Georgia Tech’s first scrimmage of its spring practice perhaps wasn’t the best, Tech coach Brent Key said Saturday.
“The thing I was not happy with (Saturday) was the ebbs and flows of the game,” Key said. “When you’re playing a game and you’re competing, you’ve got to come out for three and a half hours and give every bit of energy, and the level you come out at, the standard you have, whatever fancy, funny word you want to have, it’s gotta be here the whole time. It can’t be dictated upon what happens out on the field.”
Key lauded running back Jamal Haynes and wide receiver Malik Rutherford for setting prime examples Saturday on how to maintain energy levels throughout Saturday’s 161-play scrimmage at Bobby Dodd Stadium. But Key needed to see more from the rest of the Yellow Jackets who now have two weeks left of workouts before the program’s annual spring game.
“Some guys, they’re on the sideline, they’re worried about the last play they were in there, the bad play they had or the bad series,” Key added. “I told the team, ‘If you allow that to happen, what is that? That’s 7-6 is what that is.’ And we’ve made a major emphasis on that this year, the consistency part of it. And I’m gonna call it out.
“During halftime of the scrimmage, I called the whole offense together and addressed them about it. And I thought the second half, they responded. We have to build those habits in our guys so we don’t have to have a Kumbaya rally on the 50-yard line in the middle of the game.”
Despite the inconsistencies Saturday, Key did say the Jackets were ahead of where the 2024 squad was this time last year. On Friday, he reviewed the ‘24 team’s first spring scrimmage and noted that team got in about 30 less plays than this year’s team.
Some positive offensive performances Saturday included the play of wide receivers Bailey Stockton, Zion Taylor and Dean Patterson (a Florida International transfer), running back Trelain Maddox (who had a 50-yard run and three touchdowns) and tight ends Luke Harping and J.T. Byrne (a California transfer). On defense, linemen Andre Fuller, Amontrae Bradford and Brayden Manley (a Mercer transfer), linebackers E.J. Lightsey and Cayman Spaulding (a Tennessee Tech transfer) and defensive back Syeed Gibbs (who had an interception) stood out.
Tech’s offensive front, looking to fill the spots of three departed starters, struggled.
“A lot of pressure, a lot of sacks. A lot of talented guys that are spinning a little bit right now,” Key said. “We got a long way to go in pass protection on the offensive line. A lot of these new guys are guys that hadn’t played together, and you see cracks and they’re just getting used to being next to each other. You see sometimes where guys truly get beat one-on-one. So we got it we got a long way to go there.”
Tech is scheduled to practice Tuesday and Thursday this week before another scrimmage Saturday at Bobby Dodd Stadium. The Jackets will then take the field three times the following week before the White and Gold game at 1 p.m. April 12.
“We got to really evaluate this thing, be very critical with it, make sure we’re showing the guys a path of improvement,” Key said. “When you’re coaching young kids, you got to show a path. You got to show the improvement. You got to show Day One and Two and then, ‘Hey, here’s what you’re doing, then here’s where you are now.’ So it gives them encouragement and encourages guys to see themselves improving that know what they’re doing is right and the right thing. We also have to be very critical about mistakes and point ‘em out and call ‘em out and we have to get them fixed and we have to get them corrected.
“The big goal of spring is we have to improve day-to-day, week-to-week and this time next week, we have to sit here and say that we improved from scrimmage one to scrimmage two, collectively with all three phases.”
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