The Five Most Interesting Things Head Coach Brent Key Said In His Weekly Presser

Georgia Tech head coach held his weekly press conference before the Yellow Jackets head to Stanford. He hit on several big things as the Yellow Jackets prepare for their first ACC battle.

No identity established yet for the Yellow Jackets

Georgia Tech is still establishing who they are currently. Typically, Georgia Tech has been known for being a dominant team in the trenches and running the football at a high level. With some of the injuries, a new offenisve line coach, new personnel, and a new offensive coordinator. It has taken time for it to come together.

"It's a matter of everything coming together, finding out really what the identity is. We've still got to be able to hang our hat on something as an identity. I'm not there yet at all. Every day's a grind on that, but it was a good start, and it started with getting more guys in there playing, so more opportunity for guys to touch the ball,” said Key.

On the team being tight or anxious

Georgia Tech has had a fair share of struggles to start games, including last game vs. Mercer going three and out in two of its three positions. They have started games tight, but as the game has worn on, it has changed for the Yellow Jackets. So how do they fix it? Coach Key chimed in.

“Let it loose. Go play. Have fun. Enjoy being around each other. Team meeting on Monday. Yesterday, showed a lot of clips of the TV copy of guys celebrating each other's success, right, and being excited. But the tight part, that comes from young competitors. It does. You know, guys that want to be perfect on every play, and that's Alberto

I mean, he's as much of a competitor as anyone I've ever seen. Talk about Will Reed on the first play, right? Well, I mean, he's not purposely trying to miss a linebacker. He's trying to come off the ball and sell the run. Oh, yeah, I know I've been told that a hundred times. I've repped that a hundred times. I say the word anxious probably more than tight. you know, trying to play a little too perfect. And then once the game starts to unfold and get in the flow of it, they tend to play a little looser. And I think when we saw that coming out in the second half, everybody saw me on the sideline when we pushed the pile on that one play. I mean, I was like, thank you. Like, finally, finally. Like, you talk about identity of a team that’s an expectation I have all the time,” said Key.

WR Development

One of the biggest things he said was developing the wide receiver room and getting more reps for guys like Jaiven Plummer, Debron Gatling, and others. Coach Key emphasized the room and seeing more guys get reps not named Dalen Penson and Jordan Allen.

“We probably had six more (explosive plays) dialed up that either ended up being checked down. A couple of those ended up going for explosives because we checked them down. You know, you get pressure on the first one of the game. Then, on the other hand, you have an explosive that was a quick little sticker out on a hot throw that pops off, I think it was DeBron, pops off his hands and lands in Roche's hands and creates an explosive. They're not always how you draw them up. But we got more guys involved, and that was a big thing of last week. You can't have, like, seven and four can't play the whole game at receiver. That will not happen again.

Okay, we have too many other players. We have to get out there, and like we talked about on defense, so much about playing guys to develop guys. Between DeBron, Jaiven, and Zay (Isaiah Fuhrmann), I'm really looking for Zay to keep coming on and build that rhythm and chemistry there. You know, he had a big catch in the game. Getting other guys involved is big. That's really important for our success. Corbo had one and made a good catch. We got to get him more involved,” said Key.

Georgia Tech's impressive freshman this season has been Trae Stevenson. He did not suit up against Mercer, but the buzz around his name has stayed high. Coach Key updated his current injury status and where he is right now.

“It was a game-time decision with Trey Stevenson. That was one that we were really excited about and got banged up a little bit, so he wasn't able to go. He's day-to-day right now when he'll be back. But that was one that we were really excited about,” said Key.

Run defense

One of the biggest Achilles' heels has been the Yellow Jackets' run defense, which ranks No.134 against the run this season. A lot of it has been misfits, poor tackling, and not getting downhill. The team has emphasized improving it and getting it corrected. Coach Key knows teams will keep using it against Yellow Jackets until it is resolved.

“We got to continue to improve that and do some things to help us out there. I don't need to. Beat a dead horse because that horse is dead and in the ground and about 12 feet under right now as far as being able to stop the run. Okay, we all know that. Teams are averaging over five yards of carry on us. I mean, they have not needed to throw the ball at all. Now we've bowed our necks back a little bit when we've gotten into the tight areas down there. But until we stop the run, teams will not stop running it. Bottom line,” said Key.

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