Georgia Tech practiced at Carrollwood Day School this morning and it was very spirited by all accounts especially for a bowl practice. Former USF OL coach Allen Mogridge was hanging out with Key, he GA'd for Key at UCF. I've wondered if he ends up as an analyst at GT for some time.
Key quick quotes, he is in a very playful mood today.
Excited to be down here and a really good reward for the season these guys have had and the GT org and these seniors who have been through a lot. I reminded them of all the guys that were here between bowl games and they busted their butts and now we are reaping the benefits of it. There are a lot of guys who we are repping that we part of the history of it. There are people excited to see our program going in the right direction.
It is my 5th time in Tampa and the 4th in this game, last time it ended with 1 second on the clock and one I was not pleased with confetti going down on someone else’s sideline. The entire bowl staff have been great welcoming us and the 1st day and a half and big John Godsey being our team host. Overall it has been a good experience for us.
Two things we are given with a bowl game, to enjoy our time with family and friends and enjoy practice and putting together a game and the third piece is going out and earning what we can and what we are capable of and getting that third celebration holding the trophy and saying we won the game. I want these guys to have fun, but we can down for one reason to win a FB game. No different than any other game in the season.
That is the real fun in bowl games, seeing someone else hold up the bowl trophy is not a good feeling and I don’t want our guys to feel that, I’m going to put everything we can into this game and for our seniors playing their last game at Georgia Tech. Playing a good team, we started practice 2 and a half weeks ago and started game plan last Friday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday did full padded practices with the game plan and now we are honing in on the game plan and putting in the final touches on it. Gus has coached a long time in several places and been successful at all of them. He has great offenses and has great individualized game plans and they have an opportunistic defense. Their third down defense is very good and they had some teams in the teens on 3rd down conversions.
Practice was good and it was the best part about it. Guys have a little freedom to do things the day before and ride rollercoasters and then see them roll in, it was spirited and live and I want them to be able to practice fast and not do a lot of hitting.
Schemes don’t change, players are different at some spots on both teams, but it is like a player getting hurt, there is maybe one spot if guys are playing it changes the game, but the schemes are the same and the playcallers are the same.
On Dontae Smith, all the SRs, I brought up Tae and Jay King in the team meeting they were the reference as the two that are left that haven’t experienced a bowl game. I’d love for all of those guys and the SRs to experience a win. Dontae is special, I hate to talk about one senior over others, but Tae is awesome and he has had some ups and downs and Tae has a special place with me, my daughter made him a bracelet the other day, she makes good luck ones and Harper made him one that says Tae on it. She was so excited to see him wearing it and she thinks they are all her friends. Tae will do great things for the rest of his life.
We’ve had a couple of weeks to heal up a little bit but we also practiced and it is an opportunity to get 14-15 extra practices and we are not going to tread lightly. Of the course of the season we remained pretty healthy and the job that AJ and his staff, Mark Smith and his staff and Erin and her staff have done to keep guys healthy. We don’t see a lot of the pulls and strains that keep guys out for weeks at a time. Other than a few guys.
It is my discretion on if portal guys plays.
We were excited about Jamal being able to ride all the rides (laughed hard).
My office here or there is no big deal. It is not a big deal. We take he challenges every day and the time we complain about it. The organization of it and the planning has to take place to be ready to occur, that is something for two weeks now and we will staff meet again to go over the same processes again. We have a staff room set up here and coaches.
On Buster, I want to develop players to become better coaches and I want coaches to become coordinators and it is extremely rewarding to see guys elevating and it is awesome.
On the DC Search, I’m worried about the game and winning and the recruiting part of it and winning.
Key quick quotes, he is in a very playful mood today.
Excited to be down here and a really good reward for the season these guys have had and the GT org and these seniors who have been through a lot. I reminded them of all the guys that were here between bowl games and they busted their butts and now we are reaping the benefits of it. There are a lot of guys who we are repping that we part of the history of it. There are people excited to see our program going in the right direction.
It is my 5th time in Tampa and the 4th in this game, last time it ended with 1 second on the clock and one I was not pleased with confetti going down on someone else’s sideline. The entire bowl staff have been great welcoming us and the 1st day and a half and big John Godsey being our team host. Overall it has been a good experience for us.
Two things we are given with a bowl game, to enjoy our time with family and friends and enjoy practice and putting together a game and the third piece is going out and earning what we can and what we are capable of and getting that third celebration holding the trophy and saying we won the game. I want these guys to have fun, but we can down for one reason to win a FB game. No different than any other game in the season.
That is the real fun in bowl games, seeing someone else hold up the bowl trophy is not a good feeling and I don’t want our guys to feel that, I’m going to put everything we can into this game and for our seniors playing their last game at Georgia Tech. Playing a good team, we started practice 2 and a half weeks ago and started game plan last Friday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday did full padded practices with the game plan and now we are honing in on the game plan and putting in the final touches on it. Gus has coached a long time in several places and been successful at all of them. He has great offenses and has great individualized game plans and they have an opportunistic defense. Their third down defense is very good and they had some teams in the teens on 3rd down conversions.
Practice was good and it was the best part about it. Guys have a little freedom to do things the day before and ride rollercoasters and then see them roll in, it was spirited and live and I want them to be able to practice fast and not do a lot of hitting.
Schemes don’t change, players are different at some spots on both teams, but it is like a player getting hurt, there is maybe one spot if guys are playing it changes the game, but the schemes are the same and the playcallers are the same.
On Dontae Smith, all the SRs, I brought up Tae and Jay King in the team meeting they were the reference as the two that are left that haven’t experienced a bowl game. I’d love for all of those guys and the SRs to experience a win. Dontae is special, I hate to talk about one senior over others, but Tae is awesome and he has had some ups and downs and Tae has a special place with me, my daughter made him a bracelet the other day, she makes good luck ones and Harper made him one that says Tae on it. She was so excited to see him wearing it and she thinks they are all her friends. Tae will do great things for the rest of his life.
We’ve had a couple of weeks to heal up a little bit but we also practiced and it is an opportunity to get 14-15 extra practices and we are not going to tread lightly. Of the course of the season we remained pretty healthy and the job that AJ and his staff, Mark Smith and his staff and Erin and her staff have done to keep guys healthy. We don’t see a lot of the pulls and strains that keep guys out for weeks at a time. Other than a few guys.
It is my discretion on if portal guys plays.
We were excited about Jamal being able to ride all the rides (laughed hard).
My office here or there is no big deal. It is not a big deal. We take he challenges every day and the time we complain about it. The organization of it and the planning has to take place to be ready to occur, that is something for two weeks now and we will staff meet again to go over the same processes again. We have a staff room set up here and coaches.
On Buster, I want to develop players to become better coaches and I want coaches to become coordinators and it is extremely rewarding to see guys elevating and it is awesome.
On the DC Search, I’m worried about the game and winning and the recruiting part of it and winning.
