Georgia Tech Football: Everything From Brent Key's Tuesday Press Conference

Georgia Tech head coach Brent Key spoke to the media today ahead of the Yellow Jackets matchup with Miami

Oct 19, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets head coach Brent Key on the field against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the fourth quarter at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images / Brett Davis-Imagn Images

After a week off, it is once again game week for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.

Georgia Tech is 5-4 and needing one more win to get bowl eligible. They face a challenging final three games and it starts this weekend with a game vs No. 4 Miami. Today after practice, Yellow Jackets head coach Brent Key spoke with the media and here is everything that he had to say.

Opening Statement

"Good to see you all again. Game week. Again after the bye. So, you know, over the weekend, obviously being off this weekend, had a chance to watch, you know, watch the game live on TV of Miami and Duke and I'll tell you what, now this is a good football team. Really good football team. And hands down, the biggest challenge we've had this year, up to this point. And anytime you've got a team coming in that's undefeated, but at this point in the season, and look, they have probably one of, if not the leading, Heisman contender right now. I mean, they're leading lead the league in every category, both sides of the ball. Offensively, they've got big, strong offensive line, and the receivers are as good as there is. One kid's the leading all -time receiver in the history of Miami. Golly, I think we all grew up watching the receivers they had there and the type of players they had at that position. So it speaks volumes of what they've been able You know, defensive line wise, defensive front. I mean, we've seen some good ones this year. And this is the most talented we've seen up to this point. So, you know, Mario, you know, very well. He's a great recruiter. It's evident in the roster and the development of those guys and the coach and staff they have.

They've just done a really, really good job of putting this team together, and you get them playing week to week, and it's where it gets hard. It is the continuing to maintain the focus and the determination of a squad. When you do this point, he's done a really good job of it, and he really runs through that quarterback, and big, strong, physical running backs. They can run it when they need to, and will. So, you know, all in all, It's a big challenge for us. Hey, look, is it a big secret we know we're the underdog in the game? We got to prepare our best this week and play our best to be able to go out on Saturday and go out and compete the way we want to compete. So we're prepared to do that. We started that already. We started last week. Had good practice on Sunday again, good one today. So keeping that focus and that determination that we have to have to be able to go out and compete. We have the challenge in front of us and we need the crowd there. We need our students there and our fans there to go along to be what there was on this. That's what makes this place so special is the students are there rocking. It's homecoming weekend which I think as the head coach, as I can say, when homecoming is and picking that. None whatsoever, is it? Just get that out in the open, it's none whatsoever. I mean, it's just like, all right, that weekend, it's worked best for the administration of the school and to get people back and then whatnot.

But all I can ask is, I hope our fans and our students especially. Now, we want our students to be able to take part in everything that takes place on Friday and throughout the night. Shoot, I mean, all day Friday, all day Friday night, or all night Friday night. I mean, Let's get this campus rocking, let's have it rocking and rolling and I'm greatful our students come rolling right into the stadium on Saturday morning from homecoming festivities. So we need these guys there, we need them loud, we need them there early and can't wait to see them all there in the stadium. So again, big challenge, excited for it, great opportunity to play college football this time of year."

1. On Haynes King's status for Saturday...

"We're hopeful. No, look, Guys, I'm sorry. I don't have anything else to tell you other than he is day-to-day. He is improving, he practiced, he is out there so we will see and it will be a game-time decision."

2. On Miami's third down offense...

"It's really interesting when you look at them. I think first quarter games this season, I think they're about like 80 % efficient on third down, third quarter efficiency. I mean, I think they're 75 % efficient on third down, fourth quarter 71 %. second quarter down like 30 % so there's some interesting things in there probably just you know stroke of luck or nonluck for them but it's interesting how it's played out every game like that you know they do they do a good job you know I think they have a good you know opening plan coming out yeah They do a good job at halftime, obviously, of adjustments. And it shows within that kind of breakdown I'm talking about. But they can run and throw. They can run it. They can throw it. So in the more manageable, shorter distances, they can run the football. They have all the weapons. They go along with it to get the ball in space. If the box is loaded, if they have success, right, does a good job of using the time on the clock. I mean, they're leaping. I mean, they have about 34 minutes of time of possession right now, but they get to the line of scrimmage right away. And then they allow the quarterback to be able to really see what's going on, communicate, freedom to check some things at the line, but then they'll get up to the line at the same time And then snap it right away on a tempo play. So we got to be set, get our call in, be ready to go. And then sometimes it's a little bit of a waiting game until he makes the decision or the final check or whatnot. But it all goes within the flow of how they go. And then you get to a longer down in distances. Like I said, they have dynamic receivers. They have really good receivers. They're good with the ball in their hand. They're sure handed, but then once the ball's in their hand, they can go."

3, On the challenges of Facing Cam Ward and his ability to extend plays...

"Yeah well, it's challenging, it's exciting too. Like I said, he is probably the leading Heisman Trophy candidate right now. I mean, They don't just hand those suckers out, but he does. I mean, I think in the Duke game, he had 11 scrambles. Two of those 11 converted for touchdowns. I think Duke did a nice job on a lot of the other ones, but two out of 11 around, two touchdowns. So that's where you have to be careful. They do a good job of continuing to stay active at receiver to get can layer the field in front of the quarterback to give him places to go. He does a good job of while he's running around and moving, of looking away. So you can't really follow his eyes and see where he's looking, because he will look over here in the last second and whip it over to the other side. So we have to be disciplined. We have to keep everything in front of us on defense, which is challenging to say because you look at him sometimes with all the free access throws they have and you want to jump up and press them. At the same time, he gets those crazy scrambles and you've got to keep it in front of you and tackle the ball. You've got to be disciplined with our cadance and we've got to be sure tacklers. We do have to be sure tacklers. He breaks a lot of tackles in those scrambles. He goes left, goes right, pops up the middle, and then by the, you know, some of them, you're talking eight, nine, 10 seconds, some of these are the last."

4. On what has allowed Miami to be successful in close games...

"I think there's obviously a confidence level there. I think that they're confident in the quarterback, confident in his ability to make plays. They're confident in their team that once you win a couple of those, it becomes contagious and you keep going. So, you know, but they have, they've been some close games and they found a way to win and that's the mark of good football team because they've, it's not like they've won half of them, they won them all. They scored more points in the fourth quarter than they have any other quarter so It's a four -quarter football team. We got to play four quarters."

5. On injury updates to Kyle Efford and Jamal Haynes...

"We got another 30 minutes. I'll tell you buddy. Look, We're banged up, we're a banged up team. We have been since early in the year, we've gotten guys back enough to be able to play, but then sometimes they'll be in their a quarter or half. That's why we're really, really the question, the answer to the question goes back to continue to recruit and build the depth and develop the guys we have on the team for the long haul and that takes time. It does and some years you have a run of luck and you don't really have anybody get banged up or hurt and some some most years you don't though. So we'll look and see on Saturday about about 11:25 who's ready to go and hopefully by about 2:00 still going if they can go and the ones that backed them up are in there playing and they don't get you know end up having to leave the game. So You know Those guys have all been out there. I can't say or tel you they're gonna play though. We'll know that Saturday."

6. On who plays quarterback if Haynes King can't play...

"They're all getting reps. They're all repping. It's not like all of them are healthy either, so. But we have all of them ready to go. If Haynes can go, that's a bonus. If you can't go, those ones got to be ready as well."

7. On if they did a lot of self evaluation in the bye week...

"Yeah, you always want to do the self-scout. You know, we do self-scout each week, and then each bye week, it's a little more in-depth. The first one is, the first deep dive self -scout is personnel and schematics because you want to see guys that have been developing and now might be getting opportunities to play more and more as well schematically. By the time now the second bye week hit, you're pretty ingrained in most of the time of who you are, offensively, defensively, special teams. Ours is a little bit different challenge though because of some of the injuries offensively. So we've had to we've had to do some deep dives on what is the best for us with the personnel we have and you've heard me say before that you know schemes are personnel driven you don't just run a scheme to run a scheme but at the same time you can't just change an entire scheme in the course of three days once my kids hurt so it takes time and it does. So we used some of the bye-week for that, you know, what's the best schematically for us to be able to do to have success. You know, and then, you know, personnel, you kind of know who you have at this point or you don't have at this point. And, you know, then who are the young guys, you gotta continue to work. And then now who are the guys that maybe haven't played that, you know, the four -game red shirt deal doesn't matter. And so there's a lot that goes into it. So yeah, we spend a lot of time, but the number one priority was to re -energize it and recharge and recover it."

8. On towing the line between letting the team know how good Miami is, but also getting them to believe they can win...

"Yeah, I would not have sit up here and said this about what Miami is. If I was worried about that, I mean, they turned the tape on. They're smart kids. We have smart guys on this team, smart, you know, smart people, graduate from Georgia Tech. They turn the tape on and they see the same thing we do. I mean, there's no sugarcoating and hiding things. That's when they start seeing through you as a coach when you do that. So it's, I stand up here and talk about the opponent. We watch film on how we're going to attack the opponent in certain ways. But everything from here, it's about us. It's about preparing us to be the best we can be, to develop our team, the best we can develop our team, and be able to play to the opponent that we have that week."

9. On how similar his approach is to Mario Cristobal's, who is also an offensive line coach...

"Yeah, there's a lot to it. Obviously I'm not inside the walls every day, knowing Mario, you know, his mentality, knowing his personality as a coach, having had the opportunity and the pleasure to work with him. Good man, you know, believes in a lot of the same core values in a football program that we do here. So, you know, those are the guys you cheer for, you know, when it's not your week playing them. You know, you really do, you know, It's the guys out there that you think are building the programs the right way. And went through some adversity and he's continued to push forward and believe in his process and in his plan and it shows on tape."

10. On keeping interceptions down against Miami's secondary...

"Yeah, and that is something I thought, you know, Haynes has done a tremendous job of really improving on some of those things from a year ago. And, you know, the quarterbacks that they've done, they have, they've done a good job of that. They understand that, you know, to reserve the right to kick, to kick. You don't have to always force the ball in there and make the play because it's one thing in practice, but then week to week, you can watch the table all you want, but the team's speed changes every seven days of who you're going against. So where you might have fitted in one week and then also now a guy's a tenth of a second faster, it's not going to fit in there as easy. So we've got to be smart with football. They are a very good football team on sudden change. When they get a turnover, their production offensively is through the roof. It really is, so we've got to be really smart. But that really goes every game. Take care of the football. Don't do things to beat yourself. Limit explosives, gain explosives. Those are things that are really the huge factors in when you lose a college football game."

11. On if last year's ending to the Miami game affects this game at all...

"Man, way unrelated. Way unrelated. I mean like... It has zero, absolutely zero bearing on this game, on this football game. None. You know, teams were built, rebuilt each year, you know, for better or for worse, and you know, you look at them and there's so many new faces on their team, so many new faces on our team, so no there's no effect one year to the next."

12. On having freshmen ready to play...

"Yeah, you want to, that goes back to the developing of the kids you bring in, the high school kids, recruiting the right ones that can develop. You always want guys that can come in and play, but also you understand that you also have to have the right mix of guys that are gonna develop over the course of a year, develop over the course of two years and that's how you increase to the player availability in college football because there's not a Tuesday waiver wire we go out and you know make transactions on so you know the development of them through the week and that's why we do what we do on Thursdays with the young guys the developmental guys, scrimmaging them and practicing them so that you know this time of year comes you know guys are able to step up in depth roles and I think we really see it you know either be a huge helper huge hurt or detriment for the team or special teams That's where those you know the safeties the linebackers the D-Ends,the tight ends the running backs. So that that's what those guys and the depth of those positions really start."

13. On if he has talked about Election Day with his team...

"No, I didn't. I think everybody's pretty aware of that. No, I'm a believer in everybody in this country having the right to be able to voice their opinions and voice their, through the process, democratic process we have, but that's not something we bring in the walls here, you know, I'm sure there's some, they talk about it in the locker room and whatnot, that's, I'm not a politician, I'm not, I have, that is not my world, all right, so I wouldn't expect them to be talking schematic X's and O's over a debate either. So now that's each person's own opinion and beliefs and what they want to do with that."

Additional Links

Georgia Tech Football: Miami's Mario Cristobal Heaps Praise on Haynes King and Yellow Jackets Offense

Georgia Tech Football: Latest Bowl Projections for the Yellow Jackets After Week Ten

ACC Basketball: Final 2024-2025 Standings Projection for The Upcoming Season