News and Notes From Georgia Tech's Final Fall Camp Scrimmage: Defense Impresses Once Again

Georgia Tech's season kicks off in two weeks, but they had another fall camp scrimmage to take care of today. The Yellow Jackets are going to be lasering in on Florida State now, but here are the notable things from today's scrimmage.

1. Defensive back D.J. Moore tore his ACL. Brent Key said he will most likely be out for the season.

"The only one, the big one we've had, DJ Moore, only one to let you guys know that. DJ towards ACL last week. I believe it was last week. Got it confirmed last week. You know, really hated for DJ. Somebody's really worked hard from, you know, being a receiver, transitioning over the defensive side. It was really progressing, doing a good job on that side. He was a huge special team's contributor for us. But he's in the right frame of mind right now to work and get back and be ready to go. So, you know, that's the big one I'm going to let you guys know is he'll be out most likely for the season."

Key went on to highlight the additions through the transfer portal they have made at that position over the spring and how it helps at that position:

"Oh, no question. You know, I look at it no different really than the NFL. There's two philosophies. You build your team in the national football league. You build it through the draft and supplement through free agency, or you lean a little heavier towards the free agency part of it. It's really no different in college now. You have the high school recruiting part of it, and then you have the acquisition through transfers, which is really collegiate, free agency, for lack of a better word, but the way they can move. And, you know, I think when you look at the teams in the NFL that, you know, we really study and that I've studied a lot over the last couple of years, the guys have done a really good job in the draft. You know, I think one that comes to mind right now over the course of the last, and you've seen it over the last three or four years, really the Detroit Lions. They've done a great job in the draft, you know, drafting guys. A lot more depth on the football team because of it."

2. The team cut down on the penalties today, compared to last week's scrimmage, which Key said was a big emphasis going into today:

"One of the biggest things was, you know, last week we had 16 penalties in the scrimmage. Today we had five. That was something we addressed really strongly during the week."3. The c

3. The coaching staff is really going to be hammering the depth chart over the next couple of days as they get ready for Florida State.

"Tomorrow we'll come in and we'll sit down and we'll have some real open conversations and set the depth charts from an offensive defense and special team standpoint.

4. For the second straight week, Key really praised the defense, with the defense line in particular getting the heap of the praise. He was asked if it was fair to characterize the defensive line as being ahead of the other units and he said no.

"I thought the defense came out. What I wrote down is not what I can say in here, but I thought the defense really came out and played with their hair on fire. It was very encouraging to see the, you know, the energy they played with, the physicality they played with, the ability to not just stop the run, but get after the quarterback and passing downs, you know, transition from, you know, a run stop mode on normal downs to pass rush and still been able to affect the quarterback. So really good to see the defense respond the way they have over the course of a week.

I don't think anyone's ahead of anybody. I think we all understand that we have a long way to go. I don't think anybody's leading this race by any means. All you've got to do is turn the tape on and watch it. And if you're truly being honest with yourself and the players are being honest and the coaches are being honest, which they all are, there's no one that thinks that they're out ahead of anybody. I think I've been complimentary of them because that's probably the positions had the most influx of new guys, whether it be freshman or transfers. And let's be honest now, I mean, we've got a pretty good offensive line here, and they've been punched in the mouth. I mean, these guys have been punched in the mouth for the last three weeks, and it's pretty good to see. It's been really good to see."

5. When talking about the running back depth, Key mentioned freshman Anthony Carrie and second year running back Chad Alexander as two players that stood out today. He also talked about the kind of workload they want Jamal Haynes to have:

"Anthony Carrie and Chad Alexander really showed up today. You know, Chad came in last year as a walk-on, first-year walk-on. He's a 10 -3 -400 guy, you know, got good speed.

I mean, he's (Jamal Haynes) a fire plug. I mean, he's like to energizer bunny. He can go all day. I mean, I've told you guys before. You'd be on the sideline last year, and, you know, he'd jump in and tell whoever's on kickoff, you know, right before we were not on the field. Get out because he wanted to go. You know, so you have to watch him real close to make sure he's not trying to jump in to get more plays. But today was the day to see who was going to be there with him, right? And that's why, you know, we had a few guys that we were able to, you know, really sit out today to see the other guys. And it's not, look, Jamal is a really good football player. But we also know running backs, I mean, very quickly you can be the second, third, fourth guy, fifth guy even in the game. So we had to see those guys today and see what they could do running behind, you know, the first and second offensive line and run against the first and second defense. So it's been a work in progress to this point. You know, I think Norv does a tremendous job with those guys of developing them, coaching them hard, holding them to a standard. And it's good today to see, you know, because up to this point today, you know, it was really a by committee. We hadn't, but I think we'll be able to come in tomorrow and really start to put some slittification on who's behind you all."

6. In terms of standouts on the defensive line today in the scrimmage, Key mentioned the defensive end group with freshmen Jordan Boyd and Amontrae Bradford being two guys that played well and veterans like Romello Height, Sylvain Yondjouen, and Kevin Harris who also had a good scrimmage:

"So, you know, along the same lines with the defense. We had 11 TFL, six sacks. I thought the defensive end spot really showed up today. Sylvain, some of the young guys, I mean, Amontrae Bradford, Jordan Boyd, Romello Height, and then I think Kevin Harris played as good football he's ever played in his career. I mean, I'm really proud of that kid. And it's just a continuation of the progress he made coming out of spring and into now. So all in all coming out pleased with the scrimmage, pleased with the effort, pleased with the attitude, but we still have a lot of improvements we have to make to go play in two weeks."

7. In terms of the return game on special teams, Key mentioned how they are trying to replace Dominick Blaylock and metioned Rodney Shelley, Christian Leary, Malik Rutherford and Eric Singleton, but it did not sound like the position was settled:

"That's actually the I actually was working on it last night looking at going through the death charts That's one of the first things we'll address tomorrow We've got some viable guys that they can return Both sides and you work your returners way up way before you start to work your you know the entire team Return teams you know with a punter turn kick off return Because number one thing you better secure the football, right? You better secure the football not put the ball on the ground ground, then it becomes who can help us gain first downs without offense being on the field. Who can get positive field position, who can affect the field position in the game with their returnability. But first thing is, who's going to hold on the football? Last year with Dom, he was a very sure -handed guy that was, we knew that ball was going to be secured. Anything he got after that was a plus. So, yeah, you mentioned Rodney. Rodney's dynamic. He is. He's done a really good job of, you know, fielding the ball. You know, we've got other guys, too. I mean, Malik and, I mean, you know, Eric, I mean, we've got a ton of guys that can return. So we'll start solidifying that down. We'll have three guys we start reping on Monday at the punt return spot. And we'll have really four guys we start repping at the kickoff return spot."

8. For the linebackers, Key talked about the progress that both E.J. Lightsey and Tah'j Butler have made:

"Yeah, you know, both of them, you can tell both of them during spring it was their first time in a new defense, learning a new defense. Tuch is very demanding on those guys. It very, holds them to an extremely high standard. I think if you ask him, I don't think he'll ever say that he's pleased with the work they do on a day -to -day basis. That doesn't mean he's down on them either. It's just the standard that he holds everyone to, and that's what I love is for people on the staff. I mean, that's why he's been such a great fit here from the time he walked through the door. I mean, his standard is the same as my, it's the same as the offensive coaches. It's the same across the board, and he expects perfection, right? He expects those guys to be perfect out there. We all know that's not going to happen, but what's the old saying? I mean, you shoot for perfection, you're going to land at excellence the majority of the time, and that's what we're trying to do, and that's the standard he holds those guys, too. They're going to be good football players. I'm excited to actually watch the film tonight and see those guys. That was one of the position groups. We mixed and matched some of the guys with the twos with the ones, the threes with threes, twos, and I'm excited to see all these guys did. You know, some runs up the middle that I think we probably should have had a hat on. So we'll look at the gaps and how they're fitting the gaps from that side of the ball where they come in and pulling the double teams off the offensive line. There was also enough that were flat walled at the line of scrimmage where those guys were making plays in the box, but also had the range to make plays out in space. So improvement there from those guys from the week before. But until we watch the tape and really able to put it pencil those guys in the spots they need to be but you know I've been pleased with progression of those guys."