practice eight and the drills that we do... I am a big guy that, I don't change my individual up everyday. We are going to come off low, inside and outside zone, footwork, and these guys can do that all summer long so we are just getting started. We have seven more practices and all summer.

Trying to teach them to do things they can get better at on a daily basis and we have a saying on our offense right now and that is repetition brings excellence. We are not going to do a lot of things. In today's football, there are always multiple fronts and you have to know what to do. To be physical, you have to know what to do so you don't have mental errors."

4. On Weston Franklin and his leadership...

"It is huge. That position is huge. We put a lot on that position to run and reach, to block back, to make calls. The thing about spring is that you are not game planning so you are seeing everything so that is good and you learn how to really sit back and teach, hey if this linebacker is here, ID here and we are really going through a lot and he is really catching on and I wish I had more of him and we are trying to go out and recruit more guys like him.

One thing that I will say about him and Joe Fusile is that those guys have benefitted from AJ in the weight room and have gotten bigger and stronger, got twitchier. When you get stronger, you get twitchier and that makes you a better football player with hat speed so Joe Fusile, I think he is a different player this year because of the work he put in the offseason."

5. On Jordan Williams and whether he fits best at guard or tackle...

"Well right now we would love to keep him inside and it shows his versatility and that he is an experienced football player. Right now, my mentality in the spring is that I just want to coach them up. I got the next man up mentality as a coach and you can't worry about it so right now I just want to teach our brand, our toughness, our footwork, our mentality, but during the season, we gotta have, yeah if this happens, then he goes here because we always have to put together our best five and being interchangeable guys and he can be that guy."

6. On the early impressions of offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner...

"Buster is a high-energy, high demanding guy. I have know Buster for 10 years, I was with him back at Middle Tennessee three or four years and he has gone on and done great things and I am so glad to be back with him and we have a trust factor and a belief there. Buster is the type of guy that is always going to get the ball to the playmakers, whether it is on the edge, handing the ball off, but we are going to play team football and if we can run the ball, but if not, we are going to find ways to win football games and I think he does a phenomenal job with motions and shifts and all of that and put our guys in one good position, but to get the best players the ball and if we have to win a game, we are going to get the best players the football."

7. On Tyler Gibson and Brandon Best...

"Tyler Gibson has all of the ability that you want. He played against Florida State and you turn on the film and you go, whoa he can move. He has athletic ability and that is what we are trying to do. We are trying to recruit more guys that are athletic and can run. He is a guy that as strength comes, he will get better but right now he has the athletic ability to get his feet in front of people.

We are challenging him every day. He is a puppy mentally at times with mental errors so you know every day with him, every rep in walkthrough is big with him. He has a high ceiling so it is our job to get that out of him.

Brandon is a worker. He comes to work every day, he is one of those guys that overthinks at times but I just want him to go out there and play but Brandon is going to give us some flexibility at either center or guard, but right now during the spring, we are trying to just hold him on one position."

8. On how important it is for early enrollees to get spring practice reps...

"Unless you are just special, like some guys are, or you have "it", then I think it is huge. We are trying to get all of our guys in and build this program how Coach Key wants, from the ground up and I think it is huge. They get with AJ (Artis) and they know what the calls are, they know how to practice because you know if you don't come here early and come out here in day two or three of summer camp and before you know it, they are not picking it up and the window is shorter in summer camp, we are trying to win games and it is a little different mentality vs the summer camp. So yeah, it is a huge difference for us to get our kids or try to but it is not a game changer if its not."

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