News and Notes from Georgia Tech's final preseason scrimmage

Georgia Tech held its final scrimmage of the preseason today

Author:
Jackson Caudell
Updated:
Aug 19, 2023 4:35 PM EDT
Original:
Aug 19, 2023

In this story:

Georgia Tech's preseason camp has wrapped up and the Yellow Jackets held their final scrimmage today. The players are going to return next week and preparation for the first game against Louisville is going to begin.

Brent Key spoke to the media afterward and shared his thoughts from today's scrimmage and overall thoughts on his first fall camp as a head coach.

Here are the news, notes, and takeaways from today's scrimmage.

Key said that the team ran 80 plays in today's scrimmage. During the last scrimmage, the team ran just under 150 plays. They got 60 plays of live reps. There were 12 series in total
It was a live scrimmage and all phases of the kicking game were practiced as well and they wanted to simulate a live game situation.
They practiced a lot of situational parts of the game today. They practiced situations in the red area with both groups. They practiced being backed up on their own end of the field and started from the -2 yard line. This was also the first day that crowd noise was introduced as part of the scrimmage and it was a mix of loud music and static noise.
There will be meetings and workouts on Monday, but there won't be any practice due to it being the first day of school and he wants them to get adjusted back to school.
They are going to be back on the field on Tuesday. Wednesday is when they are going to start introducing the game plan for Louisville.
Key said that the 3's got good reps today.
Key hopes that Bobby Dodd is the loudest stadium that they will play in this year
Key said that he thought both quarterbacks handled the noise well.
While they have made strides from the start of fall camp, Key said that they had a long way to go.
He said that tomorrow he is going to get together with each staff and they are going to start to talk depth chart and the players will come in tomorrow for a 2-hour meeting and watch the scrimmage and work on getting the corrections made.
Key singled out the young receivers today. He said they were put in different situations and that the ball security all around was good. Christian Leary and tight end Brett Seither were a couple of the standouts
Key said that the running backs all had opportunities today and they made plays, including in the passing game. There were good runs after the catch, running in between the tackles, and tough runs in the tight red area today
The defensive front had a good day and controlled the line of scrimmage during different times in the game. Makius Scott and Zeek Biggers were the standouts from the defensive line. Last week, D'Quan Douse was singled out as a standout player and that signals to me that defensive tackle could be a position of strength for the Yellow Jackets this season.
Taye Seymore was a young player that Key pointed out that had a good scrimmage.
In terms of the offensive line, Key said that they feel they have 7-8 guys that can go play winning football for them. Offensive line coach Geep Wade talked earlier this week and in the spring that he wants to have eight guys that he trusts on the O-Line.
Key feels they have four guys capable of playing the center spot. He said that Weston Franklin has had a great camp. Brandon Best and true freshman Gabe Fortson have gotten a lot of reps at the center spot. Key loves the progress that Best has made and that it is impressive what Fortson has done as true freshman considering he was not here for spring. He said that Joe Fusile has gotten reps at center as well and played a lot of center today.
While he has not watched a lot of film on Louisville since the preseason camp started, Key says that he did during the summer and that they did game plan studies on their opponents over the summer. He said they have a lot of house cleaning to do first and that next Tuesday or Wednesday is when he is going to start really getting into studying Louisville
Key did say that they are going to be studying a lot of Purdue film since that is where Jeff Brohm is coming from.
When talking about the linebacker competition, Key said that transfer Paul Moala was one guy that stood out to him today and that he has had a great fall camp. He said Andre White and Braelen Oliver got a lot of reps today. He said they have had to really develop the talent at that position and that Kevin Sherrer had done a great job with the position.
Freshmen linebackers Nacari Ashley and Jacob Cruz are two guys that have gotten a lot of reps for the past week or two to see what they can do. Key pointed out their length and athleticism stand out about both players
No new quarterback battle updates today. Key said they will continue to go through their evaluations before making a decision.
Former Georgia Tech head coach Bill Curry recently spoke to the team and Key took a moment to talk about him and how much that meant.
In terms of the cornerback battle, Key signaled out several players. Ahmari Harvey is someone that has flashed at different times, but needs to be consistent. He said Harvey did have a blocked kick today and Kenyatta Watson had the scoop and score. He said different guys are flashing at different times and that is a good thing. Kenan Johnson, Rodney Shelley, and Omar Daniels are other guys that Key talked about. Shelley was playing nickel in the spring, but has made the transition to outside corner and provides value as a returner as well.