ATLANTA- On a rainy Tuesday, Georgia Tech held the 12th practice of spring ball on the Rose Bowl Practice Fields as the Yellow Jackets continued to prepare for the annual spring game Saturday in Bobby Dodd Stadium. After practice, the secondary took the spotlight with defensive backs coach Cory Peoples and defensive backs LaMiles Brooks, Ahmari Harvey and Clayton Powell-Lee taking turns speaking with the media.
Peoples was one of the final hires for the Jackets' staff as head coach Brent Key filled out positions this offseason in a massive defensive rebuild. Peoples made a short move across the city from Georgia State to Georgia Tech.
"I've been here for about three months now and I knew Coach Key from recruiting met him a few times and I knew some guys that knew him and we kind of kept that relationship and it came along after that," Peoples said of how he ended up on the Flats.
Peoples said that LaMiles Brooks and Clayton Powell-Lee are the top two safeties and they can play both strong and free and he likes to rotate them. Powell-Lee can also play some nickel as well. He wanted them to know both in case there are injuries and they need to move guys around in the secondary in a game. With the younger guys they are keeping them at strong or free safety. D.J. Moore made the move from WR to CB last fall during the season and has moved to safety and he has had a great camp and taken to the position. Peoples said Moore has been a big surprise for them and he is running with the twos despite making that hard move. Peoples has been impressed with how the guys have learned the new defense and how they've come along.
At nickel, it is a neck and neck race with Omar Daniels and Syeed Gibbs. Peoples said that Daniels is doing a great job and is a very smart kid that handles situations well and learned the playbook real well. Syeed transferred in from Rhode Island and he is doing a good job and they are duking it out sharing reps with the ones and twos every day at nickel.
They rested Brooks some in the scrimmage last Saturday and let Khari Gee take most of the one reps at SS last Saturday and Peoples said that Gee has been doing well with his recovery and gives them some depth at safety. He has been doing pretty good, had seven tackles in the scrimmage in 63 plays in the scrimmage and he is excited to see him in the spring game.
I asked how Taye Seymore is coming along at safety and he said he is starting to grasp the defense more and he is getting more comfortable as they get into the last week of spring ball.
Peoples said that he knew Powell-Lee before he came to GT because he recruited him out of HS at Westlake.
Peoples said that the CBs and safeties meet up a lot and they have to be on the same page and communicate well for the defense to work. He said that he has a good relationship with CBs coach Ricky Brumfield because he recruited Kyan Brumfield out of HS (he is a GA now at GT) so they had a prior relationship. He thinks it is impressive that Brumfield can coach WR/DBs and special teams at this level.
I asked Peoples about the learning curve for the defense and he said they spent 14 hour days when he first got here with DC Tyler Santucci from 6am to 8pm working on it every day so they would be ready to teach and install this spring and they have the majority of the base defense in now.
Peoples said he has been impressed with how the guys are improving his tackling and he said that he had Powell-Lee in his office the other day and was praising him for how much his tackling has improved this spring and that it is night and day compared to last year.
Peoples said that teaching tackling is totally different from when he played and now you have to keep your head up and it is more rugby now and those guys tackle with no pads and don't have injuries so they teach more of that style of tackling and understanding a force tackle vs a profile tackle (high tackle in the chest area with your head out of the way and following through).
Brooks said there is more communication with this defense pre-snap in the secondary and making checks after getting the call and looking at the final picture and what happens if the picture changes and alerting for motion.
I asked Brooks about coming back and how motivating a disappointing 2023 played into his decision to come back and play. He said it was absolutely motivating, last year was a down year with a few more injuries than he would've liked and production wasn't where he liked. He is embracing what happened last year, but he is now making this season about this season and not trying to look backward.
Brooks said he doesn't have a preference with free and strong safety and he is cool playing some nickel or even corner if asked to.
Brooks said it is fun going against the GT offense and all the eye candy and tricks that Buster Faulkner has in it because it really helps them prepare for what they'll see during the season and it is great preparation. It is possibly the hardest offense they will see all year and they embrace the challenge of going against it every day.
Brooks said that Santucci is very active and very high energy as a coach and he would run around with them if he could. He keeps everyone fired up and motivated in good and bad situations and he brings that energy to the meeting room as well and the guys feed off of it.
Brooks said the competition in the spring game should be pretty good.
Powell-Lee said that coaches are challenging them and it has been hard to learn the new scheme, but a fun challenge as well and they want them to understand why they are doing the things they are doing defensively.
Powell-Lee said he really critiqued himself with his tackling and it was something that Coach Peoples and Coach Key presented to him as a challenge to improve and he really wanted to step up and make those plays and tackles while having a stable mindset.
Powell-Lee said that Coach Peoples has been fun and he challenges the DBs with the little details and having that football mind right every play otherwise you'll get beat. It makes them harp on the little details.
Ahmari Harvey was the last one to talk and he said playing down the stretch well last year really helped build up his confidence. He said that CB is a position where you have to have a lot of confidence as a player in yourself and that helped him build that when he had some successes.
Harvey said he doesn't have an issue flushing a bad play, he said he has been through some rough things in his life so it is easy to flush a mistake or a bad play.
Harvey said that Coach Key has really helped him a lot as far as being more disciplined on the field and helping his teammates out and maturing in life.
Harvey said Coach Brumfield was someone he already had a good relationship with because of his role on special teams last year and then him working with them some and they've always had mutual respect and they all respect him in the room and are trying to get better every day.
Harvey said since he was little he has always had a knack for big plays on both sides of the ball, just something comes out of him when his back is against the wall, he just claws out of it.
Harvey on his field goal blocking prowess, said he was a DE in middle school and he dips his shoulder like a pass rusher gets around and then he uses that to block kicks. He tries to time snap counts and on the second attempt he usually has it down.
Peoples was one of the final hires for the Jackets' staff as head coach Brent Key filled out positions this offseason in a massive defensive rebuild. Peoples made a short move across the city from Georgia State to Georgia Tech.
"I've been here for about three months now and I knew Coach Key from recruiting met him a few times and I knew some guys that knew him and we kind of kept that relationship and it came along after that," Peoples said of how he ended up on the Flats.
Peoples said that LaMiles Brooks and Clayton Powell-Lee are the top two safeties and they can play both strong and free and he likes to rotate them. Powell-Lee can also play some nickel as well. He wanted them to know both in case there are injuries and they need to move guys around in the secondary in a game. With the younger guys they are keeping them at strong or free safety. D.J. Moore made the move from WR to CB last fall during the season and has moved to safety and he has had a great camp and taken to the position. Peoples said Moore has been a big surprise for them and he is running with the twos despite making that hard move. Peoples has been impressed with how the guys have learned the new defense and how they've come along.
At nickel, it is a neck and neck race with Omar Daniels and Syeed Gibbs. Peoples said that Daniels is doing a great job and is a very smart kid that handles situations well and learned the playbook real well. Syeed transferred in from Rhode Island and he is doing a good job and they are duking it out sharing reps with the ones and twos every day at nickel.
They rested Brooks some in the scrimmage last Saturday and let Khari Gee take most of the one reps at SS last Saturday and Peoples said that Gee has been doing well with his recovery and gives them some depth at safety. He has been doing pretty good, had seven tackles in the scrimmage in 63 plays in the scrimmage and he is excited to see him in the spring game.
I asked how Taye Seymore is coming along at safety and he said he is starting to grasp the defense more and he is getting more comfortable as they get into the last week of spring ball.
Peoples said that he knew Powell-Lee before he came to GT because he recruited him out of HS at Westlake.
Peoples said that the CBs and safeties meet up a lot and they have to be on the same page and communicate well for the defense to work. He said that he has a good relationship with CBs coach Ricky Brumfield because he recruited Kyan Brumfield out of HS (he is a GA now at GT) so they had a prior relationship. He thinks it is impressive that Brumfield can coach WR/DBs and special teams at this level.
I asked Peoples about the learning curve for the defense and he said they spent 14 hour days when he first got here with DC Tyler Santucci from 6am to 8pm working on it every day so they would be ready to teach and install this spring and they have the majority of the base defense in now.
Peoples said he has been impressed with how the guys are improving his tackling and he said that he had Powell-Lee in his office the other day and was praising him for how much his tackling has improved this spring and that it is night and day compared to last year.
Peoples said that teaching tackling is totally different from when he played and now you have to keep your head up and it is more rugby now and those guys tackle with no pads and don't have injuries so they teach more of that style of tackling and understanding a force tackle vs a profile tackle (high tackle in the chest area with your head out of the way and following through).
Brooks said there is more communication with this defense pre-snap in the secondary and making checks after getting the call and looking at the final picture and what happens if the picture changes and alerting for motion.
I asked Brooks about coming back and how motivating a disappointing 2023 played into his decision to come back and play. He said it was absolutely motivating, last year was a down year with a few more injuries than he would've liked and production wasn't where he liked. He is embracing what happened last year, but he is now making this season about this season and not trying to look backward.
Brooks said he doesn't have a preference with free and strong safety and he is cool playing some nickel or even corner if asked to.
Brooks said it is fun going against the GT offense and all the eye candy and tricks that Buster Faulkner has in it because it really helps them prepare for what they'll see during the season and it is great preparation. It is possibly the hardest offense they will see all year and they embrace the challenge of going against it every day.
Brooks said that Santucci is very active and very high energy as a coach and he would run around with them if he could. He keeps everyone fired up and motivated in good and bad situations and he brings that energy to the meeting room as well and the guys feed off of it.
Brooks said the competition in the spring game should be pretty good.
Powell-Lee said that coaches are challenging them and it has been hard to learn the new scheme, but a fun challenge as well and they want them to understand why they are doing the things they are doing defensively.
Powell-Lee said he really critiqued himself with his tackling and it was something that Coach Peoples and Coach Key presented to him as a challenge to improve and he really wanted to step up and make those plays and tackles while having a stable mindset.
Powell-Lee said that Coach Peoples has been fun and he challenges the DBs with the little details and having that football mind right every play otherwise you'll get beat. It makes them harp on the little details.
Ahmari Harvey was the last one to talk and he said playing down the stretch well last year really helped build up his confidence. He said that CB is a position where you have to have a lot of confidence as a player in yourself and that helped him build that when he had some successes.
Harvey said he doesn't have an issue flushing a bad play, he said he has been through some rough things in his life so it is easy to flush a mistake or a bad play.
Harvey said that Coach Key has really helped him a lot as far as being more disciplined on the field and helping his teammates out and maturing in life.
Harvey said Coach Brumfield was someone he already had a good relationship with because of his role on special teams last year and then him working with them some and they've always had mutual respect and they all respect him in the room and are trying to get better every day.
Harvey said since he was little he has always had a knack for big plays on both sides of the ball, just something comes out of him when his back is against the wall, he just claws out of it.
Harvey on his field goal blocking prowess, said he was a DE in middle school and he dips his shoulder like a pass rusher gets around and then he uses that to block kicks. He tries to time snap counts and on the second attempt he usually has it down.
