Blake Gideon Gives Update On How Far Along GT's Defense Is To Start Fall Camp And The Progression Since Spring

How much can Georgia Tech's defense improve with a third coordinator in three years? That is a question that the Yellow Jackets are currently trying to figure out.

Blake Gideon took over the Georgia Tech defense in January after Tyler Santucci left for the NFL, and during spring, he talked about how he was teaching the defense and everyone was trying to get on the same page. How are things now that the season is four weeks away? Gideon spoke on that after Georgia Tech wrapped up practice on Thursday:

"Yeah, again, the thing we've preached when we got here is, yes, we want to be intense. We want to play with passion, but we don't want to be emotional, right? And they're going to get a first down at some point this season, right? They're going to gain 10 yards, right? And so let's be able to reconvene. And sometimes I'm not going to have a chance to get them back over to the sideline to get that, that poise, that calm back to where it should be so that's what I've noticed coming out of the summer is those guys have grown together they trust each other a whole lot more right, I know it was all new back in the spring the last time I talked to you guys but they're, they're trusting the scheme, they're realizing, okay, I'm only gonna do my job as good as you do your job right, your job realizing okay I'm only gonna do my job as good as you do your job, right, your job directly affects how I do mine so you see a lot of that playing off one another and again we bring back the instincts that's, that's what we're trying to promote is what they're recruited off of."

Gideon wants this defense to be able to fly around and play carefree football, but there is more that goes into that than you might think:

"I think coaches are guilty all over the country, myself, I'm the most guilty of turning guys into robots, so to speak, right? Hey, these are the rules. You look here, when he does this, you do this, and we take away some of those natural instincts that we recruited the kid off of, right? They did something before they got to us, so it was good enough to get them here, so we're fighting to find that happy medium, right? You know, the most disciplined team in the universe, but also allowing some of that overlap. I think that's just, that's the nature of defensive football nowadays. You gotta have some overlap, you know, you can't, every time one guy, one of 11, is a little wrong, it can't, you know, turn into a 75-yard touchdown, right? You've gotta have some overlap and some guys that are filling in for one another, that are playing with their instincts, 'cause they've all got it. They need somebody to tell them it's okay to use it; they need somebody to tell them it's okay to use it. We thought on film, but are they the personalities that we want, right? I think everybody kind of goes through that, through this whole transfer portal world. Are they gonna fit in the locker room? It's one thing to get a really good football player and a good athlete, but are they the personality type that's gonna fit into our culture? And all three of those guys, number one, they opened their ears and they shut their mouths as soon as they got here, right? And they listened, and they shut their mouth as soon as they got here, right? And they listened, and they learned, and they watched, and they saw how we're doing things here, and then once they felt like okay now's the time to let my light shine a little bit, then they do. I think Jy Gilmore is probably the ringleader in that he just permeates maturity a calmness a poise that is so important in today's game, especially on the back end to calm things down because inevitably they're gonna hit a first down at least, right? And so to be able to calm it down and prevent a disaster from happening. So all three of those guys have been great additions. And like I said, it's easy to find good football players, but find the right personality types. That's what's important to us here, right?"