Everything From Brent Key After Georgia Tech's First Spring Scrimmage

The first spring scrimmage is in the books for Georgia Tech.

The Yellow Jackets will hold their annual White and Gold Spring game in less than two weeks, but there is still plenty of work to be done on the field, and the Yellow Jackets held their first scrimmage over the weekend. Afterward, head coach Brent Key spoke with the media and here is everything that he had to say.

Opening Statement...

"First scrimmage today, but, you know, just some of the overall adjustments we've made in the whole program. A little bit different than we've done in the past in that we actually used yesterday as an installation day to install our short yardage packages. We normally would put it in on a, we'd put short yardage in on like a Tuesday or Thursday. I don't want to put everything in at once. I want to be able to utilize every day and really get good because we're focusing so much on the development of guys. And I've talked about that already, about the development of players and development of younger guys to be able to play more for us. And those are some of the adjustments we made. And so we started out practice.

We came out of flex and went to a special teams period, some individual, some 7-on-7, some O-line, D-line group work. And then we did a team period of short yardage. So we were still installing them. Then we went to the sideline. And then normally we have done a first half and just kind of open play. Second half of the scrimmage, third downs, red zone, all that. We didn't do that. I just wanted to see these guys play football all day.

For those 15 series, we had 112 total plays. And I thought it was a good balance in it. You know, I thought it was a typical first scrimmage. A lot of good things to coach off of. You know, the things we wanted to see, I mean, defensively, Boogie (Jason Semore) had three calls. That's it. No pressure, no blitz. I want to see how the guys can line up, execute and play football. I want to see how the offense can line up, block people, you know, break tackles, throw and catch.

And, you know, I think George (Godsey) had about 12 to 15 calls. So very, very limited playbook. and we played the whole time like that. So, again, everything goes back to the fundamental development of the football team and being this fundamentally sound of a team so we can play as long as we can this season and still be a fundamentally sound team. So, again, just some of the overall tweaks we made in the program this year.

With that, there were a couple touchdowns. We had one turnover, but I thought we had some balls in jeopardy too many times. We had to coach the crap out of that. Putting a ball in jeopardy, might as well be a turnover, right? So I thought the running backs really stood out today. The D-line really stood out today, which I don't think you usually hear those both sit in the same thing. But, again, we were trying to get up and see how we're running the football, how we're flat walling the line of scrimmage. I thought some of the big runs were runs that bounced. Maybe, you know, they weren't wanting anything inside. But I thought some really good hard runs up inside too. All the running backs did well. JP (Powell) and Shane Marshall had good days.

Shane's the one that put it on the ground when the turnover came back and had some really good hard runs and responded to it. That's what I'm looking for from the whole team is how they respond moving forward. How you can respond to a different environment. That's what we have to improve on. We go from practice. I thought we probably had our best practice on Thursday. Well, there's a lot of things. There's third downs. pressures there's games there's different fronts you know different packages on defense based on personnel but you know again when the game's on the line you're only as good as your base offense defense special teams um you know we had five three and outs which was you know credit to the defense you know did a good job there um also had too many missed tackles you know this first day tackling so uh you know we've really got to work on that this week work on our tackling technique especially on the back end too many guys looking down.

Wasn't happy with the pre-snap penalties. But we've got a lot of cadence in. We've got a lot of different cadences in. We've got a lot of different, you know, operational things in and i want to continue to stress our guys in the volume that we give them right the volume isn't necessarily the play call right, the volume is everything that goes around it whether it's a run check pass check a defensive you know coverage check you know a cadence uh i think we have five or six different cadences in right now uh and getting all those guys on the same page and i think you guys know me well enough to know you know i want to see what the the guy that the fourth-string running back is going to do with the first team. I want to see what the first team nickel is going to do with the third team. I want to see how those guys are going to respond.

Are they going to play where they're at or are they going to play to the best of their ability? Those are all things we're looking at on this team. And then I think the ability to handle distractions. You come in the stadium for the first time in a scrimmage situation. I told them yesterday it was going to be thud, and it wasn't. So again, how do you respond to those things? There should be no change in your response. It should always be the same, right? And that's what we're working to develop every single day with this team is that there's a standard you play to and you play to it every play, right? Once that play's over, you play the next one. I say it all the time. You can't control the outcome, right? You can't, right?

You can't control the event that you're put into. You control your response. You control how you prepare. You control how hard you play, how disciplined you are. the amount of toughness you bring, and then can you do it consistently, play it and play out, when you don't know when the end point's going to be, when there's not a quarter or a clock on the scoreboard. Can you play the first 45 minutes of scrimmage and the last 45 minutes the same way?"

1. Assessing the quarterback competition...

"Yeah, Alberto's doing a good job. I mean, none of those guys have really played a ton of meaningful game reps. So it's a developmental position for us right now. Alberto does a good job of carrying the, whether it be a long verbiage play or a tempo play or whatever it is in the communication part. He's done a good job with it. You know, there's a lot of stuff on the plate right now. That's why we're doing it. We want to see who can do it. Let's stress it now. I think Alberto's doing a good job. I think Grady. Grady had a couple good plays in there today. So, I mean, those guys are doing a nice job.

Then the other guys are continuing to develop. Graham was in there, got a lot of good reps today. I think it's a good room. It is. I mean, I think Alberto has a chance to be a good player for us this year. But you know what? Like every young player, he's also going to make mistakes. That's why you have to be able to run the football. That's why you have to be able to take pressure off of a quarterback. I don't care if a quarterback started three years. I don't care if Haynes King's coming back. There's going to be times you've got to do some things to take pressure off of him. That's why it's a complete team game."

2. On the secondary...

"We don't react. You're acting as you sit back and wait. I mean, we've got a team that I truly believe, like, this team loves playing football. If you don't love football, you're not going to make it here. And, you know, if you don't love football, you're going to stick out real fast. So, you know, I wouldn't say that we weren't schematically. I don't know where that came from. You know, sit back and wait. I thought some players sat back and waited last year. I thought some coaches sat back and waited last year. Had nothing to do with scheme, right? Has to do with confidence. That's what it has to do with, right? You build confidence through your preparation and your practice and the way you go practice. Again, you want to play the last game of the season as hard as you're playing the eighth practice of spring. Again, shrinking margins, that's what we're trying to do.

There were no aggressive calls there today. I wanted these guys to be able to play blocks. I wanted them to be able to cover guys. We're not game-playing. We're not trying to win the day. We're trying to build a championship football team. Right. That's the player's job to play the called also."

3. On the defensive line...

"We're big. We're big. I mean, you look out there and the threes are going, and you've got guys that might be starters. That's the depth we have, too. I think we have 10 D tackles and 12 D ends right now. And probably 16, 18 of those guys can play football for us this year. It's very encouraging. Length matters on the edge. Amontrae (Bradford) he's a big old boy now. Jordan Walker, what a great kid too. What a great representative of Georgia Tech football.

Jordan (Walker), from the day he stepped on campus, this guy was a team captain last year, and two-time academic all-conference guy. You talk about a perfect fit for Georgia Tech, and he stepped on campus, and day one, workout one, he was a leader. He's on leadership. Those guys feed off each other, too. That's one thing I've really noticed, that defensive line, is they are the cohesiveness that they've had, the energy that they bring every practice. I mean, to think is, I mean, I got to tell him to get off the field half the time.

When he's not out there, he's out there, you know, cheering and dancing for the other guys and just a ball of energy. It's hard to have energy when you're out scrimmaging and playing and going through hard practices, but it goes back to what kind of shape you're in. Again, what does that go back to? How much do you love football? Those guys love football. You know, defensive line room is probably the most fun position beating rooms to walk into right now. And, but I haven't been on a good football team that, The defense wasn't ahead of the offense early in spring. And usually that starts with the defensive line. And I know for the first time since I've been the head coach here, and I know for the first time in a long time, we have a defensive line I think we can play really good winning football with."

4. On Dalen Penson moving to wide receiver...

"Yeah, there's no cross-training right now. He's a receiver. He started the first part of practice at DB. We needed another guy that could burn and take the top off. We moved him over. Practiced him there a couple times, a couple practices, and then went ahead and made the move full-time with him. And he can go. Made a couple really good plays today. A couple really nice catches. He's gaining more and more confidence every day. But, I mean, from the first day he stepped in there, I mean, doesn't have issues getting aligned. He's an aerospace engineering major.

He can go. He's electric. He's going to be a huge, huge asset for us this year on the offensive side. Now, does that mean we're not going to have packages on the other side? Once the season gets here, I don't know. I have we're not going to have packages on the other side? Once the season gets here, I don't know. I have no issue playing guys both ways. I don't. But you have to master one side before you can do both. And we're banged up a little bit on the back end of the corner. And those guys pushed through and played today. I mean, they love football.

And it was cool to see, you know, just the unselfishness those guys have on the defense. But really, that goes back to Boogie. It goes back to Boogie and the way he runs that defense, the way he runs the unit meetings, the way he runs the staff meetings. He's coached a lot of really good football. And I know exactly what I'm getting with Jason Semore. And I'm really glad he's back. I'm really glad he's here with us. He knows exactly how he wants to present things. But he also takes our message as a program and utilizes that. Me and him have spent a lot of long, long nights together talking ball. Don't forget who the first person's office I walked into that year. So I trust him. I love the way he's built cohesion on that side of the football, but also cohesion within the entire team."

5. Interior offensive line development...

"Yeah, so I've been really, you know, I'm glad you asked that question about the O-line this time. I've been really pleased when we kicked Malachi (Carney) inside to right guard. Jameson (Riggs) done a really nice job playing right tackle, man. I mean, he has got a lot of, you know, real valuable experience playing last year. and now he's playing really good football. And, you know, it's a shock that offensive linemen is a developmental position. So I don't care what you rated or ranked or whatever coming out, you know, the talent and the development. I think Mo has done a really good job, but also the other Mo and and Robbie Bell, they've done a really good job with those guys. Robbie's working with the centers, right, and that's a hard position. You know, it's probably my favorite position. on the football team.

That's what they have to do and go through. And I've been really pleased with Joe Ionata. Man, I've been pleased with him. You know, he's got a sense of calmness, but also the ability to lead. He's another guy that just got here that we put on leadership. You know, Will Reed's done a nice job playing second-name center. You know, he had a late snap today and got all, you know, pissed at himself. And I said, look, what are you going to do, let that carry over the next play? I kind of jumped in the huddle. You know, he used it as a real coaching point for him. Then, like I said, Malachi playing right guard.

Kevin Peay, I think, this past week has made huge, huge strides. Huge strides. Him and Christian Garrett have had some battles, whether it be one-on-ones, whether it be, you know, one-on-one drive blocks, whether it be in team run situations, team pass situations. I really see him taking that step. I've been very pleased with him. He's perfect. I mean, he's got, I mean. I'll turn the tape on today and I'll probably tell you something different. But, again, it's not about one practice. It's about the whole. It's about all of it. And seeing these guys develop and progress and improve.

The Twins. I mean, those guys are going to play for us this year. Those guys are going to play a lot of football for us this year. The maturity that those two guys have, whether it be from the first day they got here and they knew what the challenge was, they had to drop weight. I think collectively together, they've dropped about 50 or 60 pounds together. Everything's together with them. But they're playing guard and tackle. They are massive. They stay on their feet. They get great balance. And everything is coach me coach. I mean, they don't say anything back. They don't talk. They just soak it all in. They take it in. They're very coachable. You tell them something one time and they correct it, they fix it.

You know, so we've got some guys there that have been very pleased with the development. We're not ready to go play a game yet by any means. And then, you know, some of the guys being out, you know, we got Markell back this week at tackle. Been playing him left and right at tackle. And then we've, you know, Jordan Floyd's making a lot of progress. He's gotten so many valuable reps. But also that's the best thing about, you know, these guys getting all these reps and developing, you know, these guys that are hurting, it's out of their control. They can't, I mean, they're looking in, they're just, they're fiending it right now to get back in there.

And, you know, every rep we have in our practice, you look, you know, Ethan and Josh, they're sitting there taking their sets, taking their, I mean, not just middle reps, they're taking those same reps on air every single play, you know, as they're, you know, working to get back. So, we're developing depth there. It's a work in progress still right now. But I've been really pleased with what Mo has been able todo with those guys. You really see the things that are being coached and taught in individuals, in group work. We're doing fewer team periods right now in practice than we've ever done.

A lot more group work, half-on drills, pod drills, one-on-ones, perimeter drills. Again, we'll get into the full, you know, we'll do two or three teams a day. But I want to develop this team as a fundamentally sound football team that can play winning football in November."

6. On the tight ends...

"Yeah. You know, Gavin (Harris) got a lot of reps today, made some nice catches. You know, a couple of the guys are still out. You know, Spencer (Mermans) should be back. He might be back next week. But, you know, it's, I think we've had, what, six or seven guys from the Ivy Leagues now? And I think all of them have missed some time when they first got here. Every one of them. All the way back to Connor, to Scaggs. You know, he might not have missed some time. He missed time because he had to get in shape. But it took him game three, I think, until he finally got in shape. But they've all played really good football for us. They're super smart. Football's important to them. You know, Chris Corbo worked his way back this week. He should be full go next week.

Kevin Roche now. He has all the tools to be great. George has coached some pretty good tight ends in his career. He thinks he has a chance to be elite. It doesn't come easy, though. It is hard. George is very demanding at that position. Nate Brock has developed as a coach himself this spring. And look, this part of the game too now is developing coaches. And having coaches in your program.

But, you know, what better coaches to be able to do that than those guys that have actually done it, guys that have done it, they've coached elite players at the highest levels. But they've also done it themselves. So I've been pleased with the development of the title. We've got a long way to go with the tight end position. Like I said, it's a lot. What people don't understand is communication on the line works inside out. Center comes up, makes a call, makes a mic, declaration, then the guard, then the tackle. Who's the last one to get everything every time? The tight end. So you can't necessarily always say, well, what was the call?

Because, yeah, that works on a chalkboard and in a walkthrough. But when the bullets are flying, that doesn't work. Defensively, there's a lot of little tweaks and variations within the defense. a lot of different fronts. I mean, you might look down, there might be, you know, two D linemen in the game. There might be, you know, five D linemen in the game.

You know, and then, you know, the variations of how, you know, backers are fitting in safeties and corners, depending on the formations and all those things. And so it's a lot of looks these guys are getting, right? So they're young. It's a lot of information, but I do not want to slow down on the installation. I want to continue to challenge these guys. We know that's an advantage we carry every week. We have smart guys here, and the ability to carry a lot of volume is an advantage we have. Well, we can't just be slow with them right now and throw the volume on them in August and September and expect things are going to work out right. We need to know now what they can handle. We'll make that decision when we get together on Monday, then the next Monday, then after spring. We feel like this team can carry a lot, or they can't. And then we'll re-tailor and remake how we do our installs throughout the summer in the training camp."