Thanks to our new sponsor Inteleca for helping bring back Q's Take my weekly look at things around GT and college sports from my vantage.
Sitting outside the gates to the Rose Bowl Field practice area on Tuesday, I remarked to a colleague that it was "Techno Tuesday" and where was the music. The former Georgia Tech football coach had music as a regular part of his practices throughout his tenure although it slowed down during his final season to just parts of the practice instead of going the entire time like a 24-hour Fitness.
You probably won't see videos of "Thursday Races" or guys posting their catapult numbers under Brent Key. Key and his staff are all about the fundamentals of old football coaching.
There is music during flex and it sounds like the shuffle off Key's phone with rock and country music rather than the newest rap song or club tune. There is no DJ. No pictures of famous people on sticks running at quarterbacks and no pool noodles wielded by strength coaches.
It is all about the business of coaching guys up and improving.
In Collins' first year, he ran three huddles on two different fields at breakneck tempos with a mix of coaches all over trying to max out reps. They didn't bother correcting guys on the spot when they did something wrong because they wanted to max out the number of reps they got in and they'd correct them in the film room Collins told the media at the time. During a Key practice if you screw up, you are doing it again and the coach is correcting you on the spot almost every time. Yes, they will run huddles on two fields, but the coaches bounce around and the players rotate and there are eyes on players making corrections at all times.
The cool morning practices are a thing of the past as well. Key if he had his way would probably send the team to South Georgia or LA (Lower Alabama) to train if he could to instill toughness through fighting through the heat. It is not punishment though and they are very focused on hydration throughout practice. They have breaks and the ability to cool off in ice boxes and there are even guys walking around misting players with cold water on the sidelines.
Key is trying to bring mental toughness back to the Flats. I had a player who played under all three most recent Tech coaches say that it reminded him of what it was like under Paul Johnson and it was meant as a compliment.
Whether this turns into wins this year or not, it seems like the adults are in charge and Tech is back to being a program that will be known for being physical and tough to beat like they were throughout the Ross, O'Leary, Gailey and Johnson eras.
The Tech staff also may have found some real gems like Eric Singleton Jr. who is a bigger version of Ahmarean Brown (but can also play outside receiver) with better hands and a few other interesting signings that were not high profile through their own scouting and connections.
There is hope for the product on the field and the days of getting beat in back-to-back games 100-0 are hopefully a distant sad memory for the Yellow Jacket faithful under the new administration. No one will work harder than Key to return GT to previous glories and hopefully higher. Time will tell if/how he pulls it off and how quickly it comes together.
Sitting outside the gates to the Rose Bowl Field practice area on Tuesday, I remarked to a colleague that it was "Techno Tuesday" and where was the music. The former Georgia Tech football coach had music as a regular part of his practices throughout his tenure although it slowed down during his final season to just parts of the practice instead of going the entire time like a 24-hour Fitness.
You probably won't see videos of "Thursday Races" or guys posting their catapult numbers under Brent Key. Key and his staff are all about the fundamentals of old football coaching.
There is music during flex and it sounds like the shuffle off Key's phone with rock and country music rather than the newest rap song or club tune. There is no DJ. No pictures of famous people on sticks running at quarterbacks and no pool noodles wielded by strength coaches.
It is all about the business of coaching guys up and improving.
In Collins' first year, he ran three huddles on two different fields at breakneck tempos with a mix of coaches all over trying to max out reps. They didn't bother correcting guys on the spot when they did something wrong because they wanted to max out the number of reps they got in and they'd correct them in the film room Collins told the media at the time. During a Key practice if you screw up, you are doing it again and the coach is correcting you on the spot almost every time. Yes, they will run huddles on two fields, but the coaches bounce around and the players rotate and there are eyes on players making corrections at all times.
The cool morning practices are a thing of the past as well. Key if he had his way would probably send the team to South Georgia or LA (Lower Alabama) to train if he could to instill toughness through fighting through the heat. It is not punishment though and they are very focused on hydration throughout practice. They have breaks and the ability to cool off in ice boxes and there are even guys walking around misting players with cold water on the sidelines.
Key is trying to bring mental toughness back to the Flats. I had a player who played under all three most recent Tech coaches say that it reminded him of what it was like under Paul Johnson and it was meant as a compliment.
Whether this turns into wins this year or not, it seems like the adults are in charge and Tech is back to being a program that will be known for being physical and tough to beat like they were throughout the Ross, O'Leary, Gailey and Johnson eras.
The Tech staff also may have found some real gems like Eric Singleton Jr. who is a bigger version of Ahmarean Brown (but can also play outside receiver) with better hands and a few other interesting signings that were not high profile through their own scouting and connections.
There is hope for the product on the field and the days of getting beat in back-to-back games 100-0 are hopefully a distant sad memory for the Yellow Jacket faithful under the new administration. No one will work harder than Key to return GT to previous glories and hopefully higher. Time will tell if/how he pulls it off and how quickly it comes together.
