Everything From Head Coach Brent Key Ahead of Week Five Game vs Wake Forest

Head coach Brent Key talked to the media on Tuesday for his weekly press conference ahead of a matchup on the road against Wake Forest this upcoming Saturday. Here is everything he had to say.

Opening Statement….

"First, I want to give my condolences to Sean Clark's family, his wife and his kids, his entire family, the family at UCF, and the App State family. We have a lot of guys and people, guys and girls on staff who have worked with Sean. They had worked uh for him. I knew him as a fellow O-line coach. One of the truly good, good people in this profession. Even people who didn't know him, when stories about him were going around yesterday, really hit a lot of people. It really puts in perspective what's important in life, and to make sure that you're around those people. A horrible day within the profession with that. I know it's on a lot of people's minds, but the whole Georgia Tech family is sending our condolences to the entire family.”

So, uh, we got back in on Sunday, like we said after the game, you know, we were no different than every Sunday. Guys, we were very objective, very detailed in what we went about. We correct. We talk about we did well, didn't do well, clean up. It's never as good, never as bad as you think when you watch the film, but there's things we gotta clean up. Now, there are a lot of things we did really well in the game. trying to hit it off, cuz I know there's gonna be questions you guys are gonna ask. So that's the same with every game, doesn't matter what the score is. We don't look at it in terms of scores or stats. We look at it as production. Do we produce, and do we keep the chains moving, or do we stop them on the other side of the ball? So it's all things we have to continue to work on and clean up. I think the big thing is when things are going well, you can't look at each other and expect them to continue going because someone else is doing it.

Well, the same thing what happens when someone didn't execute or something bad happens or a bad play is called, you can't look at it like Oh gosh, now it's down the drain. One person did know it was the next person, next person. Everyone does their job, and those things don't spiral on those things, and we had three consecutive drives that were poor drives. It’s not coach talk; we truly just did not execute. We came out after halftime, and right away, the whole focus all week was starting fast at halftime. We put the ball on the ground, and credit to the team, to the guys, they were able to move on from there. We identified some things we've got to continue to work on and some things we've to eliminate. It's about working on things; there are things we have to eliminate. I thought the team came back on Sunday with a real coach attitude, coach me attitude. Probably as good as I've seen out of them. Really carried over to today's practice, and the intensity and the work we did at practice got done today. We know this is a huge game. It's a huge game for us. It's a huge game for them. It's our first conference road game. So it'll be a big challenge for us. It's our fifth game. They've had, I think, 16 days off now since their last football game. They've been working on us for the last 10 or 11 days. We got some catch-up to do there, put a lot of eggs in the basket, and get ready to roll on Saturday morning.”

On the narrative this week, and if a lot of people will be coming after Georgia Tech…

“That was the message last week, that you're gonna get 100 from everybody. We don't have the margin to let up at all. Every game is gonna be a close game. That's the way we look at it. Every game is gonna be a four quarter football game. We have to be prepared to play that way. I said things yesterday. Anybody can coach David, but being able to tame Goliath and get him to go all the time when it's pretty easy for him most of the time. It really feeds off of a story we used last year with the same thing. So, no, every week's a challenge. I love it. I mean to be in this type of environment here at Georgia Tech. This is something we've really craved for a long time. We've worked towards it for a long time. There are a lot of coaches on staff who have experience in these types of times when, the pressure is on, and it's a great feeling. I told the team that pressure is a privilege. It truly is. I mean, y'all earned that, and as they become used to it and accustomed to it, the outside noise starts to fade away then.”

On the young players on the defensive line and how they are emerging…

“The second-year players, Amontrae and Jordan. Who else? Landen. The second year guys, I think they're starting to develop, and Amontrae is one that's really continuing to come along and improve every week. We got to continue to eliminate the things that he's not doing right. Whether it be a technique flaw, a stance flaw, or an assignment. He's playing full speed 100 % every time, but I've been proud of him. Landen Marshall is another one that's starting to come on and had a good off season, good spring, good preseason. He's getting more burn as we're going out there and improving every time, too.”

On the nine-game ACC conference schedule…

“It's still 12 total, it? I really don't. I mean, 8-2, 9-1, we're set up here to play a lot of really good opponents. We've got a really good conference schedule. We're gonna continue to play really good out-of-conference opponents. Right, that's the name of the game. You only get so many chances each year to go out and play the game. So I wanna play the best there is all the time.”

On if there is a way to coach his team to produce more turnovers on defense…

“Well, as opposed to producing more defense, how about we eliminate the ones offense? That's the ones that are killing us. Right? That's what's unacceptable. Unacceptable. You know, has there ever been a year ago where there were zero turnovers? I don't know. Not that I can recollect, but I know this it was game eight last year before we even had two or three. I say all the time, last year means nothing about this year. When you do a deep dive, we dive into it, and you see kind of what they're coming from. It goes back to practice. Look, there are a lot of times you can say, well, we never have that happen in practice. Well, are you really practicing game-like scenarios and situations in practice? That's what it is, okay? Whether it's the way defensive end plays a certain run or a certain formation, or how they spin a coverage and play coverage, Practice reps become game reality, right? Those practice reps have to mimic the speed of the games. I thought we did that today in practice. But it's not the team setting part of it, it's when you get into the individuals, the group work, the individual work. That's what we gotta continue to put the pressure on the guys with those reps and put them in the most challenging positions.

To go out and run a play in practice, game five, week six, week seven of the year to run a day one play versus a day one front or coverage or offensive formation, to me, that doesn’t really do any good. To me, at this point, we need to be going against the hardest things that are out there. The things that people are gonna do to try to challenge us. That's why people game plan. If something hurts you the week before, it's gonna hurt you again. It's not necessarily what you've seen on tape that the other team does. All right, now that's a lot of it, but it's a lot of what got you in the past. All right, what's a run that has cut you two or three times in the first four games? What's a blitz or a technique that they're playing on the defense or coverage? And then we have to incorporate that into how they play the opponent we're playing that week and be able to mimic those things.”

On what stands out on tape with the turnovers on offense and what is causing the issues…

“It is technique. It’s doing things the right way all the time, right? If you tracks inside the foot of inside for the guard or the front side foot of the center, then that's what it needs to be. Right? If your eyes are on the football and the football is supposed to be right here, then it's supposed to be right here. Quarterbacks have a lot of things to look at now. I mean, he's looking at coverage. He's looking at frontal reads. He's looking at all this if he has to take his eye off for the football, I mean, that throws the whole thing off. All right, it's not just one person. It's not just the one person who put it on the ground. Okay, it's ultimately everyone involved from the time the ball snapped until that whistle blows and the play is complete. All right, so there are a lot of things that go into it. You know, we've had two exchange issues. We've had a high snap that ended up being a turnover, two interceptions. Then we had the one where we had the botched play on the first drive of the game, in the second game of the year, we had a botched play, and Aaron pulls the ball down and they end up stripping it out. Yeah, they're in my head. They're stuck in my head. I know exactly why they happened. To play winning football, you can't turn the ball over. If the ball continues to get turned over, right, in the same way, we either won't run those plays, or we won't continue to do it that way. But to do the same thing, expect to get a different result is idiotic to me.”

On going up against Wake Forest and the matchup against the ACC foe…

“Yeah, this is a good football team now. The first thing to catch your eye is how they play. They play hard. They have a new coaching staff in there. I've had a chance to spend some time with Jake in the offseason at the coaches' meetings and whatnot. You talk about a good football coach now. He's come up the hard way, played small ball, and works his way up through the ranks. Got the head job at Washington State as interim, and had success there. Three out of four years, take them to some bowl games. Had quarterbacks come out of there, you know, left and right, they've had success. You watch these guys cover kicks, you watch them, their kick returner, you watch how they rush field goals. Just those things that really show the toughness of a football team. Offensively, I've got some familiarity with some of the guys on the staff. The offense coordinator was an analyst for us in Tuscaloosa for those years. The quarterback coach, Dan Enos, is a longtime coordinator and head coach in college football. Robbie Ezell, who's the coordinator, who's the coordinator of South Alabama, had a lot of success.

You can see the influence on what they're doing. You can see Rob's influence. You can see some of Dan's influence on the offense. All right, they're driven through the quarterback. They have good skill players. Their running back is a very, very good running back. He can hit it between the tackles. He can bounce it outside. He can make people miss. The receiver they have, No. 10, is a 10.27 guy now. I mean, this guy can roll. You think you've seen fast now, this dude is fast, fast. He's also a kickoff returner, and he took one all the way back. First, since NC State is in its last game. Offensively, it goes to their quarterback, Robby Ashford. Another guy I've got a lot of history with, as far as knowing him from recruiting. He's from Birmingham, Hoover High School. I remember recruiting him out of high school. He's played a lot of football. He's had a lot of snaps, and they are doing a really good job with him and playing to his strengths and what he does well. They have a really good play-action game. They're able to run. If they can establish the run and get the play action game going, They're varying formations, tackle overs, unbalanced, mixing enough tempo fastballs to keep you honest. They have good receivers, I mean number No.10, No. 4.

They have good tight ends that can catch the ball and be also at the point of attack. Robbie can run the football, and he throws on the run. He’s got a really good arm. This is gonna be a big challenge for us now. They've done a really good job of putting together talent in a short amount of time up there. I've been very impressed with how they play the whole game. Their special teams, I’d say, are probably one of the top 15, 20 special teams units in the country. When you look just overall teams and their rankings and how they go, that's gonna be a huge matchup for us. I think it's gonna be a very even matchup, and that's gonna help determine the football game, are the special teams. That is something we’ve taken a lot of pride in, and we’ve done well this year, but we've got to be even better this Saturday.

Defensively, they play a lot of fronts. They move; the guys inside are low-centered gravity guys. They play with power. They can push the pocket. They can flat wall the run. They have one of the better safeties, I think, in the country. Stout middle linebackers, they can run side line to side line. This is a well put-together football team. I wish we didn't have to play them. I'm sitting here complimenting them. When I turn on the tape and I see teams play the game a certain way, it excites me. It really does. Major props to Jake and his staff and what they've been able to do in such a short amount of time.”

On if Robbie Ashford game reminds him of Haynes King….

“I haven’t thought about that. One's from Hoover, one's from Longview. Different parts. No, but he's an athletic guy; he can run. He can throw on the run. He can pick up a lot of hidden yardage with his feet. He tucks the ball down and goes, and they spring them out, they boot them, they move the pocket. They'll run him. He does have some similar traits, a different style, but I guess you'd say production-wise wise as far as being able to use their feet for production too, yeah. They've done a nice job with their play-action game, too. They really have, they get in a bunch of different sets and formations and motions and work matchups. When you've got a guy that can take the top off like that, it's something to be aware of.”

On what constitutes an explosive play and how the team is doing in that category…

“So explosives, every offense and defense considers different, okay? I'd say the barometer is 12 on a run, 18 on a pass, and 20 on a pass. The way me and Pat are going through all the statistics throughout the previous game and the next game, we keep it the same across the board, where it's 20 yards for our overall. That's what a lot of the analytic people that we use considered the same thing, 20, because now it's fair across the board. We talk about the turnovers we've had, the penalties we've had, the things we've not done well. The biggest predictors in wins and losses in college football are explosives and preventing explosives. That is something we've done very well on both sides of the football, right? We've limited our explosives given up by a ton. I don't know the exact number. Our offense has been up there. That is something that we've done very well. We've got to continue to do that well. When you emphasize one thing, you're gonna give up a little bit in something else. It can't be a total sacrifice of the other or just to do the one thing. So we've got to improve in the other areas, but we've also got to continue to do that well.”

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