Five Important Notes From Brent Key's Thursday Media Availability Ahead of Mercer

Georgia Tech will play football again in less than 48 hours. In his final media availability, he discussed the Mercer matchup and what the Yellow Jackets need to do to come out with a win. Here are the most interesting things he said on Thursday.

Thoughts on the Mercer matchup

Head Coach Brent Key talked about the importance of starting the game off right and what Mercer brings to the table. He hinted that they are a sound football team.

“The big thing this week, we got an early kickoff, right? And that's gonna be something we've got to make sure we go out, and there's no easing into the game, okay? We can't wait till 1230, we can't wait till 1245. We gotta go out and be full bore from the jump.

That's the goal, and that's what we plan on doing. That's the expectation I have for the coaches, the staff, and the players. Right, and speaking of Mercer, mean, Coach (Joel) Taylor, him from West Georgia, a great job there in their transition time and doing a really good job. And you talk about watching tape, they're fundamentally sound. They're a sound football team across all three phases. He's got good coordinators that have been with him, offense and defense. They were with him in previous stops, and so they know each other and know the type of football they wanna play,” said Key.

Confidence over momentum

Coach Key was asked an intriguing question about momentum. Key prefers building confidence over momentum. His take is intriguing. He gave his take on how he sees.

“Most people talk in terms of momentum as being positive, right? Good things. Like, I don't believe that at all. For me to talk about momentum, now. Building confidence- confidence being built helps elevate play. But momentum is- it's not a real thing. Getting on a roll means you've been playing well; you played well as a team. You've improved week to week; that's what our goal is. Every week is to improve week to week and maximize the potential of the players and the coaches that we have. That's the goal. But we talk about playing every play as a play of its own, right?

“Next play mentality. Well, if you're going to talk about momentum, then it's hard to say the other thing too. Even in terms of building a football team, right? You used to talk about building a team and one season carrying over, and you had success one year and you got an excellent number of players back and continuing that. It's not that way. That's where it's probably most like the National Football League. There's new players, new coaches. A new team, there's no start in it. You know, DEF each year, you gotta start at the very beginning of the basic building blocks of what your program, what your identity is: offense, defense, special teams. So can good things keep going? Yeah, it means probably that you've got confidence, you're playing well, but really that comes from your preparation, how you practice things. The game plan has been put in, or the players are confident,” said Key.

Not overlooking Mercer

One message has been clear going 1-0 this week for Coach Key. The Yellow Jackets aren’t overlooking their opponent and are taking it very seriously on Saturday when they face the Bears.

“You watch college football every single week, right? Anyone can beat anyone on any day. I don't even think that would enter into the minds of our staff, our players, anyone in the organization. If anybody has two words of a brain about them and some awareness of the state of college football. Anybody can beat anybody on any day,” said Key.

Vincent Carroll-Jackson

One player that has been extremely underrated has been Vincent Carroll-Jackson for the Yellow Jackets. Jackson was a big-time transfer from UCONN. He was named a student-athlete of the week and was a major talking point for Coach Key in his presser, giving him praise and recognition.

“Vince is somebody I've been really proud of, coming in here and how he's acclimated and how he's improved himself. He’s really matured and grown so much in the last eight months and puts really productive play on the field. The way he plays the game, big body in there that we've desperately needed. Been proud of him. Vincent Carroll Jackson's played really good football. Can he improve? Yeah, can improve. Everybody can improve. But the reason Tawfiq is having a lot of success is number 99's eaten up two blocks a lot of times, a lot of times. It's a team game, team defense, consistently. Gotta have 11 guys doing their job and doing the best of their ability, and why not show up as stat lines to people, right? They're pretty damn important in how they execute the defense,” said Key.

Run defense issues and how to fix.

One of the biggest issues Georgia Tech has faced has been its run defense. Coach Key kept it blunt on the issues that have been ailing the Yellow Jackets. He offered insight into how it can improve and what needs to happen.

“When you look statistically at the output, it is what it is, right? There ain't no sugarcoat in what it is. If I had to say one thing, we don't use our hands well. We do not use our hands well. That's been a massive focus really since the beginning of the year. Then after the first game and then into this week, really emphasizing our hands, right? Being able to get off blocks, okay? It's one thing to fit every gap and to fit a play right, and schematically that's what coaches are looking for. But at the end of the day, you gotta have overlap in your defense, right? You gotta be able to get off the block, and that goes by using your hands and not getting engulfed. Knowing your strengths, knowing your weaknesses, whether you have long levers to be able to do that or you have shorter ones, or whether it's a size deficiency type thing. At the end of the day, you gotta get off the block.

“Several big plays that we weren't able to force, weren't able to set the edge on the perimeter. Didn't play disciplined football in terms of where the support was. All of the ball rolls off the table now, and it goes from a four-yard game to a 14-yard game or 20-yard game. So if I could pick one thing, I would say being able to use our hands and getting off the blocks,” said Key.

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