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

Georgia Tech is officially two weeks away from their annual White and Gold Spring Game and they continued spring practice today. After today's practice, Yellow Jackets head coach Brent Key spoke to the media and here is everything that he had to say:

Opening Statement...

"Alright, you know, coming out of our first scrimmage, it's been a challenging week for them this week, overall. I mean, we were on spring break, previously, week, you know, you're off for 10 days and you come back and we made some, mostly installation prior to the spring break and you know, one day we, you know, got a lot, you know, went live a little bit and come back for spring break, you know, you got to challenge them with installation, but also with, you know, being able to continue to improve every day. We got a lot of young guys out there, a lot of young guys, you know, you don't realize it until you actually get in and the moment you start looking at the film on and you hit him, that's a freshman, a freshman, true sophomore, should be at prom tonight, you know, just got here. And they're young and a lot of key spots, but you know, they're really talented. But it's teaching them how to practice. You get to teach them how to practice before they learn to play. And we've gone, like I said, it was a hard week.

We went to 77 plays of live reps on and then turn around and finish with 161 today, live reps. All three groups going. Everybody had an opportunity to get out there and play. So different parts of the scrimmage today. We had some sections that were very generic, very vanilla. and go play and play fast. But 161 plays today, it's a fair number of plays. Last year day one scrimmage in spring scrimmage one. I think we ended up getting to 130 somewhere in there. I watched that scrimmage last night, just to have a little bit of a barometer of where we are as a football team. You start looking through that lens every day and you say, we got to get back to this, this, this, and this, but we've come a long way in the course of a year. But that has nothing to do with anything this year.

We need every possible rep. And of every possible-- of every day we have left, to continue to develop these guys. But overall, I thought it was a good day. A couple of bumps and bruises out there, but nothing really bad. And that's the good thing. These guys are really tackling a lot right now and, you know, popping back up and, you know, you start to get worried when you're going, so my trip's over somebody or something, but no, they're playing football the right way. They're learning to, you know, close the ball. Multiple people tackle. You know, If you have a missed tackle, you should only go for two or three yards at the most. Everyone should be rallying the ball and we're getting better at that. Some of the good things out there today, the pass rush for a first scrimmage was really good, really, really good, and that was whether some of the third down fronts and blitzes and what not, but also just in some of the normal down situations early on when we weren't blitzing or moving just straight pass rush, thought, uh, uh, your Brayden Manley showed up today. Amontrae Bradford showed up, Andre Fuller showed up, you know, disruptive and actually had a 65 -yard fumble recovery for a touchdown.

So a lot of those guys, you know, some of the inside guys showed up just pushing the pocket. We got a long way to go in pass protection on the offensive line. A lot of these new guys and the guys that hit and played together and you see cracks and we're you know they're just getting used to being next to each other and you see sometimes where guys truly get we guys truly get get you get beat one -on -one so we got it we got a long way to go there it'd be really good. So the protections got to improve. They got to be confident to stop the guys on their tracks. We didn't bend back too much into the quarterback. Not having time to throw the ball. I thought when the quarterbacks had time, they executed well, did a really good job.

I mean, we had some big plays by receivers and explosives. Bailey had a really big day. Got a lot of different ways. We got the ball in different ways. Zion's starting to show up. Dean Patterson today had some big plays. And tight end wise, Luke Harpring was productive. J.T. Byrne had some production out there and some things. So like we've done a lot of guys are getting the ball. A lot of guys we did it a lot of different ways, which ball is probably even on catches and runs with what we were doing with him. Had one high hurdle. Thought he was channeling his inner Najee Harris. Hurdle's one of the DB's out there.

Then we had some third down situations, short yard situations. Short yardage is something we've really spent a lot of time on. Really since the season ended philosophically, schematically, personnel -wise. So it was good to see some of those live reps out there today and some of the things we've done. You know, Trelain Maddox had a big done. He had two 50 -plus yard runs. That's a big man moving now. And I think he had three touchdowns. So all in all, offensively, we were able to get the ball distributed to who we wanted to get it get attributed to that was see guys go and a lot of the runs we had you know they're you know some get some quick hitters inside that popped or you know some might go around the edge defensively we've got to work on our setting the edge you know the contain all the contain elements of the defense you know a lot of that several times today the... you know they clogged everything up in the middle and the ball bounce bounce bounce bounces and you know we're getting blocked out on the perimeter we, we've got to pick up our physicality on the back end, DB, from getting off of blocks, using our hands, defeating blockers, tackling, being short tacklers. We've got a long way to go with that.

A lot of linebackers out there playing. It was good to see those guys running around a bit. Cayman Spaulding, 35, is really starting to show up in a lot of different ways. We've got to play in a lot of different positions right now in different groupings. So really force -feeding a lot of stuff to him, but when he knows what he's doing, he makes plays. You know, EJ (Lightsey), EJ's been a really, really solid player in their force for the first several weeks. I think Syeed (Gibbs) had an interception today, had a good play and a good interception. So, and then we got four or five punts in, live punts, seeing the new punter out there, and he had some really good kicks. One just missed on a sky kick down kind of in the cross midfield. And then we had some PA, we had PAT field goals, a lot of PAT field goals today. So got some special teams working today. So it was all in all, a lot of reps, a lot of work, a lot of guys playing. We got to really evaluate be very critical with it, you know, make sure we're showing the guys a path of improvement. So, you know, when you're coaching young kids, you got to show a path of them. You got to show the improvement. You got to show day one and two and then, hey, here's what you're doing then, here's where you are now. So it gives them encouragement and encourages guys to see themselves improving that know what they're doing is right and the right thing. We also have to be very critical of mistakes and point them out and call them out and and we have to get them fixed and we have to get them corrected. The big goal of spring is we have to improve day -to -day, week -to -week, and this time next week, we have to sit here and say that we improved from scrimmage one to scrimmage two, collectively with all three phases."

1. On the center and tackle spots on the offensive line...

"A lot of pressure, a lot of sacks, a lot of talented guys that are spinning a little bit right now. Center spot, Tana and Harrison are both doing some really good things. And you have to it's hard to get better at center if they're not live real reps of doing it. So we got two guys, I feel like they, are gonna be really good players for us, though. You know, and we'll get Jimmy Bryson, who'll come in in the summer. And we've got a lot of guys repping there. The tackles, you know, Ethan has done some really good things, really picked up where he really left off after his freshman year. And then, And then, as a guy, got back in the mix towards the end of the year last year. So he's done some good things, but still got some consistency out of him. That's a lot of plays we went today at this time of the year. First, the conditioning goes warm, so, but we got to sustain. You got to push through the hard things. You got to play when you're banged up. You know, Jameson's played on the right side, he's done a good job in the run game. Consistency and protection, you know. A lot of that is just getting used to playing with the guy next to you. Red is playing high -level football. Keylan Rutledge is playing a really, really high -level of football. As we continue to continue to-- different situations that will come in this next week, they'll continue to be exposed to a lot of different things. And that's what we want. We want these young kids to be exposed to a lot of things. And then when we finish up with the spring you know, we'll have some time off and then we'll come back in and we'll restart installation again. And they'll hear it and they'll be like, "Oh, I know that." So we'll go through it and then we'll rep it again, you know, go through a whole other cycle of installation and get to the preseason camp and that's the, that's the, that's the path of development for, for these, for these young guys. It's only, you gotta, you gotta rep 'em and you gotta do it. I mean, they don't really care what we say up on the board and drawing circles and all that kind of stuff. And they want to do something to see themselves what they did, how they did it good or bad, and then how they're going to do it again to improve themselves."

2. On how the vertical passing game is progressing through the spring...

"Done a good job with it. You know, like someone queues that time today, they push the ball downfield. But in order to improve your vertical passing game, you know, a lot of that's off -play action. You got to be consistent, run the football, you got to, you know, time. And right now, we're not building packages to, you know, game plan the other side. We're not, hey, we're going to run this run this way, this way, then set it up, and it looks just like this on the play action and get this match up. And those things. doing it. That's why we coach, right? So, you know, we've got some guys, you know, I think, you know, Eric Rivers, you know, he's not full go as of right now, but the stuff, as far as being live, but other stuff he's doing, once he's out there and we get some other pieces in there, you know, I think we have a chance to really improve that part of the offense. They've done a good job in the intermediate throwing game. That's where we're, you know, some of the, You know, some of the things across the middle or, you know, six, seven yard plays. And those are, you know, good move to stick with the chain, all right, chain plays."

3. On the future of the spring game at Georgia Tech...

"I don't know if I have a say in that or not, I hope so. But, I mean, there's gonna be one as long as, hopefully as long as I'm here. I want a moment, but we're going through a lot now for the last two and a half years of really getting the students here and the fans engaged and the student body here is so important to our experience and our atmosphere on game day, right? And spring game is another experience for them. I love spring games. I love them, it allows me, if I was in the fraternity house down the street, I'd be sleepless waiting for the spring game, you know, I'd go wake them up in the mornings and bang on their doors, but we've worked hard to get them, to bring them involved and get them involved in what we're doing, and that's a treat for them. It really is, it's a treat for our kids, I mean, you worked your butt off during the spring ball. And really for the opportunity to compete on Saturdays, and whether it's a scrimmage or now you have fans in the stands and you put the uniform on, I mean, that's a fun time. I don't-- it's a personal opinion, but there's a lot of different ways you can do spring. I'm sure there could be a whole other conversation. But I enjoy spring games. I like the spring games. And as long as we're at Georgia Tech and I have, then you say, and then hopefully my boss, hopefully J believes the same thing, and then ultimately Dr. Cabrera. But I love the atmosphere of a spring game. I can't wait for White and Gold weekend."

4. On if the message in recruiting has changed...

"You know, the core message stays the same, But yeah, I think every year you go through this, you become a little more, I won't say better at it, but you're a little more aware of things you're saying and how you're saying it and how you're constructing it and the information you're getting and to construct those conversations. And it's a real positive thing going on right now. Obviously, I can't talk about kids or whatnot, but, When we started this thing two and a half years ago, it was, you know, no frills, all sweat and work. I mean, trying to be some fun, cool place. And all of a sudden now, you know, because it's a cool place. And I guess it's come full circle. I guess hard work is cool again."

5. On the defense's progression...

"I thought they made a jump today. I really do. Had some success. The thing I was not happy with today was the ebbs and flows of the game. When you're playing a game and you're competing, you've got to come out for three and a half hours. You've ever been at energy in the level you come out at, the standard you have, whatever fancy, funny word you want to have, right? It's got to be here the whole time. It can't be dictated upon what happens out on the field, right? Jamal was a great example. No matter who's on that field, Jamal Haynes is running up and down that sideline, cheering his butt off for him. Malik's another one, same thing. You know, they're cheering about, and some guys are, they're on the sideline, they're worried about the last play they were in there, the, you know, the bad play they had or the bad series. Those things can't dictate, you know, and I told the team, I said, if you allow that to happen, what is that? At 7 -6 is what that is. At 7 -6, all right? And we've made a major emphasis on that this year, the consistency part of it, all right? And I'm gonna call it out. During the halftime of the scrimmage, I called the whole offense together and addressed them about it. And I thought the second half, they responded, But that's what we coach now, but we have to build those habits in our guys so we don't have to have a Kumbaya rally on the 50 -yard line in the middle of the game. "

6. On UCF Transfer Matthew Alexander...

" See, It's kind of funny because I stand back behind the offense. And I didn't see a lot of them today because he was doing his job. But I saw the back of the lines jerseys coming at me. So he was doing something good. Now, he's been a real, real pleasant surprise for us. We knew he was a good player. Now he's gotten in shape and kind of learned in the way we do things. He's got good got a good feet, he can move and do the things we do on defense, play the block, play within the scheme of defense. I've been very pleasable. Now, JJ. JJ's a game breaker. No, JJ, JJ had a good day. "

Additional Links

Georgia Tech Football: Yellow Jackets Get Updated Win Total Projection For the 2025 Season

Georgia Tech Forward Duncan Powell Declares For the NBA Draft

Should Georgia Tech Pursue Top Transfer Portal Pass Rusher?