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Brent Key remains consistent with his process in all phases of his GT football program and it was no different with the WR coaching search. My original planned update was to say that he was down to two candidates, but he was able to close the deal with Trent McKnight formerly of Georgia State.
With the hire done, I can share some of the processes that Key goes through when making his staff moves. There were numerous interviews this week for both this spot and for the final spots in the recruiting office as well.
The search was done under wraps intentionally. Key values the message coming from him or approved by him so there were no leaks, no names, or anything else until it was almost done. Key is from the Saban/GOL tree and they want to control the message and the info that gets out understandably. The four prior years to him being named head coach were often a misadventure when it came to that and it took time to clear things out and set the tone for how things run now. It is much more akin to how CPJ ran things as well. One voice, one message.
So in terms of making a decision I was told there were two main factors at play, one was coaching and player development and the second part was recruiting. Key believes every one of the position coaches and the coordinators must carry their weight with recruiting though the coordinators are generally going to have more specific roles and less ground to cover than a normal assistant coach. With this hire, Key was looking for someone to help Tech in South Georgia.
The Jackets only have four scholarship players from that area currently on scholarship and one of them is a stretch calling him a South Georgia kid, Isiah Canion from Warner Robins. The others for those wondering are Jamie Felix, Weston Franklin and a transfer Omar Daniels. That is an area where Key wants to improve and it has produced a lot of talented players over the years and ones really dedicated to the game of football. Key's staff has done a great job in the ATL area and North Georgia spot recruiting, but South Georgia wasn't providing as much talent as it should given the quality of players found down there.
So why McKnight? My sources told me that Key took the pulse of some trusted HS coaching sources in South Georgia and was told that no one outworks or outrecruits McKnight down there. He signed quality players and had Georgia State punching above their weight in the backyard of Georgia Southern and other programs down there as an assistant coach.
So that was one part of it. He brings a fit in an area of major need.
The first part is player development and his resume is full of all-conference performers at receiver both at Georgia State and Samford before that.
Here is a line that stood out to me in his Ga State bio
As receivers coach, he tutored six All-Sun Belt Conference receivers and three of the top five pass catchers in program history. During that time, the Panthers set school records for scoring average (33.3 ppg in 2020), points (406 in 2019), touchdowns (53 in 2019) and total offense (439.8 ypg in 2019) while producing the top scoring averages in program history from 2019-21.
His receivers overproduced under his watch and that is something I think that has been missing since Buzz Preston left the Flats. They haven't really turned out a good WR who is an all-conference player and a really solid all-around receiver with Eric Singleton Jr. being the closest to that and that was very much his raw talent on display as a freshman and not a ton of development yet. The WR rooms have been in the bottom half of the ACC for several years going back to probably 2016 or so. That is not a knock on Josh Crawford either as he was only with the program for a year, more of just an observation of the need for more talent and better player development.
He can also coach tight ends and quarterbacks so he gives Key some flexibility in the future as well if someone else leaves and he wants to shuffle bodies around.
Given the tight window Key was working with and the timing of the coaching change, McKnight seems like a great fit and it will give someone who has been a fast riser in the business in McKnight a chance to elevate his profile as well as try to build up GT's WR room that used to be one of the best in CFB and produced some really amazing talent from the 1980s through the mid-2010s.
Brent Key remains consistent with his process in all phases of his GT football program and it was no different with the WR coaching search. My original planned update was to say that he was down to two candidates, but he was able to close the deal with Trent McKnight formerly of Georgia State.
With the hire done, I can share some of the processes that Key goes through when making his staff moves. There were numerous interviews this week for both this spot and for the final spots in the recruiting office as well.
The search was done under wraps intentionally. Key values the message coming from him or approved by him so there were no leaks, no names, or anything else until it was almost done. Key is from the Saban/GOL tree and they want to control the message and the info that gets out understandably. The four prior years to him being named head coach were often a misadventure when it came to that and it took time to clear things out and set the tone for how things run now. It is much more akin to how CPJ ran things as well. One voice, one message.
So in terms of making a decision I was told there were two main factors at play, one was coaching and player development and the second part was recruiting. Key believes every one of the position coaches and the coordinators must carry their weight with recruiting though the coordinators are generally going to have more specific roles and less ground to cover than a normal assistant coach. With this hire, Key was looking for someone to help Tech in South Georgia.
The Jackets only have four scholarship players from that area currently on scholarship and one of them is a stretch calling him a South Georgia kid, Isiah Canion from Warner Robins. The others for those wondering are Jamie Felix, Weston Franklin and a transfer Omar Daniels. That is an area where Key wants to improve and it has produced a lot of talented players over the years and ones really dedicated to the game of football. Key's staff has done a great job in the ATL area and North Georgia spot recruiting, but South Georgia wasn't providing as much talent as it should given the quality of players found down there.
So why McKnight? My sources told me that Key took the pulse of some trusted HS coaching sources in South Georgia and was told that no one outworks or outrecruits McKnight down there. He signed quality players and had Georgia State punching above their weight in the backyard of Georgia Southern and other programs down there as an assistant coach.
So that was one part of it. He brings a fit in an area of major need.
The first part is player development and his resume is full of all-conference performers at receiver both at Georgia State and Samford before that.
Here is a line that stood out to me in his Ga State bio
As receivers coach, he tutored six All-Sun Belt Conference receivers and three of the top five pass catchers in program history. During that time, the Panthers set school records for scoring average (33.3 ppg in 2020), points (406 in 2019), touchdowns (53 in 2019) and total offense (439.8 ypg in 2019) while producing the top scoring averages in program history from 2019-21.
His receivers overproduced under his watch and that is something I think that has been missing since Buzz Preston left the Flats. They haven't really turned out a good WR who is an all-conference player and a really solid all-around receiver with Eric Singleton Jr. being the closest to that and that was very much his raw talent on display as a freshman and not a ton of development yet. The WR rooms have been in the bottom half of the ACC for several years going back to probably 2016 or so. That is not a knock on Josh Crawford either as he was only with the program for a year, more of just an observation of the need for more talent and better player development.
He can also coach tight ends and quarterbacks so he gives Key some flexibility in the future as well if someone else leaves and he wants to shuffle bodies around.
Given the tight window Key was working with and the timing of the coaching change, McKnight seems like a great fit and it will give someone who has been a fast riser in the business in McKnight a chance to elevate his profile as well as try to build up GT's WR room that used to be one of the best in CFB and produced some really amazing talent from the 1980s through the mid-2010s.
