Everything Brent Key Said on Thursday Ahead of Matchup Against Temple

No. 18 Georgia Tech is preparing for its week four game against Temple this Saturday and the Yellow Jackets are hoping to follow their big win over Clemson with a win over the Owls to get them to 4-0. Temple comes into this game 2-1, with wins over UMass and Howard, as well as a 42-3 defeat against Oklahoma last Saturday.

For the second time this week, Georgia Tech head coach Brent Key spoke with the media and here is everything that he had to say.

Opening Statement...

"Okay, go ahead and start off with the injuries, like every Thursday. And I really like this, just let it be part of the process. And now Kelly can not ask on Tuesday and just rattle no why and just be ready for Thursday. So out this week, Trelain Maddox, D.J. Moore, Chad Alexander, and Savion Riley still. You know, those guys are improving. Trelain is really improving. Got some practice reps a little bit this week. Got some work with his pads on the field. So, you know, expecting him back sooner than later. You know, last questionable, Tana left the game last week. he's questionable for this week. We have nobody probable and available. Ron Triplette, Ben Galloway, and ShymeikJones. S,o really going into game four this year, we're in a good position as far as the health of the team.

And again, I've said it several times, just the job that starts really back in January with the strength and conditioning and all the extra things we do. And AJ does in the weight room, Brad and his guys doing, doing in the training room. So we're in a good place, hope to stay that way. And the guys that are out continue to work and be back.

Got a really challenging game this week. And I said it after the game last week that these guys have earned the opportunity to play these types of games. And because of what they did last week, the week before, the week before that, this is the biggest game of the year. It's going through this guys and K.C. Keeler is the guy that I've admired from a distance for a long time with what he's done in his career. This is the guy that ESPN named one of the top 150 coaches of all time in college football. He is 21st all -time career wins, college football history 273 wins, two -time national champion, head coach, 11 conference championships. I mean, the guy and his staff know how to coach football. And it is very evident when you watch the tape, how they play the game, what they're trying to do. They have a, they put some good pieces together up there for them and they play the game, the best suits offensively.

There are a lot of motions and deception. A lot of eye candy, have to be really disciplined with your eyes. And in our keys, we have to get aligned. Yeah, they're gonna try to establish the run. They take calculated shots in there. They use the tight ends a lot. I think they got seven guys on the team, seven different guys who have caught touchdowns, both tight ends, called multiple ones. So he's an experienced quarterback, he's played a lot of football. and really knows how to run their offense already. So from our defensive standpoint, that'll be a big challenge for us, their offense. I'm sorry, their defense. They do a lot of things up front, really the front seven. It's led by those guys, defensive end 25, and then linebackers 33 and 18. There's a lot of production there.

There's a lot of things they do that make you have to use your head. And whether it's the ways they set the edge, whether it's the ways they bring pressure, normal downs, third downs, and then the varying fronts and alignments they do it out of. So, and then on the back end coverage wise, there's some guys in different spots that are unique type of structure that we have to make sure that we were dialed in and we're focused and our focus is in this one. So it's going It'll be a good challenge, it'll be a really good challenge. You know, as a coaching staff, knowing you're going against the type of coaching staff that we are, so that excites us. You know, we've had a good week of practice. We've got better every day as the week is going on. Other word, focus today. Communicated very well, and excited for an opportunity to come up here on Saturday and play in front of our fans."

1. On the team's starts....

"I thought we started fast every game. We beat ourselves the first two games. I mean, there's nothing slow about the way we've started. It's not play calls. It's not mentality. It's not the mindset. It's not the the focus the players have but then mistake happens and that goes back to the focus and the discipline all right, so it's not necessarily start starting fast. It's, it's not shooting ourselves in the foot the first two games. We corrected that this past week. We got to make sure we don't fall back into that again. We corrected it last week, we got down to a fourth and two down on the, down inside the red zone other than that we moved we'd move the ball up into that point andn, and we didn't execute what we didn't execute on.

So I'm pleased with the progression we've made as far as starting first half. My biggest concern is starting the second half. I mean, that's the concern I have is how we start the second half. And we got to be able to go out and either carry on what we've done previously. But we've got to have a killer instinct that goes out in the second half no different than we did in the first."

2. On Aidan Birr...

"Man, I mean, it's human nature, complacency, and it's not a bad word. I mean, I'm not saying that it's not a negative thing. We don't want it to happen, but it's human nature, the law of average. It's average creeps in and average is a fight every single day, the fighting average and great. And these kids have it, there's a lot of distractions around them every day. And that's our job as teachers to teach them what is right, what is garbage, I guess you'd say. But when you walk around campus and everybody's telling you things, it's hard to control that. He's been in a great space And that's not something that started, you know, this past week or week before. This is a journey he's been on since January to be there, to be in this spot. And, you know, we saw it through spring practice. We've seen it even more so now.

You know, that's why he was able to go out and execute the way he's been able to execute. It's funny, the kicker I played with, Dave Frakes, who, I think you guys have heard me talk about Dave before. He's high, high up at Apple. Very high up and like way up there. Like closer to the top than the bottom. They put it that way like a couple of people away from being there. So Dave is one of the smartest guys we've ever been around in life. You life brilliant and loves the kicking game, loves the kicking game and Dave sent me a text reminding me the long informative text that you'd expect from a guy like that that has I don't know what a hundred patents and built the technology for the camera on the iPhone so but it reminded me that the the rules of kicking changed in 1989 I believe with the tee and then the goal post changed and so that really the record what on Saturday that he tied what not that was, was date was Frakes's record right not not the previous one before so based on the new rules of the kicking game and how they've all they've changed up.

I'm never gonna tell Frakes that he's wrong but it just shows that people are watching and people care about what our guys do. And even people in those types of places in their life that have done the same thing that Aidan's done, our guys need to understand that no matter what position you play, no matter what year you are, there's so many people in our Tech family that are out there, that are supporting our guys and want the best for them."

3. On Temple quarterback Evan Simon...

"We don't, we don't compare games to each other, we don't compare players to each other every player's got their, their strong suit, what they do well and everyone, every quarterback has things that, and every player for that matter, has things that they've got to improve on. So we don't look at it like that as carrying one weight to the other. He's a very efficient quarterback. He's smart with the football. Not knowing somebody, but you can tell and take them if they have leadership or not, by how the way they get people aligned. Look, you can't play quarterback in that system without being a smart guy and having leadership qualities too. You'll be able to get everybody on the same page and the moving parts that go along with it, similar to what we do. And, but you know, to have no turnovers, the, I think it's 10 touchdowns on the year already. And then that's what the team that wants to establish and run, so I've been very impressed watching the tape all week."

4. On the defensive line...

"Yeah, they did a nice job. I think they've gotten better each week. I thought last week was the best game they've played. I'll look at it as far as, are they doing their job? Are they, when we're in a stunt or a movement, are they able to anchor down and not get extended? And that's what I thought early on in the season. We were getting washed out of, washed out when we were moving. I thought those guys has done a really good job of anchoring down and putting their foot down and closing those edges, condensing those gaps, using their hands to redirect and get off blocks.

The thing we got to continue to work on is the pressure. We've upped our TFLs, but we still got to be able to affect the quarterback and I don't look at it as well. It gets the ball out quick or long, holds it. I mean, at the end of the day, it's our job to be able to affect the quarterback, but as a I think they've improved every week.

Another thing is, that's the position on the edge. We've got a lot of young guys playing and it's been good to see those guys out there playing and improving and getting better each week and then come in and taking that to practice and the improvements in practice."

5. On how the team has responded since the win over Clemson...

"Yeah, well it really started last week and every week you're working on the message for the next week built into that one. And you know, at the conclusion of the game last week it was on to the next and that's what the message has been or became. Their success to this point is allowed them to play in games that each week become bigger and bigger. Look, this, you know, when you work your tail off to build something like this, to build a team, right, that has some success and gets some publicity. It is what it is, right? You're not gonna sit there and hide it, hide from it. They've earned those things. They have to understand how fragile that is, as coaches, I mean most everyone on our staff has been there before, right?

We've been there and completed the task, but we've also been there and have those games in a season that haunt us, right? Whether it be as a player, whether it be as a coach, whether it be on the last play of the season, those games haunt you. Those are the ones that stick in your head, and you have to learn from those experiences, and that starts with me is the head coach in learning from experiences that we've had the last couple of years, right? How the mindset is. And look, I told the team after practice today that if you see a heightened sense of urgency out of people, right, that is not out of fear of losing a game.

Okay, that is because we've been here before. We understand, you know, the complications that can come with this, but I believe in the football team and I continually tell them I believe in them. And I believe in the 27 seniors we have. I believe in the guys that have been here for the last three years working to build this. And every opportunity we get for the next, ever how many weeks it is, is gonna be bigger and bigger than the week before. And as long as they continue to understand that, 'cause human nature doesn't want you to understand that.

Human nature wants to pick up the phone and read the press, right, trying to offset the bad stuff they heard in the past, they have to understand it'll be twice as much bad as it is good, right, if you don't go out and handle business and as long as we prepare the right way and we play, they play the right way, I can handle what the outcome is, right, but it's when you don't do one of those two that you can't handle it. Like I said though, I think today was the best Thursday practice we've had up into this point, and I'll say that lightly."

6. On the depth of the offensive line and if some guys could be ready to play...

"Yeah, it could be Saturday. Could be. Those guys are doing a nice job. Very, very talented young guys, very talented. And you guys, some guys have been in the program a couple of years, they've really come along. It's good to see Ben be back out there healthy. Those young guys are really progressing the right way and on the course, we want them to. I would imagine it'd be sooner than later. You'd see some of those guys."

7. On the grey uniforms...

"You know, look, players, players love them, okay? Recruits love them, and that's a huge driving force behind it when it's everything we do, the experience we do is driven behind our fans, all right, and the players we're recruiting, and when you go on a summer night, I showed the guys in the uniforms, I mean it's like whoa nice and then also you know the new ones and they love them and I think the, the cool thing about this is with the gray uniforms there's a, there's a message that I have about Georgia Tech right there's a message that I tell recruits, there's a message I tell boosters and fans and people, and this is an opportunity for us to tell everybody that, because my vision of Georgia Tech is if I could create an analogy here of that old locomotive going down the track, all right, the old steam engine going down the track and it goes under the mountain, goes to the tunnel and the mountain on the other side, pops out the bullet train, speed of sound.

That's the old Georgia Tech, that's the industrial, industrial age, that's the big grit, the toughness, coming out of the new age on the other side. People need to understand that Georgia Tech is not short for technical; it's short for technology. And everyone in this room has the greatest piece of technology in the world, in their pocket right now. And as I was just talking about Dave Frakes, you know, he had a part in that, with the iPhone even.

That's what Georgia Tech is, and when we remodeled this building and we started on our journey of building the new building, you won't be able to walk in and think they're walking into an Apple store, or Microsoft, or Google, 'cause that's what technology is now, right? Well, that's what the gold and the gray represent, it's the grit, it's the toughness, it's the old meets the new, right? It's the story put onto their pads of what we tell recruits and what we tell people that Georgia Tech is. And when I think bust out the other side and the speed and the precision of the modern-day trains or vehicles that go to the speed of sound. That's also a combination of what this football team is, with the toughness and the grit and being able to establish the line of scrimmage, but also have the precision and the speed and the skill to be able to play sideline to sideline, inline to inline."

8. On having a target on their back and teams giving them their best shot...

"Look at our last two years. Look at how we've played against certain teams and then we decided not to play that way versus everything. Maybe it's 80%, maybe it's 100 %. It's not what we prepare for, it's not what we want. But that's human nature, right? It's human nature kicking in. Well, let's flip the script now. Every team we play is going to be at that hundred when they play us. So we have zero room to go below that. We have to be at 100 every single week. And we have to work every week to be better than the week before. And when you look at it like that, I think it's pretty easy to see what we're going to get, you know, continue to move forward.

Not saying people hadn't played their best game against us. I think every time people come out, they've wanted to play their best. against us. I think every time people come out, they've wanted to play their best. But maybe there was something on Tuesday afternoon in their practice that they thought, ah, maybe I don't have to do this as detailed or not be as focused. That didn't happen anymore, all right? But we embrace that, right? We're not afraid of exposure. There should be no fear in anything, right?

We should be confident in our ability to go out and prepare, confident in our ability to play together as a team, and confident in each other that we are playing for each other, right? You know, there's a much bigger thing that you play for when you play for the person next to you than it is if you're playing against or fighting against someone. So it all goes back to the belief I have in this team, the belief I have in this coaching staff to be able to take the message each week and get it through, but not just say it, not just hear it, but actually the buy into it."

9. On what Pat Boyle brings to the staff...

"They've meant the exact same that they mean every week to us. When you've been gone from a place, the amount of time they've been gone, there's really no connection there other than, it's where they went to school and it's just like that in the professional world. I mean it's, but Pat's just as big of a help this week as he was last week. And he was the week before, and he will be on Saturday just as big as he's been. He's a valuable, valuable member of this entire organization and what he does. And I mean, one of the smartest people I've ever been around in my lifetime. That I'm very fortunate to be able to work with Pat every single day."

10. On if the portal changes how he evaluates how to do redshirts...

"Not at all. Redshirt is something we sit down at the end of the year and talk about. It's not a player's decision. It's not something you plan out early. We have 100 -plus guys on the football team that we're preparing every one of those every day to play. Every one of those we're working to develop to play might not be this year, it might be next year, it might be halfway through the season. But I'm not gonna tell a kid in recruiting that they can come in and play once they've earned it. And then we've got somebody else there, you know, we're going to redshirt you know, it's not the way it works. So I've only been the head coach since this has been in play. So it's the way I've done it since since the first day, whether it's different than I would have been 10 years ago, I don't know, I can't say hypothetical, but I know how we do it now. And we've got guys that will play this week that have not played at this point, right? Because they've earned that and they've developed and they're at at that stage in their career. I mean, I don't think you're doing your team or the individual justice. If you just make a decision early on, we're gonna not play a kid for an entire year. You can't predict the future. None of us can."