ATLANTA- Georgia Tech scaled things back on Thursday with a practice in shells as first-year head coach Brent Key prepares his team for a big scrimmage on Saturday afternoon in Bobby Dodd Stadium. The Jackets will have one more session on Friday before going for 100+ plays on Saturday. Among the groups of interest in that scrimmage are the running backs. That position is physical and the live reps should help create a little separation on the depth chart for first-year running backs coach Norval McKenzie.
McKenzie spoke to the media after practice on Thursday and shared his thoughts on how his group is progressing through the first week and a half of camp and the first live periods of tackling to the ground on Wednesday.
"It has been good. For a running back and an offensive lineman they work together, we joke around about how can I tell about the productivity when you can't get tackled," McKenzie said. " Having live segments proved to be beneficial for us. Can we make the play? Can we make somebody miss? Are we able to make contact and two or three yards after contact? Those are the things that we measure in those live settings and I feel like we are doing a really good job of it."
The presumed starter senior Dontae Smith was named to the Doak Walker Award Watch List for the second straight season. McKenzie has big expectations for his senior running back.
"Dontae has been great. The one thing about Dontae I think he is a solid contributor and he is not a kid that is going to have mental mistakes and he is going to practice hard. He has been battle-tested in the past so you feel confident that he can go out there and due to his experience have some success," McKenzie said. "I think right now he is in a good spot. Of course, we lean on him as a leader in the room in terms of the age gap and in terms of the experience gap. I'm hoping for a big fall from him as well."
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McKenize said that Jamie Felix is having a good camp and Jamal Haynes has done a great job of switching over from slot receiver to RB.
He said Haynes has done a nice job of narrowing the learning curve and his prior experience playing RB at Grayson HS has helped, but he has picked up the pass pro really well and that was the biggest concern they had with making the switch and he gives them a nice changeup guy in that RB room and he has the attitude and mentality he is looking for in there.
McKenzie said preparation leads to performance and he is trying to teach his guys to get mental reps even when they don't get the actual rep so they get 120 reps instead of 20, but the other 100 are mental. He wants all of them to prepare like they are the starter as well.
McKenzie said like Coach Faulkner he is a Georgia kid, who grew up here and he is really excited about the talent in this state and the coaching and the future for Georgia Tech and the way they are building relationships in this state for the future.
McKenzie said his time with Faulkner at Arkansas State has helped them have a smooth transition to working together and they kind of picked up where they left off.
McKenzie said the staff will meet tomorrow and decide how to split the workload for the scrimmage position by position.
Dontae Smith said he found out at practice from the SID that he was on the Doak Walker Watch List again, but he said he is not worried about that, he is worried about winning and things like that will come if they win.
Smith said like Coach Key his focus is on winning and putting everything he can into his final season and building on everything they've done up to this point so they can show the world and surprise people this fall. Their goal is to win every game one week at a time. They are not looking ahead at the schedule trying to figure out which games are wins and losses.
Smith said he has the same mindset he had as a third-string guy, he plans like he is starting and practices that way and always has. That way if they call his number he won't be surprised and will be ready to go.
Smith said he focused on pass-catching this offseason because of how much Faulkner likes to use his backs in the passing game and trying to make himself a better all-around back.
Smith said about the offense this year, "the number one thing is we are going to score a lot of points and that is as basic as I can put it. As simply as I can put it. We are going to score a lot of points." He said the plays have been there in the past and they haven't done it and it comes down to executing on every play and they are doing a good job at that and they have freshmen receivers who are developing extremely fast and the depth is there across the offense to score. They've worked all spring, summer and now in camp to do that one goal.
Smith said that he is using all the losing as a motivation and like Coach Key he is burning to win games, but it isn't a pressure thing, the goal is to win championships and graduate from Georgia Tech and if it isn't about either of those two things it doesn't matter to the team.
Smith talked about Morgan Burnett speaking to the team about Demaryius Thomas and his big takeaway from it was Demaryius would do anything to help the team win and he was extremely unselfish as a player and that was part of his leadership method. He knows he has to be a leader now on this team with these younger guys and he took away to not make it about himself but do like Demaryius and make it about the team and helping others and lifting them up.
We also spoke to another one of my favorite kids, Jamal Haynes
Haynes said his move to RB came after an offseason meeting with the coaches. He had a great spring at the slot but with Malik Rutherford and Christian Leary ahead of him they wanted to find a way to get his skillset on the field and Faulkner wanted to try him at RB where he played some in HS.
Haynes said that they have a great RB room and they welcomed him with open arms and are quick to help him if he misses an assignment or makes a mistake.
Haynes said that he likes playing RB because he loves feeding off a crowd and that is one of the spots where fans really get into it especially when you make a move and get into open space.
Haynes said he might be smaller than some RBs, but he isn't afraid to run and he has been doing the same thing all his life, he looks at the holes and uses his vision and ability to make plays.
Haynes said he worked hard with the S&C staff this offseason to put weight on and he is up to 185 now.
McKenzie spoke to the media after practice on Thursday and shared his thoughts on how his group is progressing through the first week and a half of camp and the first live periods of tackling to the ground on Wednesday.
"It has been good. For a running back and an offensive lineman they work together, we joke around about how can I tell about the productivity when you can't get tackled," McKenzie said. " Having live segments proved to be beneficial for us. Can we make the play? Can we make somebody miss? Are we able to make contact and two or three yards after contact? Those are the things that we measure in those live settings and I feel like we are doing a really good job of it."
The presumed starter senior Dontae Smith was named to the Doak Walker Award Watch List for the second straight season. McKenzie has big expectations for his senior running back.
"Dontae has been great. The one thing about Dontae I think he is a solid contributor and he is not a kid that is going to have mental mistakes and he is going to practice hard. He has been battle-tested in the past so you feel confident that he can go out there and due to his experience have some success," McKenzie said. "I think right now he is in a good spot. Of course, we lean on him as a leader in the room in terms of the age gap and in terms of the experience gap. I'm hoping for a big fall from him as well."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
McKenize said that Jamie Felix is having a good camp and Jamal Haynes has done a great job of switching over from slot receiver to RB.
He said Haynes has done a nice job of narrowing the learning curve and his prior experience playing RB at Grayson HS has helped, but he has picked up the pass pro really well and that was the biggest concern they had with making the switch and he gives them a nice changeup guy in that RB room and he has the attitude and mentality he is looking for in there.
McKenzie said preparation leads to performance and he is trying to teach his guys to get mental reps even when they don't get the actual rep so they get 120 reps instead of 20, but the other 100 are mental. He wants all of them to prepare like they are the starter as well.
McKenzie said like Coach Faulkner he is a Georgia kid, who grew up here and he is really excited about the talent in this state and the coaching and the future for Georgia Tech and the way they are building relationships in this state for the future.
McKenzie said his time with Faulkner at Arkansas State has helped them have a smooth transition to working together and they kind of picked up where they left off.
McKenzie said the staff will meet tomorrow and decide how to split the workload for the scrimmage position by position.
Dontae Smith said he found out at practice from the SID that he was on the Doak Walker Watch List again, but he said he is not worried about that, he is worried about winning and things like that will come if they win.
Smith said like Coach Key his focus is on winning and putting everything he can into his final season and building on everything they've done up to this point so they can show the world and surprise people this fall. Their goal is to win every game one week at a time. They are not looking ahead at the schedule trying to figure out which games are wins and losses.
Smith said he has the same mindset he had as a third-string guy, he plans like he is starting and practices that way and always has. That way if they call his number he won't be surprised and will be ready to go.
Smith said he focused on pass-catching this offseason because of how much Faulkner likes to use his backs in the passing game and trying to make himself a better all-around back.
Smith said about the offense this year, "the number one thing is we are going to score a lot of points and that is as basic as I can put it. As simply as I can put it. We are going to score a lot of points." He said the plays have been there in the past and they haven't done it and it comes down to executing on every play and they are doing a good job at that and they have freshmen receivers who are developing extremely fast and the depth is there across the offense to score. They've worked all spring, summer and now in camp to do that one goal.
Smith said that he is using all the losing as a motivation and like Coach Key he is burning to win games, but it isn't a pressure thing, the goal is to win championships and graduate from Georgia Tech and if it isn't about either of those two things it doesn't matter to the team.
Smith talked about Morgan Burnett speaking to the team about Demaryius Thomas and his big takeaway from it was Demaryius would do anything to help the team win and he was extremely unselfish as a player and that was part of his leadership method. He knows he has to be a leader now on this team with these younger guys and he took away to not make it about himself but do like Demaryius and make it about the team and helping others and lifting them up.
We also spoke to another one of my favorite kids, Jamal Haynes
Haynes said his move to RB came after an offseason meeting with the coaches. He had a great spring at the slot but with Malik Rutherford and Christian Leary ahead of him they wanted to find a way to get his skillset on the field and Faulkner wanted to try him at RB where he played some in HS.
Haynes said that they have a great RB room and they welcomed him with open arms and are quick to help him if he misses an assignment or makes a mistake.
Haynes said that he likes playing RB because he loves feeding off a crowd and that is one of the spots where fans really get into it especially when you make a move and get into open space.
Haynes said he might be smaller than some RBs, but he isn't afraid to run and he has been doing the same thing all his life, he looks at the holes and uses his vision and ability to make plays.
Haynes said he worked hard with the S&C staff this offseason to put weight on and he is up to 185 now.
