Everything From Georgia Tech Defensive Backs Coach Vinnie Sunseri After Thursday Practice

The new defensive backs coach talked to the media after Thursday spring practice here is everything he had to say.

On how he ended up at Georgia Tech and his connection to coach Key…

“I was at Florida last year. We didn't have the season or the success that we were looking for. Um, I had known of Coach Key and had a lot of respect for Coach Key for his time at the University of Alabama. Obviously, when I was uh in transition from being a player to getting into whatever I wanted to do after playing professionally, I'd always go back to Alabama. I saw the way he coached. I saw the way he held himself. Just had a relationship with him there. Got a phone call from him and asked if I'd want to come up and interview, and I knew right away I'd want to do it. He preaches the same things that I've been taught for my entire career from either my dad or coach Sabin. He's tough, hard-nosed, he holds his team accountable, and he wants a disciplined football team. So, I was just extremely excited for the opportunity.”

On what he is seeing from the young talent….

“I see the consistent effort every single day to go out there and try to get better. That's all we're trying to do right now in spring football: get better at our fundamentals, our techniques. Start understanding and learning the scheme and take one day after the other, and try to stack days as best we possibly can. They've been doing that very well so far. They're trying to apply the fundamentals and techniques to the best of their ability, and we'll coach off of it and hopefully get them better as spring progresses.”

On the next steps for Tae Harris and Fenix Felton….

“You know, I think it's taking it one day at a time. Like I just said, I don't think Rome was built overnight. It's going to take a consistent effort to try to do those things that you just talked about. Leadership is not innate. It's learned. And sometimes being a leader isn't the easiest thing because you have to tell people what they don't want to hear sometimes. For them to take that next step, I would think it would just be engulfed in spring, be engulfed in the scheme, learning the playbook, enhancing those fundamentals and techniques. And if we do that day after day, week after week, month after month, I think we'll start to see the progress that we're looking for.”

On Tae Harris personality…

“I see a guy that's extremely excited, has a lot of passion, still young, still learning, still makes some mistakes, but I mean, it's the game of football. It's an imperfect sport played by imperfect people, coached by imperfect coaches. So, mistakes are going to be made. Those are okay. You know what I mean? It's about the ability to learn from the play before, whether it's success or failure. Learn from the success and be able to apply it to the next play or learn from the failure and be able to not make the same mistake twice. I think he's doing a great job. He's going out there and he's busting his butt every single day and I appreciate that.”

On picking up the urgency of toughness and physicality that was lacking last season…

“I think it's been fantastic. You know, I think every single person that has been brought into this organization has the same vision as the head football coach, and it starts with the head coach's vision. We're trying to implement a tough, smart, disciplined football team that is accountable and can go out and execute on the football field. We're trying to do that every single day, knowing that it's not going to happen overnight, but that it's a consistent process and an effort to emphasize that every single day. I think it's been awesome. Boogie has been awesome. The whole defensive staff and the offensive staff are great. Everybody's willing to work together, and we understand that we have one mission to execute the head football coach's vision for this football team.”

On his relationship with Kolbie Jones and any familiarity…

“I hadn't worked with Kolbie until I got here. The biggest barrier in football is always language, you know what I mean? And when you have a common language, it connects people that much easier. So when I say something, he understands it right away. And we're able to now match it to the new language that Coach Boogie uh, is wanting to get set here at Georgia Tech. He's been awesome. Kobe's extremely detailed coach. He's young, but you would never know that because of the way he goes out and operates and puts a great effort into all areas of college football coaching. He's a great young coach, and he’s going to be a rising star in this profession.”

On when he decided to transition to a different avenue outside of playing...

"I was in an office off Wall Street in New York working at a commercial insurance company, and my dad called me because he was coaching at Florida, and I got on the board and started talking about old coverages that we used to do at Alabama. Somebody walked into my office, and they were like, " Why aren't you coaching football? And I kind of sat there and thought, " Why am I not doing this? You know what I mean? I wanted to get out to try and see what the other world was like, what a 9-to-5 was like, and if it was for me. And I missed it. I missed the butterflies. I missed being on the football field in between those white lines. Get my butt chewed out sometimes because I'm not doing the right stuff, and then sometimes you get the praise that you're looking for. But just always that drive for greatness and everything that I've ever done and that my dad and coach Saban have ever taught me, that if you're not going out to be the best version of yourself every single day, then what are we really doing? So that's what I missed about the game.”

On Savion Riley…

“I think Savion is kind of that older guy in the room. He's played college football. I understand that he had injuries last year that kept him off the football field, but I think the spring has been really good for him so far. He's been executing at a very high level. He's been communicating. He's been talking and doing everything that I ask and Coach Seymour ask also. I think he's going to be someone that can help us this season. Uh, but obviously it's still early in spring, so um, we'll see as that time comes.”

On what he has learned from Nick Saban and Bill Belichick….

“From my dad, coach Saban to coach Bellchick, I don't think anybody could ask for better mentors in their life. From my dad, I learned consistent discipline, getting up every single day, going into the office, and doing what you need to do to provide for your family. From Coach Saban, I learned scheme, toughness, discipline, and execution. I learned how to work as a team, not just as an individual, because coming from high school to college, you have to go out and make every play. Coach Saban kind of taught you that you're one of 11 now. It all has to intertwine and to make sure that we're all on the same page. Coach Belichick, I learned the love of the game. Coach Belichick, I think, might be the one person that loves the game of football the most. The history of the game, how it all ties together, how the history can teach you how the evolution of the game happened. It's been fantastic. What I've learned from these men in my life, I will never be able to repay them for it. Every single one of them, my father first and foremost, Coach Sabin, I owe him everything in this world, and then Coach Belichick gave me my first opportunity to coach a position, and I'll be forever grateful for those men.”

On what he has learned from Coach Key…

“Getting back into all those things that I just talked about. Coach Key very similarly falls in line with those great men. Toughness, discipline, accountability. I mean, everybody wants to make football as complex as it needs to be. If you have those four pillars within your program and in your organization, everything else kind of falls into line. I've learned hard work from Coach Key. I've learned discipline from Coach Key. I've learned that there's a standard, and the standard is the standard, and it's never going to change. I've learned to have a little excitement with it too because Coach Ke gets a little fired up during practice, and I like it whenever I see that out of him.”

On how important was it to try something different before coming to football…

“My dad kind of pushed me into it. He wanted me to get a business degree. So, I got that from Alabama, and I wanted to go see if I wanted to use that degree. He said, "You know, this game asks a lot of you." And my wife, she's probably the greatest person in the world because she sees me more than everybody else in this building that gets to see me. It's a lot, and it takes a lot on a family, but once you get out and you really learn the love of the game and miss the game, then now when I'm back in it, there ain't nothing I want to do. I'm not thinking about what if or what could be. I already know what it could be, and there's no place I'd rather be. This is my church. This is my safe place. And uh, I love the game of football.”