Everything From Brent Key Ahead of Saturday's Game vs Virginia Tech

Georgia Tech is 5-0 and coming off of their first bye week of the season, one that was needed after their close call against Wake Forest last week. The Yellow Jackets are now going to turn their attention to Virginia Tech, which is 2-4 and coming off a loss to Wake Forest. Georgia Tech is among the favorites to get to Charlotte to play in the ACC Championship, but first things first, they are going to have to take care of a Hokies team that has played better since firing head coach Brent Pry.

Ahead of Saturday's game, Georgia Tech head coach Brent Key spoke to the media and here is everything that he had to say:

Opening Statement...

"Let's get rolling, so we're obviously coming off a bye week now, it's came at a very good time for us. Anytime you get in this game four, five, six, you know, area, whenever you buy week falls if it falls in that time, it's good timing, you know to be able to you know, you have to rest and recharge. You know, reset your focus, reset everything about you know, really that you've done you know self-scout, spend a lot of time recruiting as coaches, we're seeing games, seeing kids but for us, really came to a good time because we're able to take some time to reflect on that first third of the season. All right, which was very, very deserving.

You know, I was extremely proud of the of the guys came out of the gate sprinting and really pushed through that first third of the season. I mean, it was not always easy, and they did. The thing we have to understand now is we're going into that middle third of the season, okay? And we're in a good place today, but there's a lot of things that take place in this part of the season. Anybody that's a fan of college football or has been around college football knows that this is that time where, you know, to equate it, you're out on a boat and you're far enough away where you can't see the shore anymore, you can't see where you started, but you're so far out if that boat goes down, you ain't swimming back either.

So, you know, you don't see the start or the finish right now and it's that part of the season where you have to really make sure that you bring it every single day. And a lot of the things we've talked about with the team is, You know, the things are one, you know, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, during the week, 'cause it's fun, it's exciting. It's an exciting time, and I want the guys to be excited, but also to understand that this part of the season now is about, it's to protect what we've already done.

Okay, we have to, we put a lot into that, and you have to protect that. And it's not easy, okay? And it doesn't just come with, you know, having talent, doesn't just come with believing you're going to win. None of that stuff, you know, that's, that's like saying momentum's going to carry you over to the next season or the next week. We don't believe that. We don't work on that. We don't, we don't talk about that. I talked to the team after practice that I told them this. It's probably the most common thing in all of college and professional sports are super talented teams that don't have any trophies and great players that don't have any rings. It takes a lot more than talent and expectation to really go out and be able to gather rings and trophies and those things.

It's a lot required. There's a lot you have to sacrifice, right? And look at it in terms more of trading out and sacrificing. But you have to trade things out in your life, right? You have to elevate your preparation every single day in practice. I mean, this is the most important day of the season right here, right? This day is in tomorrow. Tomorrow is the most important day of the season. We play one game seasons and It's extremely important that our guys understand that, and I think they do. We had a really good practice today, and I was excited to see them running around, the focus, the intent, the sense of urgency. So, like I said, it's not carrying on what we've already done. That doesn't happen. It's all about us going out and playing this middle 30th season to our best ability now."

1. On what he has noticed different about Virginia Tech since firing Brent Pry...

"Look, they've got talent all right, they played. If you look at a rundown, I mean, the teams that they've lost to, I mean, they were combined 15 and 5, 15 and 6, something like that. I mean, they're good football teams. And some of them are very close games, especially going into fourth quarter, You know, since they made a change, and look, I think Brent Pry was a great man, a really good football coach, and you hate it at any time that happens in an organization, and you hate it for people in the field, and that's what you really hate it for. But you know, he's put together a good roster, he's got this one instilled in the team, and there's, you there's talk about it and whatnot, but really in the day none of that really matters. It matters what we're able to go out and do against the opponent that's on the field on Saturday. So look, I've been in that situation. A lot of, probably earn even more respect for that team each week, or this week."

2. On his own experience going through being an interim head coach...

"I barely remember yesterday. Struggle with me yesterday, especially last week. Three, three years ago was a long time ago and it has zero impact on right now but look I turn on the tape statistically they've improved and in every facet you know they're playing disciplined football what happened here three years ago doesn't have a bearing on this game but you know understanding that that did happen here and we were up a rally that the team together, and they played with a chip on the shoulder. That's what we expect this Saturday."

3. On the margin of error being small every Saturday...

"Our margin is not big, but you could take every opponent coming up for the next, what, five, six, seven weeks and shake it up and throw it down the table and anybody could be doing anybody any day. So, I mean, the margin we know is small. I was proud of the way the guys fought through a lot of those in the first part of the season and look, it's going to happen again. There's going to be more games like that and we have to be prepared for that. We have to expect that. Now, do we want them to be nice and easy? Yeah, I think everybody would want that, but that's not necessarily ever going to happen. So we prepare for it to be four quarters and then some, you know, every week. But yeah, now look, we got to play better football too.

We played about four and a half football that we could have played in that first half. And that's something we had not played that poorly for that extended amount of time. But the intangible things that are part of good football teams were there, the belief, the expectation, the not quitting, all those things were there. But yeah, we've got to expand that margin. The only way to increase that margin is through your preparation."

4. On balancing rest and staying sharp on the bye week...

" I don't know. I mean, if I had a gauge to test it, it would have been perfect on it, but all I can look at is the way we practiced on Sunday, the way we practiced today. And I would say that it definitely came at the right time and we going to finish on it."

5. On any concerns he has coming off of a bye week...

"I mean, I could sit here and give you coach speak and write a lot of 100 things that you're concerned about. But there's no today than there is, you know, before the second game of the season, before the, or there will be before the, you know, whatever, 10th game of the season, 11th game. I mean, it's, there's nothing to do with a bye week or not being a bye week with that. I trust the team. I truly trust this football team. They do things the right way, and their belief is the right way. When you look closely at the team and the program overall."

6. On finding ways to come back and what it says about the team's resiliency...

" Yeah, like, you know, kind of going on what I said a second ago that you'd love to play every game and have to lead the whole time. And, you know, I mean, you'd love to square the possession you have it and the other team out there would score. But I don't think that's ever happened in the history of football. So, again, not to give coach speak, but we're worried about one thing, that's the day we're in. You can't look behind, you can't look forward. We have to understand how fragile this is. Anybody who watched college football last Saturday, a lot of our guys were able to since it was a bye week, they were able to see that, right? And I said, talent alone is not enough. Believing alone is not enough. Thinking it's gonna carry over momentum is not near enough."

7. On the team being healthy at this point in the season...

"We've got really good training staff, really good strength and conditioning, really good nutrition. And that's all part of it. It's part of the way we practice. We're constantly trying to find a better way. I don't believe in just doing something because you've always done it. We've been doing it that same way. Since I walk out of here, we'll look at our practice tomorrow and see exactly from the science part of it, from the contact part of it from what we need, from reps, from development, all those things and it's all about player availability, right? A lot of it's, you know, fortunate and luck, can't control it but you can try to prevent it. So we do everything we can to try to prevent that. We've been in a good place so far, knock on wood. Look, injuries are part of the game. They are, and that's why we talked so much this offseason about, you know, increasing the inquiring depth in the program. Alright. Always injuries are going to occur. You can't predict them. You don't know who they're going to be."