Everything Head Coach Brent Key Said After The First Spring Practice Of 2026

Georgia Tech head coach Brent Key talked to the media after the first spring practice here is everything he had to say.

Opening Statement....

“No, first day is always the best day, right? Everybody's got a chance. Everybody's out there fresh. Everybody's good. Everybody's all excited. I mean, football is, too. Football players are. It's going well. Football players are. I appreciate you guys all coming out again. Good to see you guys at the first practice of the 26th season. So I appreciate you guys staying out and watching a little bit today and getting, you know, as much as anything, I want you guys to be able to get a feel for the numbers guys are wearing. Me too, I still don't know. I need a roster out there to see what numbers, and these guys change numbers.Even the guys that have been here, so. No, I want to make sure you guys have a chance to get a feel for the guys that you're going to be reporting on all year, too. I think that's important. Because it's about them.

It's not about us. I mean, it's about those guys and what they do. So, you know, no different than what you guys heard me talk about the identity of a team. Seasons aren't, you know, momentum or lack of momentum, good, bad, ugly, whatever. It doesn't carry over year to year. And it's up to you, know, it's up to me, really, as the head coach, to, you know, push what we want the't carry over year to year. It's up to myself, really, as the head coach, to push what we want the identity to be of this team. It's up to the players each year to be able to go out and establish that. It doesn't carry over. The guys that were here, including myself, starting with myself, not happy with the way the season ended last year. As a matter of fact, extremely still pissed off about the way the season ended last year.

If you don't think that's been at the forefront of everything out of my mouth for the last two and a half months, you're crazy. It has. It has been in building the staff. It has been building this roster. The way we're constructing the roster, the way we've put together the staff, and the way we're going about attacking every day is going to be the best version of ourselves each day. So, you know, I know what I want this team's identity to be. You know, that starts with what our four core values really are. You know, the toughness, discipline, commitment, and execution that we talk about all the time. All right.

But I'll be damned if I sit out there again and watch on third and one, all right, or first and goal on the five, not be able to convert the first down or get the ball in the end zone, boys.

I'm just serious, all right? So not being able to stop the run, all right? The core characteristic is what I identify as a tough physical football team as, all right? We did not accomplish that, in my opinion, last season, all right? And that is the mission for the 26th football season, all right? And that is the mission for the 26 football season, all right?

On bringing back George Godsey and Boogie….

“Guys I have experience with, guys I trust, all right? Trust is a huge word. And being able to trust the guys on the field playing, being able to trust the staff that you have, that's big.

Those guys have experience, a lot of years of calling it, a lot of years of putting it together, a lot of years of managing, organizing, and putting together staffs. I've been really pleased up to this point. Obviously, we don't have pads on the first day of practice, but the way they manage. I've been really pleased with those guys. They both brought things to the program I think that are gonna be beneficial for us.

Whether it be the organization of support staff that George brought along, some of the identity, some of the talking points and things that Boogie has that allowed him to be successful. Cohesiveness, coming together, understanding what complimentary football is and when it is taking place and when it isn't taking place. So I've been thoroughly pleased to this point. So let's hope that continues that way. Not to mention, I mean, me and Boogie have been through some stuff together now.

You guys remember when I walked out of President Cabrera's office back in 2022 after being told I was the interim head coach? That's the first person I went to see. We sat down for three hours now and put together a plan to, you know, put holes in the dam with our special teams. That man means the world to me. Then you look at George. I mean, George is my best man at my wedding. So not to mention I hosted him on his official visit, and he still came here. So we went to the foxholes together. And he still came here, so. We went into the foxholes together. Might be the only two of probably the only three or four guys, I think, that not only went here, played here, and then went on and spent the next greater part of a decade with us. with George O'Leary. So needless to say, we think a lot alike in a lot of ways. So just need to get Marty up here now and we'll be good.”

On emphasizing toughness more and running the ball…

“How you construct the staff, how you construct the roster you know to to be able to do those things um not that they have not been emphasized i think but it's been a practice in the last three years knows you know the emphasis of it all right but what's the mentality right what's the a practice in the last three years knows, you know, the emphasis of it. All right, but what's the mentality? What's the mentality of putting it together Sunday through Thursday?. All right, what do you present? What are you leading with? All right, you know, some of the quarterbacks, you know, they come up, hey, you know, can we get some of the passing game installed? I think George looked at him and said, do you know the man upstairs? Do you know Coach Key? We're going to do a lot of things, but sit there and do a progression. You know, seven-step drops on first down is probably not going to be one of them.

So it's a mentality you lead with. It's a mentality of how you put it together. It's what I want this team to be, really to be at the forefront of this football team, right, is the line of scrimmage. Line of scrimmage is not just the big guys. Line of scrimmage is sideline to sideline. The receiver's involved, tight ends are involved, running backs blocking the perimeter, and the DBs being able to disengage off blocks, get off, keep leverage on the football, make plays, and keep the ball funneled to the pursuit. Those are all things we've got to improve on.

Roster-wise, we had to get bigger. We had to get bigger. I think you guys see, looking at the team, we've accomplished that to some degree. We had to improve a lot of areas on the defensive front. I think we've made progress towards doing that. Same with the offensive line. There's, again, stats are all cool and everything, but when it comes down to it, what's really happening when games matter, when games are on the line, when you're playing situational football? We've made a very concerted effort in how we built the roster for that reason.”

On the quarterback competition…..

“I'm not gonna sit here and live in a hypothetical world and say we're gonna name somebody practice five or after practice 15. But the sooner you can establish who the leader of your football team is, I mean that is the most important position of all professional sports and all sports at every level. So the sooner you can come out and hit your ride to them, I think the better. The quarterback room is gonna be a competitive room. You know, each one of them brings something different to the table. I mean, Graham's been out and had experience. He's continuing to grow, mature and learn the game. Grady, who was with us last year, has had a really good off season, from a work ethic standpoint, from a leadership standpoint. Really been really pleased with Cole coming in as a true freshman, like any true freshman quarterback.

It's a lot for him to grasp right now. Ben Guthrie has just been so solid for us. He's a guy who came in four years ago and done so much for the program. I don't know if he's going to decide to be a coach one day, but I told Brody the other day, I said, Brody, if he makes that decision, you're going to have some pressure on you now. And then Alberto coming in is, again, coming from a championship team, and looking, watching the guy in front of him, seeing how he performed and carried himself and worked throughout last season. You know, he comes in, he's the first one in the building every morning. He goes to class and then he's back in the building. He's gonna be the last one to leave. I mean, that's Saturday, Sunday, he's here all day. I mean, just the ultimate ball junkie. And that's what you want that position. It's what you have to have if you're gonna be successful.”

On the importance of the defensive line and the defensive tackle spot….

“Yeah, I mean, I've never seen a team be able to stop the run without D-Linemen So, I think we were pretty good proof of that last year. And we had some players that, you know, made some good plays for us, you know, last year we did, that depth goes quickly, especially when you want to play a bunch of guys. I think Jess, just some of the tweaks we've made schematically, a lot of things we've simplified big time on the defensive side of the football so those guys can play and play fundamental football. Look, all schemes are player-driven. I say that a lot. But to really understand that as a coordinator or a coach on that side of the football, that's what becomes really important. That's where that trust factor comes in for me, of those guys getting it.

I mean, we might put in, you know, two to three base calls all spring on defense, right? And get really good at them. I mean, there's gonna be days I'm gonna say, hey, look, you got one call on defense, offense, you got whatever. Flip around the other way, you know, defense, you got whatever you want to call. Offense, you're in all drop-back protection today. We've got to get fundamentally better. We have to improve our techniques. We have to improve our understanding of the game. This is going on all over the country. I mean, there's nobody in the country right now that's returning 18, 20 starters, like it used to be 20, 30, 40%, whatever.

I don't know if the numbers are, if the country is right now. That's very, very rare to see that now. So your own equal footing with everyone else when it comes to replenishing and reloading your roster, all right? But I said this earlier, a lot of people are out there and trying to look at other programs and try to copy what they do or that. Every program is who they are because that's who they are. All right, I'm very comfortable with who we are as a program. All right, overall is our program, what I want our identity to be, what our identity as a staff is, okay? And it's not about going out and looking at other people and trying to copy what other people do. t's about being the best version of ourselves as a football program. More of those tweaks each year we have to do. I know what the plan has to be. I know the plan is right. We've shown improvement, but we're still not anywhere close to where we need to be and where I want to be.”

On what he is excited about with his new group…

“Size. I think today was telling something you know wearing underwear out there running around and we had three competitive team periods when you was just spiders on but I bet I didn't see two or three guys on the ground you know looking at evaluating a big man, especially when you're looking to increase your size. That's something, you know, to me the number one quality when you're increasing the size of your roster is their balance and body control. They have the ability to play with the base, stay off the ground. You got guys out there who in years past, you know, we'd have guys on the ground and, you know, especially when you get some of the new guys, the freshmen, I mean, we got some freshmen offensive linemen out there, some freshmen and redshirt freshmen that they don't look like freshmen at all. I mean, those twins they're not just big guys. I mean, those guys are not on the ground.

They play with a base, they can bend their knees. You know, getting Xavier Canales back after sitting out last year, so he's really like a freshman because he didn't really get any reps last year. Then the addition of some of the guys we brought in. And look, we got three or four guys competing for starting offensive linemen that are – Markell's banged up. He'll be out for a couple practices.

We got a couple guys who won't practice for the spring, Josh (Petty) and Ethan (MacKenny). But I'm excited about the big men we've brought in and we've been developing in this program. But that's what we have to do. That was another thing I was disappointed in last year, going back after the season and really self-scouting the whole year. I don't think we did a good job of developing our players early and putting them in a position to be able to play early in the season. I'm a believer in you play guys first three, four, five games, they're going to be, if they're talented, they're going to be better versions of themselves. They're going to be better players when you get to later on. We shouldn't have waited, and that's on me. I'm the head coach. We shouldn't have waited to the Georgia game to play Fenix Felton.

So we got to do a better job of developing guys two months ago, every single day. That's some of the things I think the new guys on the staff have really brought in. They've got experienced developing players. Some of the things George has brought from the NFL in that mindset, especially in a free agent market that we're in now in college football, to bring experience from that level in of how they develop guys quickly in their system. There's all been things that have been added, bonuses that we've been looking to accelerate the development of our players. You know, you look at Christian Garrett out there today. I mean, Christian had some production early in the season and kind of tailed off a little bit, didn't play as much until like, I think the last game.

And look, it's not all, I mean, it's on the players, too, now. 'm saying it's everybody. It's everybody that walks through these doors. We've got to put a better effort into developing that, and that's the mindset we put in the guys. You know, we took everything that we normally start in June, all the leadership, character building, mindset stuff that we normally start June 1, we moved every bit of that up, and AP started all of that in January this year. We moved everything up six months this year. So I think we've got a lot more cohesive football team right now. Another big thing that's not talked about a lot is this is the football team we're going to have for the 2026 season. There is no portal in the spring. And, yeah, every coach has said, man, this is so great to coach them, but look at it from a player standpoint. There's no maybe I'll jump ship. Maybe there's this. There is none of that. So you have full, complete buy-in on the football team right now. And you have to have that to have a successful season.”

On not having Haynes King out there…

“We have no Keylan Rutledge, and we have no JJ Vandenberg, we have no Ahmari Harvey, no CP Lee, there's a lot of guys we don't have. That's football, you know, be where your feet are. You can't worry about the past, you can't worry about those things, all right? I think it's gonna be a little bit of a benefit for us because something that really occurred over the last three years, Haynes was such an alpha, not just on the field playing, but a personality everywhere, such an unbelievable leader that a lot of guys felt, well, maybe I don't have to lead. We have our leader. That's the guy we look at. Well, it can almost be a double-edged sword there for you.

Now having to go back, and last year I think you guys remember, we built the leadership group out of the seniors. Now you don't have guys that have been on leadership starting this year. After two months of watching these guys, we put leadership together. These are all new guys on leadership. There's not continuity from last season in the leadership of this football team. And that was for a specific reason. Because like I said, to start every season is a new season. The leadership is made up of, I mean, we have 11 guys, 11 guys, there's one specialist and I think it's five and five or six and five, I think it's 12 or something. It's a mix of guys that have been here, a mix of guys that have transferred in. It's six, five, five, six, and you're pretty even across the board there.”

On the process of how Alberto Mendoza got here…

“Fast. National championship game was on a Monday, and you go into that thing, and he gets in the portal after the game and they contact, and we were first off, and we closed it up there.

On what he saw in Alberto Mendoza….

“I think if you look at the play he did have on the field and what he was able to do, it really fit where I want to take the offense, where I want to take the team, the way he throws, what he's good at throwing, ability to evade a rush, make plays with his feet. We're not going to sit here and be a designed quarterback run team. Haynes King, like I just said, is an alpha dude now. He's different. Midway through the third quarter, you're playing Clemson, he walks up and says, put the ball in my hand so we can go win the game. A lot more colorful than that. You believe in that guy. And, again, all schemes are personnel-driven.”

On what challenge the new staff and the transfers present…

“I love it. It's awesome. You know, it's fresh ideas. It's fresh faces. It creates newness. Now I'm not going to sit here and act like the last two and a half months weren't hard. I mean, they were hard, right? But then when you come out on the back side of it, we still have a couple of pieces that we're adding. I think we've brought in six or seven new guys in the recruiting department. We've got four or five more to go there. But we're taking our time with it. I've taken my time putting the whole staff together. It's about the right fit. It's about the right fit for here. It's about the right fit for this team, right, not anybody else. And I'll leave it with this. You'd a lot rather hit that hard reset after a good year than after a a really poor year.”

On how guardian caps has improved…

“Everything that we do from a player health and safety standpoint is driven from the training room and the doctors, okay? If it comes into equipment, then obviously we involve the equipment staff. I ain't real smart, all right? I got smart people around me, but everything we do is how to increase player availability and player safety, okay? And you can go through and look at different studies that say this and that. And we'll dig in a little deeper and see who's driving those studies, right? Okay, but at the end of the day, the National Football League is, in my opinion, the greatest sports organization in the world, right? People can disagree, I don't really care, okay? They were. That's about all the scientific research I need, all right?

If you prevent one concussion because you're doing it, then it's worth whatever dollar you have to pay for it, all right? You know, I'm all for them. If they make the players feel more comfortable, I know it makes me feel more comfortable. It takes a little getting used to the sound of practice. Cause I mean, two years ago, when we first started wearing those things, it's like, it doesn’t sound like practice sounds, you know? So you gotta get used to that a little bit as a coach. But like I said, if it prevents one thing from head trauma or head injury, then it's well, well worth it. But in my personal opinion, I believe, and again, the data backs it up out of the training room, right, it's proven a lot more than just one.”

On the other injury updates….

“If this was Thursday before a game, I'd have a list with me, but I don't want to say one and not say another. You know, obviously Josh and Ethan, would say Markell. We've got several guys that are, you know, Shameik's another one that's coming back from, and that's what this time is. We got guys, they play through the season, they play through different things, and then you get them operated on after the season, right? You know, we're seeing such an uptick right now in not just here but all across every level of football, AC, shoulders, ACs, rotator cuff, all those things, and, you know, that's a four- to six-month deal. So when you get it done after the season, you get them back full go for the next season, for summer, for summer training and whatnot. So getting those guys back is important. A couple guys were brought in, you know, with shoulders, who was one of those, Brayden Manley, is another one we did after the season.

EJ Lightsey is another one, definitely season Jonas we brought in as a transfer, who's coming back, you know, but, you know, ACs are such a, you know, you hate to say it, but it's become such a common thing now and the surgeries have become so good on them. They, you know, theys are such a, you know, I hate to say it, but they've become such a common thing now. The surgeries have become so good on them. You know, they're tight, they're good, they're sound. In four to six months, you know, you're going to get a guy back better than he was prior. So, you know, and then a few guys came in with, you know, things from playing in the previous stops.

But, you know, there's really, you know, there's three or four things that really everyone is seeing upticks in, and I think everybody does the deep dives to see how to help them, help prevent them and do those things. That's what Brad does such a great job in the training room with his staff, Mike, who's in charge of all our PT. And then working hand in hand with AJ and the strength staff, right? Aaron in nutrition, and then really coming all back into the building and to this side with Pat Boyle, with the analytical part of it, able to put all that together to really help prevent those things when they do occur to get them back as quick as possible, but in a safe way.”

On the intensity and fire he has is resonating with the team…

"They love it. They like it. I mean, and I've got some good guys on this team that, you know, we had a training session a couple of weeks ago and you know, we're running, we've done a whole, we did walk through and we did a whole, you know, session of drills and work and eight stations, four stations, and we're running curbs. And if you may know what a curve is from your old playing days, and those aren't any fun. We get about the seventh one and they're just laughing. They're smiling. I'm like, all right. And one guy takes their shirt off. The whole team takes a shirt off.

Just some buy-in with little, you little things you see like that, right? You know, I've had a couple guys come up and say, you know, the last two months have been the best, you know, better than the last two years they had at another school. Those are all really positive things, especially when you coach the way we coach, the way I believe in running a program. You know, there are no shortcuts. You've got to have a special type of guy that wants that, that wants to be coached hard, that wants to be held to a certain standard. But those are also the guys who excel in this game."