As is typically the case a lot of guys were banged up after the scrimmage on Saturday. We spoke with the three non-coordinator offensive assistants today, Josh Crawford (WR coach), Norval McKenize (RB coach) and Geep Wade (OL coach) about their respective units and I got each of them to tell the story of how they ended up at GT.
No Ken this week, he is at the Masters so they had someone filling in for him.
I'll give each guy's story on how they ended up here first and then dive into more position-specific notes.
Crawford: "First and foremost, I'm very excited and very grateful to be here. At the place I was at the last two years, we had a really good room and we were able to do some really good things prior to coming here. I didn't have a relationship with Coach Key and he reached out, we had some conversations, and it was very evident very quickly, that we were on the same page and a lot of areas. As we had conversations, things moved along and fortunately for me, ended up with me being here and I'm very grateful to coach and very excited to be here."
McKenzie: " So for me, the opportunity to come back home to the great state of Georgia. have the opportunity to see my family you know, the professional we have here is very demanding. And at times I've only got a chance to see my mom, my dad, and my sister who lives here my niece, maybe three to four times a year, and already got here in December have already seen them five or six times which is awesome, right? In addition to that, I think anytime you making a move it's all about the people I had an opportunity to work with Buster Faulkner as an offensive coordinator when we were at Arkansas State, and just know him as a person and I know him as a coach. I know him as a man, a husband, and a father. Somebody I've always gravitated towards him and I'm extremely excited to be back here with him and working with him again Those are some of the pillars that kind of steer me here. In addition to that, you got coach Key who has been able to win a national championship at the University of Alabama. You got coach Faulkner who won a couple of national championships at the other school. We have coach Weinke who's won one as a player and is a Heisman Trophy winner. So then you start to think hey, man, I surrounded myself with winners and surrounded myself with really good people. Those are some of the factors that made the decision pretty easy for me."
Wade: "Well, I've known Brent as a friend for about 10 years and when I was at Marshall, he was in Florida (UCF). I've always followed him. Always ran into him in spring recruiting and always respected him. When he beat Pittsburgh, I texted him you know, Heck ya! Good for an O-line guy to go get a win the way it should be done with toughness. It's been great. He's awesome to work for and you gotta think about it from my standpoint, I work for an O-line coach who is a tough-minded human being so we practice that way. So honestly, it makes my job easier. The way we practice with our pods inside, team, putting my guys in bad positions, it's only gonna be better for us in the long run."
I'll start with Wade because you guys are most interested in the OL right now. Wade said that Jakiah Leftwich is a little banged up so they slid Paul Tchio up to first-team RG and kicked Jordan Williams back out to RT. He said that moves like that will be a likely scenario when the season rolls around. He likes his OL to have some versatility and guys can play either guard or tackle in their zone-blocking scheme.
Wade wants to find 7 or 8 guys to be the core rotation pieces for the OL. He said if you play RT and you have to go to LG you have to be able to understand what they do in the schemes with the zone and it isn't rocket science so they are trying to build depth. Jordan Brown is new and is not available and Elias Cloy has had to play the last few practices at RT and he should still be in HS.
Wade says he is trying to build consistency and he has them do the same things every day in individual work so they can come off the ball with their inside/outside zone footwork and they can know that and work on it all summer on their own with him. He believes ,"repetition breeds excellence." With all the multiple fronts and looks the guys have to know what to do and focus on their base techniques and be physical upfront to avoid any mental errors.
I asked him about Weston Franklin stepping up at center, he said that position is huge and very demanding in the offense to run and reach, to block back, and to make calls. In the spring you aren't getting game planned you just see everything so if the LB is here you ID this and he is really catching on and Wade said he wishes he had more guys like Weston Franklin and Joe Fusile. He said they both worked really hard with AJ Artis in the weight room and got a lot stronger in the winter workouts and when you get stronger you get twitchier and you become a better football player with hat speed. Joe Fusile to him is a different football player this year in part because of the offseason work he put in.
Wade said they'd like to keep Jordan Williams at guard, but he has to be ready to play both guard and tackling and have that next-man-up mentality.
Wade said that Buster Faulkner is a high energy and high demand guy and they've known each over for over 10 years and worked together at MTSU and they have a great trust factor. He said Buster is great at getting playmakers the ball on the edge, handoff or whatever he has to do. They are going to run the ball and do whatever it takes to win games, but he does a phenomenal job with motions and shifts to put his players in the best one-on-one position to get them the ball.
I asked him about Tyler Gibson and he said that he has all the tools you want and you watch him play against FSU and he held his own and is very athletic. Wade and Key want to recruit more guys like him that are big and athletic and when Gibson gets his strength up he will be really good. He can do some things now just because he is good with his feet, but he is still a puppy and makes mental errors, but he has a really high ceiling.
I asked him about Brandon Best as well and he said that he is working and both center and guard and they are focusing more on center. He said that Best is hard on himself and works really hard every day but he is an overthinker and they want him to cut it loose more and just play, but he gives them some great flexibility inside.
No Ken this week, he is at the Masters so they had someone filling in for him.
I'll give each guy's story on how they ended up here first and then dive into more position-specific notes.
Crawford: "First and foremost, I'm very excited and very grateful to be here. At the place I was at the last two years, we had a really good room and we were able to do some really good things prior to coming here. I didn't have a relationship with Coach Key and he reached out, we had some conversations, and it was very evident very quickly, that we were on the same page and a lot of areas. As we had conversations, things moved along and fortunately for me, ended up with me being here and I'm very grateful to coach and very excited to be here."
McKenzie: " So for me, the opportunity to come back home to the great state of Georgia. have the opportunity to see my family you know, the professional we have here is very demanding. And at times I've only got a chance to see my mom, my dad, and my sister who lives here my niece, maybe three to four times a year, and already got here in December have already seen them five or six times which is awesome, right? In addition to that, I think anytime you making a move it's all about the people I had an opportunity to work with Buster Faulkner as an offensive coordinator when we were at Arkansas State, and just know him as a person and I know him as a coach. I know him as a man, a husband, and a father. Somebody I've always gravitated towards him and I'm extremely excited to be back here with him and working with him again Those are some of the pillars that kind of steer me here. In addition to that, you got coach Key who has been able to win a national championship at the University of Alabama. You got coach Faulkner who won a couple of national championships at the other school. We have coach Weinke who's won one as a player and is a Heisman Trophy winner. So then you start to think hey, man, I surrounded myself with winners and surrounded myself with really good people. Those are some of the factors that made the decision pretty easy for me."
Wade: "Well, I've known Brent as a friend for about 10 years and when I was at Marshall, he was in Florida (UCF). I've always followed him. Always ran into him in spring recruiting and always respected him. When he beat Pittsburgh, I texted him you know, Heck ya! Good for an O-line guy to go get a win the way it should be done with toughness. It's been great. He's awesome to work for and you gotta think about it from my standpoint, I work for an O-line coach who is a tough-minded human being so we practice that way. So honestly, it makes my job easier. The way we practice with our pods inside, team, putting my guys in bad positions, it's only gonna be better for us in the long run."
I'll start with Wade because you guys are most interested in the OL right now. Wade said that Jakiah Leftwich is a little banged up so they slid Paul Tchio up to first-team RG and kicked Jordan Williams back out to RT. He said that moves like that will be a likely scenario when the season rolls around. He likes his OL to have some versatility and guys can play either guard or tackle in their zone-blocking scheme.
Wade wants to find 7 or 8 guys to be the core rotation pieces for the OL. He said if you play RT and you have to go to LG you have to be able to understand what they do in the schemes with the zone and it isn't rocket science so they are trying to build depth. Jordan Brown is new and is not available and Elias Cloy has had to play the last few practices at RT and he should still be in HS.
Wade says he is trying to build consistency and he has them do the same things every day in individual work so they can come off the ball with their inside/outside zone footwork and they can know that and work on it all summer on their own with him. He believes ,"repetition breeds excellence." With all the multiple fronts and looks the guys have to know what to do and focus on their base techniques and be physical upfront to avoid any mental errors.
I asked him about Weston Franklin stepping up at center, he said that position is huge and very demanding in the offense to run and reach, to block back, and to make calls. In the spring you aren't getting game planned you just see everything so if the LB is here you ID this and he is really catching on and Wade said he wishes he had more guys like Weston Franklin and Joe Fusile. He said they both worked really hard with AJ Artis in the weight room and got a lot stronger in the winter workouts and when you get stronger you get twitchier and you become a better football player with hat speed. Joe Fusile to him is a different football player this year in part because of the offseason work he put in.
Wade said they'd like to keep Jordan Williams at guard, but he has to be ready to play both guard and tackling and have that next-man-up mentality.
Wade said that Buster Faulkner is a high energy and high demand guy and they've known each over for over 10 years and worked together at MTSU and they have a great trust factor. He said Buster is great at getting playmakers the ball on the edge, handoff or whatever he has to do. They are going to run the ball and do whatever it takes to win games, but he does a phenomenal job with motions and shifts to put his players in the best one-on-one position to get them the ball.
I asked him about Tyler Gibson and he said that he has all the tools you want and you watch him play against FSU and he held his own and is very athletic. Wade and Key want to recruit more guys like him that are big and athletic and when Gibson gets his strength up he will be really good. He can do some things now just because he is good with his feet, but he is still a puppy and makes mental errors, but he has a really high ceiling.
I asked him about Brandon Best as well and he said that he is working and both center and guard and they are focusing more on center. He said that Best is hard on himself and works really hard every day but he is an overthinker and they want him to cut it loose more and just play, but he gives them some great flexibility inside.
