ATLANTA- Georgia Tech football coach Brent Key spoke for the first time in two weeks on Tuesday after Hurricane Helene scrubbed his media availability last Thursday. The Jackets had a bye week after playing week zero through week five without a break including three conference games. The Jackets host undefeated Duke on Saturday night in Bobby Dodd Stadium.
"The bye week really couldn't have come at a better time for us. We were able to heal up and get our energy back and a pep in our step," Key said. "We had a lot of mental reps in practice last Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Those were big days of focusing on ourselves, corrections, adjustments, personnel and situational football."
Key said his team used the time off to regroup after five straight games and make adjustments based on performance through the first part of the season both with personnel and schematically.
"It was a grind of a start of the season and that is what the name of the game is and now they are in a different part of it so it was good to see us out there looking fast, good energy and good communication with the tweaks and adjustments we've made within the schemes in all three phases," Key said.
The Jackets began working on Duke on Thursday with a padded practice last week and then the weather began. Key said that he saw people being rescued by boats in his neighborhood and it was a pretty eye-opening experience for him.
Key said it is important for the students to come out and support the team and it was huge in their last home game and he wants everyone on campus to come out and support the team and be loud on Saturday night and the players really appreciate it when they do as does everyone in the program.
I asked Key if they looked at adjusting personnel on the left side of the OL during the break, and he said they've made a lot of tweaks with the whole team and he is trying to find the best guys to get on the field to help them win. They have also worked to create some versatility in positions and develop more depth and get the younger guys ready to go who can contribute and they will continue that process. He said the issues weren't just the left side of the OL, but across the board.
On if the OL issues were missed execution or personnel driven, he said there is everything and it is not one person screwing up that is causing the issues, but the way they are being schemed against and the movement up front and the loaded boxes and he said they had deep evaluations by the staff to start the bye week and he challenged every coach on the staff and everyone on the staff to self asses and self-scout to look in the mirror and say this isn't working or isn't working as good as it used to work and what adjustments have to be made to correct it.
On the FG issues, he said the block return for a touchdown was all an encompassing issue and he isn't going to call out the player responsible for it, but it was not the kicker and it is his job as HC to make sure it is fixed.
On figuring out what his team is now five games in, he said that by now you know your team and it is all hypothetical before the season starts and they know their deficiencies and strengths. The team is playing hard and there are times when they don't quite hit it, but there are always times like that, playing hard and preparing the right way gives you a chance to have success on Saturday but it guarantees nothing. Everyone wants to win and everyone wants to do everything they can to win, he said the issue is when someone tries to do more than their job, you have to be in the right position when the stakes get higher, the emotions and games get higher and the intensity is higher in conference games especially vs an undefeated team or ranked teams and that is really all they have left on their schedule now. You have to keep your emotions in check and play level-headed and make level-headed decisions. Games are different than practice and you try to elevate practice to be as close to games as possible.
Someone asked about the kicks from the right hash and Key said that at Louisville they had 3rd and 14 from the right 33 and he looked at Chris Weinke and they both kind of went oh boy, you can't hide from it, but they have to understand that situation and make sure that they put Birr in a spot to be successful and the should've done something to help him there with the position of the kick. Birr had told him he wasn't going to miss two in a row and he stroked it but the edge guy blocked it.
He punted on my question about playing more of the younger guys as the season went along (turns out he didn't understand what I was asking him after our conversation off mic after the event, I was asking about Tah'j Butler, Harrison Moore, Luke Harpring, those types of guys playing a bigger role now that they have some sea legs).
On Duke's defense, Key said they are pretty impressive and they are tops in TFLs and havoc plays, stuffed runs (0 to -2 yards) and they are at 42% there right now. They play physically and with good speed and it is not just DLs creating the negative plays but LBs and lots of DBs, that is what Manny likes to do. They are good with their blitzes and using motion to confuse the offense and he has gone against him many times in his career and he has a lot of respect for him.
Key said Duke has a lot of guys back on D from last year and he said he isn't just saying that because Jess Simpson and Tyler Santucci is on his staff, but they have a lot of talent and the strength coach there does a great job and the DL is a penetrating group and they can zone blitz or fire bullets and step slant gap over and get off the ball and get up field causing disruptions. He said when you take over a group that well developed you just let them do their thing and just adapt your calls like you might call it apples and they called it oranges, but that is what Manny has done there. He said that they did a good job of adding some talent in the secondary to bolster their depth there and the D players just really play well within the scheme and create havoc.
On Haynes King fumble return for a TD, he said that if you watch it, he was a few inches away from getting the ball to Malik Rutherford who was going to go 94 yards untouched for a TD, it is a magician's trick if he pulls that off and the safety did a great job of falling off the receiver and getting the ball. He said that is something they work on and the speed of the game and intensity of practice can't counter someone just making a great play against it in that moment. He said that King is very critical of himself and he is like a coach on the field and everybody makes a poor decision at times, but there were a ton of moments like that in the Louisville game, he said that bad punt return that set that up by Rodney Shelley was close to being a 30-40 yard return and they had to sub someone out from the blocking team and that is where the bust happened that got him tackled back there instead of busting it.
Key said all of that to say he is very pleased with how King has been playing.
I asked if they are going to get more creative with how they run King to jumpstart the run game, (he was bothered by this question), he said that what was interesting about the first three games of the season is they had all these unknowns playing two teams for the first time all year and in the last three games they saw new defenses they had not expected and had to adjust on the fly. He said that Syracuse, VMI and Louisville played fronts and coverages they had not used up until that point and they had to switch from things on offense that were supposed to be the base, he said that they had to look at themselves and how they practice and if there is a book out on them and how they make adjustments to the offense.
Key was asked about getting more sacks and pressure, he said that they stunt probably 65% of the time (the guy who asked this asked if they needed to stunt more which made no sense) and they had the best pressure of the season against Louisville in that game and they just didn't get home, but he thought the DL and the LBs played their best game of the year in that game. He said he would love to have a magic shaker bottle to get sacks, but that isn't how it works. He said they have to have a balance so they don't have guys running free against the secondary and he said where he thinks they need to improve is second efforts on plays. He said that is when the play is being executed and the initial job is done and then you have to strain and make that second effort to beat a blocker or win one-on-one in pass rush to finish off the run block, that is an area where he has been focused. They need more sacks though.
Key said they were able to send four guys out on the road this weekend and he was supposed to be out but couldn't because there were cars underwater in his neighborhood when he woke up on Peachtree Battle. He said there were news trucks lined up just outside his house and he watched the water rise all day and then go down and he saw people in boats rescuing neighbors some of whom had newborns. He said then he saw the tow trucks to fix the dead cars and then he started watching Duke film and did recruiting. They did evals and he facetimed recruits and they did some HS film evals. He said that he spent the weekend with Harper decorating for Halloween and he has giant skeletons, a cemetery, colored lights and all the Halloween stuff. He said it is his favorite holiday.
"The bye week really couldn't have come at a better time for us. We were able to heal up and get our energy back and a pep in our step," Key said. "We had a lot of mental reps in practice last Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Those were big days of focusing on ourselves, corrections, adjustments, personnel and situational football."
Key said his team used the time off to regroup after five straight games and make adjustments based on performance through the first part of the season both with personnel and schematically.
"It was a grind of a start of the season and that is what the name of the game is and now they are in a different part of it so it was good to see us out there looking fast, good energy and good communication with the tweaks and adjustments we've made within the schemes in all three phases," Key said.
The Jackets began working on Duke on Thursday with a padded practice last week and then the weather began. Key said that he saw people being rescued by boats in his neighborhood and it was a pretty eye-opening experience for him.
Key said it is important for the students to come out and support the team and it was huge in their last home game and he wants everyone on campus to come out and support the team and be loud on Saturday night and the players really appreciate it when they do as does everyone in the program.
I asked Key if they looked at adjusting personnel on the left side of the OL during the break, and he said they've made a lot of tweaks with the whole team and he is trying to find the best guys to get on the field to help them win. They have also worked to create some versatility in positions and develop more depth and get the younger guys ready to go who can contribute and they will continue that process. He said the issues weren't just the left side of the OL, but across the board.
On if the OL issues were missed execution or personnel driven, he said there is everything and it is not one person screwing up that is causing the issues, but the way they are being schemed against and the movement up front and the loaded boxes and he said they had deep evaluations by the staff to start the bye week and he challenged every coach on the staff and everyone on the staff to self asses and self-scout to look in the mirror and say this isn't working or isn't working as good as it used to work and what adjustments have to be made to correct it.
On the FG issues, he said the block return for a touchdown was all an encompassing issue and he isn't going to call out the player responsible for it, but it was not the kicker and it is his job as HC to make sure it is fixed.
On figuring out what his team is now five games in, he said that by now you know your team and it is all hypothetical before the season starts and they know their deficiencies and strengths. The team is playing hard and there are times when they don't quite hit it, but there are always times like that, playing hard and preparing the right way gives you a chance to have success on Saturday but it guarantees nothing. Everyone wants to win and everyone wants to do everything they can to win, he said the issue is when someone tries to do more than their job, you have to be in the right position when the stakes get higher, the emotions and games get higher and the intensity is higher in conference games especially vs an undefeated team or ranked teams and that is really all they have left on their schedule now. You have to keep your emotions in check and play level-headed and make level-headed decisions. Games are different than practice and you try to elevate practice to be as close to games as possible.
Someone asked about the kicks from the right hash and Key said that at Louisville they had 3rd and 14 from the right 33 and he looked at Chris Weinke and they both kind of went oh boy, you can't hide from it, but they have to understand that situation and make sure that they put Birr in a spot to be successful and the should've done something to help him there with the position of the kick. Birr had told him he wasn't going to miss two in a row and he stroked it but the edge guy blocked it.
He punted on my question about playing more of the younger guys as the season went along (turns out he didn't understand what I was asking him after our conversation off mic after the event, I was asking about Tah'j Butler, Harrison Moore, Luke Harpring, those types of guys playing a bigger role now that they have some sea legs).
On Duke's defense, Key said they are pretty impressive and they are tops in TFLs and havoc plays, stuffed runs (0 to -2 yards) and they are at 42% there right now. They play physically and with good speed and it is not just DLs creating the negative plays but LBs and lots of DBs, that is what Manny likes to do. They are good with their blitzes and using motion to confuse the offense and he has gone against him many times in his career and he has a lot of respect for him.
Key said Duke has a lot of guys back on D from last year and he said he isn't just saying that because Jess Simpson and Tyler Santucci is on his staff, but they have a lot of talent and the strength coach there does a great job and the DL is a penetrating group and they can zone blitz or fire bullets and step slant gap over and get off the ball and get up field causing disruptions. He said when you take over a group that well developed you just let them do their thing and just adapt your calls like you might call it apples and they called it oranges, but that is what Manny has done there. He said that they did a good job of adding some talent in the secondary to bolster their depth there and the D players just really play well within the scheme and create havoc.
On Haynes King fumble return for a TD, he said that if you watch it, he was a few inches away from getting the ball to Malik Rutherford who was going to go 94 yards untouched for a TD, it is a magician's trick if he pulls that off and the safety did a great job of falling off the receiver and getting the ball. He said that is something they work on and the speed of the game and intensity of practice can't counter someone just making a great play against it in that moment. He said that King is very critical of himself and he is like a coach on the field and everybody makes a poor decision at times, but there were a ton of moments like that in the Louisville game, he said that bad punt return that set that up by Rodney Shelley was close to being a 30-40 yard return and they had to sub someone out from the blocking team and that is where the bust happened that got him tackled back there instead of busting it.
Key said all of that to say he is very pleased with how King has been playing.
I asked if they are going to get more creative with how they run King to jumpstart the run game, (he was bothered by this question), he said that what was interesting about the first three games of the season is they had all these unknowns playing two teams for the first time all year and in the last three games they saw new defenses they had not expected and had to adjust on the fly. He said that Syracuse, VMI and Louisville played fronts and coverages they had not used up until that point and they had to switch from things on offense that were supposed to be the base, he said that they had to look at themselves and how they practice and if there is a book out on them and how they make adjustments to the offense.
Key was asked about getting more sacks and pressure, he said that they stunt probably 65% of the time (the guy who asked this asked if they needed to stunt more which made no sense) and they had the best pressure of the season against Louisville in that game and they just didn't get home, but he thought the DL and the LBs played their best game of the year in that game. He said he would love to have a magic shaker bottle to get sacks, but that isn't how it works. He said they have to have a balance so they don't have guys running free against the secondary and he said where he thinks they need to improve is second efforts on plays. He said that is when the play is being executed and the initial job is done and then you have to strain and make that second effort to beat a blocker or win one-on-one in pass rush to finish off the run block, that is an area where he has been focused. They need more sacks though.
Key said they were able to send four guys out on the road this weekend and he was supposed to be out but couldn't because there were cars underwater in his neighborhood when he woke up on Peachtree Battle. He said there were news trucks lined up just outside his house and he watched the water rise all day and then go down and he saw people in boats rescuing neighbors some of whom had newborns. He said then he saw the tow trucks to fix the dead cars and then he started watching Duke film and did recruiting. They did evals and he facetimed recruits and they did some HS film evals. He said that he spent the weekend with Harper decorating for Halloween and he has giant skeletons, a cemetery, colored lights and all the Halloween stuff. He said it is his favorite holiday.
