Georgia Tech Football: Everything From Brent Key's Tuesday Press Conference Ahead of Matchup With No. 6 Georgia

Key spoke with the media today four days ahead of his matchup with the No. 6 Bulldogs

Nov 21, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets head coach Brent Key on the sideline against the North Carolina State Wolfpack in the fourth quarter at Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images / Brett Davis-Imagn Images

It is officially rivalry week across the country and one of the biggest games of the weekend is going to be on Black Friday. Georgia Tech (7-4, 5-3) travels to Athens to face the No. 6 team in the country who just so happens to be their biggest rival. Georgia (9-2, 6-2) is coming off of a win over UMass on Saturday and looking to avoid being upset ahead of the SEC Championship.

The Yellow Jackets were back on the practice field today and afterward, head coach Brent Key spoke with the media. Here is everything that he had to say.

Opening Statement

"All right, just came off the field, Tuesday practice. No more routine during the week, just bumped up a day. But just to touch on the game from last Thursday night, and I'm really excited for the guys on the team, the staff. Obviously, there's things you want to clean up after a game. I don't think we necessarily played our... You know emotional game prior and you know big game this week and you know a game versus a very good NC State football team that had played really hard and you know I thought our guys found a way to win and I'm excited for that. Excited about that part of the growth and maturity of a football team and a program so excited for that and the biggest thing I want to do is just you know now that we're done with home games this season, just one more time, just wanted to thank the fans and the students for the support that they've given us as a football program, it was outstanding. It was outstanding, the entire season, right up into the final seconds of it, I guess you would say. So really big shout out to the student body here at Georgia Tech and what they did.

Really excited to see them now moving forward in the winter sports and the spring sports and doing the same thing for all the other and supporting all of our other sports here. So I'll be at the games when I have opportunity to excited to see the student body be at those as well and support everybody. So you'll get a big game this weekend on Friday night. For us with the schedule the way the week the week is it's it doesn't matter what day you play on we just back it up from that day so you know we got a lot of work to do this week a lot of work to put in and they're a good football team and there's a reason why they're top 10 team they got really good players get really good coaches they're well -coached they're disciplined they're they're they go out and they execute you know they're especially hard to play at their home home stadium at night time. So, you know, we're ready for a challenge. We've got to prepare this week and have our best week of preparation to be able to go out there and play a good clean game on Friday night."

1. On what it would mean to get a win over Georgia...

"You know yeah when winning games you know that's why you play games if it's an opportunity to win but we don't, we don't talk about winning games we don't talk about anything other than playing the best of our ability every, every play one play at a time, you know I can't sit there and tell a team there's no scoreboard. Don't look at the scoreboard. We're not outcome-oriented. We're not uh and then sit up here and talk about winning football game. That's that's not the way we're wired. It's not the way this team's built. Um that's why we're able to have adversity hit and be able to continue to play through it. Uh it's all about playing the next play."

2. On linebacker E.J. Lightsey...

"Yeah. Yeah, when he got here, he was banged up, had an injury he had to get taken care of through the off season and through summer. And then right about the time he started making it back, I don't know, when the first or second game of the year on kickoff cover, he had a pretty nasty hamstring. So he's really had some consistency of being healthy, and that's been the big thing. Learning the system, same as everyone else has, but you're really seeing him start to play faster, be quicker in his reads, and what he has to get done. And he's a big, strong guy that can run, and he's starting to show up now."

3. On Georgia's Defense

"Yeah, like I said, they have good players that are well-coached, really good coaches on the defensive side of the football, as well as offense. But you have good coaches and good players. It's a pretty good recipe for success."

4. On Nate Frazier...

"He's a good running back. Their offense is explosive. Carson Beck is a phenomenal quarterback. They have the ability to hit the explosives and create explosive plays down the field, throw the football, but also line up. I mean, it really starts with the guys up front. They have a big physical offensive line. And it's going to be a huge challenge for us, really challenging, you know, the run backs, regardless of who they put in there. I mean, they've had a lot of success and, you know, they're gonna want to establish the run. And it doesn't matter. It's not a yard that you're looking for. It's, you know, they're looking for and, you know, they want to be able to line up and impose their will and be able to, the best way to show that you can do that is by running the football. So we'll have to have a really good plan, a really good week of prep, because they're well-coached and very talented."

5. On the momentum the program has...

"Yeah, it's not really a shorter (week) I mean, yesterday was, in today's Tuesday, yesterday was Monday, the day before that was Sunday. We had an extra day in there to let our guys heal up a little bit. So it's not really a shorter week. Once you're in the flow of things, it's the same. But you're only as good as your last game. We're preparing for the next game. That's what it is. We're playing the next game. It's a big game. It's the last game of the season. It's a big game for a lot of people associated with both schools. So you shouldn't have to light a fire under people when you're going into a week like this."

6. On Aaron Philo potentially burning his redshirt...

"We look at red shirts at the end of the season. Our guys in this football team are 100 % in line with what we want to accomplish and how we have to accomplish it. So there's no personal agendas, you know, over the team agenda when it comes to when it comes to the team."

7. On the two quarterback system and if they will use both against Georgia...

"I mean, who's to say we use both of them? Uh, so we're gonna, we're gonna put a plan together to give us the best opportunity to have success in the game. And, uh, Every week's a new week, new defense, new scheme, new coaches, new ways to attack things. So, you know, really one week's not, has no bearing on the next when it comes to putting the plan together."

8. On having built up the depth on defense...

"Well, I mean, there's no secret. I mean, player availability is the most important thing you have when you're playing in college football, in pro football, in any form of football. So we're not where we need to be yet. We've still got a ways to go to building the depth that we have to have on this team, developing the depth we have to have. And building depth on teams, not just through acquisition, it's through development as well. So we still have a lot of young guys that are going to be good players. So we've got to continue to develop them. If you look at really two positions on the team that have been, knock on wood injury -free through the season, it's whether the O -line or the D -line. And we've been able to build depth there. And that was you know to build it that way now with offensive line a lot of those guys are younger. It's a little more of a time you little more of a time frame involved in the development of an old lineman, I think but I mean for furthermore too deep on the scout offensive line, which we've never been before so you know the added depth is why you're you? It's not just in games you get hurt as you know guys practicing and you know the reps you have to take and you're not taking your second team and having them run over and be this part of the scout team so we got to continue to build that and you know that's why you know that's why we recruit every day and work to develop our players every day."

9. On how Buster Faulkner has evolved this season...

"Yeah that's what makes Buster a good coach. I mean, he's not tied into one system. We're not tied into any one system here. I say it every every weekend, you know, to the staff, right? All schemes are personnel driven, right? And I think it's important to understand that, uh, you know, your players are your players, right? Once the season gets here, that that's not changing. There's no waiver wires on Tuesday that we call up and get new guys coming in. So the off season where you uh, uh, build and build your roster. Once the season's here, you can't just put a square peg in a round hole. That's what I like about the staff we have, really, in all three phases. Tooch (Tyler Santucci) is the same way on defense. They understand that all schemes are personnel driven, and we've got to do what's best for our players that are out there."

10. On how tough it is to deal with the early signing period being right after their final game...

"Yeah, it is a... But you know we recruit every day your recruiting is not something that's part -time. It's not something that's you know part -time of the year you know so whether the signing day is next week or in two weeks after that or you know two months after that you know the fact that we have to recruit every day doesn't change I mean it's not like during game week. We're focused 100 % on the game recruiting I mean, you know, that's part of our job. Our job is you know, we're coaches we're recruiters You know coaches, recruiters, all those things involved, our current players on the team, how important they are and their academic progress, all those things. So that's part of being a college football coach."

11. On the recent hire of J.J. Cosh to the athletic department...

"Yeah, excited to have JJ come on board, excited with his background, just phenomenal background. When you read his bio, I just really appreciate J and the administration and President Cabrera just having the vision to be able to do this and before we're thinking and understanding where college football, college athletics is going and being out in front and not being afraid to do something that not because other people have done it but because it's best for us. So I'm excited for the new year."

12. On the parity and upsets in college football this year And If It Is Something He Talks About With The Team...

"Never once, never once. I mean, I don't think those things happen because during the week, they talked about the other ones that had happened. I mean, it's the parody in college football that's occurring and you know, it's only gonna come more and more with the changes in rosters and whatnot. So we're focused on what we have to do each and every week. It has zero dependence upon what's happened in any other game. It's about what we do, about putting together a good plan, and our players understanding and believing in the plan."

13. On the play of the defense and if the expectations have risen for that group...

"Expectations are set. I mean, expectations really align with the standards of your program. I mean, if you're constantly changing, raising, lowering expectations. You're not building anything. There's a certain set of expectations that we have. And once you achieve those expectations, that becomes your standard. And that's the standard in the program. We have a standard we play to, a standard we practice to and prepare to. All right, no, that doesn't change."

Additional Links:

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