Everything From Georgia Tech DC Jason Semore After Wednesday's Practice

Fall practice continued for Georgia Tech on Wednesday, and for the first time since the spring, Yellow Jackets defensive coordinator Jason Semore met with the media and talked about a number of topics surrounding his unit. Here is everything that he had to say:

1. On the depth of the defensive ends...

"We're pretty deep right now at the defensive end position. I would say guys that have the talent and measurables and stuff to play in the game, we're probably four deep both sides. So I've never been anywhere where we'd have as much length and depth in guys that can play from a talent standpoint. Now it's just a competition to see who can learn the most scheme and become the most dependable and all those kind of things."

2. On Jonas Duclona...

"From a talent standpoint. Right now, he can play a lot of stuff because he's also physical enough to tackle. Right now, when we're moving into, today was our first day of situational stuff outside of like normal down things. So he'll play some dime there. So he'll get his nickel reps in the dime package stuff. He can play safety. He hasn't got a ton of burn at safety. He can play corner. He's kind of a dude that we're trying not to overload by. having him play a bunch of positions because we still need to evaluate him. You know what I mean?

But right now, he probably fits best for us in the nickel-dime world. So that's probably where we see him at. But he can play all those other things. We just have to be smart about how we rep him in terms of install. Once he learns that position, then you can start, you know, this is what we do at corner and all that kind of stuff. But we're excited about him. He has a lot of depth and talent."

3. On the linebacker position...

"Yeah, I mean, I love the room from top to bottom. These dudes, they work hard. They're focused. They've had a really good camp the last couple days. They've surpassed my expectations from an execution standpoint. We have a bunch of older dudes that have a lot of depth, and because of that, there's maturity, right? And that goes a long way in college football, and it goes a long way with your development.

Those guys also know that time is running out on their college career, so they operate with a sense of urgency. I'm really proud of the way that those dudes invest in each other, right? Whenever you're competing for jobs and all those kind of things, it's not always like that, right? Those guys invest in each other and they're playing at a high level right now, right? The Georgia Tech linebacker room will be pretty salty. We'll be just fine."

4. On Braylon Outlaw...

"He's definitely different from an athleticism standpoint. Yeah, he's going to be a big-time player in the ACC one of these days. Obviously, coming up, coming straight from high school football, tons to learn in terms of schematic defense. Right. And being a communicator that the linebacker position requires and all those kind of things. We're really, really excited about him because of his schematic growth.

Right. I mean, you're talking about a dude that came here right out of high school and had no idea about alignments or anything. And now he's lining up and executing the defense. As soon as that guy gets that part figured out from a dependable level, he will be he will be a big time player. He will."

5. On where the defense is in terms of creating takeaways...

"Not good. We have to catch the ball in the air. A lot of people ask me those questions a lot, how you get a bunch of interceptions and all those kind of things. Catch it. That's how you get a lot of interceptions, right? You watch college football games all across the country. There's a reason that there's a stereotype that defensive players can't catch because they can't. You know what I mean? So we're doing our best to develop our ball skills.

We're doing our best to learn the scheme in a way that allows us to be comfortable and confident and go attack the ball. So right now we're in a place where we're trying to build cohesion as a defensive unit, right, so we can all play together. So there's a lot of pre-snap thinking going on and a lot of communicating going on. But there's not a lot of I'm going out here and attacking the ball and making a play because I know what I'm doing. Right.

So we have to grow from a confidence standpoint in terms of our play makeability on the football. We have a long way to go in that, in that area."

6. On how tough it is for freshmen like Jaedyn Terry and Chris Hewitt Jr to compete...

"It's a difficult task. Football at this level is hard. There's a ton of preparation that goes into it.The higher level of football that you play, the less talent matters because everybody's talented. So it all comes down to... kind of habits do you have to prepare? What kind of identity do you have, right? I feel good about both those guys and the way they're investing and things like that, right? Obviously, we know that we have a lot of good young secondary players, right?

But nobody's going to care if we're busting assignments and dropping the football and all those kind of things, right? We expect Georgia Tech to have a championship caliber defense in three weeks, not 10 years from now, right? So those dudes, they have to develop in a lot of different ways. All that requires is investment. If you want to develop faster, more investment is required. Those guys know that. I'm pleased with what they're doing and the effort that they're putting in, right? And I think they're going to be able to contribute sooner rather than later."

7. On the run defense improving...

"A lot of it starts up front, you know. You watch our guys strike blocks and stuff like that. We'll be just fine stopping the run. We have a really good group that's coached by a really good coach, and those guys have really good technique and fundamentals.Like I said, it comes down to the mission in campus, you know. Coach Key's job is kind of to develop the identity of the team and what we stand for and hold those guys accountable to that.

For us, the cohesion comes from the same group of dudes playing on the field with lots of reps and communicating and playing off of each other and all those kind of things. Right now, from a base install, normal down, this is what we do in the defense standpoint. We have a group that we feel pretty good about. They're starting to come together and they're playing pretty cohesive football.

But we saw today in practice, we did lots of situational stuff. That's a whole different ballgame, right? So we got a long way to go in those regards, right? We got to learn how the game changes when it's third down and four to six. We got to learn how the game changes in tempo periods. Right. Although there's a lot of learning that goes with all of that. But from a base normal down, put your hand in the ground, play technique standpoint, we're going to be just fine in terms of stopping the run.

8. On the safety depth...

"From a talent standpoint, I feel really good about the depth. I mean, those dudes are good players. That position requires things just beyond talent and technique. We adjust two ways. We adjust in the secondary and in the core. Obviously, in the secondary. That requires a lot of schematic football knowledge and confidence in what you're doing as a communicator. We're still growing there.

There's certain things that you're not going to be good at until you do it a bunch of times. It's our job as coaches to find a way to develop those guys as fast as humanly possible and play at a high level as soon as we can. We're working our butt off, but comparative to the linebacker room. those guys have played 10 million snaps. You know what I mean? So when I'm teaching concepts, they just have so much more college football under their belt. They pick it up a lot faster. You know what I'm saying? So I feel good, like I said, I feel good about the normal down install in terms of those guys all knowing what to do, right?

like show man and then play this, that's a whole different deal. You know what I mean? So now... But when you start, you know, tagging things like show man and then play this, that's a whole different deal. You know what I mean? So now... That's what I mean by, okay, well, I got to do this and I got to do that. And then the ball snapped and I'm not really attacking the quarterback's vision and making plays on the ball because I'm concerned with, am I messing this up? You know what I mean?

So that's really where that room has to grow in the next couple of weeks. And that just comes from rep and hard work and preparation. But I feel confident that those guys are going to get it done and they have a good coach."

9. On cornerback coach Kobie Jones and safety coach Vinnie Sunseri...

"You know, talking about that young secondary, you also have... young coaches back there teaching them. How has that gone, and how are they communicating with each other and developing their players? Those dudes are elite. They're really good coaches. They know lots of schematic ball. They're really good teachers, really good developers. I'm really excited about what this staff can do with this group this year in terms of youth and age and all those kind of things.

I mean, there's there's certain there's certain things that you learn throughout coaching football a long time. Right. But but really, there's this talent involved in this profession, too. You know what I mean? In terms of how you teach and who you naturally are, identity wise as a person. And those guys are big time in that regard, in my opinion."

10. On Jaylen Mbakwe...

"Yeah, him and Savion (Riley). There are some dudes that have displayed some really good ball skills out there. I'm speaking from a global standpoint. You know what I mean? We've probably dropped 12, 13 interceptions in the last three days of practice. Those guys are pretty opportunistic. You know what I mean? I feel confident about Mbakwe being at the point of attacking, making plays on the football. You know what I mean?

So we do have some dudes with some talent and some ball skills. But globally as a defense, you know, I wish I could say, hey, they're going to throw it at you, you know, five times in Bakwe. You know what I mean? Because what happens is when a guy does demonstrate ball skills and things like that and is making plays on the ball, they're probably not throwing it there for the rest of the game or the next couple games. So if you want to continue producing turnovers, right, somebody else has to be able to catch. You know what I mean?

So we have to develop. you know globally as a unit in that right so so all we all we know how to do is is continue getting reps and continue preaching those things right the guys are buying in right and then we have to be opportunistic when you get the chance."

11. On the older guys in the linebacker room getting their confidence back...

"lot of that at the linebacker position also comes with the tactics that you teach guys to be productive. I don't think that you can break out your shoebox of linebacker drills and train everybody the same. Some guys have long levers. Some guys have good short area quickness. Some guys can play with expansive vision. Some guys can't. Some guys are good at blitzing. Some can pass rush.

Everybody has a skill set. Everybody learns a specific way. So I think that... you build confidence to go out there and be productive by giving them the tactics that help them be successful because what you see in practice is they deploy those things and it works and they have success you know what i mean so they start doing it more right how you strike blocks how you all those things right and now you're being a lot more productive because you're investing in the tools that you have right, so there's the tactical piece and then there's the schematic piece.

But every kid is different in terms of how he learns the scheme and then how you want to deploy things for him to be productive when he's out there on the field playing.

EJ, EJ is coming along. That way he wasn't with us in the spring, right? So from a movement pattern, separating from blocks, all those things, he's coming along really fast. because he has NFL talent and body type and stuff, right? So I feel like he's going to have a huge season if he continues investing the way he is, because the scheme is not the issue with him. He's a ridiculously smart kid, right? So I'm really excited about what he's going to bring to the table this year."

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