ATLANTA- Georgia Tech started back up on Tuesday with a full pads practice as the Jackets aim to get back on track with South Carolina State coming to town. Yellow Jackets head coach Brent Key spoke to the media for his Tuesday presser following practice and gave some updates on his team ahead of the true home opener on Saturday at 1 p.m. in Bobby Dodd Stadium.
Key was pleased the Jackets get to face South Carolina State head coach Oliver Pough in his final season as a head coach before he retires at the end of the year.
"Coach Pough is a legend in his conference, in his division and in his level of football. He is finishing up his 22nd year at his alma mater. He will be retiring after this season and we were privileged to play them many years ago (2008) when I was at UCF and you know they gave us a dogfight. His teams are well-prepared. They play hard and they've got some good players on their team. I wanted to make sure I noted that," Key said. "It is an honor to coach against him in his final ride before he retires."
Pough played at South Carolina State and has spent most of his life in two stints as a coach either as an assistant or head coach with the program going back to 1979. He has been the head coach there since 2002.
Key said that Sunday and Tuesday practices have been heavily about Georgia Tech and looking at mistakes and correcting the mistakes not just talking about them. He said he thinks the most improvement all year can be made between game one and game two and they spent a lot of time on Saturday as a staff and then on Sunday with the players being critical with individual players and position groups.
Key said he felt like they did a good job at situational football and that is something they can build off. He said it is also important to not dwell on what happened on Friday too long.
I asked him about Sylvain Yondjouen and the other players who went out with injuries on Friday, LaMiles Brooks and Jordan Williams. He said that Sylvain was "suited up" and that they will know more on him tomorrow. He said the other guys were fine and back practicing. He said that Sylvain would have to go by Wednesday or anyone else who is injured/hurt and missing practice in order to play in a game. (This was an old CPJ rule as well.)
Key said the explosives they gave up on defense swung the game 100 yards the other way. He said they spent a lot of time focusing on why those explosives happened and then adjusted to fix or eliminate the mistakes that led to them.
On Ethan Mackenny, Key said we will see him play again this week and that he is a very talented young man and he has know him and his family for many years. He said that Mackenny was 225 pounds the first time he had him in a camp and he is 290-295 now. He is going to be a fine football player at GT and he plays the game the right way. The moment wasn't too big for Mackenny and he was dialed in and locked in like a guy who had played 15-20 games. Key thought he did really well especially in the run game and they were able to run behind him a few times.
On the DL, Key though they played okay, he said they had some pad level issues at times and issues getting off blocks and that was a problem across the D on Friday night. He said the DL had some stunts that didn't go as designed and guys were a little slow getting into gaps at times and disengaging from blocks and defeating blocks to get extension to disrupt the ball carrier. He gave a lot of credit to Jack Plummer as well for how quick he got the ball out, but they need to get more penetration and get off blocks.
I asked Key about the horrendous edge tackling across CFB that hurt also hurt GT on Friday and said they've been working on it a lot in the last two practices. He said they knew how they played relative to each other but now they've seen how they play against an opponent and it is a lot different and always is so they want to see the jump up from game one to two with tackling in particular and guys rallying to the football. He said they knew how they lined up against themselves position by position and they had 400 live reps ahead of the first game and improved but they still have a ways to go with tackling. He said also guys have to believe their teammates have their back and go for the kill on the tackle instead of just trying to slow down the guy and wait for help.
Key said that he thought they were very good on third downs on both sides of the ball, but the middle downs 1st and 2nd down is where they got burned with negative plays on offense and momentum plays given up by the defense.
Key said they want to be aggressive and that is why he kicked the long field goal and he has a lot of faith in Gavin Stewart who is a great competitor. He said on the missed shorter field goal, Stewart just hit the ball thin and they went live today with the kickers and worked on it and he expects Gavin to bounce back.
I asked about the mental approach coming off a loss and the positives he saw from Friday, he said that if you told him five years ago he would have anything positive to say after a loss he wouldn't believe you. He said he is pissed and the team is pissed they let one slip away. He said that 48 teams feel like they can win the natty after week one and 48 teams feel like the end of the world is coming after a loss in week one. He said his job is to make sure that loss doesn't turn into more losses.
Key said he felt like they were much faster and more physical than a year go and they were better prepared as a team and he credits that to the offseason training and coaching. He liked how disciplined they were in terms of penalties. It meant guys were dialed in but also he saw them having some fun.
On the RBs, he said that Trey Cooley did a nice job, but he can't have the ball come out on the goal line like he did. That was being addressed today and worked on to fix that. He thinks that Jamal Haynes is an electric player with the ball in his hands and can be a factor in the run and pass game. He also has really helped them on kickoff coverage too running down field and he just loves playing the game.
Key said he thought David Shanahan punted the ball really well and he three downed inside the 10 to set up very bad field position for Louisville and that was great to see. He thought the punt coverage was great as well and guys understood their responsibilities and stayed in their lanes (an issue a year ago) and they've got to keep that up. He said that SC State likes to come after punts.
Btw Key is a true Parrothead and was very bummed about Jimmy Buffett's death. He said he went to 22 Buffett concerts and he was truly his favorite musical artist.
Key was pleased the Jackets get to face South Carolina State head coach Oliver Pough in his final season as a head coach before he retires at the end of the year.
"Coach Pough is a legend in his conference, in his division and in his level of football. He is finishing up his 22nd year at his alma mater. He will be retiring after this season and we were privileged to play them many years ago (2008) when I was at UCF and you know they gave us a dogfight. His teams are well-prepared. They play hard and they've got some good players on their team. I wanted to make sure I noted that," Key said. "It is an honor to coach against him in his final ride before he retires."
Pough played at South Carolina State and has spent most of his life in two stints as a coach either as an assistant or head coach with the program going back to 1979. He has been the head coach there since 2002.
Key said that Sunday and Tuesday practices have been heavily about Georgia Tech and looking at mistakes and correcting the mistakes not just talking about them. He said he thinks the most improvement all year can be made between game one and game two and they spent a lot of time on Saturday as a staff and then on Sunday with the players being critical with individual players and position groups.
Key said he felt like they did a good job at situational football and that is something they can build off. He said it is also important to not dwell on what happened on Friday too long.
I asked him about Sylvain Yondjouen and the other players who went out with injuries on Friday, LaMiles Brooks and Jordan Williams. He said that Sylvain was "suited up" and that they will know more on him tomorrow. He said the other guys were fine and back practicing. He said that Sylvain would have to go by Wednesday or anyone else who is injured/hurt and missing practice in order to play in a game. (This was an old CPJ rule as well.)
Key said the explosives they gave up on defense swung the game 100 yards the other way. He said they spent a lot of time focusing on why those explosives happened and then adjusted to fix or eliminate the mistakes that led to them.
On Ethan Mackenny, Key said we will see him play again this week and that he is a very talented young man and he has know him and his family for many years. He said that Mackenny was 225 pounds the first time he had him in a camp and he is 290-295 now. He is going to be a fine football player at GT and he plays the game the right way. The moment wasn't too big for Mackenny and he was dialed in and locked in like a guy who had played 15-20 games. Key thought he did really well especially in the run game and they were able to run behind him a few times.
On the DL, Key though they played okay, he said they had some pad level issues at times and issues getting off blocks and that was a problem across the D on Friday night. He said the DL had some stunts that didn't go as designed and guys were a little slow getting into gaps at times and disengaging from blocks and defeating blocks to get extension to disrupt the ball carrier. He gave a lot of credit to Jack Plummer as well for how quick he got the ball out, but they need to get more penetration and get off blocks.
I asked Key about the horrendous edge tackling across CFB that hurt also hurt GT on Friday and said they've been working on it a lot in the last two practices. He said they knew how they played relative to each other but now they've seen how they play against an opponent and it is a lot different and always is so they want to see the jump up from game one to two with tackling in particular and guys rallying to the football. He said they knew how they lined up against themselves position by position and they had 400 live reps ahead of the first game and improved but they still have a ways to go with tackling. He said also guys have to believe their teammates have their back and go for the kill on the tackle instead of just trying to slow down the guy and wait for help.
Key said that he thought they were very good on third downs on both sides of the ball, but the middle downs 1st and 2nd down is where they got burned with negative plays on offense and momentum plays given up by the defense.
Key said they want to be aggressive and that is why he kicked the long field goal and he has a lot of faith in Gavin Stewart who is a great competitor. He said on the missed shorter field goal, Stewart just hit the ball thin and they went live today with the kickers and worked on it and he expects Gavin to bounce back.
I asked about the mental approach coming off a loss and the positives he saw from Friday, he said that if you told him five years ago he would have anything positive to say after a loss he wouldn't believe you. He said he is pissed and the team is pissed they let one slip away. He said that 48 teams feel like they can win the natty after week one and 48 teams feel like the end of the world is coming after a loss in week one. He said his job is to make sure that loss doesn't turn into more losses.
Key said he felt like they were much faster and more physical than a year go and they were better prepared as a team and he credits that to the offseason training and coaching. He liked how disciplined they were in terms of penalties. It meant guys were dialed in but also he saw them having some fun.
On the RBs, he said that Trey Cooley did a nice job, but he can't have the ball come out on the goal line like he did. That was being addressed today and worked on to fix that. He thinks that Jamal Haynes is an electric player with the ball in his hands and can be a factor in the run and pass game. He also has really helped them on kickoff coverage too running down field and he just loves playing the game.
Key said he thought David Shanahan punted the ball really well and he three downed inside the 10 to set up very bad field position for Louisville and that was great to see. He thought the punt coverage was great as well and guys understood their responsibilities and stayed in their lanes (an issue a year ago) and they've got to keep that up. He said that SC State likes to come after punts.
Btw Key is a true Parrothead and was very bummed about Jimmy Buffett's death. He said he went to 22 Buffett concerts and he was truly his favorite musical artist.
