Everything From OL Coach Geep Wade After Georgia Tech's Sixth Spring Practice

After getting back from spring break, Georgia Tech got back on the practice field today to continue spring practice with their annual White and Gold Spring Game less than three weeks away. After the Yellow Jackets sixth practice today, offensive line coach Geep Wade spoke to the media and here is everything that he had to say.

1. On losing Weston Franklin and Jordan Williams...

"You know, those guys are great leaders. Sometimes you don't know what you had until, you know, you have to start over, but it's that's every year and you know at center we, we had we had some guys that had a lot of reps here at Georgia Tech over the years with, with Harrison and Tana. So we actually feel you know, like we've got some leadership at the center position, we feel like we got probably a little bit more depth than we've had at the center, we're working on a bunch of centers, and then we've got one still that's not here. So at right tackle right now, it's a little bit by committee trying to figure out who can take over J. Will's role and proud of what he did last year. I thought he took his game to another level and hopefully he gets to compete here coming up and for his dreams. But that's a position right now that I'm not saying we're worried about, but that's a position that we've got to hone in and figure out who's going to take that position."

2. On the right tackle position battle...

"Well, right now, Jacolby's playing left. Yeah, but Riggs is at right and does some good things. It's consistency is going to be a key for him. Behind him is Jordan Floyd, and then we got Peyton Joseph behind him. So all three of those are freshmen, whether they're redshirt or just here. So they're all young and we tell our guys every day to be honest with you guys like youth is not an excuse You know, we we've got to have game reps out here at practice walk -throughs so every reps invaluable to those guys because they are talented they are they are talented, but we've got to mature at a faster rate because for you know, it's gonna be August. So we've got to have a little bit more maturity out of that group. "

3. On how Josh Petty Is Doing...

"Josh is a freshman, you know, all these guys get here and you know, it's something that it's a learning curve for him. And then once it's, it's, you know, when you're going against your defense, it's okay, you master that and then it's onto something else. And then once you master you got to go back to that. So his athleticism is his elite. He's a smart kid. I'm very excited where he's at right now. Once again, it's with all these guys. It's just a mental part of getting down. And right now, we're not game planning anything. So everything's in, so it's a little bit different for these guys. But they're just young. It's a good problem, but it also can not frustrate me, had some sleepless nights, you know what I'm saying?"

4. On how Joe Fusile and Keylan Rutledge can take the next step...

"I think they already have, just by the maturity and the work ethic and the Jacket drills that we did, the Jacket drills, this is probably the best Jacket drill we've had from an off season of just straining their body. With Joe, it's just getting in shape. And with Keylan, honestly, he played the entire last year hurt, you know what I mean? And that's not an excuse and not like that. So I think with just his being healthy, he's going to be better. And then he's a year older and now he's a leader. And those guys are leaders. With Harrison and Tana, I feel really good while we're out inside. And we've got more depth than we've ever had here. And They're tough kids, and that's what we want around here"

5. On having Fusile and Rutledge as the leaders of the group and how it helps with the younger guys maturing...

"Those guys are coaches on the field, we just got off the field, but Reg's coming up to me and Coach Polley and like, hey, when Reg's got this and this and that, I mean, so they're helping us and huge, you know, we've got guys that when they get them come off from the, from a series, they're over there talking, the older kids are, the younger kids aren't doing that yet, they don't know you know so they've got to they've got to get taught in the older kids but we've got really really good leaders we've got tough leaders in that room and we just we just got to mature at a rate every day like Coach says we got to get better every day every rep matters and that's something that we've got to live by here from now until we get back here and hold it."

6. On the depth of the interior offensive line...

"You know, behind Keylan is Ben Galloway, who's been in our program for two years and gone through the same thing that he's gone through,, you know, he's a kid that every year, like I was watching last two years, he played left guard, he played right guard, he went to the right tackle. We never found him a home. And now he's at right guard behind Keylan, he's doing a really nice job. So kind of really excited about the depth that he's going to be able to bring us. and he's done a good job. But I think part of it is he's found him a home a little bit. And then the left guard position could be backed up by with Tana and Harrison. Harrison played half the snaps at guard the last, from the Miami game on. And so we got some flexibility there along with Kevin Peay, who's really doing a nice job as an incoming freshman as well."

7. On Tana and Harrison Moore...

"Well, one, I believe both those kids so, but right now it's really not about that. Like, whether you're getting reps of the ones or the twos to me, that does That does not matter right now. We're not game planning. So we're not trying to put right now, so right now, we're just trying to get better at-- build some depth at center, which we have. But we know with Harrison the capability of moving out. And he does it on a limited snap count every practice. During our walkthroughs, he gets a lot of guards, so Tana is with the ones a lot."

8. On the depth of the OL room...

"Yeah, you know, right now, I mean, we just came off the practice field. I think we did not practice as well, so I'm not in the best moods. But on a serious note, when you walk in that room in spring and you've got 16 or 17 bodies, and you can, I mean, I've got buddies that have eight or nine. You know what I mean? So what we've done here with Brent and Buster and the capability of that position's important to able, listen, you've got 15 guys on a scholarship, or only five play, you know what I mean? But the way that you can practice with the bodies and develop, like we just talked about, and develop. Becasue you'll be able to go more. We're going three groups in spring, I don't know, every one of them. So the developments is the key, and this is gonna pay off. These hard days are gonna pay off, and especially once you start game planning for a Josh Petty, okay, Here's what these guys do you get to work it all week, you know, I mean you get to master this, but you know, that's why to be honest with you guys, that's why I like Coach Polly here and Coach Mo was last year It's development year -round like I'm on the road a month at a time there's no there's no time off. I mean you've got to develop these kids and you have to have you have to have help to do that."

9. On measuring success in the spring game...

"Honestly spring games, it's for the kids to enjoy, and for the fans. And they really deserve that. These kids bust their butt right in here, you know what I mean? And that's the fun part. For us, it'd be another practice, you know what I mean? And it'd be something that we get to evaluate. And really, for us, I know it sounds corny, but just more reps, more live reps. Now you've got Josh Petty and Peay and Canales, now they're playing in Bobby Dye from a crowd. So that matters. But for a coach, it's just another way to practice. And that'll be a day where you really don't want to end because you don't want to practice then."

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