Everything From Georgia Tech Defensive Backs Coach Vinnie Sunseri After Wednesday's Fall Camp Practice

Georgia Tech defensive backs coach Vinnie Sunseri updated the media on the development of the defensive back room and who has been standing out so far in fall camp. Here is everything he had to say.

On the development of the defensive back room…

“I think it's been really good. We’ve installed a lot. think we've gotten a lot of great looks from the offense. Everybody knows George (Godsey) does a great job, and every day is an opportunity to learn and get better and enhance, and it's a 1 % better every single day mentality, and the great thing about a young group is that you can mold them and get them to see the game how you see it. With Coach Boogie's (Jason Semore) scheme, with the philosophies that he brings in, all these guys are really buying into what we are asking them to do, and they're doing a great job. I'm extremely proud of our group so far.”

On how much more comfortable the team is from the spring to now fall camp…

“Just like the freshmen that came in in the winter, like their heads were spinning and my head was spinning a little bit. But I mean, it's one day at a time. You get a familiarity with the place. You get a familiarity with the people, the culture, even just the area. Atlanta Traffic's no joke. So it's been really good to get here, go through the spring, go through the summer. And now we're in fall camp, and I feel like we hit the ground running. It's been great so far, and I think we're doing a good job.”

On what he has seen from the young guys in the defensive back room….

“An extreme willingness to do what we ask. Like they are doing everything that we're asking at a high level. Is it perfect every time? No. But sometimes success comes from failure. You learn from mistakes. If you have success, always, whenever adversity hits, you don't know how to handle it. So they've been doing a great job. They've been focusing. They've been listening. They've been dialed in. They watch extra film. They're doing a great job. Chris, Kealan, Kymani, everybody's doing a great job.”

On Savion Riley…

“I'm seeing a guy that's extremely savvy. He's played a lot of football. He understands the game at a very high level. He's been in multiple systems, multiple schemes, and he's able to translate the language very quickly. He's also a good football player. I've been extremely proud with how he's approached camp with the demeanor and the attitude that he brings every single day. I've just been really proud of him.”

On the safety spots being interchangeable…

“Now you know I've done media training with Coach Saban, so everybody's interchangeable, everybody's intermixed, everybody's repping everywhere, and everybody's doing a great job.

You know, it's a complex system with a lot of variables, and everybody's handling it the right way. Everybody's embracing their role.”

On where he wants to see the defensive back room at the end of fall camp…

“I would like to see an extremely close group that says, do not want to let the man down next to me that is willing to commit to the standards and values of this organization that the head football coach has set and our defensive coordinator. That's what I want. I want a complete total buy-in to their visions and if we do that as a safety group, we do that as a linebacker group, we do that as a defensive line group, outside linebackers and corners, I think we'll be in a good place. That is the mission and goal for this football team to uphold the head coaches vision every single day.”

On Chris Hewitt and his athleticism…

“I think it is a great start to have the movement skills it requires to play the defensive back position but there are a lot of other variables that plays into those type of questions that you asked. You’ve got to dive into the playbook just like any other freshman or any other football player on this football team. This is Coach Semore’s system that he is bringing in. He’s got to continue to work on his footwork has to continue to work on his tackling. Every day is an opportunity to get better, and the players that have an " I have not arrived attitude are the players that get better every single day, and you see that progress.”

On the nickel/star position….

“I expect a guy that can do a lot of different things. He has the ability to fit the run. He has the ability to play zone. He has the ability to play man. He has the ability to handle motions, different stacks, bunches. It's all that stuff. But I mean, that's every position on the football field in the secondary. It's all pretty similar. You know what I mean? Every safety is going to be asked to do the same thing in the same regard. Every single corner on this team is going to be asked to do the exact same thing. Be able to operate the defense and make sure that we all five are in the same space and see it the same way every single play.”

On the importance of communication on the backend….

“Communications, not just the most important thing in football. think communication is probably one of the most important things in everyday life. The number one barrier between, talking or getting something accomplished is somebody misinterpreting what you say. So being precise on it, having anticipation, being a two way street because communication isn't great unless somebody receives the information. So, communication is always extremely important to make sure all 11 are on the same page. That's the beautiful thing about football. It takes 11 people to have a great play.”

On who has stepped up as a leader in communication…

“I think everybody's done a great job. Coach Semore made an emphasis. That's one of the standards of this defense. It's not just one single person that's doing it. The defensive line communicates, the outside linebackers communicate, the linebackers to the secondary, the secondary to the linebackers, the corners to the safeties, the safeties to the corners. It has been extremely impressive; that's probably one of the things that we've grown the most in, is our ability to communicate on the football field and not just say, Hey, alert the motion. What are we doing on the motion? And they've done a great job.

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