Everything From Georgia Tech CB Zach Tobe After Thursday Spring Practice

Georgia Tech veteran cornerback Zachary Tobe talked to the media on Thursday. Here is everything he had to say.

On the new scheme and some of the tweaks….

“I like it. To me, it kind of feels like Illinois again, just a type of scheme. A lot more matchy, something that I'm used to. So, yeah, I like it a lot.”

On where he is now compared to when he first transferred in…

“I feel like I took a lot of growth from being a shy kid coming in to now growing into this type of leadership role I'm in now. I feel like over my course of two years, it's been a lot of growing, a lot of mistakes, a lot of lessons, and now I'm here, and I'm ready to, you know, show everybody what I can do and what we can do as a group, you know.”

On where he is looking to improve in the spring….

“I just want to be able to improve on just, you know, just going. When I see it go, things like that. Just take more risk as well, like making plays on the ball, stuff like that, so then when it comes time for the game, you know I've done it all throughout spring and fall camp, so it'll be natural for me.”

On the difference in intensity compared to when he first got to campus…

“Main thing for me and for us as a team now is just like coach Key harping on like the goal is a championship, nothing less. So that's how practice is going to be: championship-level practice every day, championship-level competition, because that's what we need in order to get to where we want to go.”

On if he tries to go against Jordan Allen in practice…

“Oh, yeah. I want to go against everybody, every receiver. We got all different types of builds. Tall, short, quick, long speed, you know. So, I want to go against everybody because, you know, that not only does that challenge me, but it also gets me better. Also gets them better as well.

On what is he is seeing from new guys in the cornerback room…

“Everybody that we brought in is a great addition. Um, speaking specifically about Bach (Jaylen Mbakwe), you could tell that he has a lot of IQ. You know what I'm saying? And he knows he has a good feel for the game, great technique, and he's extremely fast. So, he is a perfect fit for here, and he is going to be a big part of why we win a championship this year.”

On the emphasis of catching the ball and not just knocking it down…

“Definitely. You can see it out in practice, the amount of plays that we're making on the ball. It's definitely growing from last spring to now. So, yeah, you can see that for sure.”

On being more aggressive in 2026…

“Definitely more aggressive. Like I said, we're more matchy. Um, last year was more of a zone scheme, which is why, you know, it was a lot of balls caught in front of us, more catch, tackle, like bend don't break. So yeah, this year more matchy, more aggressive and as a corner and in general, like that's great cuz man, that's what you get paid to do, play man. So that's what we're doing.”

On the competition from the secondary room….

“I've seen the competition is allowing people like the younger guys to elevate their game because, you know, we all competing like ain't no starters, you know, we all trying to see who's going to go out there. So, of course, every day it's a competition. You know, you might see Bach make a play, then Quan make a play, then me, then then Lil Jaeden or Bach, you know what I'm saying? So, um, yeah, like the competition is great because it just boosts everybody's play and it makes us a better team.”