Georgia Tech Football: Everything From Brent Key's National Signing Day Press Conference

Today was one of the most important days in the college football calendar. It was the first day of the early signing period and Georgia Tech was bringing in one of their top classes in program history. This afternoon, with the majority of the 2025 class signed, Yellow Jackets head coach Brent Key spoke with the media and here is everything that he had to say.

Opening Statement

"I'm really excited about this class it's it's the one we've been working on really for several years yes the way it is now and they're two, three years sometimes in this case four years out as far as recruiting guys, but as of right now, we're 22 signings in. Cool thing about 15 of those guys from the state of Georgia, six out of the 15 of those guys are still in the playoffs playing. So that's important to us to be able to have guys that-- the pedigree comes from a championship high school, too, in a quality high school program. To have that many of them still playing this in the playoffs here in the state of Georgia, which is such high quality high school football is exciting and really bodes well for their future as far as expectations of what it takes to win. So, you know, we have a possibility of more coming in here over the next, you know, shoot, I mean it could be for the next couple of days, I would imagine. So, but really my belief has been in building a roster is to build it through the high school ranks, you know, supplement through, you know, the transfer portal and free agency to really go to foundation for the long term, long term success of the program. And at the same time, you might find some really good high school guys and they're not quite ready to play. So you want to supplement it, but also you want to have, you know, have it dispersed evenly with the amount of seniors, years, you know, sophomores and freshmen. So that's part of it as well. So, you know, with belief in, you know, recruiting the high school ranks, really starting here in Atlanta, working in, you know, in the entire state of Georgia. We really recruit the state to, you know, as two different states, you know, one of Atlanta and the other one, the rest of the state of Georgia, to be able to cover that ground. So, and then really working, you know, inside out, neighboring states and then going nationally for certain positions and certain guys that fit the the profile of what we're looking to have here. You know also I think the rosters the best rosters are built really from the inside out. You know the developmental positions they'll say in of how many the closer the closer the ball you play the longer it takes for you to be able to get on the field and play because it becomes a position of strength and maturity and development. So to have the 5 -0 linemen, 5 -D linemen in this class, it was important to continue to build ourselves in the trenches and to be able to play with anybody that's on our schedule."

1. On Recruiting in the State of Georgia...

"Yeah, I think the exposure we've been able to receive this year in a lot of ways is big, but it really goes back to the relationships with the high schools. Just because you're signing off from a to the relationships with the high schools. Just because you're signing off from a high school doesn't necessarily mean that it's gonna be reflective years down the road. I mean, the coaching staff and the staff have done an outstanding job of cultivating and building those relationships. I think it's something that really needed to be done here, you know, we're in one of not the greatest state of high school talent in the entire country. And you know, to jump over 20 guys to go get one makes no sense. So we've been, you know, working really hard to make sure we get in the schools, to get in all the high schools, build relationships. I got to give you know a huge credit to Tim McFarlin and the job that he's done as well in the director of high school relations and building these relationships, maintaining these relationships, being able to keep us informed, keep myself informed of different things and to take place in the events, the clinics, the camps that are running the summer, all those go into it."

2. On having balance across the board at positions...

"Yeah, you know, the roster goes to 105, and you have ideal numbers for each position that you have to hit. You might be over one or under one in a certain year, but for the most part, you want to be at those ideal numbers at the same time. You don't want to have to totally re -recruit a position each year. You want to have it spread out so that you still can develop guys. If you get into the world of bringing in 20, 25 one -year well then you're just replacing them again the next year. So you're not really building any continuity and you're not building the culture of the locker room that needs to be built for the long term. And look, there's a lot of examples out there, the good and the bad, both collegiate in high school, collegiate in the pros and some of the NFL teams that we've modeled ourself after and that I'd like to model ourself after. You're you know, maybe year one, year two, not as much success, but then you look into year three and four, and, you know, they really have the right game plan for long -term success and building a foundation for long -term success."

3. On flipping running back Shane Marshall...

"Yeah, now, Norv does a great job recruiting. He's, you know, whether it's position recruiting, whether it's his area recruiting, you know, we're in a world now where everybody's so position driven in recruiting, and we have to constantly stay on, you know, everyone to consistently remind them that the area recruiting in your own state is extremely important, you know, because people get narrow -minded or narrow -sighted when it comes to the recruiting part, right, and but you're not going to build relationships and maintain relationships if you don't stay, stay in the area portion of it. And, you know, Norv does a great job of both. He really does. He's persistent, builds great relationships, not just with the player, not just the parents or the family, but everyone involved. And over the course of time, you know, those things pay off."

4. On if he values Getting High School Offensive Lineman Instead Of Getting Them In the Portal...

"I don't think it's one of like I said, every position, it's what's best for the program. The longer it takes to develop a guy, the more you want them in your program. But at the same time, guys from the transfer portal, free agency is they've got experience playing at the collegiate level. So we have pretty strict guidelines that we go through in looking at those guys. But I would love to be able to continue to build those lines of scrimmage through the high school ranks because you're gonna get them for a longer time. They're gonna be accustomed to the way you d o things in year two, year three. All right, and then hopefully by year two and three and then four. Those are the guys that are leading and showing the way to the new guys coming in."

5. On the jobs that Geep Wade and the first year coaches on defense did in recruiting...

"So all three of those guys, you don't have to talk about what they've done, you can look and see what they've done, not just in recruiting but on the field. And when you look at the success, the consistency of success that those guys have had, and then we're striving for on both sides of the line of scrimmage, that helps a ton in recruiting. That's the first thing. And they begin, they're great guys that, or they build great relationships, long term relationships with high school I mean, Jess is a legend in the high school ranks here in the state of Georgia. But the persistent part of it, the building real relationships with everyone around. But then I think the key in offensive and defensive line recruiting is showing a path to development. Showing how you're going to develop somebody, having proof behind you of guys you've developed that are similar to them. Look, we have 13, 13 or 14 former offensive and defensive linemen staff here, right? And that's, that's not by chance. That's for a reason that we've built the staff that way as well, because, you know, I want to continue to build a big, strong physical group on both sides of the ball. But I couldn't say enough about those three, you know, Geep's been in the game a long time. you know, Jess having his relationships from high school and you know Kyle was the guy that when we were at uh we were in Alabama and he was just a GA at that time you know did as good of a job recruiting as anybody on the staff so I've been really pleased with all of them."

6. On the recruiting process for Four-Star DB Tae Harris...

"Stick to the process uh, believe in the process uh Just because someone commits somewhere, it's easy for somebody to say, "Oh, well, let him go." We ain't having that here. That's not the type of staff that we have. It's not the type of program that I want to have. If you believe in something as strongly as we believe in Georgia Tech and the future of the Georgia Tech football program, You're going to continue to recruit the right players for your school, for your program. He's a guy that's local that we recruit extremely hard, decided along the way, which a lot of them do, that he comes and goes, but those relationships are big. You know, being able to keep people home is big and showing them a path to success and path to development is big. And he's a guy that, and that kid's an unbelievable kid now. You talk about a kid that is hungry, that, I mean, the day he commits, he's on the phone texting and calling all the other guys in the position room here on the roster saying, I can't wait to be with you guys and those guys immediately come back to me and they're like coach, that guy's definitely one of us now I mean just the way he everything about him they're like some of us some of them didn't even like meet one of his visits here and they just said that guy's one of us so you know he's, he's an alpha an alpha and really expected to get things out of him."

7. On not Signing Any Linebackers...

"Well, you know, again with roster spots, we've got four or five returning, it's a position that carries six or seven. And the big thing we have to do there is get the guys the separation, all right. And then the body types is the type of linebacker we need. You know, we recruited several linebackers, but we're not able to close them, several of them. Okay, so, And then we'll be able to go to the portal and hopefully find the best ones there that fit, again, fit us and fit our need and fit the scheme that we have."

8. On having defensive backs that play multiple positions and if they will continue to do so...

"No, not at all. I mean, this isn't tryout, literally tryouts. We recruit guys specifically for positions. We have criteria for each position that we look at evaluation criteria, standards of tangible and intangible traits that they have. We recruit guys for specific positions. Now, if it ends up down the there's a need or you know log jam at one spot. We have to move guys around. That's a different story, but we recruit guys to come in to play certain spots."

9. On how many early enrollees he expects to have...

"It's a lot of knowing a lot of the ones that don't you know, usually they're either at school that won't allow it or they're spring sport, a spring sport guy you know, track or baseball person that really wants to you know to stay in and continue that man has changed so much man, that's changed so much in the last few years of guys coming in early. And then there's a handful of guys that really just want to continue to enjoy the experience of high school, their spring semester. We don't pressure guys either way to come in, it's a decision. Now, when they make the decision to do it, yeah, we welcome it. But we're not gonna pressure them because I don't want them to be upset and miss out on something, but they'll all get a chance to go to their prom."

10. On if it is a coincidence that a lot of recruits have athletic members of their family...

"You know, in the initial evaluation, you don't know those things because we're watching film, then we're going in. Now, initially, you don't see those things. Now, once you really start digging into the mindset of a player, the DNA, the makeup of them, are they going to fit here, you know, you know, family genes, family history. It doesn't always, it's not always a predictor, but a lot of times it is because, you know, there's, there's things they want to, you know, there's things they want to traditions or, you know, legacies or history that they want to uphold."