ATLANTA- Georgia Tech returned to the practice field on Tuesday to start preparing for UCF following a disappointing shutout loss to Ole Miss last week. Jackets' head coach Geoff Collins spoke with the media after practice and fielded more questions about his status and ability to fix the issues that have led to the team being shut out in three of the last four P5 games they've played.
"We got outcoached and outplayed versus against a very good Ole Miss team. We got in Sunday, watched the film, made the corrections and now we have to move on to get ready to play a very good UCF team on the road," Collins said. "I'm disappointed in the way disappointed in the way we played and I am fully committed and invested every single day into getting it right."
When asked about people questioning his ability to lead the program and put the Jackets in the right direction, Collins said, "I have a tremendous amount of confidence based on demonstrated ability/ Has that show up yet while we've been here, it has not. Do I have faith and belief in the process that we are doing? Absolutely. Do I have faith and belief in the young men in that locker room that we've recruited and that we've developed to be able to take the next step? Absolutely, 100 percent."
Collins said the guys in the locker room handled the corrections and the expectations well and they practiced hard today.
Collins admitted they handled the Ole Miss tempo poorly and that they are expecting similar things from UCF who likes to run the ball as well and has a defense playing at a high-level. From seeing up-tempo on tape, they are working to correct it quickly.
Collins said in response to comments from the players that there were mental issues leading to mistakes in the game that they have to hurry up, get lined up and get their eyes to the sideline and hurry to get ready to play. They have to understand tempo is coming and be on the same page. They went through that and how explosives and the play after that hurt them by not having their feet set and misfitting gaps and not using proper leverage because of that or whatever else. The tempo compounds it when you have those problems anyway and the sense of urgency wasn't there.
I asked him what he is saying to the team to deal with the outside noise right now.
"The biggest thing is just the internal focus that we've been building and creating within the program, focus on those things. That's what I'm trying to do. Every single day that I wake up, come in here and pour myself into this program, I pour myself into these players, and that will never change. And we just ask the guys to do the same thing for themselves in the process. Pour themselves into the preparation, practice at a high level, be great teammates, all of those things. I know it's hard, but it's a little bit easier for me to block out the noise since I'm not on social, I don't check my emails, I don't do any of those things. So it's a little bit easier. But I'm not an 18 to 22/23-year-old young man who has social media, and all those things. So the conversations that I've had internally privately with the guys, I'll leave that between us. But just really thankful for the guys that I'm blessed to coach every single day, you guys that are out here every single day you saw their response today, the way they attacked it the way they prepared. And we've got to continue to do that, in order to put a better product on the field. And I'm surrounded by a group of guys who are committed to it."
Collins said he has not seen any quit from his team and they way they speak to each other after tough losses, the development of the program is getting the point where guys are exerting their leadership. Zamari Walton spoke the defense this morning and gave a powerful speech that was very poignant and positive to his teammates and that shows where they are at
Collins said the Ole Miss opening script was really good and their tempo was good and they responded poorly to that defensively and then they give up that TD, get a stop and then have a drive stall out and get the punt blocked again. They never got back on track from that moment of the game.
Collins said their Sunday breakdown is defense watches defensive film and they process that and the offense watches offensive film and process that and the whole team watches special teams together and that is to educate and correct and see where things should have happened.
Collins was asked about his hand in the defense and his role. He said they had a good plan for Ole Miss and it is frustrating when it doesn't work out and that is on him and the D coaches. Getting off the field on third down is an issue and creating turnovers as well.
Collins was asked about the lack of development by Jeff Sims, he said that they want everyone to play better across the board at every spot, but the QB has to play well and his job is to get the pieces around Sims to play well.
I asked Collins about the bad 6.5 quarters now they've put on tape (Clemson late 3, 4th, WCU 1, Ole Miss 4 quarters) and why they keep playing up and down so much. He said in sports consistency is the biggest piece and the team has played some good football at times, but it is not consistent and his focus as the HC is to get them to play consistently good football and they work on that every day including today.
On the poor play of the OL on Saturday and slow start overall for that group, Collins said no one is more committed and passionate about GT football than Brent Key and he wants his OL to play at a high-level and when you give up sacks and can't run that fuels that more and he expects them to respond at a highly on Saturday. He said UCF has been good at defending the run this year so they will have to execute at a high-level.
OF NOTE:
The AJC with the show of force with five different writers there working with Ken. Normally it is just Ken and one other person either an intern or Sarah.
The practice seemed like a normal practice from my vantage point for the first little bit we got to watch. We did get some 11v11, James BlackStrain had a nice catch on a back shoulder throw from Gibson. Sims had a couple of good throws. The DBs had a couple of PBUs. A lot of time was spent on special teams as well during our chunk of time.
"We got outcoached and outplayed versus against a very good Ole Miss team. We got in Sunday, watched the film, made the corrections and now we have to move on to get ready to play a very good UCF team on the road," Collins said. "I'm disappointed in the way disappointed in the way we played and I am fully committed and invested every single day into getting it right."
When asked about people questioning his ability to lead the program and put the Jackets in the right direction, Collins said, "I have a tremendous amount of confidence based on demonstrated ability/ Has that show up yet while we've been here, it has not. Do I have faith and belief in the process that we are doing? Absolutely. Do I have faith and belief in the young men in that locker room that we've recruited and that we've developed to be able to take the next step? Absolutely, 100 percent."
Collins said the guys in the locker room handled the corrections and the expectations well and they practiced hard today.
Collins admitted they handled the Ole Miss tempo poorly and that they are expecting similar things from UCF who likes to run the ball as well and has a defense playing at a high-level. From seeing up-tempo on tape, they are working to correct it quickly.
Collins said in response to comments from the players that there were mental issues leading to mistakes in the game that they have to hurry up, get lined up and get their eyes to the sideline and hurry to get ready to play. They have to understand tempo is coming and be on the same page. They went through that and how explosives and the play after that hurt them by not having their feet set and misfitting gaps and not using proper leverage because of that or whatever else. The tempo compounds it when you have those problems anyway and the sense of urgency wasn't there.
I asked him what he is saying to the team to deal with the outside noise right now.
"The biggest thing is just the internal focus that we've been building and creating within the program, focus on those things. That's what I'm trying to do. Every single day that I wake up, come in here and pour myself into this program, I pour myself into these players, and that will never change. And we just ask the guys to do the same thing for themselves in the process. Pour themselves into the preparation, practice at a high level, be great teammates, all of those things. I know it's hard, but it's a little bit easier for me to block out the noise since I'm not on social, I don't check my emails, I don't do any of those things. So it's a little bit easier. But I'm not an 18 to 22/23-year-old young man who has social media, and all those things. So the conversations that I've had internally privately with the guys, I'll leave that between us. But just really thankful for the guys that I'm blessed to coach every single day, you guys that are out here every single day you saw their response today, the way they attacked it the way they prepared. And we've got to continue to do that, in order to put a better product on the field. And I'm surrounded by a group of guys who are committed to it."
Collins said he has not seen any quit from his team and they way they speak to each other after tough losses, the development of the program is getting the point where guys are exerting their leadership. Zamari Walton spoke the defense this morning and gave a powerful speech that was very poignant and positive to his teammates and that shows where they are at
Collins said the Ole Miss opening script was really good and their tempo was good and they responded poorly to that defensively and then they give up that TD, get a stop and then have a drive stall out and get the punt blocked again. They never got back on track from that moment of the game.
Collins said their Sunday breakdown is defense watches defensive film and they process that and the offense watches offensive film and process that and the whole team watches special teams together and that is to educate and correct and see where things should have happened.
Collins was asked about his hand in the defense and his role. He said they had a good plan for Ole Miss and it is frustrating when it doesn't work out and that is on him and the D coaches. Getting off the field on third down is an issue and creating turnovers as well.
Collins was asked about the lack of development by Jeff Sims, he said that they want everyone to play better across the board at every spot, but the QB has to play well and his job is to get the pieces around Sims to play well.
I asked Collins about the bad 6.5 quarters now they've put on tape (Clemson late 3, 4th, WCU 1, Ole Miss 4 quarters) and why they keep playing up and down so much. He said in sports consistency is the biggest piece and the team has played some good football at times, but it is not consistent and his focus as the HC is to get them to play consistently good football and they work on that every day including today.
On the poor play of the OL on Saturday and slow start overall for that group, Collins said no one is more committed and passionate about GT football than Brent Key and he wants his OL to play at a high-level and when you give up sacks and can't run that fuels that more and he expects them to respond at a highly on Saturday. He said UCF has been good at defending the run this year so they will have to execute at a high-level.
OF NOTE:
The AJC with the show of force with five different writers there working with Ken. Normally it is just Ken and one other person either an intern or Sarah.
The practice seemed like a normal practice from my vantage point for the first little bit we got to watch. We did get some 11v11, James BlackStrain had a nice catch on a back shoulder throw from Gibson. Sims had a couple of good throws. The DBs had a couple of PBUs. A lot of time was spent on special teams as well during our chunk of time.
