ATLANTA- Georgia Tech football coach Brent Key spoke for the first time about the Georgia game on Black Friday to reporters on Monday afternoon following a Jackets’ practice. With the game on Friday, the Jackets moved everything up a day with the Friday kickoff.
“It was the normal routine just bumped up a day,” Key said of the schedule this week. “It is a big game this weekend, on Friday night for us. With the way the week is, it doesn’t matter what day you play on, we just back it up from that day. We got a lot of work to do this week and a lot of work to put in. (UGA) are a good football team and there is a reason why they’re a top 10 team. They’ve got really good players and really good coaches. They are well-coached, they are disciplined and they go out and execute. They are especially hard to play at their home stadium at nighttime. We are ready for a challenge and we got to prepare this week and have our best week of preparation to be able to go out there and play a good clean game on Friday night.”
The Jackets have lost six in a row to Georgia and Key said that the losing streak to the Bulldogs and the stakes of the rivalry game are not something he will talk about with the team because it goes against the mantra of the program this season of not looking at the scoreboard and focusing on the play in the moment.
“Winning games is why you play games, for that opportunity to win, but we don’t talk about winning games. We don’t talk about anything other than playing to the best of our ability every play, one play at a time. I can’t sit here and tell them there is not scoreboard, but you don’t look at the scoreboard,” Key said. “That is not the way we are wired. It is not the way this team is built. That is why were able to have adversity hit and be able to continue to play through it because it is all about playing the next play.”
The Tech quarterback situation remains a big question going into the UGA game. Freshman Aaron Philo led the country in PFF score with a 93.7 in the win over NC State playing the majority of the game over starter Haynes King who is still nursing a throwing shoulder injury. Philo has played in four games this season and any snaps in the Georgia game would burn his redshirt. Key said that there has been zero discussion about saving or burning Philo’s shirt ahead of the Georgia game.
“We look at redshirts at the end of the season. Our guys on this football team are 100 percent in line with what we want to accomplish so there are no personal agendas over the team agenda when it comes to that,” Key said.
When asked if the Jackets will continue with the two-quarterback King and Philo rotation for Georgia, Key dodged the question.
“Who’s to say we will use both of them? We are going to put together a plan that gives us the best opportunity to have success in the game. Every week is a new defense, a new scheme and new coaches and a new way to attack things so really one week has no bearing on the next when it comes to putting the plan together,” he said.
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Key said they are cleaning up some stuff from the NC State game, but he was very proud of how the team kept fighting and figured out a way to win the game and an emotional game (SR night) against a very good NC State team that played very hard. He said that was a good sign of the maturation and growth of the program.
Key took time to thank the students and fans that supported the program this year by showing up in large numbers especially the student body and said he hopes they will show for other sports as well.
Key was asked about E.J. Lightsey and he said he was banged up when he got to GT and needed time to heal up and then he hurt his hamstring on a kickoff cover early in the season and he just needed the consistency of being healthy and now he is starting to play faster and quicker in his reads and what he has to get done and he is a big strong guy that can run.
Key said that UGA has good players on defense and they are well-coached and UGA has really good coaches on both sides of the ball and that is a recipe for success.
Rod asked him about Nate Frazier picking up steam and he said that he is a good back and UGA is very explosive on offense. He said that Carson Beck is a phenomenal QB and they create a lot of explosive plays down field throwing the ball and they can line up and play very physical up front as well and it will be a huge challenge for GT. They’ve been able to run the ball with multiple backs this year and they will try to establish the run.
I asked about the depth they’ve built and he said that player availability remains the most important thing in football and they’ve still got a ways to go building depth but they have it in some key spots especially (knocked on wood) the OL/DL and they are able to develop guys. He said they have two full scout team Ols now for the first time every and that is huge because they don’t have to pull 2nd team guys over to help practice anymore and that allows those guys to take some reps off the ones and keep everyone fresh.
Key was asked about Buster Faulkner’s evolution in season two as the OC, he Buster is a good coach and he is not tied to a system or scheme. He said that the schemes are personnel driven and understanding your players is very important and there is no changing who your players are in the season, no waiver wire on Tuesday or calling guys up, you have your roster you built and that is it and you can’t put square pegs in a round hole. He said all really in all three phases they are more personnel driven than scheme figuring out the things the players are best at doing.
I asked about the early signing period and he said yes the window is tighter now and recruiting is not a part-time job so they do it every week and are not even 100% focused on games on a game week because they have to keep recruiting that is part of the job and being a coach also means being a recruiter and then also worrying about academic progress with the current players and all of those things.
Key was asked about JJ Cosh joining the staff to help with as a player management/contracts person in the NIL world, he said that excited to have JJ come on board and excited about his background and he appreciates both J Batt and President Cabrera for having the vision to be able to do this and be forward thinking and understanding where college football and college athletics are going.
I asked Key if he talked about or thought about the chaotic the season has been with GT with two top 10 wins already under their belt. Key said he never talks about that during the week and things are changing so much parity in the game now they just have to focus on GT and this org and not worry about anything else.
“It was the normal routine just bumped up a day,” Key said of the schedule this week. “It is a big game this weekend, on Friday night for us. With the way the week is, it doesn’t matter what day you play on, we just back it up from that day. We got a lot of work to do this week and a lot of work to put in. (UGA) are a good football team and there is a reason why they’re a top 10 team. They’ve got really good players and really good coaches. They are well-coached, they are disciplined and they go out and execute. They are especially hard to play at their home stadium at nighttime. We are ready for a challenge and we got to prepare this week and have our best week of preparation to be able to go out there and play a good clean game on Friday night.”
The Jackets have lost six in a row to Georgia and Key said that the losing streak to the Bulldogs and the stakes of the rivalry game are not something he will talk about with the team because it goes against the mantra of the program this season of not looking at the scoreboard and focusing on the play in the moment.
“Winning games is why you play games, for that opportunity to win, but we don’t talk about winning games. We don’t talk about anything other than playing to the best of our ability every play, one play at a time. I can’t sit here and tell them there is not scoreboard, but you don’t look at the scoreboard,” Key said. “That is not the way we are wired. It is not the way this team is built. That is why were able to have adversity hit and be able to continue to play through it because it is all about playing the next play.”
The Tech quarterback situation remains a big question going into the UGA game. Freshman Aaron Philo led the country in PFF score with a 93.7 in the win over NC State playing the majority of the game over starter Haynes King who is still nursing a throwing shoulder injury. Philo has played in four games this season and any snaps in the Georgia game would burn his redshirt. Key said that there has been zero discussion about saving or burning Philo’s shirt ahead of the Georgia game.
“We look at redshirts at the end of the season. Our guys on this football team are 100 percent in line with what we want to accomplish so there are no personal agendas over the team agenda when it comes to that,” Key said.
When asked if the Jackets will continue with the two-quarterback King and Philo rotation for Georgia, Key dodged the question.
“Who’s to say we will use both of them? We are going to put together a plan that gives us the best opportunity to have success in the game. Every week is a new defense, a new scheme and new coaches and a new way to attack things so really one week has no bearing on the next when it comes to putting the plan together,” he said.
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Key said they are cleaning up some stuff from the NC State game, but he was very proud of how the team kept fighting and figured out a way to win the game and an emotional game (SR night) against a very good NC State team that played very hard. He said that was a good sign of the maturation and growth of the program.
Key took time to thank the students and fans that supported the program this year by showing up in large numbers especially the student body and said he hopes they will show for other sports as well.
Key was asked about E.J. Lightsey and he said he was banged up when he got to GT and needed time to heal up and then he hurt his hamstring on a kickoff cover early in the season and he just needed the consistency of being healthy and now he is starting to play faster and quicker in his reads and what he has to get done and he is a big strong guy that can run.
Key said that UGA has good players on defense and they are well-coached and UGA has really good coaches on both sides of the ball and that is a recipe for success.
Rod asked him about Nate Frazier picking up steam and he said that he is a good back and UGA is very explosive on offense. He said that Carson Beck is a phenomenal QB and they create a lot of explosive plays down field throwing the ball and they can line up and play very physical up front as well and it will be a huge challenge for GT. They’ve been able to run the ball with multiple backs this year and they will try to establish the run.
I asked about the depth they’ve built and he said that player availability remains the most important thing in football and they’ve still got a ways to go building depth but they have it in some key spots especially (knocked on wood) the OL/DL and they are able to develop guys. He said they have two full scout team Ols now for the first time every and that is huge because they don’t have to pull 2nd team guys over to help practice anymore and that allows those guys to take some reps off the ones and keep everyone fresh.
Key was asked about Buster Faulkner’s evolution in season two as the OC, he Buster is a good coach and he is not tied to a system or scheme. He said that the schemes are personnel driven and understanding your players is very important and there is no changing who your players are in the season, no waiver wire on Tuesday or calling guys up, you have your roster you built and that is it and you can’t put square pegs in a round hole. He said all really in all three phases they are more personnel driven than scheme figuring out the things the players are best at doing.
I asked about the early signing period and he said yes the window is tighter now and recruiting is not a part-time job so they do it every week and are not even 100% focused on games on a game week because they have to keep recruiting that is part of the job and being a coach also means being a recruiter and then also worrying about academic progress with the current players and all of those things.
Key was asked about JJ Cosh joining the staff to help with as a player management/contracts person in the NIL world, he said that excited to have JJ come on board and excited about his background and he appreciates both J Batt and President Cabrera for having the vision to be able to do this and be forward thinking and understanding where college football and college athletics are going.
I asked Key if he talked about or thought about the chaotic the season has been with GT with two top 10 wins already under their belt. Key said he never talks about that during the week and things are changing so much parity in the game now they just have to focus on GT and this org and not worry about anything else.
