ATLANTA- Georgia Tech continued preparing for the annual spring game on Monday with a shorter practice following a heavy scrimmage on Saturday. After practice, defensive line coach Marco Coleman, secondary coach Travares Tillman, and special teams coordinator Ricky Brumfield spoke to the media for the first time this spring about their respective groups.
The Jackets coaching staff will decide on a roster format and other details about the spring game this week so the media session was focused on each position group and how those units have looked this spring.
Brumfield detailed how he ended up joining Georgia Tech from FIU where he worked under a friend of head coach Brent Key and a former Yellow Jacket as well, Mike MacIntyre.
"Coach Key knew a lot of coaches that coached with or knew personally. What I appreciate is I know he did his background check and he talked to maybe ten coaches in regard to me coming here. So when a position became available, he had some people reach out to him regarding me and they gave him a good recommendation. I paid them well to do that for me," Brumfield said jokingly.
Brumfield spent four seasons at Virginia as the special teams coordinator for Bronco Mendenhall before heading down to Miami to join MacIntyre's staff in his first season with the Panthers.
"Having familiarity with the conference and a high academic institution, it just all worked out," Brumfield said. "Coach Key gave me an opportunity to be here and I'm blessed to be here."
Brumfield said they were working on punt height in particular with David Shanahan as he noticed that was a major issue with the punt coverage and caused some of the returns last year, he is looking for him to steadily improve. He said Shanahan has a great leg and he is an athlete back there and willing to learn which is the biggest thing. He said he worked on some other technical points as well.
Brumfield said he understood why they went with the shield last year after having punts blocked and he said when you do that you have to be very specific about who you have covering kicks downfield and they have to do their job and Shanahan has to give them some height too and understand that part of it as well. He said it is a work in progress to get all those things in line.
I asked how R-Fr kicker Aidan Birr is coming along off his knee injury that caused him to miss the last year and he said that he is very smooth. They have not had him fully extended yet doing kickoffs, but he is kicking well on PAT/FG and they are able to rotate him and Gavin Stewart on that. He said one thing he likes about Birr is he is not rattled when he misses a kick. He has been impressed with his temperament. He wants to see how he competes when he is fully healed and back to 100% in the fall.
Brumfield said he would love to have a different guy for punt, kickoff and FG/PAT if possible because that keeps everyone fresh and everyone engaged. He said that leg fatigue can be a thing during the season if you are doing two or all three things with one guy so he likes when guys have their own specialty.
Brumfield said that Coach Key has emphasized special teams and he allows him to work in periods throughout the practice to work on teaching different aspects of it as well as 11v11 periods and individual periods. Key has shown how important it is and even with meetings and letting him run the special teams aspect of things, has been very impressive to him.
I asked about punt return and Brumfield said his main goal is fielding the ball and getting it back to the offense. He said he doesn't care if the PR guy runs a 5.0 flat 40, they have to catch the ball. Malik Rutherford has been doing a good job with that and Christian Leary has been doing a good job as well as Rodney Shelley and DJ Moore are the guys working on PR. He said making a guy miss after they field it cleanly is really important with PR and he said he talks about getting chunks of land back for the offense with his return guys to flip field position.
I also asked about KR, he didn't get into specific players, but he said it is similar to PR, but the difference is the KR gets hit every time they return the ball and you have to have a guy who can take some contact and hold on to the ball and they have to trust their technique and the scheme with that.
Brumfield said he expects in the spring game they will do some kickoff and return as well as punting and FG/PAT. How much is live and the format of that will be determined in meetings this week.
Ken was back and asked about Key giving him autonomy to use who he wants from O/D for special teams units and he said that you have to be smart and you don't want your starters on all four special teams because you will wear them out, so he wants to use them the right way like maybe using a sub if you are pooch punting instead of the starting whatever. He has to help take care of the bodies of the players. He said that is something they are working on this spring, building quality depth across the various phases and then understanding the player loads and when he needs to give someone a play to rest.
The Jackets coaching staff will decide on a roster format and other details about the spring game this week so the media session was focused on each position group and how those units have looked this spring.
Brumfield detailed how he ended up joining Georgia Tech from FIU where he worked under a friend of head coach Brent Key and a former Yellow Jacket as well, Mike MacIntyre.
"Coach Key knew a lot of coaches that coached with or knew personally. What I appreciate is I know he did his background check and he talked to maybe ten coaches in regard to me coming here. So when a position became available, he had some people reach out to him regarding me and they gave him a good recommendation. I paid them well to do that for me," Brumfield said jokingly.
Brumfield spent four seasons at Virginia as the special teams coordinator for Bronco Mendenhall before heading down to Miami to join MacIntyre's staff in his first season with the Panthers.
"Having familiarity with the conference and a high academic institution, it just all worked out," Brumfield said. "Coach Key gave me an opportunity to be here and I'm blessed to be here."
Brumfield said they were working on punt height in particular with David Shanahan as he noticed that was a major issue with the punt coverage and caused some of the returns last year, he is looking for him to steadily improve. He said Shanahan has a great leg and he is an athlete back there and willing to learn which is the biggest thing. He said he worked on some other technical points as well.
Brumfield said he understood why they went with the shield last year after having punts blocked and he said when you do that you have to be very specific about who you have covering kicks downfield and they have to do their job and Shanahan has to give them some height too and understand that part of it as well. He said it is a work in progress to get all those things in line.
I asked how R-Fr kicker Aidan Birr is coming along off his knee injury that caused him to miss the last year and he said that he is very smooth. They have not had him fully extended yet doing kickoffs, but he is kicking well on PAT/FG and they are able to rotate him and Gavin Stewart on that. He said one thing he likes about Birr is he is not rattled when he misses a kick. He has been impressed with his temperament. He wants to see how he competes when he is fully healed and back to 100% in the fall.
Brumfield said he would love to have a different guy for punt, kickoff and FG/PAT if possible because that keeps everyone fresh and everyone engaged. He said that leg fatigue can be a thing during the season if you are doing two or all three things with one guy so he likes when guys have their own specialty.
Brumfield said that Coach Key has emphasized special teams and he allows him to work in periods throughout the practice to work on teaching different aspects of it as well as 11v11 periods and individual periods. Key has shown how important it is and even with meetings and letting him run the special teams aspect of things, has been very impressive to him.
I asked about punt return and Brumfield said his main goal is fielding the ball and getting it back to the offense. He said he doesn't care if the PR guy runs a 5.0 flat 40, they have to catch the ball. Malik Rutherford has been doing a good job with that and Christian Leary has been doing a good job as well as Rodney Shelley and DJ Moore are the guys working on PR. He said making a guy miss after they field it cleanly is really important with PR and he said he talks about getting chunks of land back for the offense with his return guys to flip field position.
I also asked about KR, he didn't get into specific players, but he said it is similar to PR, but the difference is the KR gets hit every time they return the ball and you have to have a guy who can take some contact and hold on to the ball and they have to trust their technique and the scheme with that.
Brumfield said he expects in the spring game they will do some kickoff and return as well as punting and FG/PAT. How much is live and the format of that will be determined in meetings this week.
Ken was back and asked about Key giving him autonomy to use who he wants from O/D for special teams units and he said that you have to be smart and you don't want your starters on all four special teams because you will wear them out, so he wants to use them the right way like maybe using a sub if you are pooch punting instead of the starting whatever. He has to help take care of the bodies of the players. He said that is something they are working on this spring, building quality depth across the various phases and then understanding the player loads and when he needs to give someone a play to rest.
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