ATLANTA- Georgia Tech kicked off preparations for the week zero opener in Ireland against Florida State with a two-plus hour practice session mostly in the Brock Indoor Facility after thunderstorms moved through Atlanta about forty minutes into practice. Second-year Yellow Jackets head coach Brent Key opened practice to select media on Wednesday night with the Jackets going later than normal due to summer final exams schedules at Tech.
The Jackets entered camp with one of the healthiest rosters in recent memory as well with only one season-ending injury backup tight end Jackson Long lingering over to camp and only a handful of players out on the first day according to Key.
"Going into the second year you really have a full range of data on everybody. We do a lot with sports science and we've been afforded the resources to be able to implement that into our program so we track everything," Key said. "We monitor everything and we look back at last year at the summer program and what preseason practices look like and the practice schedule and you can anticipate things, but you don't have the true data of what is going to be until you go through a season. The last 10 weeks of summer we were able to really simulate what preseason is and create that same load that will have."
Key said during the summer the players took it upon themselves to train the newcomers both the freshmen and transfers how things work and it sped up the installation on day one of camp.
The beauty of summers now is the guys get so many reps and so much time together that the retention is very high. I was very pleased with how they worked with the pads off this summer and a lot of the player-led things they did as well as teaching the right techniques and fundamentals. Pretty much everyone comes in now knowing things and we are able to start a little bit of a faster pace during the install," he said.
One player who Tech fans didn't get to see much of last year was defensive end Sylvain Yondjouen who practiced for the first time since August of 2023 after sustaining a serious knee injury in the season opener last year in Mercedes-Benz Stadium against Louisville after playing just 27 snaps.
"He is a full go. He took all the reps and that was good to see," Key said of Yondjouen's return to practice. "I think at times he didn't know if he wanted to be a big guy or slim down to be a smaller end. I don't care if he is 260 like he is right now or 230 like he has been. I don't think he has an ounce of fat on him and the speed and the twitch he showed out there today along with the added girth, I think he is 262 to 265 pounds now, I'm so excited to have him back out there. He adds a ton to the defensive line. Plus his leadership, he has played a lot of football and he is very well-respected by his teammates. He doesn't say a lot, but when he does people listen."
Key said that the defensive line was a tough spot in the spring and they had a full group between healthy players coming back like Yondjouen or Shymeik Jones who missed spring ball as well as the transfer additions and three true freshmen who came in.
"We've come a long way since the spring when we were fighting to get two groups out there," he said.
Wednesday's session also marked the debut of several transfers at a Tech practice including defensive end Romello Height (USC), defensive tackle Jordan van den Berg (Penn State), defensive tackle Thomas Gore (Miami), tight end Josh Beetham (Michigan), cornerback Zachary Tobe (Illinois) and safety Jayden Davis (Cincinnati). Offensive guard Keylan Rutledge also made his Tech practice debut after missing the spring following surgery after a car accident last December after he left MTSU. Key detailed Rutledge's journey back from his injury at the ACC Kickoff earlier in the week.
"It'll be a few days before we know a lot about the ones on the lines of scrimmage (transfers) but from what I saw out there today and what I've seen this summer, Romello has really good speed and he is strong with great length and really good takeoff. I'm looking forward to him being able to help us generate a pass rush and improve in that area," Key said. "J.J. (van den Berg) is probably the strongest guy pound for pound, he is a 700-pound squat guy and close to 400-pound clean. I mean just has phenomenal strength and he has good athletic ability and everybody enjoys being around him. Thomas is out there and he has played a lot of football on the defensive line and that really helped our depth. On the backend we added Zach and Jayden those guys stepped in this summer and made it look like today wasn't their first day and I'm excited for those guys to step in and create competition. The more competition you have, the less complacency you will have."
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The Jackets entered camp with one of the healthiest rosters in recent memory as well with only one season-ending injury backup tight end Jackson Long lingering over to camp and only a handful of players out on the first day according to Key.
"Going into the second year you really have a full range of data on everybody. We do a lot with sports science and we've been afforded the resources to be able to implement that into our program so we track everything," Key said. "We monitor everything and we look back at last year at the summer program and what preseason practices look like and the practice schedule and you can anticipate things, but you don't have the true data of what is going to be until you go through a season. The last 10 weeks of summer we were able to really simulate what preseason is and create that same load that will have."
Key said during the summer the players took it upon themselves to train the newcomers both the freshmen and transfers how things work and it sped up the installation on day one of camp.
The beauty of summers now is the guys get so many reps and so much time together that the retention is very high. I was very pleased with how they worked with the pads off this summer and a lot of the player-led things they did as well as teaching the right techniques and fundamentals. Pretty much everyone comes in now knowing things and we are able to start a little bit of a faster pace during the install," he said.
One player who Tech fans didn't get to see much of last year was defensive end Sylvain Yondjouen who practiced for the first time since August of 2023 after sustaining a serious knee injury in the season opener last year in Mercedes-Benz Stadium against Louisville after playing just 27 snaps.
"He is a full go. He took all the reps and that was good to see," Key said of Yondjouen's return to practice. "I think at times he didn't know if he wanted to be a big guy or slim down to be a smaller end. I don't care if he is 260 like he is right now or 230 like he has been. I don't think he has an ounce of fat on him and the speed and the twitch he showed out there today along with the added girth, I think he is 262 to 265 pounds now, I'm so excited to have him back out there. He adds a ton to the defensive line. Plus his leadership, he has played a lot of football and he is very well-respected by his teammates. He doesn't say a lot, but when he does people listen."
Key said that the defensive line was a tough spot in the spring and they had a full group between healthy players coming back like Yondjouen or Shymeik Jones who missed spring ball as well as the transfer additions and three true freshmen who came in.
"We've come a long way since the spring when we were fighting to get two groups out there," he said.
Wednesday's session also marked the debut of several transfers at a Tech practice including defensive end Romello Height (USC), defensive tackle Jordan van den Berg (Penn State), defensive tackle Thomas Gore (Miami), tight end Josh Beetham (Michigan), cornerback Zachary Tobe (Illinois) and safety Jayden Davis (Cincinnati). Offensive guard Keylan Rutledge also made his Tech practice debut after missing the spring following surgery after a car accident last December after he left MTSU. Key detailed Rutledge's journey back from his injury at the ACC Kickoff earlier in the week.
"It'll be a few days before we know a lot about the ones on the lines of scrimmage (transfers) but from what I saw out there today and what I've seen this summer, Romello has really good speed and he is strong with great length and really good takeoff. I'm looking forward to him being able to help us generate a pass rush and improve in that area," Key said. "J.J. (van den Berg) is probably the strongest guy pound for pound, he is a 700-pound squat guy and close to 400-pound clean. I mean just has phenomenal strength and he has good athletic ability and everybody enjoys being around him. Thomas is out there and he has played a lot of football on the defensive line and that really helped our depth. On the backend we added Zach and Jayden those guys stepped in this summer and made it look like today wasn't their first day and I'm excited for those guys to step in and create competition. The more competition you have, the less complacency you will have."
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