ATLANTA- Georgia Tech football continued preparations for Virginia Tech on Wednesday with a long practice in Bobby Dodd Stadium. After practice wide receiver Malachi Carter, offensive lineman Joe Fusile and linebacker Charlie Thomas spoke with the media.
Carter will break the school record for games played on Saturday at Virginia Tech with his 55th game played as a Yellow Jacket passing a quartet of former Yellow Jackets Jamal Golden, Rod Sweeting, Jemea Thomas and T.J. Barnes who he is currently tied with. Carter has also been an ironman for Tech playing in all 52 of his first 52 possible games on the Flats from 2018 until the Duke game this season when he was sidelined with an injury.
"Andy (Demetra) let me know that I had a couple of more games and I could try and break it," Carter said of the record. "Once the season starts, I kind of forgot about it. I guess this past game I tied it which is cool, but my focus has been on helping the team win and we haven't had the best season going so far so I'm just concerned how can we get a win and stepping up to make plays. It is cool that I'll break the record this week, but a win would be a much better situation and that is the ultimate goal."
Missing the Duke game was one of the most difficult things for Carter in his career on the Flats.
"Missing that Duke game killed me. I mean we won and that was the best thing about it. I'm on ESPN just refreshing and refreshing because I couldn't get the game on TV and the last five minutes I about had a heart attack. Once the game started it really hit me that I shouldn't be at home, but it was an injury and I wasn't legally allowed to play so I had to stay home and cheer the guys on from the couch," Carter said.
Carter is four yards shy of tying Gary Lee for 15th on the all-time receiving yards list at 1,299. Lee is the father of current Tech starting free safety Clayton Powell-Lee.
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Carter talked about the 2018 game at VaTech when the Jackets led by backup quarterback Tobias Oliver and then back up B-back Jordan Mason upset the Hokies. He said it was rocking and he couldn't hear himself talk when he went on the field that day. He said he still has clips of him blocking in that game on his phone because he did a good job with it and he had to play a lot because of some injuries at WR that week even though he was just a freshman. He said he stuck his head in there blocking against some big DLs and LBs and made some key blocks.
Carter said it has been big to see the offense start to turn the corner with Zach Pyron moving the ball when Jeff Sims was out. He said there are always doubts when the starting QB goes down, but Pyron was fearless with guys in his face making plays and he stiff-armed a guy and then was running through tackles too and that gets the team fired up when the QB does stuff like that. They feel like they will be good with Pyron if Jeff can't go.
Carter said some of the older players like himself and EJ Jenkins have talked to the younger guys about their time running low and trying to make the most of the remaining games and to keep them motivated as well. He said he tries to remind the younger guys that it is fleeting. He said he is trying to remind himself to soak all of it in too these moments because his career is almost over in college.
Carter said he has enjoyed having Coach Key running the show and he said that Key reminds them of what their potential is and makes them work hard every day to do the things they need to do to win. He said he is good at getting them ready for the games and he is an intense guy and he has instilled that in the team in his brief time as the HC. They love his energy, focus and love for the game and being an alum, you can see how much he cares about GT and how much he wants to win. He said that Key feels like they deserve to win and they love playing for him.
Joe Fusile talked about the Burlsworth Trophy (for the top former walk-on in the country) that he is nominated for and his role as a contributor and path to becoming a starter at GT.
Fusile said during fall camp he started to realize he wasn't going to just be on scout team like last year and he could have a positive impact on the team.
Fusile said the Clemson game he was very nervous at first and then the crowd disappeared after the first snap and you are back in the game. He said that nervous feeling has started to dim as the season has worn on.
I asked Fusile why he passed on scholarship offers to come to GT as walk-on, "I wanted to be an engineer and I wanted to play D-1 football and I lived in Georgia so my sophomore year I decided I was going to Georgia Tech whether they wanted me or not and it looks like it worked out for me," he said.
He said he had offers from places like Stetson and Davidson and Morehead State plus serious interest from Wake Forest, but he was determined to go to GT.
Fusile said it has been fun watching Coach Key's practices evolve as he has taken control of the team and how hard-nosed they've been. He said there is a lot more good-on-good in practice and Key is very old-fashioned as a coach.
Fusile said that his story is just about taking advantage of opportunities and he heeded advice from Coach Lew who told him if you want to get on the field what you do in the weight room will create those opportunities and also doing the right thing when the opportunity arises.
I asked him about his relationship with Will Lay and seeing the path that Sean Bedford set for GT, he said that Will leads by example and is the smartest football player he has ever seen and that is how Lay created his opportunity to play. Lay gives 100% effort every play. He said he is not super familiar with Sean's story but he won the first Burlsworth Trophy and that Georgia Tech is a special place where people like Sean, Will or himself can create these types of opportunities.
Fusile said that Nathan Brock has done a great job extending what coach Key was teaching them and he is mainly responsible right now for coaching the OL.
I asked Fusile about DT Jason Moore who is another walk-on having a tremendous season and Fusile said Moore is his favorite person on the team and he switched from OL to DL and seeing his evolution as a player has been special. He said that Moore is probably the strongest player on the team in the weight room and watching and working against him every day is a real highlight and he enjoys getting to play next to him on the punt shield.
Charlie Thomas talked about getting knocked down by the ref last week against FSU, he laughed and said that really caught him off-guard as he was trying to position himself against a receiver.
Thomas said that FSU is a good offensive team and they've got good backs and make plays and they had missed tackles and they've got to play with leverage and squeeze a little more too on tackles.
Thomas said they played well on D against FSU on first and second down, but third down they maybe lost the sticks or let a guy get by them and didn't take advantage of some opportunities to stop FSU in the game that cost them.
Thomas said the 2018 game at VT was a favorite, he said it was back and forth until VT muffed a punt and then they started rolling and Tobias and JP Mason set the rushing record in that game for combined yards and it was a big game for him too because he got to start at OLB.
On the VT QB Grant Wells, he likes to improvise and make plays with his feet and they want to keep him in the pocket and not let him get yards on QB scrambles and designed runs.
Thomas said he is definitely trying to make the most of these final college games and he said even though they are still young, he feels like an older person now and he is telling the younger players to stay in the game and keep pushing so they can finish the season strong. He said he feels like the team still has a lot to play for and they want to finish the season strong.
Carter will break the school record for games played on Saturday at Virginia Tech with his 55th game played as a Yellow Jacket passing a quartet of former Yellow Jackets Jamal Golden, Rod Sweeting, Jemea Thomas and T.J. Barnes who he is currently tied with. Carter has also been an ironman for Tech playing in all 52 of his first 52 possible games on the Flats from 2018 until the Duke game this season when he was sidelined with an injury.
"Andy (Demetra) let me know that I had a couple of more games and I could try and break it," Carter said of the record. "Once the season starts, I kind of forgot about it. I guess this past game I tied it which is cool, but my focus has been on helping the team win and we haven't had the best season going so far so I'm just concerned how can we get a win and stepping up to make plays. It is cool that I'll break the record this week, but a win would be a much better situation and that is the ultimate goal."
Missing the Duke game was one of the most difficult things for Carter in his career on the Flats.
"Missing that Duke game killed me. I mean we won and that was the best thing about it. I'm on ESPN just refreshing and refreshing because I couldn't get the game on TV and the last five minutes I about had a heart attack. Once the game started it really hit me that I shouldn't be at home, but it was an injury and I wasn't legally allowed to play so I had to stay home and cheer the guys on from the couch," Carter said.
Carter is four yards shy of tying Gary Lee for 15th on the all-time receiving yards list at 1,299. Lee is the father of current Tech starting free safety Clayton Powell-Lee.
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Carter talked about the 2018 game at VaTech when the Jackets led by backup quarterback Tobias Oliver and then back up B-back Jordan Mason upset the Hokies. He said it was rocking and he couldn't hear himself talk when he went on the field that day. He said he still has clips of him blocking in that game on his phone because he did a good job with it and he had to play a lot because of some injuries at WR that week even though he was just a freshman. He said he stuck his head in there blocking against some big DLs and LBs and made some key blocks.
Carter said it has been big to see the offense start to turn the corner with Zach Pyron moving the ball when Jeff Sims was out. He said there are always doubts when the starting QB goes down, but Pyron was fearless with guys in his face making plays and he stiff-armed a guy and then was running through tackles too and that gets the team fired up when the QB does stuff like that. They feel like they will be good with Pyron if Jeff can't go.
Carter said some of the older players like himself and EJ Jenkins have talked to the younger guys about their time running low and trying to make the most of the remaining games and to keep them motivated as well. He said he tries to remind the younger guys that it is fleeting. He said he is trying to remind himself to soak all of it in too these moments because his career is almost over in college.
Carter said he has enjoyed having Coach Key running the show and he said that Key reminds them of what their potential is and makes them work hard every day to do the things they need to do to win. He said he is good at getting them ready for the games and he is an intense guy and he has instilled that in the team in his brief time as the HC. They love his energy, focus and love for the game and being an alum, you can see how much he cares about GT and how much he wants to win. He said that Key feels like they deserve to win and they love playing for him.
Joe Fusile talked about the Burlsworth Trophy (for the top former walk-on in the country) that he is nominated for and his role as a contributor and path to becoming a starter at GT.
Fusile said during fall camp he started to realize he wasn't going to just be on scout team like last year and he could have a positive impact on the team.
Fusile said the Clemson game he was very nervous at first and then the crowd disappeared after the first snap and you are back in the game. He said that nervous feeling has started to dim as the season has worn on.
I asked Fusile why he passed on scholarship offers to come to GT as walk-on, "I wanted to be an engineer and I wanted to play D-1 football and I lived in Georgia so my sophomore year I decided I was going to Georgia Tech whether they wanted me or not and it looks like it worked out for me," he said.
He said he had offers from places like Stetson and Davidson and Morehead State plus serious interest from Wake Forest, but he was determined to go to GT.
Fusile said it has been fun watching Coach Key's practices evolve as he has taken control of the team and how hard-nosed they've been. He said there is a lot more good-on-good in practice and Key is very old-fashioned as a coach.
Fusile said that his story is just about taking advantage of opportunities and he heeded advice from Coach Lew who told him if you want to get on the field what you do in the weight room will create those opportunities and also doing the right thing when the opportunity arises.
I asked him about his relationship with Will Lay and seeing the path that Sean Bedford set for GT, he said that Will leads by example and is the smartest football player he has ever seen and that is how Lay created his opportunity to play. Lay gives 100% effort every play. He said he is not super familiar with Sean's story but he won the first Burlsworth Trophy and that Georgia Tech is a special place where people like Sean, Will or himself can create these types of opportunities.
Fusile said that Nathan Brock has done a great job extending what coach Key was teaching them and he is mainly responsible right now for coaching the OL.
I asked Fusile about DT Jason Moore who is another walk-on having a tremendous season and Fusile said Moore is his favorite person on the team and he switched from OL to DL and seeing his evolution as a player has been special. He said that Moore is probably the strongest player on the team in the weight room and watching and working against him every day is a real highlight and he enjoys getting to play next to him on the punt shield.
Charlie Thomas talked about getting knocked down by the ref last week against FSU, he laughed and said that really caught him off-guard as he was trying to position himself against a receiver.
Thomas said that FSU is a good offensive team and they've got good backs and make plays and they had missed tackles and they've got to play with leverage and squeeze a little more too on tackles.
Thomas said they played well on D against FSU on first and second down, but third down they maybe lost the sticks or let a guy get by them and didn't take advantage of some opportunities to stop FSU in the game that cost them.
Thomas said the 2018 game at VT was a favorite, he said it was back and forth until VT muffed a punt and then they started rolling and Tobias and JP Mason set the rushing record in that game for combined yards and it was a big game for him too because he got to start at OLB.
On the VT QB Grant Wells, he likes to improvise and make plays with his feet and they want to keep him in the pocket and not let him get yards on QB scrambles and designed runs.
Thomas said he is definitely trying to make the most of these final college games and he said even though they are still young, he feels like an older person now and he is telling the younger players to stay in the game and keep pushing so they can finish the season strong. He said he feels like the team still has a lot to play for and they want to finish the season strong.
