Everything From Brent Key's Thursday Media Availability Ahead of Matchup With No. 19 Louisville

Georgia Tech has a huge game this weekend vs No. 19 Louisville and the Yellow Jackets and Cardinals kick off in nearly 48 hours. 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...

"Just finished up our Thursday prep on the field and one more day tomorrow before we go. Before we head up to Louisville, another day of practice and preparation. We'll continue throughout the day -to -day as coaches, staff and players as well, you know, they had a really good look this week from from our scout teams. I think it's important to make sure you come in, not just who scout team players of the week are, but really overall all those guys and that's what, you know, continuing to add depth and build depth on your football team. It elevates the level of your scout teams, he look teams, and if you're going to get better competition during practice, then obviously it's going to elevate and continue to shrink that gap between practice and games, and that's what we're always looking to do. The scout players of the weekend special teams was Nehemiah Chandler, offensively, and I thought the whole offensive line did a good job on the scout team this week. Patrick Screws might be from the developmental practice today, he did a little 1 on 1 wide receiver DB drill, had a big catch across the middle, scored on it about 40 yards out. So big screws about 330, running down the scene, there's an elevated status of scout player of the week, and then Jack Collins on the defensive side, on the offensive field. And also, we talk all the time about football when we here but you know 50 % of what we do is with the academics of our guys and how important the academics are and how important it is in our guys come here and and understand the ultimate goal is to get that degree from Georgia Tech and to graduate and build themselves a better life after football and we talk about life after football I'm not saying life after when you graduate college I hope all these guys go on and continue to play for a long time you know but eventually But eventually they will be done and to have that Georgia Tech degree with you is something that's irreplaceable. So we had student athletes this week, Zach Tobe on defensive side and Tana Alo-Tupuola on the offensive side. but to see those young guys come in and get adjusted quickly I mean, it's outstanding. I mean, our team GPA is higher than the average GPA that our team had coming out of high school, if that tells you anything, about this academic support and how these guys work and what they do not just in the 20 hours a week of football they're in. So I've been proud of those guys. We've got to continue. We've got a 1 o 'clock academic meeting today, so we'll see if I still have a smile on my face then.

So we've got a big challenge for us this week. Really big challenge. Good football team, Louisville. We talked a little bit on Tuesday about it. I think Jeff Brohm does a great job of coaching, of developing and putting the right people in place. Calling the game from the offensive standpoint. Just as the team's excited to go compete and play as the head coach, I'm excited to compete against Well, on the game, I think he does it the right way. I respect him as a coach, I really do. He's a good, I don't think there's a better compliment in the world than to be called a ball coach when you're in this profession. And he is, he's a ball coach. So they got good players on both sides of the ball, good special teams. So it's gonna take a really good day, good execution, discipline played for us to be able to go up there and have the game close in the fourth quarter and have a chance to come out with the win at the end. So that's what we're planning to do. That's what we're working to do. And go out there and play against a good opponent and have a good 3:30 game on Saturday."

1. On if the defense is going to be more aggressive in coverage this weekend...

"I mean, different calls have different alignments, different things to do. We put our guys in the position we feel is the best for them, If the call is to press, or press bail, or play off coverage, or play off coverage and creep into press, we've got to be able to stay consistent in our execution of it as well."

2. On the quarterback run game...

"To me, it's really no different than the other parts of the game plan. So, no, it's part of the plan. It's what we feel like that we can do that week against whatever the scheme is, the personnel is on the other side of the ball, but it's also part of the bigger picture and the bigger plan of putting the plan together. When I sit down and start on Sunday night and throughout the day on Monday of putting the overall, how we're gonna play the game together then I meet with those guys, meet with the coordinators and you know we we put in you know what we feel we need or is appropriate in that game you know sometimes teams play certain looks or fronts or coverage or what not that don't dictate it so it really it depends on a lot of factors some weeks are more than others some weeks are less."

3. On if the offense can take advantage of Louisville's aggressiveness on defense...

"Well, I mean, they've got 19 TFLs right now in two games and nine sacks. I mean, that's even, I'd say, more than aggressive. That's pretty dang good. And That's what defense, I mean, they're aggressive, they get actually a quarterback. They play, they mix their coverages up, they play some things in the front that are challenging. You know, the strength of one call always has a weakness in another part of the call. So it's our ability to be able to take advantage of what the weaknesses are in each call. be able to win our one -on -ones. The best thing you can ask for when you have a full ball is to get to one -on- one."

4. On defending against Louisville's play action on offense...

"Really play actions used when they are stopping the run. You know, you put extra guys in the box. Like I said, there's the strength and weaknesses to every call At some point, putting extra guys in the box can be one lesson coverage, vice versa. So, you know, it puts the, you know, the stress on the defenders, reading their keys, having good eyes. You know, the worst thing to do is get caught in no man's land, right? To get caught in that middle ground. You know, I'd rather be all out and have one go over the top of our heads and then sit back and get kind of nickel and dimed, you know, to death down the field. So, you know, that's what we're looking to do is we gotta do a good job with our keys, gotta do a good job with our eyes or our alignments. He has a good play -action game. But again, the reason the play -action game is good is because people are putting extra guys down to stop the run."

5. On Harrison Moore...

"He's just played well, practiced well, matured, developed. He's a good football player, He's going to be a good football player. But like I said, our job is to put the best guys in the field and play. If we don't do that, we're going to disservice to everyone else on the team. So, as guys continue to develop, as the year goes on, you'll see more and more guys in that position."

6. On Jordan van den Berg...

"Tough. Tough. Oh man, he's what you want in an interior defensive line. I mean, every play is a street fight to him. And I think he's taken that approach of every play being a street fight and he's added the technique and the fundamental part to it. For a man his size and his strength, he's got good twitch. He's been able to affect the quarterback probably more times than he would think. So we've got to continue not just having a position to stop the run, but in a position to be able to generate pass rush or occupy two blockers and have someone else get the long one."

7. On the slow starts away from home...

"Look, if we don't execute, we need to execute better. That's true, but yeah, it's not about energy, if you don't bring energy to a college football game on a Saturday, you probably don't have a pulse. You and I said, you got a 1 -1 -1, you got a 1 -1 -1, you got a pass block, you got a pass protect. You got to, you know, execute a certain scheme in the run game, you got to execute a certain scheme. You got to, you know, make a tackle in space, you know, make a tackle in space."

8. On Avery Boyd...

"Yeah, you know, we started working Avery there. It's something for a couple of years now we've really talked about with Avery and worked with. And it's almost like every time he ready to ready to go. You know something happened and you know the same in spring you know he had an outstanding spring and then you're right towards the end You know got a little banged up and banged up and took us some time to come back from it and you know now that he's been back and he's really sold into that role You know he's a big man that runs fast now and he picks up a full head of steam. He's a scary sucker coming on it at you. And you got to continue to find more ways to get him involved. The more we do, utilize him within games, the faster he's gonna play and the speed of the game. You can see times when he's out there, maybe something new, for the first time he's seen, a little cautious with things, then it doesn't happen twice. So he's a matchup problem now. I mean, you can get him-- he's got the size and the strength to be able to block and do those things, but also to get matched up on linebackers and safeties and the speed of a receiver."

9. On Horace Lockett...

"He's got to bring it, and Horace are a great kid, I love Horace Locket to death now. And, you know, but, we practice Sunday to Friday, and go out and develop individually. And look, our job as coaches is to put the best 11 guys on the field. And, you know, the consistency we talk about all the time is something that with Horace, he's had to continue to be more consistent with what he's doing. He's a big -bodied guy. He can move well when he's on his own. And it's a shame that, unfortunately, he had that injury with his hand. And he's got another week or so with the cast on. For a young D-Lineman, with first time having something like that, working back through it, I'm excited to see where he'll be in a couple of weeks, once the cast is off and he's fully ready to go, he had a couple of last couple of days, he's done some really good things, so I'm excited for the point when he gets back in there and it becomes in the mix with everybody."