ATLANTA- Georgia Tech football coach Brent Key spoke to the media on Tuesday as the Jackets began preparations for VMI on Saturday afternoon in Bobby Dodd Stadium. Key spoke about the challenges facing his team coming off a tough and disappointing loss at Syracuse where they were dominated on the lines of scrimmage by the Orange.
"It was a disappointing result on Saturday and we get 12 opportunities a year to go out and play. Everyone's goal that plays this game is to win them all and we didn't accomplish that on Saturday, but now it is time to turn the page and move from the past. You want to learn things from what we didn't do well and treat it the same way you do after a win, correcting mistakes," Key said. "When you lose games games things become magnified, but we try to keep it whether we win or lose, you are addressing the things you need to get better at."
Key said the focus of this week is playing VMI and trying to get better as a team as the Jackets play their fourth game in four weeks.
"The challenge is ignoring external things and focusing on the process of what you have to do to improve as a football and that starts with myself and the coaches and the players," Key said. "We have an opportunity to go back out, prepare, practice and earn that opportunity this week with the challenge we have coming for us."
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Key opened his presser sharing his thoughts on the passing this past weekend of Waffle House CEO and GT grad Walt Ehmer. Key was very close to Ehmer who passed away from cancer last week and he talked about what a great man Walt was and how much he feels for his wife Kara and their children Gregory, Kate, and Lesley at this time. Key said that he would talk to him on Fridays before games and they had great chats and that he is in a better place now.
Key said the team is still lacking consistency throughout games and that has been an issue in all three games and they need to be consistent in practice and the play day-to-day. The goal of the staff is to shrink that transition from practice to the game field and they didn't do that well enough last week as a staff. They need to do better this week to get the output (a win) that they want from the VMI game.
Key said it Military Appreciate Day and he is excited to be in front of the fans and students for a great environment on Saturday for VMI.
He said that VMI presents a bunch of challenges when you watch them on tape especially against things GT has struggled with this season and they use that 3-down front and bring backers and safeties and they have to handle that.
He said that Danny Rocco has been very successful as a head coach throughout his career at multiple stops and they are a tough team that will try to establish the LOS and he knows how to build successful teams. He expects they will play a full 60 minutes.
Key said they need to establish the LOS and that goes across the entire field not just the front six, to the CBs and WRs on both sides of the ball, getting off blocks on D and sustaining blocks on O.
I asked about the status of LaMiles Brooks and Malik Rutherford for Saturday and Key said there is nothing concrete yet on if they will play. He said they are banged up across the team after three games and you can't complain about that, it is a part of football and you have to deal with it.
Key said on having played 3 games while most teams have played 2, he said they are monitoring what they are doing to keep guys fresh.
Key was asked about being 8-2 as a HC coming off a loss and why they've had so much success and Key said he wishes he could bottle that and use it every week. He said the DNA of a Georgia Tech SA is don't tell me I can't do something twice and they are going to show people and that mentality is part of the football program and the level of focus from the coaches and players and all that is a part of that. He said he hopes they continue that trend this week.
Key was asked about finding the Dontae Smith to compliment Jamal Haynes and Key said that they need somebody to step up from that group, but availability has been an issue (Trey Cooley and Chad Alexander banged up) so the S&C are working to get guys back and he hopes to see someone step up there.
Key was asked about finding consistency from his team and he said the mentality of player is one of the most complicated things to understand and the critical factor of mental toughness and having that right mentality is not something you can just write down. He said the big dogs that bite, bit as puppies. He believes you can get better and improve your mental toughness, but circumstances in your past play a larger factor in it too. He wishes he was a psychologist by trait sometimes as a coach and that is something they are evaluating when they dig deep on kids they want to bring here.
I asked about the lack of sacks and QB pressures through three games, Key said that they did a deep dive on the lack of QB pressures and sacks on Sunday as a staff and they have to affect the QB more on defense and also get the football back via takeaways and yeah the ball is coming out quick but that isn't an excuse for not getting pressure. When you lose that get magnified as well and it can turn into a blame game, but they do need to improve in that area and it hasn't been what he wanted so far production wise.
Key was asked about the lack of success running against Syracuse and he said they looked at a lot of the mistakes and why things didn't happen and he didn't think they ran it great in the first two games either. He said Jamal Haynes just put his foot in the ground and dead-legged some guys to make plays 12-14 yard runs out of nothing and they didn't do any of that on Saturday. Cuse played an umbrella behind the guys and we swarm tackling and getting 8-10 guys around the ball. They didn't get any explosives to back that off either. he said they are working on it.
I asked about the helmet comm evaluations and if there has been any paralysis by analysis going on trying to over complicate calls against looks before the 15 second window. Key said Saturday was the first time it worked as intended for the whole game without any issues. He said he feels like the tempo of the calls have been fine and they haven't had issues with getting them in. They do monitor that every week and go over the calls and the timing to make sure they are being efficient.
Key said that Taye Seymore has improved a lot and they had to lean on him when LaMiles Brooks went down, he is still struggling some with the communication part of playing that position and then going and making the play, but he is improving. They are pleased with his progression but would like to see him speed up the process of improving but you can't just inject that into a young player, guys have to mature into the game.
Key was asked about maintaining momentum and he gave a long answer, but I thought the most interesting part was something he often says Coach Saban and how you can't waste a loss. That is a failure if you waste a loss. He thought that they did a good job coming off the loss Saturday of seeing the team rebound and he said that A.J. Artis did a great job of getting them focused during their lift on Sunday and doing a hard reset with the team. He said they had to look in the mirror and be honest about who they are. He said it is hard as an adult to do that much less a young person because everyone takes pride in what they do. They want to work and win and the coaches want that and they have to position themselves to do that.
Key when asked about his team showing the fight to stage comeback against Cuse, he said the blocked punt is part of the consistency he is looking for because that is a 50/50 play. In the 2nd half they come out and it was either a touchdown or a 3 or 4 and out and that is the model of inconsistency. The fourth quarter of the game was them doing what they should be able to do for the whole game. They just didn't get over that hump in the middle 3rd of the game. That imbalance led to the result. He said a positive was the fact they played for all 60 minutes.
I asked him what he learned from the last 1/4 of the Syracuse game as a coach, meaning the decision he made down the stretch. He gave a very long answer.
He said that he monitors each drive as the game progresses and he said that they had four possessions in the first half and figured the second half would be similar as that doesn't usually change much. He went for the block on the punt before the first half because they wanted to get points there and try to steal a possession. They ended up missing the kick. Then halfway into the third he knew they were running out of chances so he told Buster Faulkner if it is 4th and 5 or less we are going for it so Buster can play ahead with his calls and when he said the moment that really stood out to him was the scrum for the ball with around 2:30 left in the game. He said he should've used a timeout there and saved more time for the defense to get a stop. Instead, 5-6 seconds ticked off as they sorted out the scrum and if GT gets the ball back there they'd waive the timeout off or it wouldn't matter.
He said they worked that exact scenario in the summer time and if you save 5-6 seconds there that maybe works out to 20-25 seconds when you get the ball back, it turned out they never got the ball back anyway, but it was something that stuck out to him.
"It was a disappointing result on Saturday and we get 12 opportunities a year to go out and play. Everyone's goal that plays this game is to win them all and we didn't accomplish that on Saturday, but now it is time to turn the page and move from the past. You want to learn things from what we didn't do well and treat it the same way you do after a win, correcting mistakes," Key said. "When you lose games games things become magnified, but we try to keep it whether we win or lose, you are addressing the things you need to get better at."
Key said the focus of this week is playing VMI and trying to get better as a team as the Jackets play their fourth game in four weeks.
"The challenge is ignoring external things and focusing on the process of what you have to do to improve as a football and that starts with myself and the coaches and the players," Key said. "We have an opportunity to go back out, prepare, practice and earn that opportunity this week with the challenge we have coming for us."
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Key opened his presser sharing his thoughts on the passing this past weekend of Waffle House CEO and GT grad Walt Ehmer. Key was very close to Ehmer who passed away from cancer last week and he talked about what a great man Walt was and how much he feels for his wife Kara and their children Gregory, Kate, and Lesley at this time. Key said that he would talk to him on Fridays before games and they had great chats and that he is in a better place now.
Key said the team is still lacking consistency throughout games and that has been an issue in all three games and they need to be consistent in practice and the play day-to-day. The goal of the staff is to shrink that transition from practice to the game field and they didn't do that well enough last week as a staff. They need to do better this week to get the output (a win) that they want from the VMI game.
Key said it Military Appreciate Day and he is excited to be in front of the fans and students for a great environment on Saturday for VMI.
He said that VMI presents a bunch of challenges when you watch them on tape especially against things GT has struggled with this season and they use that 3-down front and bring backers and safeties and they have to handle that.
He said that Danny Rocco has been very successful as a head coach throughout his career at multiple stops and they are a tough team that will try to establish the LOS and he knows how to build successful teams. He expects they will play a full 60 minutes.
Key said they need to establish the LOS and that goes across the entire field not just the front six, to the CBs and WRs on both sides of the ball, getting off blocks on D and sustaining blocks on O.
I asked about the status of LaMiles Brooks and Malik Rutherford for Saturday and Key said there is nothing concrete yet on if they will play. He said they are banged up across the team after three games and you can't complain about that, it is a part of football and you have to deal with it.
Key said on having played 3 games while most teams have played 2, he said they are monitoring what they are doing to keep guys fresh.
Key was asked about being 8-2 as a HC coming off a loss and why they've had so much success and Key said he wishes he could bottle that and use it every week. He said the DNA of a Georgia Tech SA is don't tell me I can't do something twice and they are going to show people and that mentality is part of the football program and the level of focus from the coaches and players and all that is a part of that. He said he hopes they continue that trend this week.
Key was asked about finding the Dontae Smith to compliment Jamal Haynes and Key said that they need somebody to step up from that group, but availability has been an issue (Trey Cooley and Chad Alexander banged up) so the S&C are working to get guys back and he hopes to see someone step up there.
Key was asked about finding consistency from his team and he said the mentality of player is one of the most complicated things to understand and the critical factor of mental toughness and having that right mentality is not something you can just write down. He said the big dogs that bite, bit as puppies. He believes you can get better and improve your mental toughness, but circumstances in your past play a larger factor in it too. He wishes he was a psychologist by trait sometimes as a coach and that is something they are evaluating when they dig deep on kids they want to bring here.
I asked about the lack of sacks and QB pressures through three games, Key said that they did a deep dive on the lack of QB pressures and sacks on Sunday as a staff and they have to affect the QB more on defense and also get the football back via takeaways and yeah the ball is coming out quick but that isn't an excuse for not getting pressure. When you lose that get magnified as well and it can turn into a blame game, but they do need to improve in that area and it hasn't been what he wanted so far production wise.
Key was asked about the lack of success running against Syracuse and he said they looked at a lot of the mistakes and why things didn't happen and he didn't think they ran it great in the first two games either. He said Jamal Haynes just put his foot in the ground and dead-legged some guys to make plays 12-14 yard runs out of nothing and they didn't do any of that on Saturday. Cuse played an umbrella behind the guys and we swarm tackling and getting 8-10 guys around the ball. They didn't get any explosives to back that off either. he said they are working on it.
I asked about the helmet comm evaluations and if there has been any paralysis by analysis going on trying to over complicate calls against looks before the 15 second window. Key said Saturday was the first time it worked as intended for the whole game without any issues. He said he feels like the tempo of the calls have been fine and they haven't had issues with getting them in. They do monitor that every week and go over the calls and the timing to make sure they are being efficient.
Key said that Taye Seymore has improved a lot and they had to lean on him when LaMiles Brooks went down, he is still struggling some with the communication part of playing that position and then going and making the play, but he is improving. They are pleased with his progression but would like to see him speed up the process of improving but you can't just inject that into a young player, guys have to mature into the game.
Key was asked about maintaining momentum and he gave a long answer, but I thought the most interesting part was something he often says Coach Saban and how you can't waste a loss. That is a failure if you waste a loss. He thought that they did a good job coming off the loss Saturday of seeing the team rebound and he said that A.J. Artis did a great job of getting them focused during their lift on Sunday and doing a hard reset with the team. He said they had to look in the mirror and be honest about who they are. He said it is hard as an adult to do that much less a young person because everyone takes pride in what they do. They want to work and win and the coaches want that and they have to position themselves to do that.
Key when asked about his team showing the fight to stage comeback against Cuse, he said the blocked punt is part of the consistency he is looking for because that is a 50/50 play. In the 2nd half they come out and it was either a touchdown or a 3 or 4 and out and that is the model of inconsistency. The fourth quarter of the game was them doing what they should be able to do for the whole game. They just didn't get over that hump in the middle 3rd of the game. That imbalance led to the result. He said a positive was the fact they played for all 60 minutes.
I asked him what he learned from the last 1/4 of the Syracuse game as a coach, meaning the decision he made down the stretch. He gave a very long answer.
He said that he monitors each drive as the game progresses and he said that they had four possessions in the first half and figured the second half would be similar as that doesn't usually change much. He went for the block on the punt before the first half because they wanted to get points there and try to steal a possession. They ended up missing the kick. Then halfway into the third he knew they were running out of chances so he told Buster Faulkner if it is 4th and 5 or less we are going for it so Buster can play ahead with his calls and when he said the moment that really stood out to him was the scrum for the ball with around 2:30 left in the game. He said he should've used a timeout there and saved more time for the defense to get a stop. Instead, 5-6 seconds ticked off as they sorted out the scrum and if GT gets the ball back there they'd waive the timeout off or it wouldn't matter.
He said they worked that exact scenario in the summer time and if you save 5-6 seconds there that maybe works out to 20-25 seconds when you get the ball back, it turned out they never got the ball back anyway, but it was something that stuck out to him.
