Everything From Brent Key After Georgia Tech's Win Over Gardner-Webb

It was a dominant victory for Georgia Tech today against Gardner-Webb. Without Haynes King, Georgia Tech defeated Gardner-Webb 59-12 and had a massive offensive day. While this was expected, it was good to see the Yellow Jackets handle business and now they will face Clemson at home next Saturday.

After the game, head coach Brent Key spoke with the media and here is everything that he had to say.

Opening Statement...

"First, we'll start off just by thanking the fans, the students, you know, you have a delay like that to start a game, and you're not really knowing how long it's going to be, but to see them, you know, really to see them stick around and stay for the game. And then the amount of students are still left at the end of the game, the amount of people who are still left at the end of the game. It seems like every game we play here at Bobby Dodd, it gets better and better with our, with the support that we get from our fan base. And I can't thank them enough and can't wait to see them, but really double down on today and for the next home game. And the one after that, and one after that, and one after that. So, yeah, I just want to start off by saying thanks to them.

You know, really excited to get a win. All wins are good wins. That was a big thing that I have talked about with the entire organization. that when we win football games, we're going to enjoy winning football games. Whether you win or lose, you've got to be extremely critical about what you do, right, and how you play and what you do to correct those things. So, you know, I thought we went in and, you know, Aaron ended up starting off the game, which was, you know, a game decision, a game time decision.

And first drive, second drive. There it goes again, we didn't do it on the third this week though, but look Aaron came off the side or come off the field after the second turnover that went through the interception. I said hey man, congratulations, you got him out of you know, and you know I said shake it off, I said don't think about it, you got to play the next play and then he throws a touchdown, I think it was Isiah on the next drive. Offense was out there and he came over and he said, that's the way I can play football. I said, yeah, exactly. You just got to go do it.

So we had a lot of guys got the opportunity to play today. I think I counted one time eight or nine freshmen on the field on defense for a majority of the really second half. We got a lot of guys on offense who had to play as well. So all in all, I thought we had a good win. I'm excited for the team and the staff for being able to get a win. But at the same time, we've got a lot of things we have to continue to work on and that's going to be an every every week thing.

Okay. And we've got to be critical about it and make sure we get those things adjusted and fixed."

1. On the decision to start Aaron Philo today...

"Yeah, it was a decision that was really right up into game time you guys saw he was he went out for pregame warm -ups he's got a just a nagging lower body injury you know that you know I trust I put a hundred percent trust in faith in our medical staff and our doctors and our training staff and you know as much as you want somebody to play you know they're gonna do its best for them so they can you know not have one week turned into four or five or six so they made the right decision, and then, you know, I'm going to support those people, the doctors, and back them up into any point in time."

2. On not making early mistakes in games on offense...

"Not turn it over. We have turnover drills and ball security drills in practice. All offensive guys don't go to defense and try to get the ball turned over. They're trying to protect it. Look, this is uncharacteristic of our football team and what we take pride in and what we work into the day. It's got to be fixed. We've got to continue to work these things. We've got to continue to put the players in positions that practice is game like and where they're they feel that pressure and the decisions and whatnot.

You look, some of the things from last week were drastically cleaned up this week and then you know something else, and like I said, you know, Aaron comes to the sideline after the second one. Hey, man, you did it. They're over with. All right, now let's go play ball.

First time guys get in there, when you really-- it's a little different when you're the guy as opposed to coming off the bench. So I was proud of the way that he settled back into the game and was able to compete the rest of the day."

3. On the defensive line...

"Yeah, a lot of those guys, or those young guys on the D -line are really coming around. I mean, Amontrae looks like he was chiseled out of a Greek god. I mean, he's 6 '5", He's long, 255 pounds. He can run like a deer, and every time he's able to get on the field and compete like that, he's going to get better and better and better and better. Look, there's so many facets of the game. It's not just always the big play on the sack. I mean, it's defending the run, playing the run, all those things. So he's progressing, progressing very nicely, as are a lot of the other new guys that are out there."

4. On the explosive plays and Graham Knowles throwing a TD on his first throw...

" It's pretty good QBR, isn't it? So, I mean, it's probably as high as you And it's part of the shortest distance for the longest score to know that I think I told you guys on Tuesday and Thursday and in the media that that was something we had to do. We had to get the ball to our playmakers. We had to spread the ball around. We had to make sure that our good players got the ball and we have a lot of good players and I thought I did a good job with that today and Buster did a good job of distributing it in the play calls, I thought Graham did a nice job."

5. On another solid game on the ground...

"Yeah, obviously, I'll make the decision once I see the whole able to go back and watch the whole game. But to me, it's about balance. We've got to be able to have balance offensively. We can't just sit there and expect to be able to run the ball, you know, two out of three plays for every every game. That's not what we want to do. It's not what I want to do. And the balance I think is what's the right thing. You know, if they're gonna try to take away the pass, you've got the run. We knew just from from film studying and game planning during the week that a couple of things we did, if they got past the safeties, you know, the way they structurally, schematically, the way they played defense, that we had a chance to go the distance, and then they did."

6. On Aidan Birr's start to the season...

"Yeah, I mean, he's done really since the beginning of the year, throughout all spring, throughout preseason camp, you know, the confidence he has. I'll say this, you know, our specialists, they're football players, right? They're football players, and that's what's really good to see. They're as competitive as any D-line or wide receiver, or offensive tackle. So I've been proud of Aidan, you know. Marshall hasn't had as many opportunities, but you know, when he does, he'll make sure he's part of the team as well."

7. On the blocked kicks today...

"Yeah, first off, I've been really proud of Ahmari. This is somebody, you know, the play before he jumps offsides, right? And in the past, that could have really been a dagger to Ahmari. And instead of letting that affect him, we talk about all the time of playing the next play, he plays the next play, right, without any attachment to the previous one. And he's able to, you know, come up big there. So I'm really proud of Ahmari with that.

But yeah, you know, even if you need anything else in the program at the end of every year, you look at the big global adjustments that you need to make. Special teams was something that we felt like we should have been more competitive at last year. So by hiring Tim Salem and Brendan Farrell, those guys, they are all special teams all the time. And I think it's the, you know, personnel obviously helps, right, the personnel we have on the roster and the team, but also schematically the things they're doing and how they teach and how they coach and the amount of time we've spent on them. So I've been pleased to see that 'cause we're gonna meet our special teams for sure, moving forward."

8. On how the freshmen played today...

"Yeah, like I said, I mean, there was eight or nine guys, a freshman on defense at one point in time. Christian Garrett's continuing making plays. And I thought Tae Harris had a really nice job. On the back end today, coming off the edge down on the goal line, had a nice TFL. It was post -safety, made a break on the ball and dislodged the ball on a slot scene route that they threw late in the game, and that's what you want that position to do. And the only way these guys are going to continue to improve is not about the practice reps, it's opportunity to get in and have game reps. I mean, the last screen we had, I mean, Josh Petty was out in front of both of them, and you've got a really, really good block to spring the last one. Kevin Peay got a chance to get in there. I could go on and on with the guys. I don't want to miss anybody out though, You know, Jameson played a lot of the right tackle spot. You know, a lot of the red shirt freshmen, you know, getting in on the defensive line. So I'm very pleased with how these guys are developing. You know, you really want them to be full go, ready to play as many snaps as needed by the time you we could get that fourth and fifth game."

9. Early thoughts on Clemson...

"Excited to have our fans here, our students here, and be loud for the game."

10. On being able to play so many guys today...

"Yeah, wish we could have gotten some of them in a little bit earlier, and, you know, there's a couple of guys that might have been out at certain spots where it became kind of tough, you know, but it's big. It's really big. You know, I go back to my time at previous stops and how many freshmen are playing at the end of the year. It's opportunities like this for them to get in there and get those valuable reps. So what happens is, I mean, practice is a grind, right? And when you're not getting that reward of Saturday to go out and play the game that we love to play, it's hard, I mean, it's like a, it's like it never stops. And to have a reward to play on Saturdays. I mean, I'll use Jameson Riggs as an example. He played last Friday night in the game, and then he probably had his best week of practice he's had, because you see that light. You see that way there. So it's only going to make us better in the long run"