ATLANTA- Georgia Tech football continued preparations for the annual spring game next week with morning practice sessions. Head coach Brent Key spoke with the media following practice and shared some insight on the Jackets' first spring scrimmage last Saturday and gave some updates on various areas of the program and his impressions of seeing his new offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner in action for the first time calling a simulated game.
"We are two practices away from the scrimmage on Saturday and got in just under 130 plays and we got a chance to see what the guys can do without the coaches on the field," Key said. "It was a heavy move the ball type scrimmage mixed with some situational things and some short yardage scrimmage involved. We had some second downs and third downs and some move the ball on the plus side of the field and had a chance to work the ball toward the red area. Overall I was pleased with the effort and pleased with the guys are really learning how to practice that is the biggest thing, the competition we had out there."
Toughness and clean football are the two pillars of Key's program and he looks for that every day and he was pleased with that as well.
"We are playing cleaner football in several ways as far as the discipline we want to instill on a consistent basis. A lot of that comes pre-snap, the alignments, the stances and we are making sure we are extremely detailed and the things we coached on the first day of practice we can't lose sight of on the eighth or ninth day of practice. We harp on those things and make them just as important as they were the first day. That is what I'm really challenging the coaches and they are challenging the players to do," Key said. "But overall, I'm very pleased with the outcome of the scrimmage and where we wanted to be, but we've got a long way to go."
Key said he shuffled things up a little on Monday and the team met for an extra hour and practiced for a shorter period of time coming off the scrimmage and focused on corrections and only did about 1:20 on the field in full pads. They focused Monday on more situational football, red area, third downs and force drills so the kids could have a bit of a break since a lot were banged up from the scrimmage.
Key said he is excited about how things are progressing and the potential of the team, but they have a lot of work to do, this is the foundation laying time for what he is trying to build and he is trying to put the kids through some challenges to see how they respond to adversity.
I asked Brent about the three scholarship QBs, Zach Pyron, Haynes King and Zach Gibson to get his thoughts about where they are right now.
He said it is a very real competition, Pyron has experience actually playing games here as does Gibson while KIng has experience at TAMU playing, but the guys have more familiarity with Pyron and Gibson and their voices and how they run things, that cadence and rhythm have helped those two gel with the team.
He said all three have things they need to work on and different strengths, but what he is looking for is the poise and ability to control the offense and execute. He said the situation part of the game will pick up in the scrimmage this coming Saturday and that is when you can start to see who has more command of the offense as they increase the tempo and who has the ability to play at a high tempo.
Key said one of the interesting parts of last Saturday's scrimmage was hearing Buster Faulkner call the game and how he does it and the flow and he said that was reassuring to hear on the headset for the first time the way he does it and how he adapts as he calls plays and how he tailored things for each QB when they were in the game to take advantage of each QBs strengths and adjust to their weaknesses.
Key said on his staff he feels like he has some really good teachers and that is what he was looking for. He wanted to hire great men who are great husbands, great fathers, great teachers and great recruiters and he feels like he hit the nail on the head with that. He said they can all teach in the classroom and then on the field too. He said part of a good coach is teaching kids and inspiring them to learn as well at the same time and getting the kids to come out and play and not overthink or overanalyze and keep their mental edge at all times.
Key said that Ricky Brumfield has done a great job installing on special teams and keeping the guys focused in those meetings and then being able to drill it and execute.
"We are two practices away from the scrimmage on Saturday and got in just under 130 plays and we got a chance to see what the guys can do without the coaches on the field," Key said. "It was a heavy move the ball type scrimmage mixed with some situational things and some short yardage scrimmage involved. We had some second downs and third downs and some move the ball on the plus side of the field and had a chance to work the ball toward the red area. Overall I was pleased with the effort and pleased with the guys are really learning how to practice that is the biggest thing, the competition we had out there."
Toughness and clean football are the two pillars of Key's program and he looks for that every day and he was pleased with that as well.
"We are playing cleaner football in several ways as far as the discipline we want to instill on a consistent basis. A lot of that comes pre-snap, the alignments, the stances and we are making sure we are extremely detailed and the things we coached on the first day of practice we can't lose sight of on the eighth or ninth day of practice. We harp on those things and make them just as important as they were the first day. That is what I'm really challenging the coaches and they are challenging the players to do," Key said. "But overall, I'm very pleased with the outcome of the scrimmage and where we wanted to be, but we've got a long way to go."
Key said he shuffled things up a little on Monday and the team met for an extra hour and practiced for a shorter period of time coming off the scrimmage and focused on corrections and only did about 1:20 on the field in full pads. They focused Monday on more situational football, red area, third downs and force drills so the kids could have a bit of a break since a lot were banged up from the scrimmage.
Key said he is excited about how things are progressing and the potential of the team, but they have a lot of work to do, this is the foundation laying time for what he is trying to build and he is trying to put the kids through some challenges to see how they respond to adversity.
I asked Brent about the three scholarship QBs, Zach Pyron, Haynes King and Zach Gibson to get his thoughts about where they are right now.
He said it is a very real competition, Pyron has experience actually playing games here as does Gibson while KIng has experience at TAMU playing, but the guys have more familiarity with Pyron and Gibson and their voices and how they run things, that cadence and rhythm have helped those two gel with the team.
He said all three have things they need to work on and different strengths, but what he is looking for is the poise and ability to control the offense and execute. He said the situation part of the game will pick up in the scrimmage this coming Saturday and that is when you can start to see who has more command of the offense as they increase the tempo and who has the ability to play at a high tempo.
Key said one of the interesting parts of last Saturday's scrimmage was hearing Buster Faulkner call the game and how he does it and the flow and he said that was reassuring to hear on the headset for the first time the way he does it and how he adapts as he calls plays and how he tailored things for each QB when they were in the game to take advantage of each QBs strengths and adjust to their weaknesses.
Key said on his staff he feels like he has some really good teachers and that is what he was looking for. He wanted to hire great men who are great husbands, great fathers, great teachers and great recruiters and he feels like he hit the nail on the head with that. He said they can all teach in the classroom and then on the field too. He said part of a good coach is teaching kids and inspiring them to learn as well at the same time and getting the kids to come out and play and not overthink or overanalyze and keep their mental edge at all times.
Key said that Ricky Brumfield has done a great job installing on special teams and keeping the guys focused in those meetings and then being able to drill it and execute.
