ATLANTA- Georgia Tech hit the field in Bobby Dodd Stadium on Wednesday for a quick morning practice session, but head coach Geoff Collins hit the brakes almost immediately during the flex period due. According to players, Collins took issue with the lack of focus during the warm-up and had the team start over.
We spoke to Ryan Johnson, Kyric McGowan, Juanyeh Thomas and Ayinde Eley after practice to get their thoughts 10-plus days to kickoff.
I asked Ryan Johnson about the rotation at RT and how that is working out for him where he has worked with a variety of guys from Jordan Williams who played next to last year to Miss State transfer Nick Pendley and Norfolk State transfer KJ Kirby as well as some others.
"We've had a couple of guys rolling in and out," Johnson said of the RT spot. "I think we've had some great chemistry, especially in the offseason to now I think we've been working really hard and making the offensive line really one solid cohesive unit I think we've gotten to that point, we've got guys that can step up at a moment's notice, can play different positions in an offensive line, that's huge."
Johnson on KJ Kirby's addition
"KJ coming in is great you know we got another guy transfer guy he's got a lot of knowledge under his belt, a lot of experience. Being able to have that have another guy come in. It's been great. We've been working with him trying to make sure that we're all on the same page, making sure that we're all working together, teaching each other things that we've learned on and off the field. And that's the game of football, you know, it's all about knowledge it's, it's 80% mental 20% physical, but that 20% Physical is all 100% physical. And so we like to bring the physicality, we also like to learn from each other and I think that's started with Coach Key down."
Johnson said that Devin Cochran hit the ground running on day one of getting to GT and hasn't looked back and handles everything like a pro.
Johnson on Kenny Cooper's improvements and taking over at LG:
"Kenny has been doing a great job. I mean the improvement I've seen from the spring to now is incredible with Kenny. I mean he's, he's been doing a great job he's really, really trying to make the best out of everything that he does and he's, he brings the physicality every day, and he tries to make the offensive line better tries to make himself better every day. And that's something that I love, he makes the guys next to him better by being there, so that's, that's what I love about Kenny always brings a fun attitude to always makes guy smile, but on the field, he's a mauler."
Johnson on the team goals for 2021
"Collins has made the goal very clear. We're here to win games we're here to do our job. We're here to execute our assignments, and I think he's instilled that all the way from the beginning. And I think everybody's picked that up and roll with that motto. Our motto is WIN21 This year, our job is to win. That's what we're here to do. And I think we've got everybody on the same page from Coach Collins coach key to the offensive line. Everybody's trying to do the small details trying to do their job and execute not worrying about everybody else trying to do their job make the team better, and to me that's, that's the sign of a successful football team. We still got things that we got to improve on before, Northern Illinois, but I think that that is something to me that is a really good sign up winning. Number of labor, labor, or labor whatever it is, say can you say that you're likely to get what I'm winning but is there an objective. Well yeah, and I've said this before. The motto is is to win, right and to win the next game to win the next play. The win the next drive. If you start looking too far in the future you get lost and you get lost in the moment. And so, the thing that we're trying to do the thing we're trying to do to improve to try to get better to try to win is to control the controllables and control we can and do our job at the moment. You know it's the small detail things everywhere from the weight room, to the classroom to the field, you know, it all adds up, and I love math, right. And when you, you have an equation that has two variables versus 100 variables. It doesn't matter if one of the variables is off by 111 point, it doesn't matter. Your answer is gonna be wrong. So it doesn't matter if you don't do the big things if you do the big things right if you don't do the small things right. It doesn't matter so that's what we're trying to do, we're not trying to focus on the outcome, in the long term we're trying to focus on the outcome in the short term we're trying to do our job and win our job today."
Kryic McGowan said that GT's game day routine is very similar to what he did at Northwestern.
McGowan said they are now able to play the slots at outside receivers because of the depth they've developed and create some mismatches for the defense and have guys like himself or Nate McCollum line up in different spots than just being a slot.
"We're not specific we're trying to get away from the just mentality of, you know, if I'm a slot receiver I'm only inside if I'm an outside receiver I'm only gonna play X or Z. We know we want to be as versatile as we can, and just be able to play in as many different positions as we can to have the right combination on the field. And on top of that, I think our confidence in the room has grown a lot, you know, over this offseason. And you know that's credit to our coaches in our quarterbacks, you know, just being in the right place at the right time, you know, that repetition, and those reps that we got over the summer."
McGowan on his chemistry with Jeff Sims improving during camp
"You're actually out here in pads and guys are hitting, you're actually getting the right timing down because you know Jeff is getting pressured and I'm getting rerouted and stuff like that so you know fall camp has been very important you know getting that timing down already. I feel like we're ready."
McGowan on Malik Rutherford
"Kid's a stud, you know he's quick, fast and twitchy, especially in the slot. He is almost unguardable, you know, and as a freshman, I think he's doing a really good job coming into this fall camp and listening to his coaches and learning from us older guys on how to be in the right place at the right time. He's taken his recovery seriously. He's taking the off-the-field stuff seriously. I talked to him day to day or he talks to me day to day about things you know he can improve upon moving forward and I see him really want to be a big playmaker this year and in the years to come."
McGowan said having a left-footed punter is a good advantage for guys like him who are on the punt return team to get used to seeing the ball and the spin because it is a lot different than other styles and David can rugby punt as well so that is good for them to get used to.
We spoke to Ryan Johnson, Kyric McGowan, Juanyeh Thomas and Ayinde Eley after practice to get their thoughts 10-plus days to kickoff.
I asked Ryan Johnson about the rotation at RT and how that is working out for him where he has worked with a variety of guys from Jordan Williams who played next to last year to Miss State transfer Nick Pendley and Norfolk State transfer KJ Kirby as well as some others.
"We've had a couple of guys rolling in and out," Johnson said of the RT spot. "I think we've had some great chemistry, especially in the offseason to now I think we've been working really hard and making the offensive line really one solid cohesive unit I think we've gotten to that point, we've got guys that can step up at a moment's notice, can play different positions in an offensive line, that's huge."
Johnson on KJ Kirby's addition
"KJ coming in is great you know we got another guy transfer guy he's got a lot of knowledge under his belt, a lot of experience. Being able to have that have another guy come in. It's been great. We've been working with him trying to make sure that we're all on the same page, making sure that we're all working together, teaching each other things that we've learned on and off the field. And that's the game of football, you know, it's all about knowledge it's, it's 80% mental 20% physical, but that 20% Physical is all 100% physical. And so we like to bring the physicality, we also like to learn from each other and I think that's started with Coach Key down."
Johnson said that Devin Cochran hit the ground running on day one of getting to GT and hasn't looked back and handles everything like a pro.
Johnson on Kenny Cooper's improvements and taking over at LG:
"Kenny has been doing a great job. I mean the improvement I've seen from the spring to now is incredible with Kenny. I mean he's, he's been doing a great job he's really, really trying to make the best out of everything that he does and he's, he brings the physicality every day, and he tries to make the offensive line better tries to make himself better every day. And that's something that I love, he makes the guys next to him better by being there, so that's, that's what I love about Kenny always brings a fun attitude to always makes guy smile, but on the field, he's a mauler."
Johnson on the team goals for 2021
"Collins has made the goal very clear. We're here to win games we're here to do our job. We're here to execute our assignments, and I think he's instilled that all the way from the beginning. And I think everybody's picked that up and roll with that motto. Our motto is WIN21 This year, our job is to win. That's what we're here to do. And I think we've got everybody on the same page from Coach Collins coach key to the offensive line. Everybody's trying to do the small details trying to do their job and execute not worrying about everybody else trying to do their job make the team better, and to me that's, that's the sign of a successful football team. We still got things that we got to improve on before, Northern Illinois, but I think that that is something to me that is a really good sign up winning. Number of labor, labor, or labor whatever it is, say can you say that you're likely to get what I'm winning but is there an objective. Well yeah, and I've said this before. The motto is is to win, right and to win the next game to win the next play. The win the next drive. If you start looking too far in the future you get lost and you get lost in the moment. And so, the thing that we're trying to do the thing we're trying to do to improve to try to get better to try to win is to control the controllables and control we can and do our job at the moment. You know it's the small detail things everywhere from the weight room, to the classroom to the field, you know, it all adds up, and I love math, right. And when you, you have an equation that has two variables versus 100 variables. It doesn't matter if one of the variables is off by 111 point, it doesn't matter. Your answer is gonna be wrong. So it doesn't matter if you don't do the big things if you do the big things right if you don't do the small things right. It doesn't matter so that's what we're trying to do, we're not trying to focus on the outcome, in the long term we're trying to focus on the outcome in the short term we're trying to do our job and win our job today."
Kryic McGowan said that GT's game day routine is very similar to what he did at Northwestern.
McGowan said they are now able to play the slots at outside receivers because of the depth they've developed and create some mismatches for the defense and have guys like himself or Nate McCollum line up in different spots than just being a slot.
"We're not specific we're trying to get away from the just mentality of, you know, if I'm a slot receiver I'm only inside if I'm an outside receiver I'm only gonna play X or Z. We know we want to be as versatile as we can, and just be able to play in as many different positions as we can to have the right combination on the field. And on top of that, I think our confidence in the room has grown a lot, you know, over this offseason. And you know that's credit to our coaches in our quarterbacks, you know, just being in the right place at the right time, you know, that repetition, and those reps that we got over the summer."
McGowan on his chemistry with Jeff Sims improving during camp
"You're actually out here in pads and guys are hitting, you're actually getting the right timing down because you know Jeff is getting pressured and I'm getting rerouted and stuff like that so you know fall camp has been very important you know getting that timing down already. I feel like we're ready."
McGowan on Malik Rutherford
"Kid's a stud, you know he's quick, fast and twitchy, especially in the slot. He is almost unguardable, you know, and as a freshman, I think he's doing a really good job coming into this fall camp and listening to his coaches and learning from us older guys on how to be in the right place at the right time. He's taken his recovery seriously. He's taking the off-the-field stuff seriously. I talked to him day to day or he talks to me day to day about things you know he can improve upon moving forward and I see him really want to be a big playmaker this year and in the years to come."
McGowan said having a left-footed punter is a good advantage for guys like him who are on the punt return team to get used to seeing the ball and the spin because it is a lot different than other styles and David can rugby punt as well so that is good for them to get used to.
