Everything From Georgia Tech Head Coach Brent Key's Thursday Media Availability

No. 12 Georgia Tech travels to Duke for a massive ACC clash that is less than 48 hours away. The winner of this game is going to have a clear path to reaching Charlotte and the ACC Championship and it is one of the most under the radar games this weekend.

For the second time this week, Yellow Jackets head coach Brent Key spoke with the media and here is everything that he had to say:

Opening Statement...

"Let's talk about the injury report, only thing that has really changed is Ahmari, he will be out this week, but he got really good news on it though and that it's not a season -ending injury. So that was really, really good news. So he'll be in a boot for a little bit and start to rehab, so we don't have the timeline on exactly when he'll be back. But it is not season -ending, and he'll be back before the season, which is great news. And that with what happened, so count your blessings on that one. And then the other ones are the same, you know, Akelo is still out, Myles Forristall still out, Chad Alexander, and Savian. So, you know, expecting all those guys to be back by the end of the season, too. So, you know, knock on wood at this point, we're in a good place. Tell you what, now, Chad, Chad's on his rehab back in and returned to play. Well, he's looked really good out there. I mean, he's given fits on the scout the scout team, special team, just everything. So that's another thing really been good to see.

So with that, you know, we've had a really good week of practice. I've been excited with how the guys are prepared. I thought Tuesday was probably the best Tuesday we've had to this point. Wednesday. Same thing. Obviously, I'm not saying it's a perfect practice. A lot of things to clean up every time. Same with today. It was a good communication out there. And look, I want our guys to go out and play freely and play fast and play confident and play like they're capable of play and continue to improve. We talked to the team this week that, you know, at this point now, you're either getting better or you're getting worse. And that's every single, every single week, really every day within the week.

So, you know, whether you're getting closer as a team or you're getting more separated as a team. You're getting better as an offense. You're getting better by position or even worse by position. So that's our goal every day is to work to improve. You know, the same you can have a bad play, but not a bad day. You have a bad day, it's mindset. So we can work come out every day with the right mindset. You know, we have a big challenge this week. We're excited for it."

1. On who will step up from a leadership perspective and on the field in place of Ahmari Harvey...

"Well, I mean, we got a bunch. I mean, we played, we played, I know, I don't know how many Rodney Shelley, he's had because he missed the first couple of weeks, but really, we had five guys that have played, you know, high level of snaps out there. But no, we've got a lot of guys. We've played a lot of guys. And that's the reason we play a lot of guys early in the season. If you see the season, you get to this point, you know, you see it start to hone in really on who's the, you know, it's more reps, I guess you would say, for the guys that, whether it started or, you know, big factors. But Rod, obviously, has a big role, Rodney Shelley, and Daiquan has a big role. He does some really good things, and he has some busts that are, you know, some catastrophic things. He's working every day to improve on those things. Daiquan is. He's really been pleased with his development. We've got to continue to be consistent, though, and that's the big thing. And then some of the young guys have gotten some playing time and they're repping to, you know, be depth in that spot as well."

2. On what the team needs to do in the second half of the season to get where they want to be...

" I mean, look out for, I mean, it's more looking out for ourselves. I mean, you can't let it tight and we can't creep in. We talked last week about the noise say about us and you know we wouldn't trade that, we're not you know we're not immune to it but sit there and tell a kid that you know don't listen to it of course they're going to see of course they're going to read it but it's their choice, what they pay attention to, with what they put their, what they put their stock into and I trust this team puts it into what we say as coach is what I say is the head coach you know when that entitlement starts to creep in I mean you know let me say you know you know, it's believing anything past, you know, the past efforts are going to bring future rewards. And nothing in the past does anything for what we're doing now. Nothing in the future does. I mean, we prepare for the future, you learn from the past. And we've made our fair share of mistakes and head ups and downs. And you've got to learn from those things. When you have a challenge or a failure or mistake, I look at that as something we've got to turn into a positive, and that's a chance to learn and grow."

3. On Rodney Shelly...

" Yeah. Rodney, I think, is the best version of himself right now, too. He's been really proud of him and how he's worked this past year. I mean, I can remember back to recruiting and back to him being a freshman in the interim year. And we're playing down in Tallahassee. And he makes a heck of a play as a gunner on the punt team. And then stands over the guy, gets a 15 -yarder. Y 'all know that's what I remember now. So he came to the side, and he was so shook because he made a great play, made a dumb play, into about, you know, three seconds. It's stuck in my head, his reaction on the sideline. He thought I was about to just tear him one up. And I didn't. I just said, that's not what we do. You got to learn from that. You know, he's a fun guy to be around. He's opened up so much. He was a guy that was very quiet. All that about Rodney to say that I'm most proud of him because he's on track to graduate and be a graduate of Georgia Tech. "

4. On facing a team with extra time to prepare for them and how it compares to playing Wake Forest in a similar situation..

"I just said, yes, there's nothing in the past that affects what we do now. You learn from things. Look, we started slow. But, look, it's, what was that, three weeks ago? Two weeks ago? Three weeks? There's a lot of things have changed since then. You know, teams have changed. Teams have grown. Some teams have fallen apart. Some teams have gotten worse. Like I said, you get better or worse. I think we've improved. I think we've improved each week. You know, to sit there and say, hey, we don't start out, go start out fast. And then what, play bad the rest of the game? I mean, all these little coin things. I mean, it's just that. It's just their sayings. Right? How do you get in their head on Sunday, on Monday, on Tuesday, and prepare them mentally for what they have coming? How do we practice and prepare for what we expect they're going to do, our opponent's going to do?

But they can change their game plan too. You just said they had two weeks. They can change, they could put a whole new defense, a whole new offense. They could, you know, do whatever. All right. How are we, how do we improve, how we improve on our base fundamentals as a football player as an offense, defense, and kicking game. And then how do we make adjustments? There's only so many days in the week to put information into the kids' heads. Now as coaches, we should be able to retain and carry more in a higher volume because we're the ones to have to make the adjustments and make that. But if you're sitting there and weren't about adjustments the whole time and how are you going to change, well, now you're being reactive. I do not want this football team to be reactive. I want this team to be an attacking football team. To be reactive, it means you surround him wait. We don't wait on nothing."

5. On who the leaders are on defense...

"Yeah, I mean, Haynes not a vocal, not as vocal as you can. I mean, he can speak, He can talk. But he's not. He just does his job. He does what he is supposed to. He does it at a high level on Saturdays. He does it at a high level on Sundays, on Wednesdays. I mean, defensively, there's a lot of, I mean, for a defense to be successful, everybody on the defense has got to be vocal. Everybody in the defense got to communicate, they've got to talk, right? The last thing in the world I want is the defense that's going to sit there and just be a mute and not say a word, right? It's hard to play on that side of the ball if it's that way. But at the same time, it's not an over -the -top.

There's a fine line. There's a very fine line between having energy and being loose and being silly and being goofy and not having your mind, right? There's a very fine line there. And, you know, to be able to push our guys to the point of right there at that line, but understanding not to cross it, right? That's an important thing. I wouldn't say there's one guy, and that's what you want. You don't want just one guy. Two years ago, we had really one guy. When things go bad, everybody looks at that one person. That's the way to the world now. You wouldn't have to have a shared ability, and we have 27 seniors on this football team, and I expect every one of them to be great leaders."

6. On being an underdog...

"Thank you. That is where we like to be. Appreciate it. Appreciate the motivation."

7. On the offensive line being on the Joe Moore Award Watch List...

" Well, yeah, I think we've got a long way to go. A long way we're capable of going. I mean, that's two different things there. Of course I'm pleased. I'm fired up. I mean, it's awesome. I mean, that's, in my opinion, that is probably one of them, not the greatest award, because it's not an individual award. It is a group award. You know, I have a little bit of an affinity for it. and myself. We have to choose what we give our attention to, though. Are we going to let that affect us? Are we going to let something that we've done in the past affect how we prepare? Now that's when entitlement's starting to creep in."

8. On noticing a different on campus or from fans about the team...

" I haven't been to class in 25 years. I'll say, I didn't go to all of them then, unfortunately I'm honest about it I tell the players that too so that's why I'm on them about going, I mean look I don't get around a whole lot I mean from my office to my truck to my house and back again repeat wash, rinse, repeat but in this stadium on Saturday. I mean, you have to see that many people there and see the energy and the excitement. You don't have to see things or read things or go out. You can feel it. You can feel it. You know. And if people like that, then we need to continue to go out and improve every day and improve each week and play the way we're capable of play it and have that continue. But hey, I've said this a bunch. I'm not interested in building a one -trick pony, right? I want to build a program that's sustainable for the long term and for the future and build a great foundation that can weather storms and weather ups and downs and good times, bad times, but be a long term. And that's truly, when you have a program that can do that, that truly has been built the right way, in my opinion. I've been a part of some that, you know, I've been on the front end of it and been in when it was in the middle of it and you see it."

9. On leaning on his senior leadership when they go and play on the road in that atmosphere...

"I don't know what it's going to be like. I watch film. I watch tape. We watch film. We prepare ourselves. It has nothing to do with anything. We love playing at home. Yeah, we love playing at home. But there's something about going on the road, too, that it's extra motivating for us. Sure. All right. You have to be tight. You have to have, your bonds have to be strong. All right, those relationships players have with each other. You truly see if they are if they're not, right? When you go on the road. We love that. Hey, we've said it before. We said it last year. Here we are again, boys. Us against the world."